Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

Chapter 203: Find Her ASAP

”Hey, Jamal,” Callan said as he pulled open his car door and got inside and shut the door, ”do you have any news for me?”

He pressed the button to start the engine and he tapped the screen to connect it to the car’s speakers and then put the phone on the holder near the steering wheel.

Jamal didn’t answer the question right away. His voice was quiet was he finally did. ”I didn’t realize I’m supposed to call you only if I have news.”

Callan winced as he clicked his seatbelt into place, ”No. I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant. I’m just very... I don’t know. I was just hoping you’d have news.”

”How are you doing, Cal?” Jamal asked, sounding very concerned.

”I’m fine,” he said as he reversed the car and turned the car onto the main road.

Jamal let out a sigh. ”Callan,” he said, ”you realize you can tell me the truth, right? I want the truth. Not the version you tell everyone else.”

Callan gripped the steering wheel tighter. ”I said I’m fine.”

Jamal’s voice stayed gentle. ”Are the nightmares still bad? How is therapy going?”

Callan’s frown deepened. ”Why are you pushing this, Jamal?” He sounded irritable now.

”Because you’re my best friend,” Jamal snapped, sounding just as irritated. ”And I need to know you’re okay. I’ve been really worried about you. If something is wrong you should be able to tell me.”

Callan’s throat felt tight again. He tried to swallow it down. ”There’s nothing to worry about,” he muttered. ”If you really want to help, just help me find Karen Combs. I’ll feel better after I meet with her.”

Or worse, Jamal thought, but said nothing.

There was a pause on the line. Callan sounded tired when he spoke again. ”I appreciate your concern, but really, I’m fine. Nothing’s happening now that hasn’t been happening all my life, Jamal.”

”Callan... would you be okay if you find out your mother might be a terrible person?”

Jamal had been thinking hard about it since he made the connection between Genevieve and Karen Combs, and he had decided that it wasn’t his place to keep something like that from Callan. Callan had asked for his help, and Callan deserved to get his answers regardless of what he thought the answers would do to him.

Callan let out a low, bitter laugh. ”I’m not expecting a saint,” he said. ”I doubt a saint would abandon her newborn son. All I want from her are answers, not a happy family reunion.”

”Well, in that case you should know that you’re not the only one trying to find Karen Combs for answers,” Jamal said in a low voice.

Callan’s heart slammed in his chest. He hit the brakes so hard the car jerked to a stop. The seatbelt cut across his chest, holding him in place.

”What the hell does that mean?” he asked, his voice sharp.

”well, we are also looking for her,” Jamal said carefully.

”We?” Callan demanded. ”Who do you mean by we?”

Jamal exhaled, the sound crackling over the speakers. ”Karen Combs has been blackmailing Genevieve. Tom is trying to find her to figure out what she knows about Genevieve and Ryan. And Ryan is trying to find her too,” Jamal said, thinking how it was funny that he was in the middle of it all.

He was the one who had found out about the blackmail and had given both Tom and Ryan the number. And now he was also the one making the connection between Callan and the blackmailer.

Callan’s jaw tightened as he took his foot off the brake and started driving again. ”She is blackmailing Genevieve? Why is she blackmailing Genevieve?” he asked, not needing to ask who Genevieve was, since he knew all about the bitch Jamal had wasted so many years believing was Dawn.

Jamal hesitated. ”Well, there’s a good chance she’s Genevieve’s mother. If she is, and she is your mom, then...” Jamal trailed off leaving him to draw the conclusion himself.

Genevieve? His heart raced as his eyes darted to his phone’s screen as though he could see Jamal’s face.

”What do you mean?” he rasped as he resisted the urge to step on the brake or park the car.

”I’m not entirely sure yet,” Jamal said slowly since now that it was obvious that Genevieve wasn’t Ryan’s biological daughter it meant one of two things.

Either the story about Abigail being a maid’s daughter who had gotten pregnant by Ryan had been a lie cooked up by Ryan just to make Abigail feel inferior but Jamal couldn’t be so sure of that since Karen Combs had truly been a maid who had lived in that house and was connected to Genevieve.

