by Tasha Fawkes
I sat up as I realized something else. If Ethan belonged to Kelli, why had she for all intents and purposes, placed the care of her son every day in the arms of another woman? Why was Kelli so content to let Sarah raise her son? It made no sense, postpartum depression or not. Neither did the fact that Kelli’s body didn’t reflect a single sign of having carried a child for nine months.
Another thought began to burgeon at the back of my brain, one that I didn't even want to consider, but I had gone this far, might as well go the rest of the way. When Kelli got home, I would confront her, but until then, I had one more task.
I quickly left my office and entered Sarah's room, searching for anything she’d left behind, anything that might provide me with a clue as to what the hell was really going on. I opened drawers in the dresser but found none of her clothes. The closet had been emptied. I stepped into the bathroom, finding nothing until I opened the top drawer. It looked like Sarah had neglected to pack any of her toiletries. The drawer held toothpaste, a toothbrush, makeup wipes, and a hairbrush with several strands of long brown hair curled up in the bristles.
Without thinking, I took the brush and toothbrush and headed into the kitchen, where I placed them in a gallon-sized plastic bag. Once again, I called Jack, then the clinic, and made a return trip, a sleeping Ethan in tow, to test the toothbrush or the hair in the hairbrush for mitochondrial DNA.
By midafternoon I had another answer, an answer that I couldn't even fathom.
The clinic had tested the DNA profile from Sarah's hair to Ethan's cheek swab DNA results. A maternal match.
Ethan wasn't my son. He wasn't Kelli's son. He was Sarah's son.
I hadn’t heard from Kelli, and I was unable to get her to answer her phone. I had questions, lots of them. And I had no doubt that Kelli knew where Sarah was.
I had been played for a fool.
My mind's eye flashed through the looks Sarah gave Ethan — her son — and the affection, the concern, the worry every time he was out of her arms. I knew at that moment that Sarah would never willingly leave Ethan, which led me to yet another staggering thought. Was Kelli behind Sarah's disappearance?
Without wasting another moment, I got back on the phone and called Cory Bascom, the head of security for my company. He also worked as a private investigator for the DA's office, but moonlighted for my company on occasion.
After my cutting off his usual pleasantries, he knew there was something wrong and said, “I’m listening.”
I gave him a brief rundown of the situation. “I need to find Kelli, and fast.” I recited her car's license plate number and her cell phone number. Sometimes it paid to have a photographic memory.
“I’ll be able to use a couple of sources to get the location of her phone. I’ll call you back within twenty minutes.”
As far as I was concerned, twenty minutes seemed like hours, but I busied myself by digging through the receipts and bills on my desk, looking for any kind of a trail left by Kelli. I thumbed through bill after bill, finding nothing more than clothing purchases, spa treatments, and some club spots. Until I came to her phone bill, which naturally, she expected me to pay.
I'd never paid attention to her phone bill before, but I noticed the envelope was unusually thick. My hands trembling, my heart still pounding, I ripped open the envelope. It was thick because, for some reason, the phone company had sent call sheets, which I couldn’t remember happening when Kelli and I had been together before. I unfolded them and began going down the rows of her calls. One number stood out, over and over again.
I frowned, picked up my own phone, and scrolled through my contact list. I had everyone on speed dial, so I didn't have anybody's phone numbers memorized. But maybe — there!
I stared at the number on my phone, then the number that Kelli had dialed dozens of times over the past month, most of the conversations under five minutes, but frequently hours and hours of time spent.
Eric.
She'd been calling Eric, my best friend, my COO.
And then it clicked. Right then, I knew without a doubt that Eric was somehow involved in the attempted takeover. Perhaps with Kelli egging him on.
Anger surged through me and I quickly logged onto the network email system at the company. I carefully reviewed not only Eric's work history, but his appointments, and his emails over the past six months.
My suspicions were confirmed. After double-checking and triple-checking, I found emails and video chats that routed back to Graphica. He'd tried to hide them, but as the primary programmer at my company, I knew how to find what I was looking for.
Stunned, I felt like I had been gut-punched again, the wind knocked out of me. A soft groan escaped my chest as I leaned forward, feeling sick to my stomach, resting my forehead on my desk.
I had been betrayed. Worse, I had stepped into the shit without any hesitation. Eric was behind the takeover, and apparently, he and Kelli had something going on the side as well.
It had been a good plan. The takeover bid was the first step. And distracting. Why not add an even bigger distraction? Put a baby on my doorstep, and disrupt my personal life, not only with the baby, but with Kelli trying to make amends and move back in. And I had let her. What had probably surprised them both was that I have fallen in love with Ethan.
I strode from my office and down the hallway toward Ethan's nursery, an overwhelming sense of sadness now taking the place of my anger, disappointment, the sense of betrayal.
I stopped short. And Sarah? What role did she play in all this? Had Kelli lied to her about part of this or did she know everything that was going on?
I wouldn't know until I found Sarah.
I called Cody back, filled him in, gave him Eric's phone number and license plate, and in less than half an hour, he reported back to me.
"They're together."
"Where?"
