She deserved a conversation without a police chief sitting beside her taking mental notes.
I learned later that their first call lasted nearly four hours.
Rebecca cried when Daniel said her childhood nickname.
Daniel cried when she told him their mother had kept his birthday cards in a shoebox even after she stopped believing he would return.
Neither of them knew how to bridge the years in a single evening.
They started with ordinary questions about jobs, children, and weather.
They worked their way toward the questions that had kept Rebecca awake for two decades.
Daniel admitted that he had received some of her letters through a mutual acquaintance.
He had been too afraid to answer.
Rebecca told him that fear had cost their mother the chance to see him again.
Daniel did not defend himself.
He apologized and accepted the hurt in her voice.
When Lena called me the next morning, she said Daniel had agreed to an interview in Ohio with investigators from both jurisdictions.
I asked whether I should attend.
She said no.
My father was connected to the events under examination, and my Mustang had become potential evidence.
My proper role was witness, not investigator.
I respected the boundary even though every part of me wanted to hear Daniel explain what had happened.
For the first time since Karen arrived with the tow truck, I understood that the answer might damage the memory of someone I loved.
I had spent years believing my father was an uncomplicatedly decent man.
The truth might be more difficult than that.
Chapter 26: A Statement Made in Ohio
The investigators interviewed Daniel in a county office with plain walls and a clock that clicked too loudly.
Lena later shared the portions of his statement that could be disclosed without compromising the investigation.
Daniel had worked at a small restoration shop in 2003.
The shop specialized in classic American cars, and its owner sometimes purchased vehicles from estate sales without inspecting their paperwork carefully.
Victor Bellamy had been a regular customer.
He arrived with expensive watches, impatient instructions, and a habit of paying in cash.
Daniel first became suspicious when Victor asked him to replace the identification plate on a vehicle that appeared to have been recently stolen.
Daniel refused.
Victor laughed and claimed the paperwork was merely complicated.
A week later, Daniel discovered a folder containing altered titles and photographs of several vehicles.