Or it meant that Karen Combs had possibly lied about being pregnant for Ryan and pinned the pregnancy on him without his knowledge or maybe with his knowledge.

”But there has to be a reason you think so,” Callan said, and Jamal sighed.

”Yeah. From what Abigail said, they told her that her mother was a maid who worked there and seduced Ryan. She got pregnant. And since we know that’s not Abigail’s story, that has to be Genevieve’s story. Genevieve’s mother. The number blackmailing Genevieve belongs to Karen Combs, and the stuff she’s blackmailing Genevieve with... it happened when Genevieve was a little girl. So she must have raised her before giving her to Ryan. And you confirmed that Karen Combs used to be a maid in that house.”

Callan’s heart was thumping so loud he thought Jamal might hear it through the speakers. And his thoughts were racing so much he could hardly stay on one line of thought.

Genevieve? He tried to think of all the things he knew about her, and he shook his head. He couldn’t think about that right now. He would dwell on it when alone he was alone.

”If I may ask, what is the blackmail about?” He asked, wanting to understand better who and what Karen Combs was capable of.

Jamal told him, and Callan felt sick to his stomach. What sort of depraved person could do something like that to a child and still have the guts to blackmail her?

”How close are they to finding her?” he asked. His voice was tight. ”Do you know where she might be now?” The earlier he met her and got his answers from her, the sooner he could move on completely from that aspect of his life.

Jamal was quiet a moment. ”Cal... I think maybe you should talk to Tom. I don’t want all our interests to clash. I don’t want you to get caught in the middle.”

”I don’t want anyone else to know I’m looking for my mother or what kind of person she might be. If Tom knows, my parents might find out.”

The last thing he wanted was for them to find out and possibly get upset. He had been doing his best to be the dutiful son and not give them any reason to be concerned or worried about him.

”What’s so wrong if they find out?” Jamal asked, sounding exasperated. ”Maybe it’s better if they do. They’re your parents, after all. I’m pretty sure if I weren’t living here under Ryan’s roof you wouldn’t have told me you were trying to find her. You can’t hide everything forever. You’ve got to open up at some point, you know? Who knows? Maybe you don’t need a therapist. What you might actually need is opening up to those you care about. It’s so hard being your friend when you keep shutting me out.”

”I’m sorry it’s so hard to be my friend. But you know more about me than anyone else,” Callan said apologetically.

Jamal sighed heavily. ”Every single thing, I know I found out by chance. I really wish you’d trust me more, man. I wish for once you’d open up and tell me what’s wrong instead of always pretending you’re fine.”

Callan swallowed hard. ”Just... please, if you know anything about Tom’s search for Karen Combs... tell me. All I want is to ask her some questions,” Callan said, changing the subject.

There was a pause. Then Jamal spoke in a tired and resigned voice. ”I have her number.”

Callan frowned. ”Her number?”

”Yeah. It’s the one she was using to blackmail Genevieve. That’s how Tom’s men knew the blackmailer was Karen Combs,” Jamal explained.

”Can you text it to me,” Callan said quickly.

”I’ll do that when we hang up.”

”Thank you,” Callan breathed, his voice quieter.

”Just... be careful, okay? And take better care of yourself,” Jamal added, still concerned.

”Sure. Thanks,” Callan said and Jamal ended the call.

A minute later, Callan’s phone buzzed with the text. He picked it up at the next red light and read the number Jamal had sent.

He tapped on it and dialed it. The number was not reachable.

Callan forwarded the number to his private investigator. Then he dialed the investigator’s number.

When the man picked up, Callan spoke in a steady voice.

”I just sent you Karen Combs’s recent number,” he said. ”Find her ASAP. I don’t care what it takes. I just found out there are others looking for her. Try to get to her first since I’m not sure what might happen if the wrong person finds her first,” he said, thinking of Ryan.

He knew that Tom might just want to talk, but he doubted that talk was all a man like Ryan would want to do. Seeing how Karen Combs seemed to have been in hiding after leaving Ryan’s house, Callan believed she was hiding from Ryan.

He didn’t care what happened to her after he got his answers, but until then, he had to get to her first.