Russell remembered Frank Bellamy as a man who could repair almost anything.<\/p>\n
Carburetors.<\/p>\n
Boat engines.<\/p>\n
Broken radios.<\/p>\n
Once, when Russell was nine, Frank fixed a bicycle chain with a nail because they were six miles from home and had no tools.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was around all the time,\u201d Russell said.<\/p>\n
We sat in my kitchen long after Walter should have gone home.<\/p>\n
Nobody suggested ending the conversation.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he work at the garage?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOff and on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter stared at the old photograph.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas Bell.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew him by that name?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot until the FBI brought him in.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c1980.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you never realized Thomas Bell was Frank Bellamy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe used both names.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter rubbed his forehead.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank Bellamy was his ordinary name. Thomas Bell was the identity used in federal paperwork.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he was undercover?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInformant, not agent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst Mercer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter glanced toward me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Mercer had killed his brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another body.<\/p>\n
Another secret.<\/p>\n
Rebecca had gone home briefly to check on her family, leaving Russell and me with Walter.<\/p>\n
The house felt too quiet without her questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was Frank\u2019s brother?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cSamuel Bellamy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember Dad mentioning Uncle Sam.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot your uncle. Just a close friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened to him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis body was found in Illinois in 1978.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice thought Mercer did it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey suspected. Couldn\u2019t prove it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Frank agreed to work with the FBI.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Riverglass was partly meant to prove Mercer killed Samuel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The blue bag\u2019s importance grew with every answer.<\/p>\n
It had not contained ordinary financial evidence.<\/p>\n
It contained the machinery of a federal case involving murder, corruption, and multiple families already tied together by blackmail.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Caleb mean when he said Frank survived?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believed Mercer killed him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Riverglass collapsed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo body?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why assume he was dead?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis car was found near the river with blood inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose blood?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked embarrassed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t have modern testing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell leaned back.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid my father know Frank was an informant?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow close were they?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVery.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClose enough that Dad helped him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Riverglass?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter nodded.<\/p>\n
Russell stared toward the dark kitchen window.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember Dad disappearing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe week after I left the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
I watched Russell.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did he go?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody told me. Mom said he had work in St. Louis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter\u2019s face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas wasn\u2019t in St. Louis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI said my father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo did I.\u201d<\/p>\n
A chill moved through me.<\/p>\n
\u201cRussell\u2019s father was Thomas?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter realized his mistake.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just called him Thomas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI misspoke.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, you didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter said nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was Thomas Bell?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just answered as though Thomas was my father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRussell\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was Thomas Bell?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter\u2019s eyes closed.<\/p>\n
For perhaps ten seconds, the old man simply breathed.<\/p>\n
Then he said, \u201cThe FBI files became complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not a human answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas Bell was a shared operational identity.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor more than one informant?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s voice went low.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank and my father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter nodded.<\/p>\n
The secret expanded again.<\/p>\n
Thomas Tate, Russell\u2019s father.<\/p>\n
Frank Bellamy.<\/p>\n
Both using documents associated with Thomas Bell.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when the FBI listed Thomas Bell missing,\u201d I said, \u201cthey could have meant either man.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich one disappeared?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell looked almost relieved.<\/p>\n
Then Walter added, \u201cAt first.\u201d<\/p>\n
The relief vanished.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father vanished three days later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor three days.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere was he?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always know enough to say you don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI genuinely don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he say when he came back?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell laughed harshly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds like the family tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n
I moved closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you remember?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father came home at dawn.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow old were you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSeventeen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were recovering.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you see him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard the truck.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes narrowed with memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went downstairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret had been asleep on the couch because she was afraid to leave Russell alone.<\/p>\n
Thomas entered through the kitchen wearing clothes Russell did not recognize.<\/p>\n
Mud coated his boots.<\/p>\n
One sleeve was torn.<\/p>\n
There was blood near the cuff.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose blood?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat he cut his hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas his hand cut?\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother woke up and saw the blood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe started crying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked down.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnew what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother came to me that afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said Thomas had done something unforgivable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wouldn\u2019t say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell paced once across the kitchen.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father was the quietest man I knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat didn\u2019t mean he had no secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Apparently none of our parents had hobbies except lying.\u201d<\/p>\n
