Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Vivi hurried to turn the light on and watched, eyes wide, as Mason dragged the guy inside, then slammed him into a chair. Her mouth dropped open when the light hit his face. “Tyler!”
He glanced up at her sheepishly. “Sorry, Vivi.”
Anger welled up and took over her. “What are you doing here? Are you crazy, sneaking around my house in the middle of the night? You could have been shot!”
She flicked a look at Mason, who stood just off to Tyler’s side, looking very much like he hadn’t quite ruled out the possibility.
“Why are you sneaking around my house in the middle of the night?”
He threw an apologetic glance her way. “I know it looks bad.”
From her left, Mason snorted. “You think?”
Vivi slanted a glare at him before turning her attention back to Tyler. “You better have a really good excuse for this, otherwise you'll be pleading your case to the police.”
Tyler shook his head emphatically. “Please don't. Just… let me explain.”
Vivi lifted a brow and crossed her arms over her chest. “I can't wait.”
Tyler's face twisted at her sarcasm. “I was adopted as a baby, literally the day I was born.
My birth mother had nothing to do with me except for a couple of letters a lawyer sent on her behalf.
The first one came on my eighteenth birthday when my parents finally told me I was adopted.
The second came just a few months ago on my twenty-fifth birthday.
“When I got that first letter, I wanted nothing to do with it. I didn’t want to know about my biological parents. I was mad that my mother cut me from her life completely and hadn't even tried to get in touch with me.”
“She sent you a letter,” Mason pointed out in his no-nonsense tone.
Vivi couldn’t disagree with that. Still, she kind of understood where Tyler was coming from. “I'm sure that was hard for you,” she offered. “But I'm not sure how that explains anything.”
“I know. I’m getting there, I promise. It’s kind of a long story.
” He took a deep breath. “Anyway, the second letter came a couple months back on my birthday.
I didn't want to open it, but my parents—my adoptive parents—insisted I should at least give it a try. My birth mother had left me a decent inheritance.”
Vivi's eyes widened, surprised at the turn the story had taken. “Maybe that's all she thought she could offer you,” she said slowly. “I'm sure she wouldn't have given you up for adoption without a good reason.”
“I know that now.” Tyler nodded. “That's kind of what spurred this whole thing. I started looking into her, and I wanted to talk with her, wanted to know what had happened. Why she put me up for adoption. I found my biological mother’s name listed on the adoption paperwork, but there was no mention of my father. It was a good place to start, though, and I decided to reach out to her. Unfortunately, when I pulled up her name, I found out that she died shortly after I was born.”
“That sucks,” Vivi said softly. “I’m sorry.”
He peered up at her. “Apparently it was too much. She committed suicide.”
The way he phrased that… “Wait.” Vivi rocked back on her heels, stunned. “Are you saying…? Is…?”
Tyler nodded, picking up on her train of thought. “Christine was my mother.”
A million thoughts flew through Vivi's brain, and she latched onto the first thing that solidified in her mind. “That's why you went out with me,” she accused. “You were trying to get information about Christine and her family.”
Tyler shifted uneasily. “Not completely, but yes.”
And suddenly it clicked. Tyler showing up at the grocery store, running into him at Morningside the day Vivi went to visit Ellen… “Ellen’s the ‘old family friend’ you mentioned. You went to see her.” Anger simmered in Vivi's stomach. “When were you going to tell me?”
“Soon.” He looked sincere, but Vivi was still furious that he’d used her. “But I had a feeling you were avoiding me after our date, and by the time I got to see you again, you broke things off.”
“Because I was with Mason,” Vivi murmured.
Tyler nodded. “Obviously, I came to speak with Ellen, but I found out that you were living here instead. I arranged to run into you in the store so I could talk with you a bit. When you told me Ellen was in the nursing home…” He exhaled deeply.
“I went to see her, but she wasn’t in the best frame of mind. ”
Vivi couldn’t begin to wrap her mind around what had happened. “I… don’t know what to say.”
“I’m sorry.” His eyes pleaded with her. “Really, I am. I should have been upfront with you and told you the truth from the beginning.”
Vivi folded her arms over her chest. “Well, I can’t really help you. Ellen talked about her from time to time, but other than that… You might have better luck with her brother, Elijah.”
“Thanks. I just… I don’t know how to explain it, but I got the feeling from her letters that her pregnancy was unwanted.”
“I can imagine. Christine was young,” Vivi put in. “Maybe she just regretted it.”
“Could be,” Tyler admitted. “But the whole tone of the letter was just… sad. She said something once that she felt trapped where she was.”
Almost immediately, Christine’s diary came to mind for Vivi.
She’d read a handful of passages, but the whole thing was depressing.
Christine had lamented being ridiculed by classmates, unable to speak to anyone.
She’d mentioned that she had no one to talk to; no one would believe her if she told the truth.
She’d apparently considered taking her life several times but couldn’t bring herself to hurt the baby.
Vivi threw a quick glance at Mason, but his expression remained impassive, and she knew he was waiting for her cue. She wasn’t sure exactly what Tyler’s intentions were, so she decided it was best to keep that to herself for now.
“Do you have these letters?” Mason looked skeptical, not that Vivi could blame him.
“They’re back in my hotel room.”
Mason’s lips pressed into a firm line as he regarded Tyler. “So we've determined that Christine was your birth mother and you came here looking for information. The question is why. Why keep looking for her after you knew she was gone?”
“Right. So, that's where it gets interesting,” Tyler said. He turned to Vivi. “I tried reaching out to Ellen first but when that failed, I looked for Russ.”
At Vivi's blank look, he tipped his head. “Do you remember Russ?”
Should she? Vivi racked her brain, but she couldn’t think of anyone close to Ellen with that name. “I don't know who that is.”
Tyler studied her. “She never mentioned him?”
Vivi had no idea who he was talking about, or why. “No. Why does it matter?”
“Russ was Ellen’s second husband.”
Vivi shrugged a little, lost. “If she remarried, it was long before I even came around. It obviously didn’t last long, because she never mentioned him to me. Besides, what does that have to do with anything?”
“Russ was married to Ellen for almost a decade before they divorced. He came into the picture not long before Christine—my mother—got pregnant.”
“And…?” Vivi drew out the question, wondering what he was getting at.
“I think he had something to do with it.”
He couldn't have shocked Vivi more if he tried. “You think…?” She shook her head, unable to fathom the implication. “No way.”
Tyler lifted his shoulders. “I can't be sure of anything without evidence. That's why I've been poking around here. I talked to Ellen, but she claimed not to remember. Besides, I didn't want to push too hard. I wasn't sure how she would react if I accused her husband of raping her daughter.”
Vivi could only imagine. She focused once more on Tyler. “Have you spoken with him?”
“I can’t.”
The way he said it both piqued Vivi's curiosity and filled her with a sense of dread, but Mason spoke up before she could voice her questions.
“Why not?” Mason asked. “Were you not able to contact him?”
Tyler stared up at Vivi. “I’ve looked everywhere, followed every lead but there’s absolutely no record of him anywhere.”
Vivi exchanged a quick glance with Mason as she let that sink in. “You think he’s dead?”
Tyler shook his head, looking serious. “I think he was murdered.”