Book Two: Chapter Four


    “What did you find out?” Ss demanded from his chair behind his desk.


    It had been an unsatisfying morning with a fussy Board of Directors and their pettyints. Making


    it worse had been his exhaustion. Since the musicpetition he hadn’t been able to sleep. The


    moment his closed his eyes, visions of the past and present danced through his mind. But now was the


    moment he had been waiting for. Thomas stood in front of him with a folder at the ready filled with three


    days of research.


    “Alexis, Sean and Theodore Carter,” Thomas announced setting down copies of three birth certificates.


    Ss wisely chose not to question how they were obtained.


    Picking up one he read it carefully not realizing he was actually holding his breath. All three were


    essentially identical aside from the name: Alexis ra Carter; born January 18; Mother: Lynn Hildegard


    Carter; Father: (Unknown).


    “Father Unknown?” Ss repeated letting out a slow breath. “What does that mean?”


    “Well, usually it means a woman slept with so many men she doesn’t know who the father is.”


    Thomas fell silent at Ss’s deadly re. It wasn’t often he was on the receiving end but he felt the


    same pressure from it as others did.


    “Alternatively, it could also mean a one-night stand,” Thomas said which did nothing to ease his friend’s


    gaze. “It could also mean she didn’t want to reveal the father so she intentionally left it nk.”


    “Didn’t want to reveal the father,” Ss repeated. “Lynn Carter.”


    That was not the name he expected but…perhaps it wasn’t just the father’s name she was trying to


    hide. Maybe…


    “I trust this isn’t all you have.”


    “No. The kids go to Anna Silver, it’s a public school on the Lower East Side. We were able to follow


    them both to and from their home as well as their mother’s work from there.” Thomas took several


    photographs from a folder showing exteriors of the school. All and all it was rather in but well


    maintained, clean and orderly. “This is their mother.”


    Thomasid down more photos of the kids as they walked down the street with a woman. Ss sucked


    in a breath. It was her. There was no mistaking it. She was ten years older but she was as beautiful as


    ever. Her mane of dark, brown waves was pulled back in a half-up style and her green eyes sparkled


    with her smile as she walked with one arm around her daughter, who was a carbon copy of her.


    The boys preceded their sister and mother asionally walking backward as they conversed. At the


    gate she gave each of her children a hug, fondly nting a kiss on their foreheads before sending them


    off. They waved to her before each boy took one of their sister’s arms and led her to the school


    entrance.


    Their mother watched from the street. Only when they were out of sight did her smile fade and a sad,


    yearning expression settled on her face. The strain of years of strife turned down the corners of her


    mouth as she huddled in a worn out, oversized coat faded and frayed from age. It was a stark contrast


    to the children whose clothes were new, clean and properly fitted. It was obvious she sacrificed her


    own necessities in favor of providing the best she could for three growing children.


    “Did you find out where they are living?” Ss asked as he stared at her despondent image.


    “An apartment, also on the Lower East Side…it’s not…in the greatest neighborhood,” Thomas added


    carefully.


    “And where she works?”


    “…She’s a waitress.”


    “What?” Ss looked up from the image giving Thomas a startled expression. Did he just hear that


    right?


    “She works at a diner,” Thomas exined setting down several photos.


    Ss looked at them reluctantly. Each depicted a small diner that seemed pulled out of the fifties tucked


    away in a small corner of a dark street. In each Ava stood in her dusty pink uniform, white tights and


    shoes waiting tables and serving customers. Though she wore a smile something about it was fake,


    manufactured. The light never reached her eyes the way it did when she was with her children.


    “…A waitress…” Ss muttered. How? Why? Who did this to her? She should have been ying for


    sold out concert halls not bussing tables.


    He looked at the birth certificates again. January eighteenth. Was there something special about that


    date that made him cringe? Then his gaze settled on the year…ten years ago. Ten years.


    “If a child is born in January, when would it have been conceived?”


    “A normal pregnancy is forty weeks, or about ten months,” Thomas said having already prepared for


    this question, “but ording to my research multiples are usually born early. For triplets, eight months


    is normal.”


    “That would make it May,” Ss quietly stated.


    “Correct.”


    May…Ten years ago…the hotel…but it couldn’t be…Ava would never…Ss nearly shook with is pent-


    up rage. It just wasn’t adding up. He had only ever been with one woman and that was a mistake…


    unless…


    “The woman who was in the hotel room, who was she again?”


    “Let’s see,” Thomas opened another folder. This one was much thinner and the information much older.


    “Natalie Lopez. She was a maid.”


    “A maid…” Ss rubbed his temple. He was missing something. It was like a puzzle but they were


    missing the crucial piece that would make the picture clear.


