“That’s fine for her, but what kind of code does that man live by?”
“That’s beside the point. Marcia feels strongly about this. My only hope is that he will act irrationally and fire her on the spot. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“So, in the meantime, what have you been up to, mother? I haven’t seen your name in the gossip columns in a long time. Are you deliberately keeping a low profile on the social front?”
“Not everything I do makes the papers, you know, but if you’re really asking if I’m seeing anyone since I got rid of Donald? No, I’m not. I think four husbands is my limit. I’m getting too old for this romance stuff. It’s the big seven-oh coming up for me this year, you know.”
“You don’t have to marry them to enjoy their company. There must dozens of seniors who would enjoy being in the company of a sophisticated lady, such as yourself.”
“What would I want with a senior? If I took up with anyone, he’d be a young buck. I’ve still got a lot of life left in me yet, you know.”
He laughed. “Mom, you never change. On a related subject, Marcia was asking me about my family and she found it strange that I didn’t know anything about my father. It got me to thinking. I’ve got plenty of time now. I’m thinking about putting out a trace on Peter Masterson. I may actually meet up with him. I’m curious as to why he would leave you when you were carrying me. I want to see for myself what kind of a man would do that? I’d like him to tell me the truth, to my face.”
Evelyn turned ashen. Her voice was faint as she asked, “Why would you go and do that now, after all these years? Obviously, that man never cared about you.”
“Perhaps so, but suddenly there is something that I feel inside that is urging me to find out about him. I’m about to make a major commitment in my life. I’d like to clear up that one question before I do. Besides, what’s the harm? If I find him, he may even refuse to talk to me. What can you tell me about him?”
Evelyn didn’t answer him; she couldn’t. Tears began pouring down her cheeks. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She started sobbing and averted Kane’s gaze. “I don’t want you to speak with Peter.”
“Why on earth, not?”
“There’s nothing to be gained by dredging things up” Evelyn’s tears turned to sobs.
He slid across the sofa and took her in his arms. He said nothing. He simply held his mother, patting her gently on the back, determined to wait her out. Minutes passed before Evelyn’s sobbing quelled. She sat back against the cushions, her eyes unfocused, as she gathered her thoughts.
She spoke softly. Kane had to strain to make out the words. “I hoped and prayed that this day would never come. Kane, Peter Masterson is not your biological father. Peter and I had a marriage in name only. I had an affair with a married man and got pregnant. We both knew Peter wasn’t the father. The day after he found out about you he disappeared and I have never heard from him again. When you were born the hospital assumed, from the forms that I had to fill out, that Peter was the father. That is how you became a Masterson. Everything else I’ve told you about your father has been a lie.”
Kane sat quietly, in disbelief. Eventually he asked, “How could you deceive me all these years? I had the right to know the truth.”
“Well, now that you know the truth, does it really change anything? Are you any better off? Your sisters are still your sisters and I’m still your mother.”
“Yes you are, but right now, I’m very angry with you. I know that I rarely asked you about him. It wasn’t because I didn’t care, that I didn’t miss doing all the things that sons do with their fathers, because I did.” He looked directly into his mothers eyes as he said, “I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to remind you that he ran off because you were pregnant with me. I felt responsible. When I got older, I didn’t ask because I was too wrapped up in myself to really give a damn. I want to change that now. I don’t want to start a new life when my old one is incomplete.”
“I’m so sorry, Kane. I thought I was doing the right thing. After a while I came to believe it myself. Lying does that to a person sometimes. I thought I was protecting you. When I married Bruce Mason, you were only two years old. He accepted you and Melanie as his children. Unfortunately, when Bridget came along he turned all his affection towards her. She was such a beautiful baby. He was so proud that she was his.”
“That’s beside the point, mom. If Peter Masterson isn’t my father, then who is? I have a right to know.”
“I just can’t tell you that right now, I’m sorry, Kane. Someday maybe I’ll be able to, but not right now. You’re just going to have to trust me on this.”
“That’s ridiculous. I’ve been trusting you all these years and you have betrayed me. I want no more of your lies.” Kane got up and stormed out of the house. He sat in his car waiting for Marcia to call; his world in total disarray.
Evelyn sat alone on the sofa, her mind filled with feelings of regret.
Adam sat with Chuck Meredith in a booth in the back of Ye Olde Taverne. Enlarged photos and a detailed report of Kane and Marcia’s date were spread across the table leaving no room for the tankards of beer when the waiter arrived. Adam moved the photos to one side to make the room and handed him the menus.
“We won’t be having anything to eat, thank you.” He turned his attention back to the photographs. His face turned crimson as he looked at the pictures of them kissing in the car and walking on the beach. He noted the times recorded on the report, especially the hour of their departure in the morning.
“This is good, Chuck. You did a good job. I’ll take it from here. I want all your efforts on the investigation of my father. What have you found out so far?”
“It’s slow going. I sent a truck over to your storage vault. We pasted a logo on the truck for a document shredding company; a perfect cover. We picked up forty seven storage boxes that covered all of 1974. We moved them to a warehouse space that I rent on a month-to-month basis. It has good lighting and A/C. I set up a bunch of tables and hired some college kids to do the initial sort. I told them it had something to do with a pending lawsuit. I have them going through two consecutive month’s folders at the same time. They’re trying to link phone calls, credit card receipts and your father’s personal day planner using the same first and last name. For example, if your father’s day planner shows that he planned to meet Mary Jones for lunch, they will look for a corresponding phone record and credit card receipt. Any matched records will be clipped together and set aside. Due to the sensitivity of this investigation the initial matches will not be gender oriented. My second level team will make that separation. Right now we have twenty students working around the clock. The manpower for each team is determined by the size of the files. A few of the months required two and three people due to the high volume. I had a devil of a time getting a copy of a 1974 phone book. Luckily, I have a good friend at the phone company who I persuaded to loan it to me for a while.”
“Have your people isolated anyone yet that can be moved to the one-on-one investigation?”
“Yes, sir, we have. Two operatives are checking on women that showed up repeatedly early that year. The first, Sarah Gershwin, apparently went with your father during April and May. They had dinner at a hotel at least eight times. On five of those occasions your father reserved a suite at the hotel. The second lady, Alice Wentworth, saw him during July through November. She might have been from out of town because they always met in New Haven; sometimes staying at a hotel for a long weekend. We haven’t located either of these women yet, but we have a number of leads that look very promising. There is a third possibility. Your father just used the initial “E” in his day-timer. He had at least ten late afternoon meetings with “E” during January and February. There were no corresponding records of hotel or meal expenses tied into these appointments, so maybe they won’t amount to anything. ‘E’ could be a business associate, a man or woman who might have picked up the tab. Could live locally too.
There’s just no way we can tell anything for certain, yet. ‘E’ never shows up after that in the day-timer.”
“How are you handling that one?”
“I’ve assigned one of my top men to go through his phone records for that period of time. Your father spent a
