A Family Affair

by Marilyn McPherson

Chapter Twenty-Six

  Ellen saw Tom waiting for her outside the rendered grey facade of the city’s main police station. It was obvious that he had taken precautions against being recognised - he was wearing one of his baseball caps pulled low and dark sunglasses. The disguise looked out of place with his business attire and was also unsuitable for this overcast, grey weather. However, it was working, and Ellen realised that nobody but her would recognise the man as Tom Bradley. It was his frenzied pacing which gave him away. He was obviously feeling the same desperate urgency that she was, having been separated for so long. Ellen quickened her steps towards him.

  Relief washed over Tom’s face when he saw Ellen, and his arms swept her up into a tight embrace. “Elle, I missed you so much. I’ve been going crazy without you.” He covered her face and lips in small kisses.

  “I missed you too. You’re all I thought about.”

  “If I’d known you were being held against your will, I would have done anything to find you. I would have been searching for you myself. I thought... I thought you didn’t want to see me.”

  “I would never want that.”

  They kissed with more passion than Ellen could remember feeling before. It was so easy to push all the doubt and negativity away. Tom loved her, and no one else. She felt his longing and need for her. Chloe had been confused and mistaken.

  Suddenly, a voice of reason pushed its way into Ellen’s consciousness. There were a number of issues to be addressed, and this was not the time for enjoying the overwhelming feelings that kissing Tom was providing. The voice gave her strength, and she pulled herself out of Tom’s arms. There was also a DNA test to organise before they should kiss again. “I’m sorry, Tom. I just need to deal with a few issues first, before I can think about us.”

  “No, I’m sorry. You’re right. We need to deal with this matter, before we celebrate being together again. Forgive me.”

  “We will celebrate when this is over. I promise.”

  Tom held Ellen’s hand as they entered the police station, whereby Ellen identified herself.

  A look of recognition clicked in the officer’s face, and he quickly led them into an interview room, away from the public entrance. After a few minutes, another officer entered the room, introduced himself, and informed Tom and Ellen that a recording device was now active. Ellen nodded, and recapped the details of her ordeal.

  Suddenly, the officer asked a question which caught Ellen off guard. “Do you think this man targeted you for any particular reason?”

  Ellen realised, too late, that she should have spoken to Tom before making a statement. The last thing she wanted was to implicate him in this matter, or to shock him with details he was unprepared for.

  Tom seemed to understand. “It’s okay, Ellen,” he said. “Just answer the question honestly.”

  Ellen nodded. “The man never told me his name, but he said he was a friend of my biological mother, Colleen Watson. I wrote down some of his number plate.”

  Both sets of eyes facing Ellen suddenly widened in shock and surprise. Ellen could tell what Tom was thinking, and wanted to tell him that everything would be okay.

  The officer spoke first. “You don’t mean... are you talking about the victim killed in the recent bank robbery?”

  “Yes.”

  “Let me get this straight,” he continued. “Your mother was murdered recently, and a friend of your mothers decides to kidnap you afterwards.”

  “Yes.”

  “For what purpose would he do that? Why would he want to target you because of your connection to Colleen?”

  “He wanted to hurt Tom.” Ellen saw Tom’s eyes widen. “He tried to convince me to break up with Tom while I was held captive. He blames Tom for Colleen’s death.”

  “Why is that?” The officer looked suspiciously at Tom.

  “Apparently Colleen was at the bank collecting money that Tom had agreed to give her, when it happened.”

  “You mean the murder.”

  “Yes.”

  The officer looked towards Tom again, whose colour had drained out of his face. Tom suddenly came to, and shook his head a little. “I contacted the police when I heard about the shooting,” he said. “My statement should be on the file.” Tom turned towards Ellen. “I don’t understand. You told me that your parents live in Mansfield.”

  “I recently found out that I was adopted.”

  “This can’t be.” Tom shook his head, and touched his lips.

  Ellen knew he was thinking about their kiss.

  “What’s going on?” asked the officer, confused by their conversation.

  Ellen ignored the officer’s question, and focussed on Tom’s obvious horror. “Tom, I’m not your daughter, if that’s what you are thinking.”

  “Did Colleen have another child?”

  “No. I believe she was mistaken about my paternity.” Ellen turned to the police officer to try and explain. “The man who took me believed that Tom was my biological father because this is what Colleen had told him. They were both concerned about the nature of our relationship,” Ellen said, indicating towards Tom and herself.

  “I see.” The officer looked between the two of them, confused and worried about where the conversation had gone. “And that’s because the two of you are together, I presume.”

  Tom remained silent.

  “Yes,” Ellen answered.

  “Go on.”

  “Wait,” Tom said. “If I’m not your father, then who is?”

  This was the question Ellen didn’t want to be asked. There should be no more lies between them, but Hayden wanted his role in her life to remain unspoken. “I... I don’t know,” she mumbled.

  “How do you know that I’m not your father then?”

  The officer made a weird face, before stating, “Listen. Let’s just finish dealing with the matter of the kidnapping, if you don’t mind.”

  “Of course. I’m sorry, officer,” Tom said, apologetically.

  “Is there anything else you can tell us about the man in question?” the officer asked.

  “No,” said Ellen. “But I saw his face without a mask for a couple of seconds, so I could work with someone to come up with a sketch.”

  “Yes, that might be handy. Well, I think we have enough for the moment. Why don’t the two of you stay here for a few more minutes and talk?”

  Ellen nodded. There was so much to talk though. “Thank you.”

  “I’m going to turn the recording device off as well,” the officer said, turning a switch on the wall, as he walked out, shutting the door behind him.

