by J. S. Cooper
I realized then that he really did think that my mom had slept with his dad. Someone had to have put that in his head, someone who wanted to pit us against each other. The woman in the photo was not my mom, but he seemed convinced it was her. Had David told him that? And if so, why? I needed to talk to Larry right away. I was going to have to help his wife locate him.
Now was the time for me to start getting the answers I needed. A ray of hope flickered in my heart. Maybe Jakob wasn’t so bad after all. Someone else was orchestrating these lies, but I didn’t know who or why. I needed to find out what was going on, but now it was for more than just my parents. It was for my relationship with Jakob as well.
The good thing about staying in cheap hotels is that they always have a Yellow Pages. I stared at the address that I’d scribbled on a scrap of paper and smiled. The address had matched up with the phone number I’d called for Larry. This had to be right.
“Will you need me to wait for you?” the cabdriver asked as he drove down the long, tree-lined street in Syosset.
“No, I’ll be fine. Thank you.” I shook my head and ignored the doubt that had crept into my mind. I didn’t even know if Mrs. Renee would be home or if she would see me, but there was no way I could pay the waiting fee for the cab. I didn’t have much money left and I had to stretch what I had. I couldn’t afford to be taking so many taxi rides after this; not until I started working again. This had been an extravagance I’d allowed myself because of my eagerness to see Mrs. Renee, but I couldn’t afford to spend all my cash on transportation.
“You live out here? It’s a nice place.”
“No, I’m visiting a friend.”
“It’s one of the nicer parts of Long Island.” We drove past huge houses. “I’m a Staten Island guy myself.”
“That’s nice,” I said politely.
“Not really, but that’s where my family is. If I could afford it, I’d move to a big high-rise on Park Avenue with a doorman and all that shit.”
“You and me both.” I laughed.
“Yeah, but what we going to do?” He laughed. “People just gotta make do.”
“Yeah.” I sat back and looked out the window, feeling slightly put out. I couldn’t afford to live on Park Avenue or in a building with a doorman, but maybe I would have been living that lifestyle if Jeremiah Bradley hadn’t ripped off my dad’s inventions.
“We can’t all be Donald Trump.” The driver chuckled. “If you don’t have billions like The Donald, you’re just a schmuck in New York.”
“I guess we’re both schmucks, then.” I laughed and tried to ignore the feeling of entitlement that had coursed through me at his words. Maybe I wasn't meant to be a schmuck like him. Maybe my father was meant to have riches like Donald Trump. Maybe the cabdriver was assuming things he knew nothing about. I sighed as I felt myself becoming riled up. Maybe I was being oversensitive . . .
“This is it.” He pulled up a long driveway to a house that looked like a miniversion of the White House. “Your friend has a lot of money.”
“More money than I thought.” I handed him some twenties and got out of the car. “Keep the change.”
“Thanks.” He grinned as he backed out. “Have a fun time.”
“I’ll try,” I mumbled as I watched him back out of the driveway and walked to the front door. This was it, then. In all the years I’d known Larry, I’d never thought he was rich. I’d only seen him a few times. I’d never gotten the feeling that he was super successful. I rang the doorbell and waited. And waited. Then I rang the doorbell again. I took a few steps back and looked up at the house. The curtain at a window on the right side of the house moved slightly and I walked back to the door and banged hard.
“Mrs. Renee, it’s me, Bianca London. Please open up,” I said loudly as I banged and rang the doorbell again. A few seconds later the door opened slightly.
“You shouldn’t be here.” Her voice sounded panicked.
“Please, Mrs. Renee, I need to talk to you.”
“You need to leave, Bianca.” She made to close the door again and I pushed against it.
“Please, I won’t stay long. I just need to talk to you.” I pushed the door harder. “I’m not leaving until we talk.”
“Come in, then.” She opened the door a few more inches and I stepped in swiftly before she slammed it shut again. I stared at her small, worried figure and frowned. She looked as if she’d just seen a ghost. Her white hair looked unkempt and she was wearing a dirty white blouse with a pair of black sweats.
“Have you heard from Larry?” I asked her softly, looking around the dark hallway as we stood there.
She nodded, her eyes huge as she stared at me. “He’s in hiding.”
“So he wasn’t kidnapped?”
“No.” She shook her head. “What do you want?”
“I need to speak to him. I need him to explain what he meant about the papers he gave me. I need to understand the clues.”
“I’m sorry, but that won’t be possible.” She shook her head. “He can’t help you anymore.”
“Why is he so scared? Who is he scared of?”
“They’re not good people. He’s a monster.”
“Who’s a monster?” I took a step toward her. “Who’s a monster?”
“You need to leave, Bianca. They know you’re here. They know everything. I can’t say anything. If I do, he’ll know. He’ll know and he’ll kill me and Larry.”
“What do you know that they will kill you about?” I grabbed her arms. “What is going on here?”
“It wasn’t meant to be like this.” She shook her head. “Larry didn’t know, not in the beginning. He thought they were good people, but they were all bad. They’ll ruin Larry if he says anything. That’s not right. He didn’t know, he really didn’t know.”
