The Secrets We Keep

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Hunter followed Tom Gordon into his office, again wearing the floral flares, the ponytail, and the cup of green tea.

“Have a seat, Hunter.” He reached over and sipped his tea before taking up his usual pose which was one leg crossed over the other and swinging the top leg, an action which sort of annoyed Hunter. “How have you been?”

“Good. Well, a mixture of good and not so good.”

“Oh? Do you want to make that the topic of our get together today?”

“I guess,” he shrugged as he spoke.

“You have the floor, just jump in when you’re ready.”

As usual Hunter hesitated, he never seemed able to just jump in, did he?

“Remember how I told you Leo had an accident, that was when I learned he was my son?”

“Indeed, I do.”

“I gave the rope swing he fell from to the police because I thought it had been cut through. The swing was virtually brand new, so barring a manufacturing issue, there was no good reason for it to malfunction as it did.”

“Quite right. It was cut?”

“Yeah. Dan Martin came to see me because the forensic people had managed to pick up some DNA on the strands.”

Tom leaned forward with interest,

“That’s a pretty awful thing to do,” Tom said, steepling this fingers together, “I mean, who would do that and how did they know it was there?”

“Five kids used that swing but there were six traces of DNA.”

“Interesting,” Tom mumbled, “So number six presumably cut the rope?”

“Yes. That DNA was a parental match for both Mason and Izzy.”

Tom sat staring at him, and Hunter wondered if he ought to continue or wait. As it was, Tom finally spoke,

“I’m right in guessing the DNA was not yours?”

“No, it was not.”

Tom whistled, “Well I’ll be dammed! It was their mother’s DNA?”

“Yeah.”

“Holy Jesus, how the hell did she manage that?”

“That would be the sixty-four-billion-dollar question. If Nina is apparently dead and has been dead for almost sixteen years, how the f**k was her DNA on the rope?”

“Tell me what you felt in that moment when you had to face the fact Nina was not dead?”

“Pissed off, angry, frustrated, wanted to punch out a wall. Just the usual for me.”

“I get that, Hunter, I do. I sense there’s more.”

“A shitload more. We re-tested the kids; I had a test as did Olivia’s father and the guy who helped him put the rope up. The results were the same, with my DNA relationship to Mason and Leo being confirmed and Mason, Izzy and the other person. Dan Martin showed a picture Nina’s parents had given the police at the time of the accident around Waiheke, but nobody recognised her. I asked if he could show the me the photos and guess what? It wasn’t a photo of Nina.”

“Oh boy, you do have a mystery on your hands as well as a hell of a problem.”

“I know.” Hunter studied his hands, “I thought I was done with this, I was beginning to put my life back together and then this blindsided me.”

“Tell me how Olivia is coping with this? Is it influencing any possible relationship?”

“I’m afraid that crazy nut job will harm Liv. Nina always resented her, plus she knows about Leo so that will have sent her into a total meltdown. I want a relationship with Liv, I mean being friends and occasional lovers is fine, but a part of me wants something more.”

“Bravo, Hunter. An honest admission, but why does only a part of you want something more? Do you not feel worthy enough to wholeheartedly grasp the idea of a life with her?”

“I’m afraid, doubly afraid of putting a target on Olivia’s back. I still have doubts of being worthy. She’s putting a lot of faith in me, I don’t, no I won’t let her down but that creates pressure.”

Tom nodded, “Do you think Olivia would want or even expect you to load that much pressure on yourself? Think about it for a minute, she strikes me as being level-headed, sensitive, kind yet purposeful otherwise she couldn’t do the job she does. Am I right? Have I described her character accurately?”

“Oh, she’s so much more than that. Olivia has the most wicked sense of humour, she’s so freaking sexy, so intelligent. I make excuses to go and see her -,” he looked at Tom wearing a bemused expression, “What?”

“Hunter, have you ever considered you might be in love?”

“I can’t. I don’t want to break the bubble, what if I tell her and she laughs, tells me there’s no way she could love me.”

Tom reached for his mug of green tea, but rather than placing it back on the table he continued holding it,

“Ever thought she might want to tell you she loves you but feels you’re not ready for such a declaration?”

Had he? No, it hadn’t occurred to him at all. It might have been a hope but as the days have gone on, it seemed less likely,

“Not really. I’m afraid, Tom. There, I’ve said it! I’m afraid my kids don’t love me, that I’ve been such a hopeless father they want to write me off, I’m afraid Olivia is not looking for anything more than friendship and a bit of s*x? She said we could be friends as well as lovers, but I didn’t respond to that.”