I understood his anger.<\/p>\n
Every recovered memory turned a familiar adult into a stranger.<\/p>\n
I had been experiencing the same thing with my mother and father.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Thomas know Caleb existed?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Walter nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he know Caleb was Margaret\u2019s son?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did he react?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter surprised me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wanted to bring Caleb into the family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell stopped pacing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loved Margaret.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds more like Dad.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told her none of it changed their marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why didn\u2019t she contact Caleb?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Caleb refused.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s face softened slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew she was his mother?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy then.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he didn\u2019t want her?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was more complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
Everything was.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Caleb want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney at first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLike Leon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had been raised by Leon.\u201d<\/p>\n
That explained without excusing.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Thomas give him money?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough that Margaret became frightened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Caleb started asking for information too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat information?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter looked toward the Riverglass file.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout the operation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s head lifted.<\/p>\n
\u201cCaleb was working for Mercer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
We had been talking to a man who had been inside the conspiracy from the beginning.<\/p>\n
A man who knew my mother\u2019s car, the blue bag, and Frank Bellamy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Caleb knows exactly what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeon never trusted anyone fully. Not even his son.\u201d<\/p>\n
My phone buzzed.<\/p>\n
A text from Caleb.<\/p>\n
ONE HOUR. OLD RIVER LANDING. COME WITHOUT WALTER.<\/p>\n
I showed Russell.<\/p>\n
He read it twice.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s offering something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s ordering you somewhere isolated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot necessarily alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said without Walter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t say without you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell almost smiled despite himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always looked for loopholes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt kept life interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter said, \u201cNeither of you should.\u201d<\/p>\n
We both looked at him.<\/p>\n
He sighed.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight. I\u2019ve lost that vote.\u201d<\/p>\n
The old river landing had not been used commercially in decades. Concrete ramps disappeared into muddy water beneath cottonwoods.<\/p>\n
Russell drove.<\/p>\n
Neither of us told Rebecca until we were halfway there.<\/p>\n
When I called, her reaction was predictable.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re meeting the son of a dead criminal at an abandoned river landing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you phrase it that way\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no better phrasing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRussell is with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat does not improve things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell leaned toward the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m offended.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
She made us promise to keep the call connected through my earbuds.<\/p>\n
That was the compromise.<\/p>\n
Caleb Mercer was already waiting when we arrived.<\/p>\n
He stood beside an old black sedan.<\/p>\n
He was taller than Leon had been in the photographs, thinner, with gray hair cut close to his scalp.<\/p>\n
His face resembled Margaret Tate\u2019s around the eyes.<\/p>\n
Russell saw it too.<\/p>\n
He stopped walking.<\/p>\n
Caleb studied him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother\u2019s other son.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother had a name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could have contacted her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter had not told us that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c1988.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wanted me to come home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told her I already had one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLeon\u2019s?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb gave a bitter smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can call it that.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stepped forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said Frank Bellamy survived.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI drove him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAcross the river.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAugust twenty-third, 1981.\u201d<\/p>\n
The day the blue package disappeared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas he injured?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why leave blood in his car?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t his.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas Tate was injured.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat fight?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Walter\u2019s garage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father disappeared after I got out of the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he was looking for Frank.\u201d<\/p>\n
I interrupted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Frank stole the blue package.\u201d<\/p>\n
The claim contradicted everything we had just learned.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank took it from Russell\u2019s truck?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvelyn did.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt a flash of anger.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told me she had the real bag in her car.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Frank stole it from her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Frank had discovered Harlan was corrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds like a reason to preserve the evidence, not steal it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank no longer trusted the FBI.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he trust Walter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter had been correct about at least one thing: fear had contaminated everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Frank plan to do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cExpose Mercer himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith federal evidence?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cChicago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy Chicago?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJournalist.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cName?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEleanor Voss.\u201d<\/p>\n
The name was unfamiliar.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he get there?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father intercepted him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Walter\u2019s garage?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank had hidden the bag. Leon thought Thomas Tate knew where.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s voice hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father beat him.\u201d<\/p>\n
