Chapter 16 - THE PRISON CALLSDennis had access to people.
That should not have surprised me.
Prison walls stop bodies better than they stop influence.
Rachel explained that Dennis had spent years exchanging favors with an outside network connected to old associates of Ruth and Vale.
Nothing dramatic.
No mafia empire.
That would have almost been easier.
Just desperate people.
Fake documents.
Debt collection.
Private investigators.
Former clients.
People who knew where secrets were buried and charged money to keep them there.
Dennis had one advantage.
Information.
He knew names from Margaret’s files before we did.
He knew which adoptions were questionable.
Which families had lied.
Which people could lose careers, inheritances, marriages.
Blackmail is portable.
Rachel said Dennis contacted her through a man named Jordan Pike.
“Who is he?” Ortiz asked.
“Former corrections contractor.”
“Current?”
“Private security.”
Rachel looked at me.
“He told me Dennis wanted Margaret’s second ledger.”
“Why?”
“Because it identifies everyone.”
“Everyone involved?”
“And everyone placed.”
Emily went still.
“Children.”
“Adults now,” Rachel said. “Some have no idea.”
Publishing the ledger could destroy lives.
Hiding it could protect criminals.
There was no clean answer.
Rachel continued.
“I disappeared because Jordan said Caleb would be hurt if I didn’t cooperate.”
Caleb’s face hardened.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I thought distance protected you.”
He laughed bitterly.
The sound reminded me of Emily years earlier.
Another parent deciding secrecy was protection.
Rachel heard it too.
“I was wrong.”
Caleb stood and left the room.
Nobody stopped him.
Rachel cried.
I almost comforted her.
Then remembered I was her father.
Possibly.
We had not even had that conversation.
Life had become ridiculous.
Ortiz asked:
“What did Dennis want you to do?”
“Find the ledger.”
“You didn’t know where it was.”
“No.”
“What then?”
“He wanted me to convince Elmer that Margaret had done worse than Dennis.”
I stared.
“What?”
“He wanted you angry at her.”
“I already was.”
“He wanted you to question the whole original case.”
That explained the altered-evidence tip.
Dennis was not trying to prove innocence.
He was trying to create enough doubt to reopen everything.
“Why now?”
Rachel looked at Sophie.
“Because he wants parole eligibility later.”
Dennis’s sentence was long.
But some charges could be reconsidered if evidence misconduct spread.
He had years to plan.
I felt something cold settle in me.
Dennis was still doing what he always did.
Turning other people into tools.
Rachel gave Ortiz Jordan Pike’s number.
They traced him.
Gone.
Again.
Then Sophie said:
“What if Dennis wanted us to find the altered evidence?”
Everyone looked at her.
She was fifteen, not five.
Sharp.
Calm.
Too experienced with adult deception.
“He told Rachel about it,” Sophie continued. “Right?”
Rachel nodded.
“Indirectly.”
“So he wanted Grandpa to know.”
Ortiz leaned forward.
“Go on.”
“If Grandpa finds out Harold changed things, then Grandpa starts doubting everybody.”
I stared at her.
“And?”
“And Dennis becomes the only person who already admitted some things.”
That was frighteningly intelligent.
A manipulator does not always deny everything.
Sometimes he admits enough truth to make later lies believable.
Sophie looked at me.
“He wants you to talk to him.”
I knew she was right.
The next morning, Dennis requested another visit.
Of course he did.
I went.
He looked older.
Gray at the temples.
Calmer.
He smiled when I sat.
“You found Rachel.”
Not a question.
“How did you know?”
“I know more than you think.”
“You altered nothing?”
“Harold did.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you say anything at trial?”
He leaned back.
“Would anyone have believed me?”
“Maybe your attorney.”
“He knew about one item.”
I stared.
“And?”
“We made a strategic decision.”
“Now you care?”
“Now Sophie is old enough.”
My entire body tightened.
“Do not use her.”
“I’m trying to protect her.”
I laughed.
“You have used that sentence before.”
His expression changed.
“I deserve that.”
That humility was dangerous.
Because it sounded real.
“Why do you want the ledger?”
“I don’t.”
“Rachel says you do.”
“Rachel lies.”
“Like you?”
“Yes.”
That answer surprised me.
Dennis continued.
“Dad, the ledger isn’t dangerous because it proves what I did.”
“Then why?”
“Because one name in it connects to Sophie.”
“What name?”
He looked at the camera in the corner.
Then lowered his voice.
“Daniel Carter.”
Emily’s brother.
I knew she had a younger brother.
Estranged.
Living somewhere in California.
“What about him?”
Dennis said:
“He was never her brother.”
I stared.
“What?”
“He was one of Ruth’s placements.”
“Into Emily’s family?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Dennis leaned closer.
“His biological father was Theodore Vale.”
The lawyer who helped run the illegal adoption network.
My blood went cold.
“So what?”
“So Daniel grew up, found out who he was, and started helping Vale.”
“Helping how?”
“Finding children.”
I stopped breathing.
Dennis continued.
“And five years ago, after I went to prison, Daniel Carter disappeared.”
May you like
I knew the next sentence before Dennis said it.
“He’s back.”
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