“What didn’t he know?”
“This isn’t your fight, Bianca. Leave this place. Leave New York. Go anywhere, anywhere else in the world. You don’t have to let them manipulate you.”
“The papers that Larry gave me, they said that my father was a rightful partner in Bradley Inc. Many of the patents were in his name. When did he give away his rights? Or did he even give them away?”
Her face was still as she contemplated my face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Your dad didn’t give any of his rights away.” She walked down the hallway and into the kitchen. I followed her and watched as she picked up a pen and a pad of paper. “Would you like a drink? Some tea perhaps?” she asked me softly, and scribbled something down and held it up: They hear everything.
“Tea would be fine, thanks.” I frowned and watched as she scribbled something else, motioning me over to look at the notepad.
They have already threatened to kill us.
“Who?” I asked, then slapped my mouth. “Who are you going to . . .” My voice trailed off as she frowned at me and handed me the pen and paper. I scribbled quickly, Who is threatening you? The Bradleys?
She shook her head vehemently and pursed her lips before turning around and turning the kettle on. “Would you like milk and sugar?” she asked brightly.
“Sure.”
“How many?”
“A little milk and two sugars please.” I didn’t hide my impatience well.
“Okay.” She took some cups from the cupboard and then scribbled down something else. The last threat I received was from Maxwell’s wife.
“What?” My jaw dropped and my mind was racing. Maxwell’s wife. Everything seemed to go back to the mysterious Maxwells. I grabbed the pen and paper and wrote quickly, I need to talk to Larry—NOW. I showed her the paper and she shook her head, her face going white.
“We have to get to the bottom of this,” I whispered in her ear. “Or it’s never going to end.”
“I can’t,” she whispered urgently. “He can’t talk to you.”
“I was kidnapped and lied to. I need to know why. Larry owes me this. And my father. My father trusted him.”
She
looked up at me and I could see the worry in the lines of her face before she covered her eyes with her leathery, trembling fingers. I touched her arm and was surprised by how cold she was.
“Please, Mrs. Renee. It’s the only option we have. If Larry doesn’t talk to me, I can’t help him. I can’t solve this mystery and you can’t go back to your previous existence. Let me speak to him.”
She remained silent for seconds that felt like days as I waited. Finally, she nodded her head, as though she’d won an internal argument with herself.
“Not here.” She took a deep breath. “It won’t be safe here.”
seven
We sat in the diner in a corner booth and I stared at the pay phone next to the toilets.
“This is why I love Yelp.” I smiled at her. “All I did is type in pay phones and I found this place.”
“I didn’t know they even had pay phones anymore.” Mrs. Renee looked at me bleakly as she nibbled on her toast.
“They won’t have tapped the pay phone.” I leaned forward. “But if they’re watching us, they will know we’re up to something. I need to call and speak to him now.”
“He won’t like it.” She looked nervous.
“He might not like it, but how long can he stay in hiding? How long can I sit around and wait to see what’s going to happen to me next? I was kidnapped and I don’t know why. I’m sleeping with a man I don’t . . .” I sighed. “I don’t want to get into all the details. Please just give me the phone number.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’ll call it and you can talk to him, but I’m not giving you the number.”
“Fine.” I nodded eagerly and handed her some quarters. “Here you go.”
She took them from me and walked to the pay phone, looking behind her as she picked up the phone and quickly dialed. I watched as she talked into the phone and then waved me over.
I jumped up quickly and grabbed the phone from her. “Uncle Larry, it’s Bianca.”
“You shouldn’t be calling me, Bianca.” He sounded old and worried.
“They kidnapped me, Larry. They drugged me and kidnapped me. I deserve to know what’s going on.”
“You shouldn’t have gone to that shareholders’ meeting. I never should have gotten you that proxy access.”
“Why? What are they afraid of?”
“I’m sorry, Bianca. I’m responsible for a huge lie.”
“What huge lie? Did you know that Mattias was going to pretend to be Jakob and—”
“You met Jakob?” he cut me off, his voice keen.
“Yes, he’s the one who kidnapped me. David told him I was looking for Mattias. He’s Mattias, he—”
“Listen to me, Bianca, forget about Mattias Bradley.”
“How am I supposed to forget—”
“The clues lead you past Mattias Bradley.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mattias Bradley means nothing. He can’t and won’t hurt you.”
“I don’t understand, Larry.”
“Mr. Bradley senior, he knew what he was doing, Bianca. We all knew what he was doing. It was a game in the beginning. All of us thought it was a game, me, your father, Bradley, Maxwell. And then Bradley started cheating on his wife and things got complicated. It was okay at first, it was just random women—but then it was Maxwell’s wife and that’s when everything changed.”
“What do you mean?”
“That ruined everything.”
“I don’t understand.”
“None of us were innocent, Bianca.” His voice was lowered. “We all did things we shouldn’t have; even your father.”
“What did my father do?”
“You have a sibling, Bianca.” Larry’s voice dropped.
“What?” I shook my head in confusion. “No, that’s impossible. I’m an only child.”
“You have a sibling.”
