Chapter 5 - GIDEON VOSS
Evelyn had not spoken Gideon Voss’s name in eighteen years.
She still remembered his smile.
That was the worst part.
He had always smiled right before he threatened someone.
In 2008, Gideon was forty-one, rich, handsome, and buying half of downtown one desperate building owner at a time.
Evelyn and her husband, Thomas, owned Calloway Place.
Three brick buildings.
One warehouse.
Almost an entire block.
Gideon wanted it.
Evelyn said no.
Then he offered more money.
She said no again.
Then he invited them to dinner.
Thomas wanted to go.
Evelyn didn’t.
“Why?” Thomas had asked.
“Because men like Gideon don’t invite you to dinner when they’re asking. They invite you when they’ve decided.”
She had been right.
Halfway through the meal, Gideon put a contract beside Evelyn’s plate.
“Sign tonight,” he said.
She laughed.
He did not.
Then he leaned closer.
“You have a son starting college next year, correct?”
Evelyn’s smile disappeared.
“What does Grant have to do with this?”
“Nothing. I’m making conversation.”
“No, you’re not.”
Gideon smiled.
That smile.
“Think about your family.”
Evelyn stood up.
“Think about finding another property.”
Three weeks later, one of Gideon’s employees came to Evelyn’s office.
Miriam Mercer.
Twenty-nine.
Pregnant.
Terrified.
And carrying a folder filled with financial records.
The memory hit Evelyn now as she sat across from Detective Morales.
“What did Miriam have?” Morales asked.
“Proof Gideon was using shell companies to force businesses into default.”
“How?”
“He’d buy their debt. Interfere with suppliers. Create cash problems. Then offer to rescue them.”
“Legal?”
“Some of it.”
“And the rest?”
“Bribes. False invoices. Threats.”
Morales wrote something down.
“Why did Miriam come to you?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“Because she knew I hated him.”
“That’s not enough.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Evelyn looked at the photograph Morales had placed on the table.
Miriam Mercer.
Dark hair.
High cheekbones.
A serious mouth.
Evelyn suddenly understood why Vanessa’s face had bothered her from the first day Grant brought her home.
Not recognition.
Echo.
“Oh God.”
Morales watched her.
“You see it too.”
Evelyn touched the photograph.
“Vanessa.”
“Her birth name appears to have been Natalie Mercer.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“No.”
“You knew her mother.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to Miriam?”
Evelyn looked at Morales.
“She told me Gideon was the father of her baby.”
Morales stopped writing.
“Vanessa?”
“I don’t know.”
“She would have been around three when—”
“Three and a half.”
Morales’s eyes narrowed.
“You knew Natalie existed.”
“I knew Miriam had a daughter.”
“Why didn’t police?”
“Because Miriam was running.”
“From Voss?”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“I gave her money. A car. The name of a lawyer in St. Louis.”
“And then?”
“She disappeared.”
Morales leaned in.
“Mrs. Calloway, Miriam Mercer died in 2010.”
Evelyn stared at her.
“What?”
“Car accident outside Springfield.”
“No.”
“Her daughter entered emergency foster care.”
“No.”
“Records show the child was later adopted.”
Evelyn’s voice broke.
“I didn’t know.”
Morales watched her carefully.
“What did Gideon believe happened to the baby?”
Evelyn looked down.
“Miriam told him she lost it.”
“Lost the pregnancy?”
“Yes.”
“But she hadn’t.”
“No.”
“Did Gideon know that?”
“Not from me.”
Morales sat back.
“So Vanessa Calloway may be Gideon Voss’s daughter.”
Evelyn whispered, “He can never find out.”
Morales’s expression changed.
“Why?”
Evelyn looked at her.
“Because Miriam was terrified he would use the child.”
Morales glanced toward the station hallway.
“Mrs. Calloway, I’m afraid we may already be eighteen years too late.”
Her phone vibrated.
She checked the message.
Then stood.
“What?”
Morales looked at Evelyn.
“Vanessa Calloway just left her house.”
“So?”
“She was told not to leave town.”
“Where is she going?”
“We don’t know.”
May you like
Morales grabbed her jacket.
“But she took cash, a fake passport, and a loaded handgun.”
