Authors: Delia Delaney
Braden
flew home the morning after the L.A. show. I was kind of sad to see him go, and man was he disappointed beyond belief. But Jared sent him with some pretty cool stuff to give to his friends, and he was at least looking forward to that. I had a feeling that my brother would be ca
lling me a lot more than he use
to.
After the show in L.A.
came
Las Vegas, Flagstaff, Tucson, and Albuquerque. Each show was about two or three days from the next, and Jared said that it was considered to be a vacation-type tour. We had time to sightsee at every city, and it was a lot of fun.
There were only a fe
w awkward moments along the way.
Maggie and I were in the tour bus with Jared, but there were also a few other band and crewmembers once in a while. There were other vehicles traveling with the bus, and we kind of rotated who spent time where. I didn’t mind being amongst the other guys, but it was weird at night when Maggie and I shared the main bedroom, and the others scrambled for the bunks or couches that converted into beds.
I didn’t see anything wrong with making Jared sleep with us—it’s not like anything was going to go on while we were
in a bus full of people. I actually like
d
cuddling up with him at night, and when Maggie was asleep, we finally got to have time alone with each other.
I got a phone call from Michelle Bronson one evening. Jared was backstage with the band while we waited for his
last
show in Albuquerque, and because the crowd was so loud, I had to take the call to the back of the
theatre
. I still could barely hear her, so I told her I would have to call her back.
Michelle only called me when she had something relevant to the case, so I was anxious to hear what she had to say. I’d been worried when I left Washington that the case would fizzle out, but Detective Bronson had assured me that she would do her best to keep the investigation
active
. At the moment they were looking into a potential relationship that my sister may have had with a professor at Berkeley, and I was nervous to hear the results to that
current
lead.
I took Maggie through security to get backstage again. The musicians
’
lounges were a better option to take the call
, and when Jared saw me he was surprised.
“What’s up?” he asked, getting up from strumming his guitar with Marcus.
“Um, is it okay if I call Michelle back from in here? It’s a little noisy out there.”
“Of course. You can go in there if you want more privacy,” he pointed to the dressing rooms.
“Um, okay. Thanks. Come on, Maggie,” I motioned.
“She can hang out
here if she wants,” he said. “Maggie, you want some soda?”
He knew he needed
to bribe her since there were
other people in the lounge. She had no problem being around Jared, but she got a little shy around the rest of the band.
Maggie was eager to pick out a drink, and I laughed when Jared said, “But you can’t have the whole thing, okay sweetie? I don’t want you to have to go
pee in the middle of my show. I’d be sad if you missed it.
”
That made her giggle, and she agreed to just a small cup of soda.
“How long do you have?” I asked. “I went out there when they said you had ten minutes.”
“Ten more,” he replied. “
They’re still switching the stage
.
Just make the call; we’re fine.
”
Maggie pick
ed
out a drink, so I nodded and closed the door behind me. Michelle answered the phone on the first ring.
“Are you still in Arizona?” she asked.
“Um, no, we’re in New Mexico. We’ll head back to California tomorrow. Do you need me? Did something come up? I can fly out tonight if—”
“
Uh, let’s talk about that in a minute
,” she replied. “But there is something pretty big that you need to know, Taryn. And I really hope this doesn’t have an effect on, uh, your life or…”
“What is it? Just tell me.”
“Okay,” she exhaled. “Um, the professor theory? Turned out to be incorrect. Somewhat.”
“What do you mean ‘somewhat’?”
“Well…
Rachel
was in relationship with someone while she was at Berkeley. But it wasn’t a professor at the school; it was a guest lecturer in
a
public relations seminar.”
I thought about that for a second. “Okay… So she hooked up with this guy while she was a student? When?”
“Um
, about six years ago.”
I could tell by the sound of her voice what she was implying. “We already established that Maggie’s father is James
Graham,
”
I said.
“I know that’s what the evidence says.”
“It’s on the birth certificate.”
“I know. But there’s a little more to the story, Taryn.”
“Okay,
fine.
I’m listening.”
I could tell she took a deep breath again, and then she said, “The man she was in a relationship with six years ago was John Miller.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
I think my heart stopped. And even though I could hear voices on the other side of the door, it seemed like the world came to a halt.
“No, it-it can’t be,” I
stammered
.
“John was a guest speaker at Berkeley at that time, and I have a witness that can
testify
that she saw
Rachel
with him outside of campus
even
a month
after
the seminar. Taryn… I talked to John this morning and…he didn’t deny it. He said that he did meet
Rachel
after the seminar that day, they ended up going out to dinner, and that he flew down and saw her several times after that. This was when she was also seeing James Graham.”
I was speechless. I’m not sure if I even had a complete thought in my head.
“John said that their relationship ended a few months later but they did keep in touch. When she graduated, she asked him for a job. He turned her down, claiming that it was a conflict of interest. She, um… Well, she played him for quite a while, he says. He claims she told him that Maggie was his daughter.”
