Chapter 5 - Frank's First Family
Frank had been married before Helen.
None of his children knew.
Judith Warren married Frank when he was twenty-two.
The marriage lasted four years.
They had one child.
A daughter.
Her name was Claire.
She died at age three.
At least that was what Frank believed.
Judith left shortly afterward.
Frank never saw her again.
Years later, he married Helen.
They had Emily, Kevin and Rachel.
Why had Judith appeared the night Emily disappeared?
Because Margaret Ellis knew her.
Margaret and Judith had worked together decades earlier.
Judith became a forensic accountant.
When Margaret suspected someone was stealing from her investments, she contacted Judith secretly.
Margaret died before the investigation finished.
Emily found Judith's name among her grandmother's files.
She contacted her.
Judith became the adult Emily trusted.
On the night of the staged crash, Judith drove Emily away.
Thomas never saw her again.
Helen did.
Once.
Six months later.
Judith came to the house.
She told Helen Emily was alive but refused to reveal where.
“She made me promise not to tell Frank.”
Rachel stared.
“And you agreed?”
“I thought Emily would come home.”
“She didn't.”
“No.”
“Then why keep lying?”
Helen looked ashamed.
Because by then police had declared the disappearance suspicious.
Helen feared her theft from the trust would make her a suspect.
So she kept quiet.
One lie required another.
Then another.
Eventually telling the truth felt impossible.
I asked Thomas about the recent photograph of Emily.
He hadn't taken it.
He hadn't seen Emily in seventeen years.
“What happened seventeen years ago?”
Emily visited him.
She had changed.
More cautious.
More frightened.
She told Thomas she had discovered Gregory wasn't the top of the scheme.
Someone else had been using the family trust for decades.
She wouldn't name them.
She left one instruction:
“If Frank ever starts asking about the money, give him this.”
Thomas handed me an envelope.
It had already been opened.
Inside was a copy of a birth certificate.
Claire Warren.
Daughter of Frank Parker and Judith Warren.
No death certificate.
Instead, an adoption decree.
Claire had not died at three.
She had been adopted.
Frank's first daughter was alive.
Rachel whispered:
“Dad's daughter?”
“Yes.”
“Why would he believe she died?”
Thomas didn't know.
But Judith apparently discovered the truth years later.
Someone had told Frank his child died while arranging for Claire to be adopted by another family.
Who had that authority?
The signature on the adoption paperwork belonged to a social worker.
Margaret Ellis.
Helen's mother.
Rachel stared at Helen.
“Grandma stole Dad's first daughter?”
Helen looked devastated.
“I didn't know.”
Maybe.
Then Kevin suddenly stood.
“I did.”
Everyone turned.
Kevin was crying.
“When I was sixteen, Uncle Gregory showed me that document.”
“Why?”
“He said Grandma had saved Dad from something.”
“What?”
Kevin swallowed.
“He said Claire wasn't really Dad's daughter.”
Frank's paternity had never been tested.
But Kevin remembered Gregory saying:
“If Frank ever learns who Claire's father was, this whole family disappears.”
Then my phone rang.
Hospital.
May you like
Frank was awake.
And asking for Claire.
