by Kathi Daley
A lot had happened since the time Ivana had run away from Henderson, but at this point, both Ivana and her daughter were dead.
After we discovered the background relating to the woman who seemed to have been connected to whatever was going on with my father, Tony and I widened the parameters of our search. Eventually, Tony received an email containing the name Darwin Norlander. As it turned out, Darwin Norlander had been an associate of Layton Henderson until eight months before the email had been sent, at which time the two had gone their separate ways. We began to suspect that Norlander might have been the man behind Star’s death but needed proof. I supposed, based on the way things worked out, we’d never get that proof, but given the fact that Norlander was looking for my father and would most likely have killed Tony if given the chance, Mike, Tony, and I all felt that Norlander was the killer we’d been looking for.
Our research eventually led to a showdown at Tony’s home just before Christmas. Norlander had shown up at his house, needing Tony’s help finding my father. I’m sure once Tony did as was asked of him, Norlander planned to kill him, but my dad showed up at the eleventh hour and saved the day. Of course, as soon as Norlander was good and dead, my dad disappeared, and the dreams I’d been having started showing up almost every night. At this point, I didn’t know where my dad was or how his activities from the past might continue to affect us, but based on the dreams that seemed to serve as some sort of a warning, I doubted whatever was destined to happen, had completely played itself out.
“Can I get you some water?” Tony asked, still holding me tightly.
I shook my head. “I’ll get it. I think I’m just going to get up.” I glanced at the clock, which read four twenty-two. “I doubt I’ll get back to sleep anyway.”
“I’ll get up with you,” he offered. “We can curl up on the sofa in front of the fire and wait for the sun to make its way over the horizon.”
“You don’t have to get up with me. You had a long day yesterday, and we’re going to have a long day today. You’ll be exhausted if you don’t go back to sleep.”
“I want to get up with you. I’ll make us some coffee, and once we wake up a bit, I’ll rustle up something for breakfast.”
I appreciated the fact that Tony always got up with me when the nightmare returned, which had been happening more and more frequently as of late. The interruptions to my sleep pattern had been taking a toll on me, and I knew Tony was worried about my overall health.
“I feel like these dreams have a purpose,” I said to Tony after he handed me a cup of freshly brewed coffee. My cats, Tang and Tinder, curled up on the sofa with Tony and me, while my dog, Tilly, and his dog, Titan, curled up in front of the fire and went back to sleep.
“What sort of purpose?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ve considered the fact that my subconscious mind knows something important that my conscious mind has blocked. I suppose the dreams could be my subconscious needling me to pay attention to something I otherwise might not have.” I took a sip of the coffee before I continued. “Another explanation is that I’ve developed psychic powers in the past few months, and I’m channeling something which has already happened or will happen in the future.”
“I’m not sure that you’ve developed psychic powers in the past few months, but I do think the whole thing we went through at Christmas with Star and your father might have left a deep impression you haven’t fully dealt with yet. Maybe the dreams are simply your way of figuring everything out.”
I shrugged. “Perhaps. It does seem like things have grown increasingly complicated since we found the first photo of my father.” I laid my head on Tony’s shoulder. “To be honest, I feel like we’ve only exposed the tip of the iceberg. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. It’s like I know somewhere deep inside that something truly horrific is going to happen, and when it does, I’m going to realize I should have seen it coming. When this horrible thing happens, I’ll realize that if I had seen it coming, I would have been able to stop it from happening.”
“It sounds like you are taking on a level of responsibility that perhaps is not yours to bear.”
I turned my head and glanced at Tony. “Isn’t it? I feel like, in some cosmic way, everything that has happened since we found the first photo is my fault. I know that Star hired a detective and went looking for answers to her past independent of my searching for answers to my past, and logically nothing I did or didn’t do would have changed the outcome of that situation. Still, I can’t help but feel at least partially responsible for what happened. I know it isn’t logical to feel this way, but none the less, it’s how I feel.”
“I can see that you are becoming even more stressed than you were when you first woke from the dream. Maybe we should talk about something else for a while,” Tony suggested.
“That would be nice, but I’m much too distracted to think about anything else right now. I can’t help but wonder if my dad is still alive. I know he was here in December, and that he was alive and well then, but he had very bad men after him, and we haven’t heard a word from him since. I really thought after everything that happened, we would hear from him. The fact that we haven’t has me terrified.”
