Chapter 8 - THE ADDRESS THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST
The first real lead came from an old insurance file.
A payment had been issued six months after my father's supposed death.
Not to my mother.
Not to our family.
To a company called Northbridge Holdings.
The address listed was in Wisconsin.
Adrien's attorney traced the company.
It had been dissolved years earlier.
But its registered agent was still alive.
A woman named Helen Price.
We traveled to Wisconsin the following week.
I insisted on going.
Adrien argued.
I won.
Mostly because I refused to get out of his car until he agreed.
Helen Price lived in a small farmhouse.
She was seventy.
Sharp-eyed.
Suspicious.
When Adrien introduced himself, she nearly shut the door.
Then I stepped forward.
"I'm Thomas Carter's daughter."
Her expression changed.
She stared at me.
Then whispered:
"You have his eyes."
My heart pounded.
"Did you know my father?"
She nodded.
"Where is he?"
Helen looked toward the road.
Then back at us.
"I haven't seen him in years."
I felt my stomach drop.
"But he was alive after the accident?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
My knees weakened.
Adrien caught my elbow.
I barely noticed.
Helen continued.
"Thomas came here frightened. He said someone was looking for him."
"What happened?"
She hesitated.
"He stayed for two weeks. Then he left."
"Where?"
She looked at me.
"He said he was going somewhere nobody would think to look."
I swallowed.
"Did he leave anything?"
Helen nodded.
She disappeared into the house.
When she returned, she carried a small metal box.
Inside was a photograph.
A key.
And a folded piece of paper.
May you like
The paper contained six words.
SOPHIE, IF YOU FIND THIS, FORGIVE ME.
