Chapter 196
Chapter 196
Claire’s POV
Gideon looked over my shoulder, seeing the picture in my hands. He didn’t say anything, just calmly and supportively placed his hand on my shoulder. I was happy to have it, to feel the subtle weight of it anchoring me to this present moment here in this hotel room, when all I wanted to do was fall into the past and lose myself.
Daniel wasn’t just haunted by the past, I knew, he also cared deeply about it. About my mom, and, with those photo, I was now sure, he also cared about me.
All those years ago, he had abandoned me, without any notes or hints of who I might be. Gideon had told me it was likely for my protection, and in a way I understood that. But the small child inside of me, the orphan girl that had been abandoned, was much more difficult to heal.
Seeing this picture helped close some of those old wounds.
Gideon’s warm presence beside me helped me blink away my tears.
Now, I could see Daniel not as a distant relative who easily cast me aside, but as someone who loved me and my family. Someone who hurt in having to part from me and leave my fate so uncertain.
After a long few moments, I set the picture to the side and looked back into the box.
Together, Gideon and I rummaged through, sorting the various knick–knacks and a few other, more recent photos. Eventually, we reached the bottom of the small box.
I was grateful for what we had uncovered here, but the lack of answers continued to carve away inside of me. I kept allowing myself hope, only to have those hopes dashed.
Gideon’s presence once again saved me, as he looked at me with some sympathy, but not pity.
“Don’t give up,” he told me. “We are going to the bar later and will meet his friends. If anyone has the answers we want, it will be them.”
“I hope so,” I told him. I clung to that hope with both hands, holding on for dear life. We’d already exhausted two other good options. A small worry built up inside of me, wondering if maybe there wasn’t anything to actually find.
I only had to wait a little while longer for answers.
That evening, Gideon and I went down to the bar at an appropriate time to speak with the regulars.
Ruth immediately spotted us as we walked into the bar, and waved us over. As we came closer, she leaned over the bar to talk to some patrons that looked comfortable in their various stools around her. These must have been the regulars.
“This is her?” one asked as we came closer. This was a middle–aged oman in a floral–print top. She was missing a tooth beside her two front ones, with flashed as she smiled. She smiled a lot.
An older man with a beard, who had been with the rest, immediately stood and walked out of the bar without saying a single word to us.
“Ken!” Ruth called. “Where are you going?”
He didn’t look back. Didn’t acknowledge us at all. He just walked straight out of the bar.
Immediately, I wanted to sink down into the ground. But I forced myself to stand strong.
“Don’t know who put a bee in his bonnet,” Ruth said. “But come meet the rest.”
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Chapter 196
Ruth introduced us to the woman in the floral shirt, Mara, as well as another older man with shark white hair, Vernon. They were the regulars we had been coming to meet, sans the one who had just left, Eric, who supposedly been Daniel’s best friend.
“Don’t worry about him, honey,” Mara said after I’d taken the stool at her side. “Eric might just have trouble seeing you. He and Daniel were very close. The best of friends. I don’t think he’d ever really gotten over it.”
Vernon agreed. “It’s difficult, getting older. We lose so many people. You’d think we would be used to it, and in a way we are. but it’s always a blow, especially with someone so close.”
“His death wasn’t entirely unexpected,” Mara told us. “We’d all seen the downward spiral. But he was still too young. It is a blow, but especially to Eric. I think they had tickets to go to a baseball game that weekend, the local team.”
“I think Eric thinks he could have saved Daniel from himself,” Ruth added as she mixed a drink from behind the bar. “But Daniel had his own demons. No one could save him from those.”
I nodded, feeling pain for the suffering my uncle must have endured. It made me hate the people that had hurt my family even more, and gave me even more reason to find out who had done this and see that justice would find them.
“But…” Mara patted my arm lightly. “I’m sure you didn’t come here for the sad stories. I’d be happy to tell you of the happier
times.”
Vernon nodded. “Daniel was a good friend, and a riot at parties. His jokes didn’t always land but when they did… he could command the entire room. You could always tell he had a bit of royalty in him, but he used that power for humor and kindness. A good man, all around.”
I sat there as the pair, with sometimes Ruth flitting in and out as she worked, telling me story after story of my uncle. They painted a picture of a man who would help a friend with anything they asked. He’d moved people from apartments, bought lots of presents, learned to cook just to be able to bring things to potlucks, and other charming anecdotes.
All the time, Gideon sat quietly beside me, a supportive rock giving me strength. I was grateful to him, turning to him when I felt somewhat overwhelmed. He’d smile at me and everything would be okay again.
It was nice, but I didn’t learn anything that would help uncover the past. I wasn’t disappointed exactly. How could I be, when
I know felt like I knew my uncle so much better than I ever had? His friends had given me a figure that Lcould know, even if I had been too young to remember him.
The fact, though, was that none of this helped uncover the truth of what happened to my mother.
After a while and a few drinks, Gideon and I left the bar. Just as we reached the door, Eric came bursting in so fast, he nearly knocked us over.
I was ready to walk by him, not wanting to engage and upset him. But he approached me, purposefully as if he was on a
mission.
He held a small wooden box in his hands. It was smaller even that the box from Daniel’s hotel.
“When Daniel gave this to me, I thought he was mad. He asked me to keep it secret and safe until a trusted source arrived asking for information about the past. Trusted. He made me promise about that, but he couldn’t tell me what it meant. Honestly, I thought he might be nuts,” Eric said. “But then you showed up. And I realized what he meant.”
Lightly, he shook his head. “Even when I thought he was nuts though, I still took this seriously. I kept this safe all this time. Now that you are here, I am glad that I did.”
He passed me the box.
I didn’t know what to say. My heart was racing. Could this have been the clue I needed?
I couldn’t wait to open it. I did at once.
10:12 Wed, Feb 18 (
Chapter 196
There were a few items in the box but the one that caught my eye immediately was a picture resting on top. It wasn’t in frame this time, just a loose photo.
In it, it seemed to be a nice picture, Daniel and Lena in the foreground, smiling at the camera.
But in the background there was a figure.
A young Victoria.
