And he had no regrets, not after what he found.
It was a long and twisted road, checking into Alek’s past, which is what made Donny suspicious to begin with. Everyone left a trail of digital footprints. If you find a man standing in the center of an untrammeled beach, you know he’s done something to cover his tracks. A regular background check yielded little information about his recent addresses, and nothing beyond ten years ago. Digging deeper, Donny found gaps in Alek’s employment history. Then, using facial recognition software, he found closed social media accounts under a different name. This, in itself, wasn’t unusual—people made fake profiles all the time. He had to crawl through hundreds of webpages, searching endless news releases and police reports, but he eventually struck gold.
Alek Cary was not who he claimed to be. And soon, Donny would have proof. Evelyn would be so thankful, she might even forgive him for what he had done to Harold and Jeb.
Shouldering his backpack, he knelt over his laptop. He opened a program from his cloud backup, then he began perusing a hacked replica of Alek’s phone.
There wasn’t time to go through everything, but he took a few moments to open a few apps. Everything looked normal on the surface, and his chest began to tighten. There wasn’t time to dig deeper—the police could be there any second.
He cursed and pounded a hand against his desk. After what he had done to Jeb, no one would believe him about Alek unless he had irrefutable proof. Against his better judgment, he probed farther into the phone’s hard drive. He opened a folder titled “special memories,” and as its contents populated the screen, vomit crept into the back of Donny’s throat. He swallowed it, took a breath, and said, “Bingo.”
He gripped the laptop screen and was about to slam it shut when the handle on the front door began to rattle.
Sweat formed along his spine. His fingers tapped the keyboard, composing a message. A banging noise at the front door. Donny shook his head, pasted a link into the email, and hit send. He counted to three, then closed the laptop and smashed it against the edge of his desk. The plastic case cracked, revealing the components inside. He hit it again, denting the hard drive.
There was a loud click, and his front door creaked on its hinges. A man, wearing a baseball cap pulled low, stepped into the light.
Donny hurled the laptop at the intruder, then turned to look for a more suitable weapon. But something crashed into the back of his skull. A bright flash flooded his vision; then, there was nothing but darkness.
20
Morning arrived with a gray dawn and the droning lullaby of rain against the building’s steel roof. Evelyn silenced the alarm on her phone, groaned, and buried her face in the pillow.
“Absolutely not,” Candace’s voice echoed from the kitchen. “You owe me the juicy details, remember?” She carried a tray of fruit into the living room and placed it on the coffee table. “Get up.”
Evelyn didn’t move for several moments. Then she jolted onto her elbows and said, “Alek!”
“What about him?”
Evelyn hurried outside without answering. She jogged barefoot along the sidewalk and stepped onto soggy grass beside the Buick.
Alek turned bleary eyes toward her, smiled, and unlocked the door. She ducked inside, taking shelter from the rain.
“Good morning. Did you sleep okay?”
She gave him a sympathetic frown. “I’m so sorry for pulling you into this mess. But yeah, I slept great. Thank you for watching out for me.”
“I’m glad to do it if it keeps you safe. Have you called Vanessa yet?”
“No. I thought I’d invite you up for breakfast, first.”
Resting a hand on his stomach and staring upward, he said, “You have no idea how good that sounds right now.”
She winked at him then cracked open her door. “Candace made a fruit tray, and I can fry up a couple of eggs, if you’d like.”
“I never turn down free food.”
They hurried through the rain, bounding up the stairs and ducking inside the apartment.
Candace froze, holding a slice of cantaloupe in front of her mouth. “Uh, hi, Alek.” She glared at Evelyn. “You didn’t tell me we were going to have company this morning.”
“Sorry about that. But I thought he’d be hungry after sitting in his car all night.”
Candace rose to her feet and put her hands on her hips. “You slept in the car? Why on earth would you—”
“It’s a long story,” Evelyn interjected, “one I need to tell Vanessa right away. Maybe you two can listen in while I give her a call?”
“I—sure, that’s fine.” She faced Alek. “Can I get you some coffee?”
Alek grinned. “That would be amazing. Thank you.”
As Alek took off his shoes and Candace started a pot of coffee, Evelyn dialed Vanessa’s number and put the call on speaker.
“Hello?”
Evelyn set the phone on the coffee table and rubbed her palms against her pant legs. “Vanessa, it’s Evelyn. Do you have a moment? It’s urgent.”
“Sure, hold on a second.” Vanessa sounded out of breath, and Evelyn assumed she was at the gym for a morning workout.
“Did you talk to Donny yesterday?” Evelyn asked.
“I don’t know if ‘talk’ is the right word. I tore him a new one, that’s for sure.”
Evelyn closed her eyes and tried to frame her thoughts. “Vanessa, there’s more to this situation than I ever knew. I talked to my parents yesterday, and they let me in on a secret they’ve been keeping for a long time.”
“Hold on a second…did you say parents? You talked to Harry?”
Alek reached out and held Evelyn’s hand. She took a deep breath then recounted the entire story.
Candace came back from the kitchen to listen in, and her face twisted with horror as Evelyn detailed everything Donny had done—from framing Jeb to lunging at Alek with a knife.
When Evelyn finally stopped talking, her face was streaked with tears.
Vanessa paused for a long moment. “I—I can’t believe it. I’m so sorry, Evelyn. Are you safe? Did you call the police?”
She sighed. “No. I wanted to give him one more chance. I thought, if you talked to him, he might agree to get professional help.”
Even over the phone, the gratitude in Vanessa’s voice was unmistakable. “Thank you. I’ll go talk to him right away.”
“And I’ll call Paulette and ask if she’ll meet you there. I won’t give her all the details, but I think it would be better if she went with you.”
“Alright. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Talk to you soon.”
Vanessa ended the call, and Evelyn leaned against Alek’s shoulder as if the conversation had drained every ounce of her strength.
Candace crossed the room and knelt beside her friend. “I can call Paulette if you’d like.”
“No, I’ll do it.” The phone felt like it was made of lead, but Evelyn lifted it and dialed again. Though she struggled to maintain control of her emotions, she recounted a sanitized version of her story. She described Donny’s unusual behavior but left out the knife attack. Paulette thanked her for the call, promised to accompany Vanessa to the cottage, and hung up.
Afterward, Candace returned with a pair of coffee mugs, wearing a pained expression. “I hate to leave you like this, Evelyn, but I need to go to work. Will you be alright without me?”
Evelyn forced a weak smile. “I’ll be okay.” She lifted the steaming cup and stared at the almond-colored liquid inside. “I think I’ll head into Kensington. It’ll take my mind off things.”