CHAPTER 11: THE OTHER CHILD
Nora placed a second folder on the table.
It contained court notices, a certified copy of a birth record, and a letter from a guardian ad litem.
I recognized none of the names except Patricia’s.
Claire asked me to sit back down when I stood.
“Owen grew up,” she said.
“He changed his name legally after the custody case.”
“Where is he?”
“He lives in North Carolina and teaches music.”
She told me he had a daughter named Sophie.
She was eight years old, and her mother had died in a car accident the previous winter.
Owen was raising her alone.
Six months earlier, Patricia had tried to establish contact after learning where he lived.
Owen declined.
Patricia then sent letters to Sophie describing herself as the grandmother who had saved her father.
“She’s not his grandmother,” I said.
“She’s his aunt.”
“She never accepted that distinction,” Claire replied.
Patricia grew increasingly angry when Owen returned the letters unopened.
She accused Laurel of turning him against her.
She also threatened to publish details of his childhood case unless he allowed her to see Sophie.
I asked whether Laurel was involved.
“She is,” Nora answered.
“She has been helping Owen document the harassment.
”
Suddenly Patricia’s interest in my mailbox made sense in a terrible new way.
“She thought Laurel was sending something here.”
Nora nodded.
“Thomas told Patricia years ago that any urgent communication could reach your family through his address.”
“He gave her an access point.”
“He thought he was offering a way to keep the family from losing one another completely.”
Claire reached toward the envelope without opening it.
“Patricia recently learned that Thomas left you information about Laurel.”
“How?”
“We don’t know.”
At that moment, my phone buzzed with a message from Ortiz.
She had identified the man in the gray sedan as Martin Voss.
She wanted to know whether I could come to the station before Patricia heard they were looking for him.