"That's the odd part. They're down near the docks just north of Long Beach, below Signal Hill. That area is pretty much abandoned, fenced off but with some old oil derricks still working. Right now, I'm up on Signal Hill with binoculars, and I can plainly see both the cars in front of an old workshop that I suppose used to service the derricks out there."
"Call the cops," I said, my mouth dry, my heart pounding so hard I could barely breathe. At the very least, I had proof that Eric was behind an aggressive and hostile takeover of my company. I would file charges. As far as Kelli was concerned, and Sarah and her potential role in all of this, I had no idea.
And then I did something I never thought I would be tempted to do. After I disconnected the call with Cody, I called my dad.
After that, everything happened in a blur.
Nineteen
Sarah
Tied to the chair still, I stiffened when Kelli stopped in the doorway, looking at me smugly. Her head snapped toward the sound of a door bursting open, followed by shouts. The color drained from her face as a deep male voice announced, “The LAPD has this building surrounded.” She glanced back at me with an expression of total shock and dismay.
The security guard who had tied me up surrendered immediately, knowing that his career was over.
I could hear Eric in the front room, trying to claim innocence of the entire deal, but when Joel entered, the voices of the others faded into the background. As quickly as I was taken captive, I was untied, the others placed in handcuffs.
Joel’s cool gaze went over me, then he turned to confront his former best friend. It was at that point I knew he was aware that I too had betrayed him. I had inadvertently played a much larger role in a game I hadn’t known I’d even taken part in by believing Kelli's lies. I could have told him the truth at any time.
As Kelli was being led out of the building in handcuffs, she cried, saying, “I only did it because I love you, Joel, and I wanted to get back together with you.”
Upon hearing those words, Eric let loose with a string of accusations. “You bitch, at least tell the truth now. Or is that the truth after all? Di
d you play me too at the same time?”
I stood, rubbing my wrists, every muscle in my body aching from being tied to the chair, my head pounding, the leftovers from whatever Kelli had used to knock me out. Numb, I watched the police take Kelli and Eric away, along with the soon to be former security guard.
While I was a victim as well—to some degree anyway—Joel avoided me. He seemed to have forgotten the memory of what we had shared together that one time. The camaraderie we’d shared and tried to hide from Kelli. That was what hurt worst of all. It wasn't just Eric and Kelli who had betrayed him or hurt him. I too was to blame and I doubted that I would ever forgive myself for the role I played.
I was taken to the police station, expecting to be arrested along with the others. Eric and Kelli were charged with kidnapping, embezzlement, and a number of other legal issues pertaining to the hostile takeover of Joel’s company. My head was spinning as I was briefly interviewed by the police. I hadn’t been charged with anything yet, and the officer who interviewed me was amenable, which was much more than I deserved.
When the interview was over, one of the police officers approached the interview room, followed by Joel, carrying Ethan.
I wailed when I was reunited with my baby, holding him close. Beyond the door, out in the hallway, stood Joel. I froze at the expression on his face. Pain. His eyes, riveted on Ethan, were bloodshot and he blinked rapidly. I felt sick to my stomach as I saw the brief sheen of tears in his eyes.
Ethan gurgled happily as I wrapped my arms around him, holding him against my chest, and held on for dear life, tears of relief streaming down my face. I hadn’t even thought about what had happened to all my belongings, until Joel placed a suitcase in the hallway and turned and walked away.
A police officer picked up the suitcase and gestured toward me. “It’s packed with the baby’s things.” Then he escorted me from the room.
I held Ethan close, relishing his smell, the nuzzling sounds he made, the feel of him nestled against my chest.
When I exited the hallway into the foyer of the police station, Joel stood at the far end and my heart gave a start. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes riveted to Ethan. A moment later, his father appeared behind him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Before he turned, I caught the sheen of tears in Joel's eyes.
I froze, choking back my own tremulous tears. With a shaking voice, I tried to explain. “I—I wanted to tell you. I didn’t mean for it to go on so long, or for you to love Ethan. Joel, I care about you…”
He shook his head, looked right through me, gave one last glance toward Ethan, then turned his back and stepped out of the police station. His father offered a silent shake of his head and followed.
Even now, three months later, my heart hurt and a lump grew in my throat as I recalled that expression on Joel's face. I sat on the couch that I had gotten from the Salvation Army, staring out my apartment window. I was so ashamed of what I had done, and all for the sake of money. Kelli had played me, just as much she played Joel, and apparently Eric as well, promising that she would marry him as soon as he managed to gain control of the software company.
Money. It was all about money. I was no better than Kelli in that regard.
I didn't think it would ever be possible for me to forget the haunted look on Joel's face, or how I’d felt at that very second. It crowded out my thoughts every night before I went to sleep and every morning when I woke up. Nothing I could do or say would ever make up for the pain I had caused him. Nothing.
I watched Ethan scooching around on his hands and knees in the small playpen nestled between the window and the edge of the couch, smiling, my heart filled with love for him.
Despite my pleasure to be reunited with my son, however, I couldn't forget what had happened, no matter how hard I tried. Things could have turned out worse. Much worse. I tried not to dwell on what had happened three months ago, but there were times, like today, when I just couldn't stop my thoughts from going there.