    Thomas watched him with concern. Since the musicpetition Ss seemed to be obsessed. It was


    clear the boys bore a striking resemnce to him but that was merely circumstantial.


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    “I want to talk to Natalie. Find her.”


    “Ss, are you sure you want to open that up again? It’s ancient history.”


    “I didn’t ask for your opinion. Just find her. And I want surveince, guards, on the kids and their mother


    at all times. If anything happens to them…”


    “All right.” Thomas nodded not needing to hear more and moved to gather up the pictures.


    “Leave them.”


    With a sigh Thomas set down the folder and departed for his next assignment. Once he was alone


    Ss sat in silence staring at the photographs. He picked up one with Lynn standing at the school her


    face serene. It was a face forever etched in his mind.


    * * *


    Avalynn Carlisle was the youngest daughter of his father’s rival. She was a year behind him in school


    so he didn’t have much contact with her. On top of that her older sister, Marilynn, was annoying and he


    didn’t have a favorable opinion of the family due to its history with his own. But Avalynn was different.


    The first time he noticed her was at the All Boroughs Music Competition. It was smaller then. She


    stepped onto the stage unassuming and shy but when she yed she became someone new:


    confident and alluring. Her face was serene as she yed and became lost in the world her music


    opened.


    Ss sat in his family’s private booth alongside his motherpletely enthralled. From that day on he


    could think of nothing else and he was desperate to know more about her. Since they were in different


    years they had no sses inmon making it more difficult to meet her. He had no talent for music


    so there was no point to trying out for the band. The only possible way to meet her was at school


    functions and dances.


    But there his ns were thwarted by his father. Richard Prescott was eager to make connections and


    set his son up with the daughters of his business associates. Every dance he was forced to escort a


    new girl for the night. Even so his eyes always looked for Ava and followed her as she wandered the


    fringes, shyly mingling.


    Avalynn had a quieter personalitypared to her boisterous sister andcked confidence in social


    situations but her unassuming nature only attracted him more. She didn’t put on airs or unt her family


    name. If anything she almost seemed embarrassed by it. With only minimal makeup she was easily the


    most beautiful girl in the room. It always amazed him no one else seemed to notice. No one asked her


    to dance and he was spared from the jealousy of seeing her with another boy.


    As the years progressed his hesitation to approach her continued and the opportunity to speak to her


    evaporated once he graduated. He went on to college leaving her behind but he never forgot her. He


    made new friends, friends who like to party, drink and sleep around. None of those activities appealed


    to him. In his mind he quietly nned how to approach Ava once they met again.


    His friends called him uptight and a party pooper but he didn’t think much of it. After their first year they


    all came to New York to celebrate and rx. Their constant badgering finally made him agree to go out


    and drink with them if only to shut them up but he didn’t know what they nned. The drink was spiked


    and once they were sure the drug was in effect they brought him to his hotel room and left him with a


    girl letting the rest happen naturally.


    When Ss woke his head was pounding, his throat was dry and he waspletely naked. Groggily he


    sat up trying to recall what had happened and found his memory locked in a strange fog. Turning he


    found a naked woman in his bed and connecting the dots became easy despite his unhelpful memory.


    Rage unlike anything he’d ever known boiled over.


    Furious he retreated to the bedroom to wash off the lingering scent of her on him. He dressed fully


    intending to abandon her as she was but she woke too soon. She sat up holding her head, moaning as


    if suffering from a hangover but he was in no mood to be gentle.


    “I don’t know how much they paid you but this should be more than enough to keep your mouth shut. If


    you try to contact me…If I hear one word about this from anyone…It’ll be thest thing anybody will


    ever hear from you.”


    She stiffened immediately at the sound of his voice, her head bowed as she clutched the bedspread to


    her chest in a mock show of modesty. The dark brown waves of her hair hid her face from his view but


    he didn’t want to know her and he didn’t want to remember her. Ss tossed a check at her and left.


    What happened to her afterwards he hadn’t thought about since. Why would he care about the fate of


    some prostitute or maid willing to sell her body for a cheap joke?


    But what if it had been Ava? Why would she agree to that? Was she tricked just as he was? Did they


    force her intoplying?


    A shiver went down his spine at the thought of how the petite form gripped her head the moment she


    woke. It was certainly a sign of a splitting headache. If they drugged her nothing would stop him from


    hunting them down and punishing them all again.


    He would know the truth as soon as he met with the maid. And if it turned out it was Ava in his room…


    his hand grasped a picture of her and the kids…If it was her…He had to find some way to convince her


    to allow him to into their lives.


    “…Ava…Why?”