“How did you get this information?” she asked. Not a great question, she knew at once, but a start. And it seemed to take him aback, because he blinked a few times before replying.
“From Spiro at our first meeting. I also interviewed a few people who worked with Eddie at the time. Also, your aunt—Ephtimea, or Effie—provided some background.”
“My aunt?”
“Well, I guess cousin, or second cousin is more like it. She was married to Spiro’s nephew, Tony. Their two sons—George and Christopher, or Christo—work for Spiro.”
“A real family enterprise,” she mused.
“A wealthy and powerful family enterprise,” Joel added.
He must have picked up the bitterness in my voice, Allie thought. All those years when the only blood relative she had was her father. “How can you be sure this Spiro’s account is true? My father isn’t here to defend himself.”
“I don’t think you should take this as an indictment against your father. You lived with him all these years—you know what kind of man he was.”
Allie felt the sting of tears in her eyes. She did know. He would never have run away unless he was desperate or feared for her well-being. In that case, she reasoned, Spiro Kostakis must be a man to be wary of. But she wasn’t about to reveal that thought to the investigator who’d been hired by Kostakis to find her.
“Precisely,” she said. “Which leads me to the next point—why did he hire you to find out if I was his granddaughter now? It’s been twenty-seven years.”
“Until that magazine article appeared, your grandparents and mother believed that you and Eddie were dead.”
Allie stared at Joel, unable to speak, trying to absorb what he’d said.
“The night Eddie disappeared with you, the police set roadblocks and searched for hours. In the early hours of the morning, Eddie’s car was discovered partly submerged in the Detroit River. Divers went in and found suitcases of clothing, including clothes belonging to a child, toys, Eddie’s wallet and personal papers. Even money. He’d cleaned out his joint bank account before leaving. Days later the search was called off, though Spiro had private investigators continue for a few months. By then Katrina’s condition had deteriorated so much that Spiro devoted his efforts to getting her well.”
Joel’s account of their flight was so vivid that for a moment, Allie forgot the larger implication of the whole disappearing act. That it had all been a lie—a deliberate hoax. She felt light-headed and disconnected. While she was attempting to keep herself from being carried away in this wave of new information, she had not noticed that Joel had vanished and returned, and was now handing her a glass of ice water.
She drank slowly, letting the cool liquid soothe the drumming in her head and the heat in her face. When she finished, she set the glass down and looked at Joel. There was concern in his face, and for the first time since she’d met him, she liked him. Not his story, she quickly added to herself, but him.
“My father must have been very afraid to pull off something like that,” she finally said.
“He obviously felt he had no choice,” Joel said.
She thought for a long moment before asking what she knew she had to learn. “And my mother?”
“Grew more despondent. Stopped taking her medication. Drank more. The police report of her car crash a year later was inconclusive about the cause.”
“So it might have been an accident or…or not,” Allie murmured.
“Yes.”
She knew then she needed to be alone. “If you don’t mind…” she said, standing up.
Joel got up, too. “There’s something more. I might as well tell you all of it right now.”
Allie didn’t have the energy to protest. She simply stared at him, wishing he’d disappear himself.
“After your aunt showed the People magazine article to him, Spiro was determined to find you. Also, there were circumstances that prompted him to rush more than he might have.”
“Circumstances?”
“A few years ago Spiro was diagnosed with leukemia. None of the traditional treatments have worked. His only chance of surviving another few years is a bone marrow transplant.” He waited a moment. “George and Christo aren’t a match,” he prompted. Then, “You’re his only living blood relative.”
Allie sat back down.
Joel sat down on the sofa next to her. Allie flinched at his closeness, though she knew he meant to be sympathetic. Still, the one person in the world she wanted at her side right now was buried in a cemetery on the outskirts of town. It had been months since she’d felt such a pain of longing for her father.
Joel Kennedy’s revelations magnified not only her loss but the futility of ever knowing the truth. No matter how much more information came her way in the days ahead—and she knew now she wasn’t going to shake off this whole thing anytime soon—she’d never be able to hear her father’s own account.
Unless Susan knows something. The thought of her stepmother distracted her from Kennedy’s announcement. “You haven’t approached Susan, have you? About any of this?”
“Susan?”
“My stepmother!”
He grabbed her hands, which she was waving in front of his face. “No, Allie. I wouldn’t do that. This is your—”
“Problem.”
He pursed his lips as she pulled her hands free. “I’m only the messenger, Allie. None of this is my doing, either.”
Again Allie got to her feet. She needed to get the whole rotten business over with. “Tell me what this…this Spiro Kostakis wants of me.” She stood on the far side of the coffee table opposite him, her arms folded across her chest.
“He wants you to come to Grosse Pointe, to meet the rest of the family and to undergo a test to see if you’re a bone marrow match.”
“Hah! Not a lot to ask, is it, from someone I’ve never met? From someone who threatened to take me away from my father?” Allie heard her voice border on hysteria, but she felt powerless to stop herself.
Joel was on his feet at once, inches from her face and clutching her upper arms as if to keep her grounded. “You need to be alone, to take all of this in and to decide what you plan to do. You have complete control over this, Allie. Whatever happens is up to you. If your answer is no, then I’ll be driving out of Kingston ten minutes later.” He paused, lowering his voice. “Talk it over with Susan if you want to. If you decide yes, then I’m hoping you’ll be willing to drive back to Michigan with me. Or come on your own. Whatever. Just remember that none of this has to diminish your memory or feelings for your father in any way. And it shouldn’t. It seems to me he did an admirable job of raising his daughter.” With that, Joel brushed past her.
Allie heard the door close behind him. She felt herself sinking slowly back to earth, relief at Joel’s departure snapping every taut nerve in her body. And yet, she thought, sagging into the sofa cushions, his hands had been warm and comforting. If he’d held on a millisecond longer, she knew she’d have gratefully leaned into his arms, too.
She lay back into the indentation he’d just left and stared at the ceiling. Gradually her mind regained control of her body as she decided her first move had to be to talk with Susan, but that would have to wait until morning.