Chapter 11 - ELISE COMES HOME
Elise insisted on meeting in a busy café with cameras and several exits.
Michael came with me, but sat at a separate table at her request.
She was fifty, with dark eyes and Thomas's habit of smoothing a napkin before speaking.
My breath caught at the resemblance.
"I'm sorry for contacting you like this," she said.
"I tried other ways first."
She explained that Marianne had believed Thomas was her father.
Private testing had been inconclusive because the samples were mishandled, and Marianne had refused to repeat it while she was sick.
Thomas had later contacted Elise about a job auditing transactions.
He never confirmed any relationship.
"He was kind to me," she said.
"And ashamed. Those things can be true together."
I asked about the missing pages.
Elise said they documented a threat against Thomas, not a medical conspiracy.
He had received a recording of Sarah and Greg arguing about how to gain control of his assets.
On the recording, a third voice gave them instructions.
"Who?" I asked.
Elise unfolded a photograph.
It showed June Caldwell outside Greg's office, speaking to a man in a gray coat.
"June was delivering information," she said.
"But I don't believe she was in charge."
She then gave me a copy of an email Thomas had sent her two days before his hospitalization.
If anything happens to me, get the ledger to Margaret, even if she hates what it says.
I read it again.
"Why didn't you come to me?"
Elise swallowed.
"Because the morning after his funeral, someone left a photograph of my son in my mailbox."
Her voice broke.
"They knew his school."
Before we could say more, her phone buzzed.
She held up the screen.
A new text displayed a picture taken from across our café.
May you like
Under it were the words: TELL MARGARET THE REST, AND DAVID LOSES HIS CHILDREN.