“I don’t understand.” My head felt heavy as I stared at the phone. “How is that possible?”
“Your dad had another child.”
“What?” My voice rose. “No, he can’t have. He never told me he had another child.”
“He didn’t find out until later.” Larry’s voice dropped. “There are things you don’t know, Bianca. Things you shouldn’t know. You need to just drop whatever it is you’re doing. Your father made a huge mistake. One that he paid for dearly.”
“What do you know, Uncle Larry?” I leaned forward, my heart beating rapidly as I gripped the phone. “You need to tell me.”
“I’ve already told you too much.”
“How is this all linked? Why are you hiding? What do you know?” I paused. “Are they scared that I want money? Do I have a brother or a sister?” I rambled on, my mind whirling with a million questions.
“This isn’t about money. There are things you don’t know. Things that certain people will do anything to keep private.”
“And you know these secrets?”
“I know some of them. I don’t know enough. I had hoped you could find out. You need to look at the paperwork I gave you again. There’s something in there—” The phone went dead.
“Larry?” I asked frantically. “Larry?” I looked at his wife. “You need to call him back. The phone went dead. Call him back!”
She grabbed the phone, her face white as she dialed the numbers again. “It’s disconnected.” The fear in her eyes was impenetrable.
“Try it again, that can’t be right,” I demanded, and watched as she pressed the numbers.
“It says the number you’re trying to call is no longer in service.” Her voice cracked and she looked at me in hatred. “What have you done, Bianca? What have you done?”
eight
“Pick up the phone, pick up the phone,” I mumbled to myself as I listened to the ringing tones. “Come on, Rosie.”
“Hello.” Her voice was soft. “Bianca? Is everything okay?”
“No.” I gulped. “It’s really not.”
“Where are you? What’s wrong?”
“I’m in Riverside Park. I’m sitting on a park bench across from two elderly men and I think I’m about to lose it.”
“Why? What happened?”
“I spoke to Larry, my father’s attorney. He went into hiding because he’s scared of the Bradley brothers. He thinks they’re going to kill him. I’m not sure why. And he told me . . . I have a sibling.”
“What?” Rosie sounded shocked. “But you’re an only child.”
“What if my mom really did have an affair and gave the child up?” I closed my eyes. “Oh my God, I can’t even believe I said that. What is this craziness?”
“I’m going to come and see you. Where in Riverside Park? What cross streets?”
“No, don’t come. I need to go find a locksmith so I can get my locks changed.”
“Why are you changing your locks?”
“Seems like the smartest thing to do. Too many people seem to have access to my apartment.”
“I don’t even know what to say, Bianca. It sounds like a bad dream or some sort of thriller movie.”
“Actually I feel like I’m in an episode of that new TV show Stalker. Only every week the focus is on me.”
“Mattias Bradley must really want you to keep your hands off of the family company.”
“Yeah, him or David. Or maybe even someone else.”
“Someone else?”
“I think someone else is involved. It doesn’t make sense that David and Jakob would be warning me away from each other if they were working together.”
“Well, out of the two, David seems the most trustworthy. He isn’t the one that kidnapped you.”
“Yeah, you would think that would make me trust him more, but for some reason it makes me trust him less. In fact, I think I’m going to talk to Jakob. I’m going to let him explain what happened.”
“Are you crazy? He kidnapped you.”
“And he let me go. Yeah, maybe this is part of the trap. Maybe he let me go so that I would
trust him again. I don’t know if I trust him, but I do know that between him and David I trust him more.”
“Girl, that doesn’t even make sense. Let me come get you. Tell me everything Larry said and we’ll see what we can figure out together.”
“Thanks, I . . .” Beep beep. “Rosie, I have to go. I’m getting a call from the history department.”
“Oh, okay. Do you want to meet up later?”
“I’ll let you know,” I said quickly, then answered the other line. “Hello?”
“Bianca London, is that you? It’s Blake!” His voice was cheery and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. I was surprised to hear the sound of my old friend’s voice, but oh so grateful.
“Blake, it’s so good to hear from you!”
“You too, stranger.” I could hear in his tone that he wasn’t joking. “I’ve been calling you for ages. What’s going on? I go to France for a few semesters to do some research, and when I come back, you’ve dropped out of the program and won’t return my calls.”
“Oh, Blake, it wasn’t personal. You know that, right?” I sighed. “I’m sorry I haven’t called.”
“Yeah, I kinda expect my friends to call me back, maybe that’s old-fashioned of me?”
“Don’t be a doofus.” I sighed.
“I thought you were mad because I asked you out before I went away. I didn’t mean to pressure you.”
“Blake, my dad died—and some really weird stuff has been happening.”
“Oh yeah? Weird how?”
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.” I sighed again.
“I’m a history major and I just got back from France with so many ghost stories that I could put the SyFy channel out of business. Trust me, I’d believe whatever you told me.”
“How was France? And what ghost stories?” I laughed, confused by his admission.
“Lots of farmhouses in the suburbs of Paris were used to hide Jews from the Nazis. Lots of Jews and soldiers died, and, well, let’s just say their spirits haven’t quite moved on.”
