Chapter 5 - Gerald Wynn
Gerald Wynn was eighty-one and retired in Charlottesville.
Michael remembered him as man with mint candies and immaculate ties.
Sarah remembered him reading their mother’s will.
Neither had questioned why Robert’s personal lawyer remained so close to Elaine after Robert vanished.
They drove next morning.
Thomas insisted on coming.
Michael almost refused.
Sarah said:
“He knows history.”
Peter stayed behind after agreeing to turn over records.
Gerald lived in assisted-living apartment.
Mentally sharp.
Physically frail.
He smiled when Sarah entered.
“My goodness.”
Then saw Thomas.
Smile vanished.
Michael placed cassette recorder on table.
Gerald stared.
“What is that?”
“Dad.”
Michael played fourteen seconds.
Gerald closed eyes.
Sarah whispered:
“That is you.”
Gerald said nothing.
“You were with him.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Route 9.”
“What happened?”
Gerald’s hands trembled.
“Robert called me.”
“When?”
“After leaving church.”
“Why?”
“He trusted me.”
Michael laughed.
“Everyone says that.”
Gerald continued.
“Robert said Vale was following him.”
“What did you do?”
“I told him meet at old Miller gas station.”
“Then?”
“I met him.”
“Was Vale there?”
“No.”
“What happened on tape?”
Gerald looked at Michael.
“I tried to take documents.”
“Why?”
“To stop him going police before I understood exposure.”
“You were involved.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I formed shell companies.”
Sarah sat.
The lawyer.
Of course.
Gerald created three LLCs used to move parish land-sale proceeds.
He claimed Vale told him transactions were legal development fees.
“Did you believe him?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
“No.”
“Did you keep getting paid?”
Gerald nodded.
“How much?”
“One hundred eighty thousand.”
Michael felt disgust.
“What happened with Dad?”
“We argued.”
“Did you hurt him?”
“No.”
“The crash?”
“Robert backed car into bollard when I grabbed door.”
“Then?”
“He drove away.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Michael slammed palm on table.
“Everyone’s last answer is I don’t know.”
Gerald flinched.
Sarah asked quietly:
“Did Vale follow?”
“Yes.”
“How know?”
“I saw headlights.”
“Did you call police?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I was implicated.”
Another coward protecting self.
Michael stood by window.
Thomas asked:
“Gerald, did Robert contact you afterward?”
Gerald hesitated.
Thomas leaned forward.
“He did.”
Gerald whispered:
“Once.”
Michael turned.
“When?”
“Three days later.”
Everything stopped.
Three days after disappearance.
Robert was alive.
Sarah began crying before question.
“What did he say?”
Gerald looked at her.
“He said he was safe.”
“Where?”
“Wouldn’t tell.”
“Why didn’t you tell Mom?”
“He asked me not to.”
Michael’s voice shook.
“You let her believe he was dead or gone.”
“Yes.”
“Why would Dad ask that?”
Gerald looked at Thomas.
“He believed Vale had threatened family.”
“What threat?”
“Vale said he could make Michael look involved in mortgage fraud.”
Michael stared.
“I was seventeen.”
“Your father had used an account in your name for part of refinance documentation.”
“What?”
Robert had opened custodial investment account for Michael and temporarily represented funds as liquid reserves.
Not criminal involvement by Michael.
But Vale threatened to frame records as if Michael participated.
Absurd maybe.
Terrifying to Robert.
Gerald continued:
“Robert said he would stay away until he had evidence secure.”
“Then what?”
“He never called again.”
“Did you try finding?”
“No.”
Michael laughed.
Gerald began crying.
“I was afraid.”
Michael turned away.
Sarah remained seated.
“Did Mom ever learn he called?”
Gerald whispered:
“Yes.”
Sarah stared.
“When?”
“Ten years later.”
“How?”
“I told her.”
Michael felt floor disappear.
Their mother knew Robert had survived at least three days.
“What did she do?”
“She asked me to find him.”
“Did you?”
“I hired investigator.”
“Name?”
Gerald looked toward cabinet.
“File.”
He gave them folder.
Private investigator Samuel Price.
Reports from 2014.
Robert Grant sighting in New Mexico.
Another in Colorado.
Then confirmed Social Security activity under alias?
Careful: could have fake identity. Let's make driver's license application under name Robert Gray? But evasion. It's fiction.
The final report contained photograph.
Older Robert.
Alive.
Taken nine years after disappearance.
Sarah whispered:
“Mom saw this?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she tell us?”
Gerald looked ashamed.
“Because investigator also found Robert had another family.”
Michael stared.
“No.”
Sarah’s face collapsed.
Gerald corrected:
“Not wife.”
“What?”
“A woman and child lived with him.”
Michael felt rage.
“So he did abandon us.”
Gerald shook head.
“I don’t know.”
“Stop saying that.”
The folder contained one final handwritten note from investigator.
Woman identified as Maria Alvarez. Child approximately seven. Robert Grant appears to be working under surname Gray. No evidence of marriage.
Sarah looked at Michael.
Their father had lived.
Perhaps for years.
Perhaps built another life.
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The mystery was no longer whether Robert survived.
It was why he never came back after danger passed.