  “Elle, it seems that we have both kept some secrets from each other.”

  Ellen looked at him – her eyes pleading to be forgiven.

  Instead, he apologised. “I should have told you about the daughter Colleen and I gave up all those years ago. I was only a teenager, you see. It seems like a lifetime ago.”

  “And she came to visit you recently?”

  “Yes.” Tom looked up with sadness in his eyes. “I should have told you about that too. How did you know?”

  “He told me.”

  “Of course.”

  “He told me that you paid her to stay quiet about your past.”

  “It wasn’t like that. I offered Colleen some money to help her out of the desperate situation she was in. She had become someone quite different to the girl I remembered. When I heard about the shooting, I was devastated. Please believe that, Elle. The only reason she was at the bank was to pick up the money I was giving her, but I didn’t have anything to do with her death. You have to believe that.”

  “I do. Of course, I do.”

  “Why are you so sure that I’m not your father?”

  “The kidnapper, the friend of Colleen, wrote me a letter, in which he claimed that I was the daughter of Colleen. He named you as my biological father too. When my parents confirmed that I was adopted, Chloe and I did a DNA test... we used the toothbrush you left at our apartment...”

>   “I see.”

  “And it showed that the two of us aren’t related.”

  “You should have told me this.’

  “I know. I’m sorry about that.”

  “Well, that’s good news, about the result. It means Colleen lied to me though. All these years I thought I had a daughter, and I’ve felt so guilty for not knowing her.”

  “But...”

  “What?”

  “Well, Chloe told me this morning that she interfered with it.”

  “With what?”

  “With the DNA test.”

  “What does that mean? Why would she do that?”

  Ellen shook her head. Chloe’s actions still didn’t make any sense to her. “I don’t understand why, but she switched one of the samples.”

  Tom sat up straight. “Wait. If she switched one of the samples, doesn’t that mean that we could still be related? I just can’t believe that I’m your father. I refuse to even think about it.”

  “I don’t think we are related.”

  “You seem so sure.”

  “Well, the world wouldn’t make sense if we were. I don’t love you as a father.”

  “I know.”

  “And we don’t look anything alike.”

  “That’s true. You know, I never noticed before, but you do have some of Colleen’s features.”

  Ellen sighed. Part of her felt desperately sad that she didn’t get to meet her mother before the shooting.

  “What does all this mean for us, Elle?”

  “It means that we should go and have a new DNA test performed together, and with a physician that you trust.”

  “I still don’t understand why Chloe would have interfered with the test.”

  “She seemed to have some sort of feelings towards you.”

  Tom lowered his eyes in shame. “There is something else I need to tell you. There was a time when you were away, on the day I received the text messages... I had too much to drink, and I thought it was you.”

  Relief rushed through Ellen’s body. He didn’t love Chloe at all. Chloe had been there, and taken advantage of his state.

  Tom continued, “I need to tell you what happened, Elle, and ask your forgiveness.”

  “I already know what happened between the two of you.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes.”

  “How?”

  “After I spoke to you this morning in the cab, I went home, and had a shower, you know. Chloe came home and...”

  “She told you.”

  “Yes. She said she was pregnant with your baby!”

  “Oh my God! She says she’s pregnant.”

  “After she told me about her missed period, I ran out. I was upset. Maybe, I should have stayed with her. I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “After I left, she jumped off the balcony, Tom. She must have felt so guilty, or something. I don’t know what she was feeling. She seemed to be gloating at the time. I must have read her wrong. I don’t know.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “She’s dead. She killed herself.”

  “What?”

  Ellen could tell how fast Tom’s head was spinning. She looked towards the door. “I’ll probably need to talk to the police about Chloe too, come to think of it.”

  “It might be my fault, Elle. Ever since the incident at my place, I have refused to talk to her. She had been phoning every night, and I just ignored her messages. I even moved her to another office so she wasn’t near me during the day.”

  “I don’t understand at all. She seemed kind of confident that you two would be together.”

  “That’s ridiculous. Even if she was pregnant, it wouldn’t have happened. Even if you never forgave me, it wouldn’t have happened.”

  “I know.”

  “I’ll never be able to make it up to you. What I’ve done is unforgivable.”

  “We will forgive each other. We’ll find a way.”

  “I could only ever love you, Elle. Please know that.”

  “I do. Everything will work out.”

  There was a rap on the door, and the officer returned, with another policeman in toe.

  “Ms Jackson, Mr Bradley, this is Sergeant Barry Jones. He is familiar with the Watson case, and thought he might be able to assist with this matter.

  The policeman looked at Ellen for a good moment, before opening his laptop. “I also knew Ms Watson, prior to the events of July 14.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’m sorry for staring, but you remind me of her so much.”

  Ellen nodded, and wondered how her mother had known a police sergeant.

  “I have a photo database of Colleen’s known associates.”

  “Was she some sort of criminal?”

  He paused for a moment. “You might say that.”

  “Oh,” said Tom, looking just as surprised.

  The sergeant brought up six mug shots, and Ellen made an unusual sound of anguish, recognising the man straight away. “That’s him. Top right.” She pointed to the man’s photo.

  “Are you sure, Ellen?” the sergeant asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Thank you, Ms Jackson. That’s all we need for now.”

  “Wait. Who is he?”

  “His name is Ted Blake. He recently served time for armed robbery, but was let out for good behaviour. This charge ought to keep him off the streets a little longer.”

  “Do you think you will find him, sergeant?”

  “Yes. I guarantee you that.”

  With the sergeant’s assurance, Ellen felt relief sweep through her body. The saga was nearly over.

  Tom and her left soon after, driving directly to the office of his personal physician.