Chapter 6: The Man Who Was Never Supposed to Call
I held the phone against my ear and didn't speak for a full five seconds.
"How did you get this number?" I said.
"Garrett called me," Raymond said.
"About two weeks ago.
He wanted to know if what his mother told him was true.
I told him it wasn't — not entirely.
He gave me your number and said if anything happened, I should call you directly."
"Garrett called you and didn't tell me."
"I imagine he was trying to figure out what to do with what I told him."
I walked to the living room and sat down.
"What did you tell him?"
Raymond was quiet for a moment.
"Dora and I did know each other.
In 1971.
That part is true.
But we were not together the way she described.
We were friends.
Close friends.
And yes, there was a brief time — very brief — when it was more than that.
But Garrett is not my son, Mrs.
Whitmore.
I had a test done myself when Dora first contacted me, eighteen months ago.
Right after Gerald died."
"She contacted you right after Gerald died."
"Within the week.
She said she needed to tell me something she'd been carrying for forty years.
She told me Garrett was mine.
I didn't believe her — I had my reasons — so I arranged a private test.
Garrett's DNA.
Mine.
No match."
"Then why—"
"Because she didn't need the test to be real," Raymond said.
"She needed me to believe it long enough to sign something.
She had a document prepared.
A statement acknowledging paternity.
She said it was for Garrett's sake, so he could know his history.
I refused to sign.
I told her the test results didn't support it.
She became very angry."
I pressed my hand flat against my knee to stop it from shaking.
"She needed your signature," I said.
"A signed acknowledgment of paternity from you — that would have been the foundation.
That would have been the document she used to challenge Garrett's place in the estate."
"That is what I believe, yes."
"Do you still have your test results?"
"I have everything," Raymond said.
"The test.
The document she wanted me to sign.
The emails she sent me afterward.
I kept all of it because I knew this wasn't finished."
I closed my eyes for a moment.
"Mr.
Cole," I said.
"I need to ask you something directly.
Are you willing to provide those documents to my attorney?"
"That is why I'm calling," he said.
"Garrett asked me to stay quiet.
I respected that for two weeks.
But then a woman called me yesterday — didn't give her name — and told me that if I contacted anyone in the Whitmore family, I would regret it."
The room felt very still.
"Someone threatened you," I said.
"Someone tried to," he said.
"I'm seventy-one years old, Mrs.
Whitmore.
I have nothing to protect except the truth.
I'd like to give your attorney everything I have."
I called my attorney that night and told her about Raymond.
She asked me to have him send the documents directly to her office and to say nothing to Garrett yet.
"Why not Garrett?" I said.
"Because until we know exactly what Martin and Dora have built, we don't know who else might be feeding them information.
Even unintentionally."
I didn't like it.
But I understood it.
The next morning, Garrett texted me.
*Found something in Mom's emails.
She's been forwarding things to Martin's attorney.
Going back eight months.
I don't know how to tell you how sorry I am.*
I read it twice.
Then I called Paula.
"It's moving faster than I expected," I said.
"Is that good or bad?"
"It means they're scared," I said.
"Which means we're close to something they really don't want us to find."
That afternoon, my attorney called back.
"Raymond's documents arrived," she said.
"Nora, the email chain between Dora and Raymond — she references a third party.
Someone who helped her source the lab.
Someone she calls 'our friend at the clinic.'"
"Can you identify them?"
"Not yet.
But one of the emails mentions a payment.
And the account number she references — I ran it through our financial investigator this morning." A pause.
"It's a business account.
Registered to a company called Whitmore Land Holdings LLC."
"That's Martin's company," I said.
May you like
"Yes," she said.
"It is."