I watched Russell absorb the image of his father bleeding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas Frank there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he help?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb smiled strangely.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank caused it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe hit Thomas first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Thomas had told Mercer where to find him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father betrayed Frank.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb\u2019s gaze did not move.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas was afraid Leon would come after Margaret and Russell. He offered Frank instead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell stepped toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably the same thing your father told himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s hands curled.<\/p>\n
I touched his arm.<\/p>\n
Not to restrain him.<\/p>\n
To remind him I was there.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinish,\u201d I told Caleb.<\/p>\n
Caleb looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas tried to take it back. He warned Frank that Mercer was coming. They fought.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLeon arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody started lying.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb looked toward the river.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank escaped with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would you help him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I hated my father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simple.<\/p>\n
Believable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere was Thomas?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the garage floor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlive?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Leon?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking for the package.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Frank have it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had already given it to Evelyn.\u201d<\/p>\n
We were back to my mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause nobody would suspect her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apparently everyone had underestimated Evelyn Turner.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she do with it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told me it was in her car.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was. Earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo where did it go?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb looked at the river.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is what Leon spent the rest of his life trying to discover.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell spoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened after you drove Frank across the river?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went to Illinois.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA farmhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone he trusted.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he stay there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor three days.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou mean Mercer found him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you ever see him again?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen how do you know he survived?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard his voice eleven years later.\u201d<\/p>\n
All three of us went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn a phone call.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho did he call?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb looked directly at Russell.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Dad say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s voice lowered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Frank say?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb remembered.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked one question.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Mary Louise ever learn what Evelyn did with the package?\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt the river wind against my face.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank asked about me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the package was never really about Walter, Mercer, or the FBI after August twenty-third.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was it about?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb looked at me for a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother added something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the package?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA confession.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never saw it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Frank did?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did it confess?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told Thomas that if the truth came out, two families would be destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s voice was rough.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey already were.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb glanced at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stepped closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did my mother confess?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb looked toward the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know the exact words.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe confessed that the shooting in the alley wasn\u2019t the first time she fired Robert\u2019s gun.\u201d<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen was the first?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c1979.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe garage burglary?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb nodded.<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb answered quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the burglars was shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter had never mentioned anyone being injured.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSamuel Bellamy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank\u2019s brother.<\/p>\n
I stared at Caleb.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said Mercer killed Samuel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what everyone was supposed to believe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you\u2019re saying my mother shot him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m saying Evelyn was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he die?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she kill him?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb looked directly at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
The distinction mattered.<\/p>\n
Then he reached into his coat.<\/p>\n
Russell immediately moved between us.<\/p>\n
Caleb stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cRelax.\u201d<\/p>\n
He withdrew a small cassette.<\/p>\n
Older than the one from the bank.<\/p>\n
A handwritten label ran across it.<\/p>\n
8\/79 \u2014 GARAGE.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did you get that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father\u2019s effects.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s on it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb held it toward me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night Samuel Bellamy died.\u201d<\/p>\n
I did not take it immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy give it to me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Leon kept one thing right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInsurance.\u201d<\/p>\n
I took the cassette.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes it prove my mother killed Samuel?\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb\u2019s expression was unreadable.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does it prove?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat Robert Turner confessed to doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell remembered Frank Bellamy as a man who could repair almost anything. Carburetors. Boat engines. Broken radios. Once, when Russell was nine, Frank fixed a bicycle chain with a nail … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feel-one-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14234,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14187\/revisions\/14234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}