The name in my mother\u2019s letter was Eddie Shaw.<\/p>\n
Russell read it once.<\/p>\n
Then again.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered Eddie immediately.<\/p>\n
Everyone who knew Russell in 1981 knew Eddie.<\/p>\n
They had been friends since elementary school.<\/p>\n
He was smaller than Russell, quicker to laugh, always carrying a deck of cards or a pack of gum.<\/p>\n
He had driven me home twice when Russell\u2019s truck would not start.<\/p>\n
He had sat beside Russell after football practice.<\/p>\n
He had known where we met by the river.<\/p>\n
He knew Russell wanted St. Louis.<\/p>\n
He knew I was frightened of being abandoned.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was your best friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is what Mother wrote.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe hated Mercer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe hated everybody involved in gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were seventeen. How would you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause his father lost money to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
I kept reading.<\/p>\n
Eddie began carrying messages for Leon during the summer of 1981.<\/p>\n
At first, my mother wrote, Eddie believed he was only helping Leon collect gambling debts.<\/p>\n
Then Leon discovered Eddie\u2019s access to Russell.<\/p>\n
To me.<\/p>\n
To our families.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe listened to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell sat on the basement step.<\/p>\n
I remembered one evening at the river.<\/p>\n
Russell and I had argued because I was afraid he would leave after graduation.<\/p>\n
Eddie arrived halfway through.<\/p>\n
I had forgotten that.<\/p>\n
He brought sodas.<\/p>\n
Made jokes.<\/p>\n
Later Russell walked me home.<\/p>\n
Within days, my mother told me Russell had run away with another girl.<\/p>\n
Leon knew exactly which lie would hurt me most.<\/p>\n
Abandonment.<\/p>\n
Russell looked at the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told Eddie about asking you to come to St. Louis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMother says he told Leon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cEddie\u2019s family was poor, but he wasn\u2019t\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople do things at seventeen they spend lifetimes explaining.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds generous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
I continued.<\/p>\n
Eddie told Leon about Russell confronting my father.<\/p>\n
He told Leon when Russell would be at Sycamore Street.<\/p>\n
He told Leon where Russell parked the red truck.<\/p>\n
My breath caught.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell looked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe blue package in your truck. Someone knew where it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEddie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe could have taken the photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr told Mercer where to find it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter confirmed part of it.<\/p>\n
Eddie had followed Margaret from Walter\u2019s garage.<\/p>\n
He saw her move the bag into Russell\u2019s truck.<\/p>\n
He photographed it.<\/p>\n
Then informed Leon.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Caleb said Mother took the real bag,\u201d Russell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe did later.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Eddie photographed it before Evelyn moved it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The timeline finally aligned.<\/p>\n
Margaret hid the bag in Russell\u2019s truck.<\/p>\n
Eddie photographed it.<\/p>\n
My mother learned what had happened.<\/p>\n
She removed the real bag.<\/p>\n
Someone substituted an identical one.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho replaced it?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Daniel, standing across the basement, answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot until years later.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo buy time.\u201d<\/p>\n
My father placed a decoy in Russell\u2019s truck so Mercer would believe the evidence remained there.<\/p>\n
That explained why the Polaroid could show the bag while the real package later sat in my mother\u2019s car.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Eddie know?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Leon thought Russell still had the real evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Which led to the August twenty-fourth order to eliminate Russell.<\/p>\n
A chain of teenage confidences had nearly gotten him murdered.<\/p>\n
Russell looked sick.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is Eddie now?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca searched.<\/p>\n
There were several Edward Shaws.<\/p>\n
Then Russell supplied a middle name.<\/p>\n
Patrick.<\/p>\n
She found him.<\/p>\n
Edward Patrick Shaw.<\/p>\n
Age sixty-two.<\/p>\n
Cape Girardeau County.<\/p>\n
Still local.<\/p>\n
Occupation: insurance broker, retired.<\/p>\n
Alive.<\/p>\n
Russell stared at the address.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYears ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGrocery store. Maybe ten years back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you speak?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe saw me and left.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time, Russell assumed Eddie felt awkward about their friendship fading.<\/p>\n
Now the encounter meant something else.<\/p>\n
My mother\u2019s letter continued.<\/p>\n
Eddie confessed to her in 1987.<\/p>\n
Six years after the separation.<\/p>\n
That was the same year she told Daniel she regretted what she had done.<\/p>\n
Eddie had gone to her house drunk.<\/p>\n
