Chapter Eighteen
There were very few things Siobhan enjoyed less in life than calling her mother. Talking to Janelle drained her on every level, and other than Christmas, her mother’s birthday and Mother’s Day, she kept contact to a minimum.
It wasn’t hard to do. Her mother only called her when she needed something, and she’d decided years ago her older daughter had little to offer.
Working hard and paying bills weren’t exciting to Janelle, and she complained about Siobhan’s lack of generosity.
Janelle had always been much closer with Kelly, and Siobhan hoped that was still true.
She’d finally found a lawyer who had the time to talk to her before snow fell again.
She didn’t have space to take on Siobhan’s case, but she was willing to do a brief consult about next steps.
Step one was to find an attorney she could afford, and it seemed as though she had a better chance of finding Sasquatch than an affordable family lawyer taking on new clients.
Step two was finding Kelly. The odds of them sorting through the adoption mess without needing her involvement weren’t great, and since her number was disconnected and an online search hadn’t turned up anything, the only way Siobhan could get to her was through Janelle.
She waited until Oliver had eaten his supper and settled into his little bean bag chair with a picture book that had him hunt for objects in a busy picture. It would keep him quiet and occupied for long enough to make the phone call, and she was out of excuses.
Janelle answered on the third ring. “Siobhan. Haven’t heard from you in a while.”
“I’m sorry,” she lied. “I’ve been busy.”
“Or you want something,” her mother said, because that was really the only motivation for reaching out to somebody that Janelle understood.
Siobhan didn’t bother denying it. “I need to get in touch with Kelly and the number I have for her isn’t good anymore.”
There was a long silence on the other end, and Siobhan guessed Janelle was choosing between inserting herself into the situation or trying to make Siobhan feel guilty for only calling her because she wanted something from her. “What do you need her for?”
She’d spent a lot of time thinking about how she was going to answer this inevitable question.
Telling the truth led to too many variables.
Janelle might try to protect Kelly by refusing to give up the information—assuming she even had it.
And if anybody was going to whisper in Kelly’s ear about taking Oliver back and fleecing Brian for child support, it would be her.
Unfortunately, that was just how her mother’s mind worked.
And then there was Kelly herself. There was a good chance if she found out Siobhan wanted to talk to her about Oliver, she’d change her number again.
Because she wasn’t quite as selfish as their mother, she might not think about how much monthly money she was missing out on, but she definitely shied away from anything that smacked of responsibility.
“I was going through some stuff to donate and found a necklace of hers,” Siobhan said. “It’s not really my style or I’d keep it because I think it’s valuable.”
“It might be mine,” her mother said without hesitation. “I’ve lost a necklace or two over the years.”
Even though she’d known Janelle would try it, Siobhan was still disappointed by how quickly dishonesty came to her mother.
Of course, she was being dishonest, too, but for a good reason and she’d had to practice before she made the call.
“I’m sure it’s Kelly’s. I remember her wearing it.
If I can get her address, I’ll drop it in the mail from work tomorrow. ”
“I don’t know her address, but I’ll tell her to call you.”
“Just give me her number and I’ll call her and that way I can check returning it off my to-do list.”
“I’ll have her call you.” A door slammed in the background and Siobhan heard a female voice that sounded a lot like her sister. “My food’s here. Gotta run.”
The call disconnected before Siobhan could ask if Kelly was staying with her. After writing Janelle’s address on the back of an envelope, she circled it twice. If she could prove her sister was staying with her mother, maybe that address would suffice if legal service became necessary.
Before she even set down the pen, her phone buzzed and she saw an unknown number on the screen. After underlining Janelle’s address with a bold line, she answered it.
“Mom said you have something of mine?”
“A necklace,” Siobhan replied, pushing down the disappointment that swept through her when Kelly didn’t even say hello.
They’d been reasonably close before her sister married Brian, but the conflict between them during the marriage and divorce had put a dent in their relationship.
Siobhan adopting Oliver had essentially ended it.
“Tell me your address and I’ll drop it in the mail tomorrow. ”
“Just keep it.”
“It looks valuable.”
