Chapter 258

When I called Amy and told her about the letter the next morning, she hurried to meet me at Victor‘s apartment.

The emotions that showed on her face as she read the letter were raw. The letter made her biological mother more real. I saw love and admiration on Amy’s face, but I also saw loss and grief.

It wasn’t fair that my friend would never get to know Deirdre. But we could get justice for her death and remember her as being a loving and wonderful person.

“I can’t believe she wrote this,” Amy gave me a watery smile. “Her handwriting was so elegant.”

“It’s a lot like yours.” I poured more tea into our cups. “You won awards at school for perfect penmanship.”

“Hers is better,” Amy insisted before popping a chunk of peanut butter cookie into her mouth. “Do you think I could keep the letter?”

“I’ll ask Amelia.” I sat down next to Amy on a stool in Victor’s kitchen. “She didn’t say she wanted it back. Are you up for a road trip today?”

Amy selected another cookie. “Yeah. I want to meet any family I have. I grew up with just my mom and dad, without any extended family. The possibility of having aunts, uncles, and cousins somewhere is kinda great.”

“My car is at the mansion,” I said.

“We can get on the highway easier from here,” Amy reasoned. “Or are you eager to try out your brand new driver's license?”

“That’s okay, you can drive,” I said. “I’m not eager to test it on a four-lane highway yet.”

Amy drove while I used the GPS app on my phone. In less than an hour, we were in Middleburg, parking in front of the address on the envelope.

“Is this it?” Amy asked.

I pointed at the battered mailbox next to the dirt driveway with the name ‘Brady’ written on it in black marker.

“My mother lived here,” Amy murmured. “It must have been nicer back then.”

The worn, century-old, two-story house was located at the end of a narrow dirt road. It had cracked, gray, shake-shingle walls and a crumbling slate roof patched with tar to keep out the rain.

A patchy lawn and overgrown trees surrounded it, but someone cared enough to plant azalea bushes and colorful flowers along all three sides of the front porch.

“To a young girl, the city must have sounded glamorous and exciting,” I said. “But when there’s trouble, there’s no place like home.”

“There’s a car in the driveway,” Amy pointed at the two-decades-old Chevy. “I’m going to knock on the door.

She climbed from the car, and I followed her to the front door. A man who appeared to be in his fifties answered the door.

“I wondered if you’d find this place,” he said. “Come on in.” He opened the door wider for us and yelled to someone inside the house. “Carrie, put the coffee on. We got company.”

As we walked into a timeworn yet neat living room, a woman with salt and pepper hair stood in the kitchen doorway. “Is this who I think it is?” she asked.

“I think so,” he said and turned to study Amy for a moment. “You’re Deirdre’s girl, aren’t you?”

Amy nodded. “I found out about Deirdre recently on my eighteenth birthday. I didn’t know I was adopted until a few days before that.”

Carrie put her arms around Amy for a moment. “We’re glad you found us. Aren’t we, Doug?”

“I am, but I’m not,” he replied. But you could tell he wasn’t being mean. “Let’s go in the kitchen and have a cup of coffee.”

We followed Doug into a huge kitchen that was the heart of the house. We sat at a butcher's block table in the center of the room and were served cups of coffee and fresh cinnamon rolls.

As I took my first sip, I glanced out the window and saw a pickup parked at the back of the house. It was the same one that followed us from Edgar’s Eats.

“It was you that followed us from the diner!” I exclaimed. “Why?”

“After wondering for eighteen years, I thought I may have found my baby sister‘s daughter,” Doug explained. “I wanted to know more about her.”

“Why didn’t you tell me who you were and ask whatever you wanted to know?” Amy inquired.

“I thought you’d be better off not knowing us,” Doug replied. “The life of an Omega isn’t easy. You wouldn’t have a prayer of getting into one of those fancy schools you were talking about if they knew you have Omega blood.”

“Did you leave a note and a photo in my mailbox?” Amy asked.

Doug frowned. “I don’t know where you live except in Denhurst. That’s where I lost you.”

“Why do you think Amy is better off not knowing you?” I asked.

“I know who you are, Miss Wilson. I’ve seen you on the news, and I know you were raised Beta,” Doug said. “But being an Omega is even harder.”

“My parents left the city after Omegas were being pushed into ghettos and going without necessities like food, water, and medicine. We grew sick from the poor conditions, yet there were no doctors. My grandparents died in their fifties from the flu.”

“Now I dig ditches and pick up roadkill to keep this roof over our heads,” he continued. “My two sons and my wife and daughter also work to keep our household going.”

“I’m not ashamed of being half Omega,” Amy insisted.

“Mom, Dad, I’m going to work now,” a girl's voice called as the sound of feet rushing down the stairs reached our ears.

“We’re in the kitchen,” Carrie called to her daughter.

A familiar-looking girl popped into the kitchen and swiped a cinnamon roll. After a moment, I realized it was the waitress named Carly from the diner.

“This is Amy and Daisy,” Doug said. I was surprised he didn’t introduce Amy as the girl's cousin.

“Hi,” Carly said. “I gotta run. My shift starts in ten minutes.”

“Be careful, and get home at a decent time tonight,” Carrie called after her daughter.

The girl giggled. “See you later.”

We heard the front door close, and Amy said, “I like her. Why don’t you tell her who I am?”

“Because you should stay in the city with your friends like Daisy,” Doug said gently.

“Why?” Amy asked. “Did you tell Deirdre to stay in the city?”

“No,” he replied. “It’s different for you. I had somebody check you out, and I know you’re already established with an Alpha best friend and boyfriend. You’re better off without your Omega relations.”

“But you wanted Deirdre to leave the city?” Amy asked.

“I told Deirdre that if she didn’t stop hanging out with Alphas, something bad would happen to her,” Doug said. “But she was in love with Andrew and insisted on eloping with him after you were born.”

“But she never got the chance,” Doug added. “I knew when the cops came here that somebody got rid of her when they found out about her and Andrew’s plans.”

“Andrew believes that’s what happened, too,” I said. “Amy and I are trying to find out who made her disappear. We want justice for Deirdre.”

Doug put his hand over Amy’s. “Honey, you look like my sister, and I would love to get to know you better, but you’re better off forgetting us and leaving your mother’s murder go.”

“No,” Amy objected. “I can’t let them get away with it. And I won’t deny half of my heritage.”

“Doug’s afraid they’ll hurt you too,” Carrie explained. “Rich Alphas like the Archers always win. You must play by their rules, or they’ll knock you off the board.”

“You should go now,” Doug said. “Write to us if you want, but don’t come here again. And don’t poke into Deidre’s disappearance anymore. Please.”

Amy and I finished our coffee and left. As we climbed into Amy’s Mercedes, I got the eerie feeling of being watched. Yet there was no one watching from inside the house, and there were no other houses nearby.

“I’m stopping at the diner on our way home,” Amy announced

“After all those cinnamon buns and cookies, you can’t be hungry,” I giggled.

“They have good burgers at the diner,” Amy said.

I had a feeling Amy didn’t want a burger as much as she wanted to talk to her cousin, the waitress. So I agreed, and we stopped at Edgar’s Eats.

We sat at the counter again and ordered two burgers with iced teas.

Amy kept looking around, hoping to spot Carly, but she wasn’t there.

“She’s not here,” Amy said.

I looked out the windows, hoping to spot Carly and groaned. “Besides your cousin, something else is missing?”

Amy spun around. “What?”

“Look.” I pointed out the window. “Your car is gone.”