“What does this mean? Your father knew my mother?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are there any other letters from him?”
I handed him the other two letters I found inside the card. “I found three letters. They’re addressed to your mother at somewhere in Pennsylvania. Did she ever live there?”
Tristan nodded as he silently read the address. “My mother was from Gladwyne, right outside of Philadelphia. The address this was sent to was my grandparents’ house there. It was left to her when they died.”
“How would my father know to send her a letter there?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we’ll find something out in the other letters.”
I watched as he read the next letter, silently hoping it would tell us that my father hadn’t been unfaithful to my mother. Lifting his head, Tristan smiled. “I think I know what you were thinking, but it’s not like that. Listen to what he wrote.”
Dear Tressa,
Diana would never forgive me if I didn’t tell you first, and I hope you understand what I must do. We’re a long way from the nights when you and she would sneak out of your dorm at Bryn Mawr to come see me at the News Gleaner, aren’t we?
You asked me if there was anything you could say or do to convince me to keep what I’ve found to myself. I wish I could. My investigation has uncovered many secrets around your family. I promise you that the only details that will come out will be those related to my investigation. Please know that I would never intentionally hurt you or your family. You’re the reason I met Diana, and I’ve never forgotten that wonderful favor.
Take care to keep yourself safe. Do whatever you must to protect yourself and your family, but know that I have no choice now.
Joe
The news that my mother had been Tressa Stone’s friend and had met my father because of her touched my heart. To me, my parents had always been older. To think of them younger seemed odd, but as Tristan read my father’s letter, I imagined the three of them as college friends. The idea left me with more questions than answers, though. Had they remained close after college? How had Tristan’s mother met my father and later introduced him to my mother? Sadly, none of them were around to answer any of my questions.
“It seems that your father knew far more than just what my father and Taylor did,” Tristan said with a smile.
“They were college friends. My mother and your mother. Do you think we met as kids? My father mentioned that she was wonderful to Kim and me when my mother died. Maybe she brought you along.”
“Maybe. Maybe I fell in love with you all the way back then,” he said with a grin.
“Now you’re just making fun of me. You’re terrible! I don’t care what you say. I like the idea of us meeting when we were kids and falling in love years later.”
“I know what you were thinking, though. You were worried that my mother and your father had been together.”
“I was. That’s sort of creepy, don’t you think? A little too close for comfort for me.”
Tristan shrugged and shook his head. “People love who they love, Nina. If my mother was in love with your father, I don’t see anything bad in it, especially if he was anything like you. She deserved someone good in her life since she sure as hell didn’t have that with my father.”
“Then why was she with Karl, of all people?” I asked, still puzzled at how someone so good could be with someone who wanted to kill us.
“I have no idea.”
I pointed at the third envelope. “There’s one more letter we need to read.”
He slipped the letter out and began reading it aloud.
Dear Tressa,
I’ve found evidence that Stone Worldwide is the maker of the heart medicine Cordovex. The company that produces the drug, Rider Pharmaceutical, is a subsidiary company of Stone run by a man named Karl Dreger. I don’t know if anyone in your family knows what Rider is guilty of, but people are dying because of it.
I can’t wait with this part of the story. I’m sorry if your family is innocently tied up in this. As I’ve promised, only what I must reveal will come out.
Joe
“My father tried to warn her. What do you think she did with this information?”
“I don’t know, but there are other sheets of paper in the envelope.” He pulled the pages out and showed me the first one. On it, Karl’s name was written over and over, along with references to Cordovex. “I think we found what he’s been looking for.”
“That’s it. That’s what he thinks is in my father’s notebook. He had no idea he’d sent the information to your mother instead. But why would he send it to her?”