“I’ve heard from him,” Tony said.
I raised my head off his shoulder. “You’ve heard from him? What do you mean you’ve heard from him? Have you been keeping things from me?”
He nodded his head slightly. “I wanted to tell you that he’d contacted me, but he asked me not to. He convinced me that telling you would put you in danger.”
“Telling me what?” I demanded. “I am right here in the middle of this. I have the right to know what is going on.”
Tony flinched. “I don’t disagree. It’s just that…”
“Just that what?” I screeched. I supposed that the sleep deprivation I’d been experiencing might have led to a slight overreaction, but my emotions were high and my need to express myself strong. “What possible reason could you have for keeping this from me? You know I’ve been having the nightmares. You know how worried I’ve been.”
“I do know, which I guess is why I decided to keep things to myself until I could look into them further.”
“I don’t need you to protect me. I need you to include me. I need you to be honest with me.”
Tony took a deep breath. He hugged me tighter as if he feared I’d flutter away. “I know. I’m sorry. I should have told you what was going on.”
“So, tell me now.”
He let out a long breath and then began to speak in a voice riddled with hesitation. “A few weeks ago, I received an encrypted email from an unknown server to an account I own that is totally secret and has only been used for a single purpose a long time ago. I knew right away that the email had to be from your father since no one else in my life has the skill required to get into this particular account. I responded to the short message, and we began a dialogue, which led to him ask me for a favor.”
“Favor? What kind of a favor?”
“He wants me to track down three people, all women.”
“Women?”
“Apparently, Star wasn’t the only baby produced by Henderson and his human engineering team back in the nineteen eighties. According to your father, Ivana Kowalski wasn’t the only mother he helped escape.”
“So, he’s looking for the other children?”
Tony nodded. “He’s looking for the other mothers who escaped, but most likely the other children as well. Although, these children are no longer children, and are in fact, all over forty by this point. He wants me to track down these individuals and then inform him of their whereabouts.”
I couldn’t help but frown. “My father seems to be very capable. Why doesn’t he simply track them down himself?”
“He told me he’s hesitant to search for these women on his own since he is being watched. The last thing he wants to do is inadvertently lead Henderson to these individuals.”
I sl
owly shook my head. “No. This feels wrong. You haven’t found any of these women have you?”
“Not yet,” Tony admitted. “Your dad didn’t give me much to go on. In fact, he gave me almost nothing to go on. But I have been doing some digging.”
“What if the email isn’t from my dad? What if it’s from someone associated with Layton Henderson who wants to harm these individuals and is using you to find them?”
Tony pulled away just a bit. “I did consider that, but it seemed as if this individual knew things only your dad would know. I really think the emails are from him.”
“No. He wouldn’t ask for help. My dad never asks for help, even when he clearly needs it. Besides, if the emails really are from my dad, why exclude me?”
“I told you. He wants to keep you safe. I want to keep you safe.”
I got up from my place on the sofa and began to pace around the room. “I don’t think that is what’s going on. I think the person behind the emails told you not to involve me because he or she knows that I would know stuff about my dad that you wouldn’t know. Things he should know that I could use as a test to prove his identity.”
Tony’s brow furrowed in thought. “You think that is what’s going on?”
I nodded. “I do. Let’s test that theory. Email the person and ask him something only Grant Thomas would know.”
“Okay. Like what?” Tony asked.
I paused to consider this. I needed to come up with something that only my dad and I would know. Something even Mike or my mom didn’t know. Something even the best hacker couldn’t find on the web. I also wanted to have Tony ask a question that wouldn’t tip the person on the other end of the emails off that we were onto them. If we could prove the person who approached Tony was not my father, we might still be able to use this contact with this person to gather information for our own use.
“Email the man and tell him that you are going to send him an encrypted file. Tell him that the password to that file is the name of the sick puppy in the story he made up to help me feel better the summer I got the chickenpox when my mom was out of town visiting her family.”
“Do you think he would remember a detail like that?” Tony asked.
“He’ll remember. If he says he doesn’t, then the man you’re corresponding with is not my father, if he says okay, we’ll send him an encrypted file that simply lets him know we decided to conduct our own test. If the person behind the email is my dad, he’ll appreciate that. If it isn’t my dad, at least we’ll know before we provide information to him that we wouldn’t want anyone other than Grant Thomas to have.”