He admitted Leon paid him.<\/p>\n
He said he never knew Russell would be hurt.<\/p>\n
Never knew Harlan had been ordered to kill him.<\/p>\n
Never intended anything beyond passing information.<\/p>\n
My mother believed his remorse.<\/p>\n
I was less interested in his remorse than his silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe could have contacted us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew where I was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew where I was too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe chose himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was simpler than the elaborate justifications of our parents.<\/p>\n
Fear explained silence.<\/p>\n
It did not erase responsibility.<\/p>\n
My mother wrote that Eddie begged her not to tell us.<\/p>\n
She agreed.<\/p>\n
I stopped reading.<\/p>\n
Russell stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe protected him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter answered.<\/p>\n
Because I had already done enough damage, and I was afraid revealing Eddie\u2019s betrayal would send Russell after Leon.<\/p>\n
Russell laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe still decided for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even her regret remained controlling.<\/p>\n
That hurt more than discovering the original lie.<\/p>\n
She understood what she had done.<\/p>\n
Then repeated the pattern.<\/p>\n
The final paragraph said Eddie possessed one item she could never recover.<\/p>\n
A notebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat notebook?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel stepped closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeon\u2019s?\u201d<\/p>\n
I read.<\/p>\n
Eddie kept a pocket notebook during the summer of 1981. He wrote down every message Leon asked him to carry, every payment, every place, every name. He told me he kept it because he feared Leon would someday blame him for something worse.<\/p>\n
Evidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes he still have it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell was already standing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to ask.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was nearly midnight.<\/p>\n
Rebecca objected.<\/p>\n
I agreed with her.<\/p>\n
Russell did not.<\/p>\n
Eventually we compromised.<\/p>\n
Morning.<\/p>\n
No surprise confrontation.<\/p>\n
We would call Eddie first.<\/p>\n
Daniel stayed at the farmhouse with the black case.<\/p>\n
Rebecca took digital photographs of every document.<\/p>\n
I brought my father\u2019s unopened letter home.<\/p>\n
I did not read it that night.<\/p>\n
Some truths deserved daylight.<\/p>\n
At eight twelve the next morning, Russell called Eddie.<\/p>\n
A woman answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cShaw residence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Eddie there?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is calling?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRussell Tate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Then the woman said, \u201cOh.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not who?<\/p>\n
Not which Russell?<\/p>\n
Oh.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told you about me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband has been expecting this call for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMay I speak to him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s at St. Francis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hospital?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStroke.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYesterday afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hours before we opened my mother\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan he speak?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWould he see me?\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman became emotional.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
We drove to St. Francis.<\/p>\n
The same hospital system where Russell had once been treated, though the original building was long gone.<\/p>\n
Eddie looked nothing like the boy in my memory.<\/p>\n
Stroke had pulled one side of his face downward.<\/p>\n
His hair was thin and white.<\/p>\n
His wife sat beside him.<\/p>\n
When Russell entered, Eddie began crying.<\/p>\n
Russell stopped near the door.<\/p>\n
Neither man spoke.<\/p>\n
Forty-five years stood between them.<\/p>\n
Finally Eddie lifted his functioning hand.<\/p>\n
Russell did not take it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eddie struggled.<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn\u2019t an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLeon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know about Leon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eddie\u2019s eyes moved to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cMary.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
His crying worsened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remained where I was.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you tell him about me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eddie swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney.\u201d<\/p>\n
At least he did not invent nobility.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty dollars. Fifty. Sometimes hundred.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell looked stunned.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sold us for twenty dollars?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eddie closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
His wife covered her mouth.<\/p>\n