Darkness still bothered me, and ever since that day, I’d plugged nightlights in to illuminate my room while I slept, first at the shelter for a couple of nights, and then throughout the small apartment Ethan and I now lived in. I just couldn’t wake in the dark without reliving the nightmare.
That day, finding out the truth of Kelli's deceit, and then fearing for my own life, I realized what a complete, naïve fool I had been. Though I had convinced myself I was doing it all for Ethan, I should have known that anything that sounded too good to be true generally was. My own greed for money had compelled me to take the job. It didn't matter that I had been desperate. I had allowed myself to become a part of a horrible plan, one that hurt a man I had grown to care deeply for.
Ethan wasn't the worse for wear, and even after what I had been through, I considered myself fortunate as well. The person who'd taken the worst brunt of this terrible plan was Joel.
I still wasn’t exactly sure how my rescue came about, but from what I gathered from Cory, the head of security at Joel’s company and also an investigator with the DA's office, Joel had grown suspicious the moment I disappeared. He had correctly sensed that I would never have left Ethan of my own accord. And he had found out that not only was he not Ethan's father, but Kelli wasn't his mother. Cory had told me that he'd tracked Eric and Kelli's phones to the workshop, then notified the police and the SWAT team.
While Joel had brought charges against Eric and Kelli, he really had nothing to charge me with other than the most awful of deceits. I had not abandoned Ethan into his care, had not neglected him, and I'd make sure he was well cared for. If there could be a punishment for deceit, other than the heavy shroud of guilt that constantly lay over my shoulders, I was sure I would have been charged with something.
I’d learned through the newspaper that Joel had fully regained control of his software company, and that several of Graphica's board of directors and some staff, along with Eric, were going to be brought up on charges including bribery, threatening, and tampering, among others. After that first article, I didn't want to read anymore.
In spite of my guilt, in spite of my reticence to forgive myself for what I had done, things were looking better for me and Ethan. After the debacle, I spent a couple days at a homeless shelter again, trying to figure out what I was going to do. I had the money that had been deposited into an account for me by Kelli, but I found that I couldn't touch it. It was dirty money and now I no longer wanted any part of it. I wrote a check to the homeless shelter for the full amount, to use as they saw fit.
The second day I was at the shelter, just appreciative of the fact that Ethan was once again in my arms, a middle-aged man with a kind face came in to interview several of the women. He spoke with me, and after some consideration, offered me a part-time administrative job at his health care clinic in Buena Park. He’d explained that his daughter had run away from home young and been sheltered there for a time when she’d given birth and had been too afraid to return home. He’d wanted to pay it forward.
I accepted. Along with the job, he offered to pay half of my rent on an apartment nearby for the duration of one year — an apartment close enough that I could walk to work. The job was part-time for a probationary period, and then I could go full time if I wanted to. A day care center was located between my apartment and the clinic, and I made arrangements with the owner for part-time child care in exchange for my working for free at the daycare one weekday and a half day on Saturdays.
All in all, things were looking up. The apartment certainly wasn't anything like Joel's house, but it was certainly better than living in the cramped shelter. I, for one, wasn’t going to complain. Ever again.
I was carefully saving up what little I could, planning on going back to school to pursue my dream to someday become a nurse. My new boss, David Reed, said that when the time came, we would work something out with my schedule and possible financial support for my schooling if I agreed to work at the clinic for a certain num
ber of years following my graduation.
I was still exploring exactly what options I had and what field I wanted to go into, but I couldn't ask for more, especially after... after what I had done. I had been wary about Reed at first, but I’d had him checked out before agreeing to employment at his clinic. I’d learned my lesson. But he was genuine, and now I was the grateful recipient of the generosity and support of a local philanthropist who, apparently, often made such gestures to those he found in shelters looking for a hand up, and not a handout.
It was a start, and it would take me a long while to get where I wanted to be, but I was determined to do things right this time. Never again would I do something that my parents might be ashamed of.
I knew that eventually, I would have to testify against Kelli and Eric in a court of law, and I dreaded it. I would have to tell the court and the jury my own despicable role in hurting the one person other than Ethan that I cared about most in the world.
I often thought about Joel, wondered how he was faring. Wishing that once again, I could take a stroll with him in Griffith Park, look up into his handsome face, and watch the way the emotions so apparent in his gaze told me he cared so deeply for Ethan.
Tears blurred my vision as I gazed down at Ethan, sleeping now, his thumb in his mouth, as my heart ached for what might have been.
Twenty
Joel
I sat on a wooden bench, not far from the Los Feliz Boulevard entrance to Griffith Park, just past the pony and train rides. From my position, I was able to watch people strolling into the park and heading for the merry-go-round, the picnic areas, or one of several walking trails that branched off from the entrance nearby.
Lifting my face to the warm California sunshine, I closed my eyes and inhaled the scent of eucalyptus and pinon pine… and the ponies, hotdogs cooking on the grill, and freshly popped popcorn. I’d come here every day for the past couple of weeks, hoping to get a glimpse of her… and Ethan.
