Family Money(51)

I began running through the lot, searching cars, wondering if she could be sitting inside any of them. Not having any luck in the parking lot, I circled the entire church block to see if she’d left on foot. I peered up and down the sidewalk. Cursing, I spun around, couldn’t find her anywhere. She had disappeared on me again.

I was sweating something fierce, running around in the hot sun in my business suit. I knew I had to get back inside the sanctuary. Taylor would be wondering what the hell I was doing. I had to be with my wife right now. Moments later, I walked back into the sanctuary and waited until they were singing another hymn before rejoining my family. Taylor gave me another look of concern. I forced a smile to let her know I was fine.

But I was not fine. My already unstable world had just been completely flipped upside down. If Joe might still be alive, I felt more committed than ever to talking with Greta—even if it meant flying back to DC tonight and staking out every campaign event. The woman had answers. And I sure as hell was going to get them.





THIRTY-FOUR


The reception after Joe’s service was a complete blur to me. I did my best to engage people on some level, but I was completely checked out. I kept excusing myself every few minutes to find a corner where I could privately look at my phone. I’d sent a half dozen text messages to the same phone number in Mexico City but still had not received any response. At this point, I doubted I would. I felt caught in an emotional tug-of-war. On one side, my head said it was impossible that Joe was still alive. Someone was just messing with me. Someone who didn’t want the truth exposed. Could it be Greta? The CIA? On the other side, my heart was begging for it to be true. If Joe was still alive, what should I do? He was telling me I was putting my family in danger. That I should stop my search for answers and let him go.

Could I really do that?

When all the hugs and condolences were finally finished, we climbed back into my Tahoe as a family and drove home. The girls raced up to their bedroom to change clothes and prepare to go to the lake house. The luggage was all packed. All I had to do was get my family turned around quickly and back out on the road. I was eager to do that so I could come up with my own next steps.

Taylor and I returned to our master closet and began changing.

“What happened to you up there?” she asked me.

“I just lost my composure a bit.” I knew she would ask me about it. “So rather than break down crying, which I didn’t really want the girls to see, I decided to cut my talk short and go gather myself.”

“You did really good, babe. My dad would’ve appreciated it.”

“Thanks.”

“It’s hard to believe it’s really time to move on now.”

“Yeah. I know.”

It’s all I could think to say. There was no way I could tell Taylor that her dad might still be alive right now. I had no idea if it was actually true. The only path forward was more and more lies. I felt like I had built a fortress around me and wasn’t sure how I’d ever find my way out. Would it ever end?

“Mom was pleased,” Taylor added. “I could tell.”

“She told me she loved the video.”

“Yeah, she wants to watch it again at the lake house tonight.”

“How do you think the girls are doing?”

“Really hard to say. There were definitely tears.”

I put on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. I heard my phone buzz on the dresser next to Taylor, where I’d set it down a moment ago. She picked it up to hand it to me. When she did, Taylor glanced at the message.

She looked up at me with a furrowed brow. “Who is Greta?”

I cocked my head, felt my heart jump. “What?”

Taylor handed me my phone, but she did not look happy. When I read the text message, I could see why.

Meet me in Room 314 at the Driskill Hotel at 8 p.m. —Greta It was a random local number. I wasn’t sure how to respond to Taylor. The fact that a woman she didn’t know was texting me to meet her in her hotel room tonight after I was shipping my family off to the lake obviously looked suspicious. I had to either tell my wife the whole truth right now, or I had to find a quick way to circumvent disaster. Considering that the truth would lead me down a path to telling her there was a million-to-one shot her dad could still be alive after she’d just found some closure, I decided on my answer.

“I don’t know who this is,” I said. “I don’t know anyone named Greta.”

Taylor’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t lie to me, Alex.”

“I’m not. This clearly wasn’t meant for me. Why do you think there’s no contact info for the number? Or any other text messages between us?”

I handed her back my phone to take a look. She still seemed wary. I needed to take another bold but risky step to get out of this.

“Babe, just call the number,” I suggested. “Or text her back. Use my name. See what happens. Because I promise you whoever this is will tell you it was a mistake.”

It was a chance I had to take. But I figured there was no way that Greta would actually answer my call or even respond to a text from me. She had given me instructions. I figured there would likely be no other correspondence between us until I stepped into that hotel room in a couple of hours. But would Taylor call my bluff? My wife seemed to consider it for only a moment before her shoulders gradually relaxed.