Apparently she had not known everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you photograph the blue bag?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you tell Mercer Russell had it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know it was federal evidence?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know Harlan planned to kill Russell?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know my mother lied to us?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eddie opened his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeon told her what to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo keep you apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did he care?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eddie struggled to speak.<\/p>\n
\u201cRussell leaving\u2026 with you\u2026 ruined leverage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat leverage?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvelyn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leon still wanted control over my mother.<\/p>\n
As long as I remained nearby, he could threaten me.<\/p>\n
If Russell took me away, that leverage weakened.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Leon separated us to keep me close to Mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mother then cooperated because she believed separation would protect me.<\/p>\n
Leon had weaponized her fear perfectly.<\/p>\n
Russell asked, \u201cThe notebook.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eddie\u2019s eyes widened.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have it?\u201d<\/p>\n
He shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSafe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat safe?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOffice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCombination?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eddie looked toward his wife.<\/p>\n
\u201cRuth.\u201d<\/p>\n
She stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told me never to open that safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
Tears filled her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat have you done?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eddie could not answer.<\/p>\n
Russell softened slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t her fault.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruth looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
She gave us the combination.<\/p>\n
Before we left, Eddie reached toward Russell again.<\/p>\n
This time Russell took his hand.<\/p>\n
Not forgiveness.<\/p>\n
I could see that.<\/p>\n
But acknowledgment.<\/p>\n
Eddie whispered, \u201cYour dad saved me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell froze.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEighty-one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarlan.\u201d<\/p>\n
My pulse quickened.<\/p>\n
\u201cExplain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eddie struggled.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter crash\u2026 Harlan knew\u2026 I took picture.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crash Robert caused?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eddie nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarlan came after you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLoose end.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did Dad find you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBus station.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPut me on bus.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMemphis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father saved the person who betrayed me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eddie began crying again.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you ever tell him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course.<\/p>\n
Russell released his hand.<\/p>\n
At Eddie\u2019s old insurance office, Ruth opened the safe.<\/p>\n
Inside were tax records, cash, a revolver, and a small black notebook held together by a rubber band.<\/p>\n
Russell did not touch it.<\/p>\n
I did.<\/p>\n
The first pages contained dates and initials.<\/p>\n
L.M.<\/p>\n
D.H.<\/p>\n
W.T.<\/p>\n
R.T.<\/p>\n
E.T.<\/p>\n
Payments.<\/p>\n
Locations.<\/p>\n
Short instructions.<\/p>\n
Then August 18, 1981.<\/p>\n
R.T. going to Turner house at 7:30.<\/p>\n
Photograph truck.<\/p>\n
Tell L.M. package still there.<\/p>\n
Below that:<\/p>\n
D.H. says if boy opens bag, no choice.<\/p>\n
The implication was clear.<\/p>\n
Harlan was already prepared to kill Russell.<\/p>\n
Then another entry.<\/p>\n
8\/19.<\/p>\n
Evelyn says boy must believe Mary refused him. L.M. says tell Evelyn girl must believe boy ran.<\/p>\n
Russell stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere.\u201d<\/p>\n
The architecture of our separation in one line.<\/p>\n
Then the next entry changed everything.<\/p>\n
8\/20.<\/p>\n
Robert paid me $200. Says keep telling L.M. package is with Russell until he can move Mary.<\/p>\n
My father had paid Eddie too.<\/p>\n
Not to betray us.<\/p>\n
To mislead Leon.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad knew Eddie was involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least by August twentieth.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned the page.<\/p>\n
8\/21.<\/p>\n
Robert says plan changed. Mary staying. Russell must leave.<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
My father had decided Russell had to leave.<\/p>\n
Not my mother alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
The next line:<\/p>\n
D.H. knows hospital. Leon wants both kids watched.<\/p>\n
Then:<\/p>\n
Robert says send Russell north. Evelyn refuses. Margaret says she\u2019ll do it.<\/p>\n
Russell stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother tried to send me away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another entry.<\/p>\n
8\/22.<\/p>\n
Russell found locket. Won\u2019t leave.<\/p>\n