There was a long silence, and Siobhan was looking at her screen to make sure the timer was still ticking off seconds before her sister spoke again. “What do you really want, Siobhan?”
“Did you know Brian is Oliver’s biological father?”
Kelly sighed, as though she was annoyed at being bothered. “Maybe.”
“You knew his cousin and I are friends and I might be around his family at some point.”
“I was hoping the kid would look like me.”
“He doesn’t. Why did you lie?”
“Because I know you and you would have sided with him, and then I would have had to deal with that man for the rest of my life just because we shared a kid.”
A kid. Siobhan took a deep breath, glancing at Oliver to cool her flash of temper.
“You could have still gotten the divorce while you were pregnant, and given him to Brian instead of me when he was born. You didn’t have to raise him, so it doesn’t explain the lying.
And the fraud, Kelly. You and Steve signed legal documents and I don’t know about him, but you knew they were false statements. ”
“Steve thought the kid was his, but then he didn’t want to be a dad anyway, so it worked out okay.”
Okay? Except for paperwork that had made Siobhan Oliver’s mother being fraudulent. “Where are you now?”
“Why?”
She pinched the bridge of her nose, praying for patience. “Because we have to straighten this out, and we’ll probably need a signed statement from you.”
“For what? Just let him see the kid if he wants to.”
The words were thrown out casually enough, but Siobhan knew her sister well enough to hear the underlying fear. Kelly wasn’t sure what the penalties for lying on birth certificates and adoption papers were, but she didn’t want any part of paying a price.
“It’s more than just seeing Oliver and you know that. To have his paternal rights protected, the paperwork has to be done.”
“I have a different boyfriend now, Siobhan, and he’s going to propose,” Kelly said, and there was a hint of panic in her voice. “He owns a house on the water in Connecticut and you should see his cars. But he doesn’t know I had a kid before and that kind of thing matters to him.”
It didn’t surprise her at all that his money was the most important attribute for Kelly to share. “If that’s a deal-breaker, he’s probably not a great guy.”
“Don’t mess this up for me, Siobhan.”
“For you? What about the mess Oliver and I are in now?”
“It’s not my problem. I gave him to you, so that’s your problem. Deal with it.”
Siobhan closed her eyes for a moment, reminding herself she couldn’t force Kelly to feel compassion or empathy.
She’d certainly tried over the years, but her sister only cared about herself.
Something she’d inherited from their mother, apparently.
“Okay. I’ll figure it out. I always do. Just give me your address, though, and I’ll send you the necklace. ”
“You and I both know I’ve never owned a necklace worth the cost of mailing it.”
The call disconnected and Siobhan forced herself to set her phone down on the table instead of throwing it across the room. One, she had to set a good example for her son and, two, she couldn’t afford to replace it or have any damage to the wall patched.
She knew if she called back, Kelly wouldn’t answer.
By tomorrow, her sister would have a new burner phone, and Siobhan would have no way of contacting her again.
And if she was staying with Janelle, there was a good chance her mother overheard at least Kelly’s end of the conversation and wouldn’t take Siobhan’s calls for a while, either.
She wouldn’t want to miss out on an opportunity to have a son-in-law with a beach house.
Looking at the note she’d written on the envelope, she felt despair creeping in.
Even if Kelly was staying with their mother temporarily, Janelle would deny it.
Siobhan definitely didn’t have the money to hire a private investigator to prove she was there, nor did she have the time or means to do it herself.
She’d have to hope, if it came to that, the court system or law enforcement would be able to help.
Rather than wallowing, she stood and went to look at picture books with her son. Oblivious to her anxious state, he pointed out all the objects he could find in the photo of a busy playground, and she smiled when he started counting the flowers he could see on the page.
As she felt some of the tension easing from her body, she wished Brian was there to talk to about her conversations with her family, and that brought a whole new surge of tension.
He couldn’t be the person she leaned on. He was her son’s biological father, and that relationship between them came first for the rest of their lives. He was also her sister’s ex-husband. Her former brother-in-law.
No, Brian Kowalski could definitely not be her person.
* * *
“How do you devote your life to running a true crime podcast and not be able to come up with a plan for getting away with murder?”