After enjoying the view for a moment, he looked over at Amanda. She was staring at her wineglass, probably thinking of her father. He realized he might want to steer the conversation to the issue at hand before she became too stirred with emotion.
“Amanda, about two years ago your father left his job with the US government to work here in Europe. What did he tell you about that?”
“Well, unfortunately he didn’t tell me much of anything. And trust me, I tried.” She stopped staring at her wineglass and looked up at him. “In the end, the only thing he really told me was that the job was going to pay very well and that it would secure both his future and mine.”
Zane set both elbows on the table and crossed his fingers. “By the way, are you an only child?”
“Yes, I am. And now my family is pretty much gone. My mother died when I was ten years old.”
“So sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Cancer is a horrible thing. But you know, I think it made me who I am. Dad tells me I was a shy little girl with a big smile, and then when Mom died, I had to grow up quickly. Some would say too quickly. And then, as time went on, the little shy girl became assertive and independent. I had to.”
A strange feeling came over Zane, which made him turn his head and look through the glass window of the pub. Almost immediately, his eyes fell on two men he hadn’t seen before. One was bald, and the other had wavy blond hair. Both wore black leather jackets. Zane could have sworn that the bald one glanced in his direction as they made their way through the crowd. He followed them with his eyes as they moved toward the bar.
“You know?”
Her voice brought him back to their conversation. He looked at her and nodded his head. “I think you’re right. That will always be a part of your mother’s legacy. Her death played a role in forming who you are today. Maybe this is a stretch, but you might not be one of the best in your field if you hadn’t been shaped by those circumstances.”
“Exactly,” Amanda said. She smiled at him. “Hardly a day goes by that I don’t thank God for my mother. She planted the seed of my faith… and just like you said, her death seemed to help me mature more quickly than I might have otherwise.”
Zane stole another quick glance back into the bar. He couldn’t see either of the two men anymore. Either they had moved or had left. He doubted it was the latter.
“Unfortunately, my mom’s death shaped Dad as well.”
“What do you mean?” asked Zane.
“Well, I’m not sure how much you’ve been told. Has anyone told you about Dad’s money problems?”
Zane wasn’t sure how much he should tell the girl about what he knew, but he answered truthfully. “Yes, the London police told us he had some financial struggles. Your father’s employer implied that it might have had something to do with his death.”
“It all started with Mom’s cancer. Dad had good insurance through his job at NASA, but the chemo didn’t seem to be working. Mom just got worse and worse. She handled it by growing stronger in her faith. The closer she got to death, the closer she got to God. On the other hand, Dad was never a spiritual man at all… and, well he turned to alternative medicine. He took her to two different clinics that specialized in unorthodox treatments. Mom died shortly after checking out of the second one.” She paused as the painful memories began flooding back into her mind. “And Dad’s financial comfort died along with her.”
“Something tells me those treatments weren’t cheap.”
“No, they weren’t. I was young and he never told me exactly, but I’ve heard from others that the treatments cost a couple of hundred thousand dollars.”
“Wow. Not hard to imagine how that would lead someone to financial ruin pretty quickly.”
“Yes, and in the aftermath of Mom’s death, Dad made bad decisions with his money, and things spiraled out of control. Which was odd, because he was very conservative before Mom’s illness. Anyway, there's nothing I can do now.” Amanda took a deep breath and looked out across the Thames at St. Paul’s Cathedral. “But at least he had the fortitude to take out a large insurance policy.”
Zane raised an eyebrow. “Really? When did he do that?”
“To be honest, I’m not exactly sure. My aunt in North Carolina is the executor of his estate, and she told me he took it out after taking the job over here. If you need to know, I'll ask her at the memorial service on Monday.”
“No, that’s fine,” he replied. Realizing it was time to get to the heart of the matter, he said, “I’m told you received a letter from your father. Is that correct?”
“I did. It was delivered to me in Israel.”
“Did you bring that letter with you?”
“Yes,” she replied. She looked quickly around before taking her purse off the table. After searching for a moment, she finally pulled out two folded sheets of paper and pushed them across the table.
Zane glanced back into the interior of the pub as he picked up the sheets. He still couldn’t see either of the two men. Perhaps he had been concerned for nothing, although his internal alarm system was generally reliable. “Is this your father’s handwriting?”
Amanda laughed. “Absolutely. I’d recognize that chicken scratch anywhere.”
Zane’s brow furrowed as he began to read.
Dearest Amanda,
I hope this letter finds you well. How is the dig? I’m so sorry that I haven’t been in touch with you as much as I should have. Maybe one of these days I can come out and watch you do your thing. What a fascinating way to earn a living! And please pass along my best to James if you will. I’m so happy that you’re working under such a fine man. I have fond memories of him.
You’re probably wondering why someone has delivered a letter to you out in the middle of the desert. Due to a change in circumstances, I felt it was the safest way to get in touch with you. Please don’t be overly alarmed, but I recently submitted my resignation to the organization I’d been working for. The resignation was probably not well received, and you can see from the return address that I am no longer in Switzerland. A former colleague was kind enough to let me stay in an apartment he owns here in Vienna.
I don’t feel at liberty to fill in all of the details of my resignation just yet, but suffice it to say these people were not who they represented themselves to be. Yes, I’m mindful of your warnings when this all began, and kudos to you for sensing this wasn’t in my best interest. You were spot on, and I’m proud of my daughter for having such intuition. Perhaps it’s your faith in God. Whatever the case, you were right to challenge me when this all began.
Knowing you as I do, I can be sure that you have a lot of questions about what specifically went on in my job and what caused me to write this letter. Unfortunately I don’t dare speak of those things right now. There is a reason for my silence, and there is a reason that I’m here in Vienna and not at home in the States.
You’re also probably wondering why a set of keys was included in my correspondence. The larger one is a spare key to the apartment I’m living in now. If for whatever reason you don’t hear back from me, or if you learn that something has happened to me, I wanted that in your hands. That key will lead you to more information. You are such a smart girl, and even though that doesn’t give you much, I know you’ll be able to follow my trail of information.
But let me end on a happy note. Often our greatest fears never come to pass, so my plan is to go visit an old colleague I haven’t seen in a while — Rupert Sterling. You may have heard me mention Rupert when I spoke of my time in London many years ago. He is a brilliant man, and I’d like to get his input on where I should go from here. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as picking up the phone and calling the authorities.