Chapter 6 - ANDREW TOOK THE ORIGINAL LETTER
Hotel security enhanced the footage.
Andrew’s hand entered Callum’s inner pocket.
He removed a folded paper.
Read it.
Then slipped it into his own jacket.
Five minutes later, Diane placed Lucy’s envelope inside the same pocket.
Callum stared at the screen.
“What was he taking?”
We called Andrew.
No answer.
Helen refused to help.
That made Callum angrier.
Then I remembered the vow books.
I had expected to find one inside the tuxedo.
Callum had placed a handwritten copy of his vows in the breast pocket before the ceremony.
Afterward?
He thought it was still there.
Andrew may simply have taken that.
Why?
Then Callum’s phone buzzed.
Andrew.
One message:
Don’t call Mom. Meet me alone.
Callum showed me.
I said:
“No.”
He looked at me.
“He said alone.”
“We were married yesterday.”
“Fair.”
We compromised.
I went.
Stayed in the car until needed.
Andrew met Callum at a diner near Lakeview.
Twenty minutes later, Callum called.
“Come inside.”
Andrew looked exhausted.
Not dangerous.
Not smug.
Just scared.
He put Callum’s vow booklet on the table.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why did you take it?”
“I thought it was the letter.”
“What letter?”
Andrew looked at me.
Then said:
“Lena planned to give you something at the wedding.”
Not the photograph Diane delivered.
Another letter.
From Evan.
My stomach dropped.
“Evan wrote to Callum?”
“Yes.”
“Six years ago.”
Andrew knew because Evan had given him the sealed letter before the boating trip.
Instructions:
If anything happens to me, give this to Callum when he gets married.
Strange timing.
Why marriage?
Andrew had carried the letter for six years.
Then lost nerve.
On our wedding night, he intended to place it in Callum’s tuxedo.
But after seeing Diane near the coat rack, he panicked and took what he thought was Evan’s envelope back.
Instead he grabbed the vow book.
“So where is Evan’s letter?” Callum asked.
Andrew looked down.
“My hotel room.”
“Why haven’t you delivered it?”
“Because I opened it.”
Callum’s face hardened.
“You opened my dead brother’s letter?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Lucy’s name is in it.”
The diner seemed to shrink.
“How?”
Andrew handed us a photograph of the letter he had taken on his phone.
Evan’s handwriting:
Callum, if Lena ever has a child and anyone tells you the child is yours, believe the test until you prove otherwise.
Callum stopped breathing.
Evan knew this could happen.
Then the next line:
I made a mistake at the clinic.
May you like
And beneath it:
Your sample may have been used instead of mine.
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