Chapter 4 - The Letters Someone Wanted Destroyed
The first thing Abigail noticed when she returned to her apartment was the broken lock.
The second was her mother's photograph lying facedown on the carpet.
She stood in the doorway, fighting tears.
"Someone went through everything."
Matteo remained beside her while a police officer photographed the damage.
Drawers hung open.
Clothes littered the floor.
Her mother's old jewelry box sat empty on the bed.
But the television, laptop, and small emergency cash envelope remained untouched.
The intruder hadn't come for money.
They'd come for her mother's letters.
Abigail sank onto the couch.
"Mom kept those letters for twenty years."
"Did you ever read them?" Matteo asked.
"Some. Most were about a man who promised to help her."
"Did she name him?"
Abigail shook her head.
"She called him R."
Matteo exchanged a glance with Gabriel.
Richard.
It was becoming difficult to ignore.
The police officer approached.
"Ms. Foster, do you know anyone who might want those letters?"
Abigail hesitated.
Then she told him about the photograph.
The officer wrote everything down.
After the police finished their initial work, Matteo offered to arrange a temporary hotel room.
Abigail looked around her tiny apartment.
"I can't afford that."
"I'm not asking you to pay."
She shook her head.
"Mr. Romano, I appreciate everything you've done, but I don't want to owe you anything."
Matteo was silent.
Then he nodded.
"Fair enough. The hotel can offer you temporary accommodation because of the workplace incident. We'll put the arrangement in writing, and you can decline whenever you want."
She looked surprised.
"You're not going to argue?"
"No."
It was such a simple answer.
Yet Abigail had spent years surrounded by men who treated no as the beginning of a negotiation.
Later that evening, while packing a small suitcase, she found something unexpected.
A loose floorboard beneath her mother's old dresser.
Under it lay a yellow envelope wrapped in plastic.
Her mother's handwriting covered the front.
For Abigail, if Richard ever comes looking.
Abigail's breath caught.
She opened it carefully.
Inside were three documents.
A birth certificate.
A photograph.
And a letter.
She read the first sentence aloud.
My beautiful daughter, Richard Sinclair is your biological father.
Then she reached the final paragraph.
Her hands began shaking.
But Richard isn't the person you should fear most.
The person who destroyed our family is his wife, Margaret.
Abigail stared at the paper.
May you like
Because Margaret Sinclair had supposedly died ten years ago.
And according to the letter, she was still alive.