Books by Kathi Daley
Come for the murder, stay for the romance
The Inn at Holiday Bay:
Boxes in the Basement
Letters in the Library
Message in the Mantel
Answers in the Attic
Haunting in the Hallway
Pilgrim in the Parlor
Note in the Nutcracker
Blizzard in the Bay
Proof in the Photo – March 2020
Gossip in the Garden – May 2020
A Cat in the Attic Mystery:
The Curse of Hollister House
The Mystery Before Christmas
The Case of the Cupid Caper
The Secret of Logan Pond – March 2020
Reunion Trilogy — Island Reunion
Summerhouse Reunion – April 2020
Topsail Sunday’s – May 2020
Campfire Secrets – June 2020
Zoe Donovan Cozy Mystery:
Halloween Hijinks
The Trouble With Turkeys
Christmas Crazy
Cupid’s Curse
Big Bunny Bump-off
Beach Blanket Barbie
Maui Madness
Derby Divas
Haunted Hamlet
Turkeys, Tuxes, and Tabbies
Christmas Cozy
Alaskan Alliance
Matrimony Meltdown
Soul Surrender
Heavenly Honeymoon
Hopscotch Homicide
Ghostly Graveyard
Santa Sleuth
Shamrock Shenanigans
Kitten Kaboodle
Costume Catastrophe
Candy Cane Caper
Holiday Hangover
Easter Escapade
Camp Carter
Trick or Treason
Reindeer Roundup
Hippity Hoppity Homicide
Firework Fiasco
Henderson House
Holiday Hostage
Lunacy Lake
Celtic Christmas
Zimmerman Academy The New Normal
Zimmerman Academy New Beginnings
Ashton Falls Cozy Cookbook
Whales and Tails Cozy Mystery:
Romeow and Juliet
The Mad Catter
Grimm’s Furry Tail
Much Ado About Felines
Legend of Tabby Hollow
Cat of Christmas Past
A Tale of Two Tabbies
The Great Catsby
Count Catula
The Cat of Christmas Present
A Winter’s Tail
The Taming of the Tabby
Frankencat
The Cat of Christmas Future
Farewell to Felines
A Whisker in Time
The Catsgiving Feast
A Whale of a Tail
The Catnap Before Christmas
A Mew Beginning – Publishing 2020
A Tess and Tilly Mystery:
The Christmas Letter
The Valentine Mystery
The Mother’s Day Mishap
The Halloween House
The Thanksgiving Trip
The Saint Paddy’s Promise
The Halloween Haunting
The Christmas Clause
The Firework Folly – June 2020
Rescue Alaska Mystery:
Finding Justice
Finding Answers
Finding Courage
Finding Christmas
Finding Shelter – Spring 2020
The Hathaway Sisters:
Harper
Harlow
Hayden – Publishing 2020
Writers’ Retreat Mystery:
First Case
Second Look
Third Strike
Fourth Victim
Fifth Night
Sixth Cabin
Seventh Chapter
Eighth Witness
Ninth Grave
Haunting by the Sea:
Homecoming by the Sea
Secrets by the Sea
Missing by the Sea
Betrayal by the Sea
Thanksgiving by the Sea
Christmas by the Sea
Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mystery:
Pumpkins in Paradise
Snowmen in Paradise
Bikinis in Paradise
Christmas in Paradise
Puppies in Paradise
Halloween in Paradise
Treasure in Paradise
Fireworks in Paradise
Beaches in Paradise
Thanksgiving in Paradise
Sand and Sea Hawaiian Mystery:
Murder at Dolphin Bay
Murder at Sunrise Beach
Murder at the Witching Hour
Murder at Christmas
Murder at Turtle Cove
Murder at Water’s Edge
Murder at Midnight
Murder at Pope Investigations
Seacliff High Mystery:
The Secret
The Curse
The Relic
The Conspiracy
The Grudge
The Shadow
The Haunting
Road to Christmas Romance:
Road to Christmas Past
USA Today best-selling author Kathi Daley lives in beautiful Lake Tahoe with her husband Ken. When she isn’t writing, she likes spending time hiking t
he miles of desolate trails surrounding her home. She has authored more than a hundred books in twelve series. Find out more about her books at www.kathidaley.com
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