“What
!?
”
“After she got the job she recanted and said that Maggie wasn’t his, and after a pretty rocky business start between the two of them,
Rachel
ended up proving her worth and John says that he was actually glad that he hired her. They put their differences behind them and just focused on business.”
“So my sister got a job through
blackmail
? What exactly was the deal? She wouldn’t force him to acknowledge the kid if he gave her a
job
?”
“Pretty much. He admitted that he didn’t want another kid
, but he gave a pretty good starting salary to keep it quiet. He did insist on a paternity test, but by then
Rachel
was already bagging all kinds of business for the company, so when she came clean about Maggie’s paternity, he was more relieved than angry with her. He said he was mad,
but she was already going through a lot of problems with the Graham family
and he didn’t want to affect her job performance by making things worse
.”
“What kind of problems? I didn’t know of any problems.”
“This is just coming from John Miller, okay? I’ll verify it when I get a chance. But according to John,
Rachel
was being threatened with visitation rights from the Graham family. She said they were giving her all kinds of problems about seeing Maggie.”
“After James died in prison?”
“Yes. But John always wondered if she was j
ust trying to gain his sympathy—it is part of the reason why he gave her the job at Miller and Harris—so
he looked into it
. He talked to Blake Graham
,
James’ father
,
and
he
said that
Rachel
told them that
James
wasn’t even the father
of Maggie
.”
“What?”
“Blake said that James
found out about the baby when he and
Rachel
were in the middle of a domestic dispute. She blurted out that she was pregnant with his child so he wouldn’t hurt her anymore. This is what the Grahams say that she told them. But after Maggie was born, and James went to jail for the last time,
Rachel
told him that he wasn’t even the father.”
“What?” I barely whispered.
“That’s why the Grahams weren’t that set on being a part of Maggie’s life.
James told them he wasn’t Maggie’s father.
That’s why they backed off and just let
Rachel
raise her on her own.
They didn’t know what the truth was or not, but they really didn’t want to deal with
Rachel
.
Taryn, this is all new to me, so I’m still trying to put the pieces together. The reason I wanted you to know is because we’ve believed all along that somebody at Miller and Harris was in a relationship with
Rachel
. Recently.”
“Recently? How recent?
”
“S
he was seeing somebody from that company up until the time she died. We already questioned everyone there, and we couldn’t get anything solid, but I’m almost positive that
she was.”
“And you think it was John Miller?” I asked hesitantly.
“
I’m not sure yet.
I did at first—
he just seemed a little…suspicious. And trust me, I looked into him so thoroughly that I think I know him better than I know myself.
And I know all of his women well.
The only thing I missed was the relationship with your sister six years ago, and now that he’s admitted to that, I wonder what else he’s lied about.”
“Oh
my gosh
,” I mumbled. I sat down on a chair and
dropped
my face into my hand.
“Taryn, I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I mean about… Well, you know…”
“That I’m dating his son? The son of the guy that might have something to do with my sister’s death?”
She sighed. “
I wouldn’t go that far just yet, but
I will get to the bottom of this. I promise you I will. For now…” She didn’t seem to want to finish the sentence for some reason, and I understood why when she said, “For now I’d like to run a paternity test against John Miller. I need to rule out that he might be Maggie’s father.”
Just hearing her say that blew me away. If John Miller was Maggie’s biological father, that meant Jared was…her half-brother. I just couldn’t even comprehend it. And thinking about the two of them—they had a lot of similarities. They didn’t look anything alike—Maggie looked just like her mom—but there were other characteristics that I began to wonder about.
“Taryn? Will you be able to come back to Washington tomorrow?”
“Yes, yes I can. I’ll…I’ll be there tomorrow.”
“
Text
me you
r
flight information and I’ll pick you up, okay?”
“Okay.”
“And Taryn, about Jared… I don’t know much about him
personally
but…just be careful, okay?
Until we can figure this out?
His background is clean but…you just never know.
”
I
nodded,
unaware she couldn’t see my response.
“I just don’t know where we’re at with this investigation,” she continued. “It seems like every time I learn something new, there are a whole slew of new questions that need to be answered right along with it. This is just… It might take some time, but I will get you the answers you deserve, okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” I barely mumbled.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said.
I hung up the phone and just sat there for a minute. I didn’t know what to think about the new information, but I began to worry about my situation with Jared. What in the world was this going to do to our relationship?
I told myself to be reasonable. Just because his dad and my sister… Jeez, I didn’t want to think about it. But just because John Miller sported the lifestyle, it didn’t mean that his son was anything like him. I couldn’t hold Jared responsible for his dad’s choices. That wouldn’t be fair. But it made me uncomfortable not knowing who was responsible for my sister’s death, and right now John was
front and center of the investigation. And Maggie… Oh, my. I didn’t have a clue where all of that was going to lead.