Chapter 16 - THE THIRD MAN
Meline called Terrence immediately.
“What do you mean Jason isn’t the father?”
“I mean the test excluded him.”
Terrence sounded numb.
“Are you sure?”
“Court-approved lab.”
“Twice.”
Meline sat inside her car.
“Does Sydney know?”
“No.”
“Who else could it be?”
Terrence laughed bitterly.
“That’s what I’m asking.”
Meline closed her eyes.
The secret that had destroyed her wedding had just changed shape again.
Sydney had believed Jason was the father.
Jason had apparently believed it too.
Which meant there was another man.
An hour later, Meline met Sydney at Rebecca’s office.
Sydney looked pale.
“What happened?”
Terrence placed the paternity report on the table.
Sydney read the first line.
Then the second.
Her hands began to shake.
“That’s impossible.”
Terrence watched her.
“Is it?”
Sydney started crying.
Meline said nothing.
Finally, Sydney whispered, “There was one other time.”
Terrence stood.
“Of course there was.”
“Terrence, please.”
“No.”
He walked toward the window.
“Who?”
Sydney covered her face.
“It was one night.”
“Who?”
She lowered her hands.
“Evan Dalton.”
Meline went completely still.
Rebecca stopped writing.
“The employee?”
Sydney nodded miserably.
Meline stared at her sister.
“The man Jason used to break into my company.”
Sydney began sobbing.
“I didn’t know who he was when I met him.”
“When?”
“Last fall.”
“At a bar.”
“He told me he worked in software.”
Meline felt sick.
“Did you introduce him to Jason?”
Sydney hesitated.
“Yes.”
That was it.
The missing link.
Jason had not randomly selected an employee.
Sydney had connected them.
Perhaps accidentally.
Perhaps not.
“Did Evan know you were my sister?”
“Not at first.”
“And later?”
“Yes.”
“What did Jason offer him?”
“I don’t know.”
Terrence turned from the window.
“So the baby could be Evan’s.”
Sydney looked broken.
“Yes.”
Rebecca immediately called the prosecutor.
Within hours, Evan’s cooperation agreement became far more complicated.
He had not merely taken money.
He had been sleeping with Sydney.
And now investigators suspected he had helped Jason after forming a personal relationship with her.
That evening, federal agents searched Evan’s storage unit.
They found old laptops.
Encrypted drives.
Cash.
And one document that made Rebecca call Meline at 11:40 p.m.
“What did they find?”
Rebecca’s voice was tense.
“A copy of your honeymoon itinerary.”
Meline’s stomach dropped.
“Why did Evan have that?”
“We don’t know.”
Then Rebecca added something worse.
“There are handwritten notes.”
“What kind?”
“Routes.”
“Security cameras.”
“Medical facilities.”
“And one phrase.”
Meline gripped the phone.
“What phrase?”
Rebecca hesitated.
May you like
“No witnesses after mile fourteen.”
Meline stopped breathing.