That was the day Russell searched the river.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was watching you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell nodded.<\/p>\n
The final pages became frantic.<\/p>\n
8\/23.<\/p>\n
Blue package gone.<\/p>\n
Frank gone.<\/p>\n
Thomas looking for Frank.<\/p>\n
Caleb crossed river.<\/p>\n
Then August 24.<\/p>\n
D.H. hunting Russell.<\/p>\n
Robert following.<\/p>\n
And beneath it:<\/p>\n
Walter says Riverglass dead.<\/p>\n
The next entry:<\/p>\n
Robert hit D.H. car.<\/p>\n
Russell safe for now.<\/p>\n
Then one line underlined three times.<\/p>\n
L.M. says Robert will pay with Mary.<\/p>\n
My stomach turned.<\/p>\n
Russell looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened after August twenty-fourth?\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned the page.<\/p>\n
August 25.<\/p>\n
Mary leaving town with parents.<\/p>\n
That was true.<\/p>\n
My parents had taken me to my aunt\u2019s house in Kansas City for nearly a month.<\/p>\n
They told me I needed distance from the humiliation of Russell leaving.<\/p>\n
In reality, they were hiding me from Leon.<\/p>\n
Then Eddie\u2019s next note:<\/p>\n
L.M. furious. Says Evelyn broke deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat deal?\u201d Russell asked.<\/p>\n
I turned another page.<\/p>\n
There was no answer.<\/p>\n
Only a later entry.<\/p>\n
September 3.<\/p>\n
Robert met L.M. river landing.<\/p>\n
September 4.<\/p>\n
Robert came home alive.<\/p>\n
September 5.<\/p>\n
L.M. gone.<\/p>\n
Leon Mercer had disappeared temporarily after that.<\/p>\n
I remembered Walter saying Mercer vanished for periods.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened at the river landing?\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell asked.<\/p>\n
The notebook contained one final 1981 entry.<\/p>\n
Eddie had written it in larger letters.<\/p>\n
ROBERT KNOWS WHERE DANIEL IS.<\/p>\n
My father knew Daniel Mercer was alive.<\/p>\n
Leon apparently learned that too.<\/p>\n
And suddenly the September meeting at the river was no longer merely about me.<\/p>\n
Robert had spent seventeen years protecting Daniel\u2019s new identity.<\/p>\n
Leon had discovered the secret.<\/p>\n
My phone rang.<\/p>\n
Daniel Mercer.<\/p>\n
I answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
His voice sounded strained.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Eddie Shaw\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLeave.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe farmhouse was searched.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart jumped.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe black case?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSafe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoving.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMary Louise, listen carefully. The person looking for that case knew George Bellamy\u2019s hiding places.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCaleb?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPatricia?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s in custody.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMartin?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can you be sure?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the person left a message.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat message?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel breathed heavily.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wrote, \u2018Robert should have let me drown.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin went cold.<\/p>\n
Only a handful of people knew what happened in 1964.<\/p>\n
Daniel had survived.<\/p>\n
Robert had saved him.<\/p>\n
Leon was dead.<\/p>\n
Harlan was dead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho would write that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel answered with a name I did not expect.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLeon Mercer died in 1996.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou attended the funeral?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter had.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas there a body?\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Russell.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel, are you saying Leon might still be alive?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m saying somebody wants us to believe he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
The line crackled.<\/p>\n
Then Daniel added:<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd whoever searched the farmhouse took one thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father\u2019s letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter Robert Turner had written to me.<\/p>\n
The one I had deliberately left unread because I wanted daylight.<\/p>\n
Except Daniel had been mistaken about one detail.<\/p>\n
I touched my handbag.<\/p>\n
My father\u2019s letter was still inside.<\/p>\n
If the intruder had taken an envelope believing it was Robert\u2019s letter to me, then he had stolen something else from the black case.<\/p>\n
Something Daniel had mistaken for my father\u2019s final words.<\/p>\n
And whatever was inside that stolen envelope was important enough for someone to break into the farmhouse looking for it.<\/p>\n
The name in my mother\u2019s letter was Eddie Shaw. Russell read it once. Then again. \u201cNo.\u201d I remembered Eddie immediately. Everyone who knew Russell in 1981 knew Eddie. They had … <\/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-14193","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\/14193","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=14193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14240,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14193\/revisions\/14240"}],"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=14193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}