Tom placed his cup down, “You don’t strike me as someone who is afraid, Hunter. Sure, it’s scary putting your heart on the line, it’s always a fifty-fifty call but life is like that with most things we do, most decisions we make,” he uncrossed his legs and leaned back in his chair, spreading his arms along the back of it, “There are no right or wrong decisions in this life of ours, we make the best of the decisions that we can. We’re all in the same boat with that one. Tell me, why did you bring your children back here from Spain?”

Nobody had asked him that, his parents hadn’t, they just seemed relieved he was coming home, and they would see more of their grandchildren. Olivia hadn’t asked him although in all fairness his attitude had been pretty rank at their first encounter.

“Nobody has ever asked me that and to be honest, I’m not sure I know. It seemed like it was time, my father was hoping I’d take on the vineyard and winery because he and my mother were booking every cruise under the sun.”

“Interesting,” Tom murmured, his gaze boring into him, “Alright why don’t we return to the issue of a not so dead wife?”

“I guess.”

“Excellent. So, Nina and her family were not a family, it was all smoke and mirrors, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, and I feel like an i***t. Why did she want to marry me? I doubt she ever loved me, to be honest I don’t recall her uttering those three little words but then again, I didn’t. I didn’t love her, I felt trapped by her and to be truly honest here, I resented her.”

“I don’t blame you, Hunter because she was a master manipulator, I’d say she was undoubtedly mentally ill, and you were stuck with it all. Go on, you’re making incredible progress, even if you believe yourself to be an idiot.”

Hunter laughed, Tom was growing on him in a weird sort of way, and he had to admit he looked forward to these sessions, which was also weird considering his initial reluctance to attend.

“When she was pregnant with Mason, she tried to get rid of him, it wasn’t pretty. I came home and found her sitting in a pool of blood on the bathroom floor. She spent a couple of weeks in a psych ward but because of her pregnancy, they couldn’t medicate her, at least that’s what she told me.”

“Did she bond with Mason?”

“No. She’d leave him to cry and cry, that broke my heart. This tiny baby, so helpless and completely dependent on adults for sustenance and physical contact, love and attention, she wouldn’t lift him out of his cot.”

“Who did you reach out to?”

“Mum, she was amazing, her and her two best friends. Between them Mason was well fed, loved and cared for. Nina left him in soiled nappies for hours and he ended up with the worst bacterial infection all over his little backside. I cried when I saw it and when the doctor saw it, he said it was a case of child neglect and he was required by law to report it.” Hunter stopped, the memory of that was enough to still drive a stake through his heart, remembering Mason’s little sobs as he cried with the pain. Unable to hold back any longer, tears began to roll down his face, “Mum explained to the doctor that Nina had been diagnosed as mentally ill and she now was responsible for Mason’s care and things would be different. Jesus, our names went on a freaking register!”

Hunter sniffed, wiping the tears away with the heel of his hand, causing Tom to hand him the box of tissues,

“Sorry,” he mumbled, “Do you think Mason has memories of that?”

“How old was he?”

“About five or six weeks.”

“Then no, I doubt it will have had any lasting effects. Do you have a good relationship with him now?”

“I think so, although I might not spend as much time with him as I should.”

“Only you can alter that if you believe he wants more from you.”

“He’s grown up so quickly, the little boy disappeared overnight and now he’s almost six feet tall and about to turn sixteen. He’s on the verge of adulthood and I find myself wanting to have the little boy a while longer.” Hunter thought he must sound pathetic but then realised he’d never talked about those feelings before, not even with his parents, and in some respects he felt lighter.

“And Izzy. She’s not yours but you’ve loved her from the start, you’re her dad and I’m sure she loves you.”

“I worry she hasn’t had a mother in her life, it’s bound to impact on her, isn’t it?”

“Yes and no. I wouldn’t worry too much, Hunter. As long as she knows she’s loved and respected that goes a long way to one’s emotional equilibrium.”

Hunter toyed with the idea of not telling Tom about Izzy’s online friend, but this session had left him feeling liberated, so he forged ahead.

“Izzy still hasn’t made too many friends at school but recently she’s been talking about someone she has met online, calling her a friend. I have to admit to not listening the first time she mentioned it, but then Leo told Olivia that Izzy was happy she had a new friend.”

“Online?”

“Yeah. This person lives overseas so Izzy told me I didn’t need to worry about her going to meet a stranger.”

“I see. These things can often seem quite benign, but the reality can be quite the opposite. Of course, you want Izzy to have friends and naturally, there is some angst where online friends are concerned because as a parent you don’t know anything about this person. Am I right?”

“You are. Olivia suggested getting the investigator to look at Izzy’s hard drive when I meet with him tomorrow. I know it’s snooping but with this whole Nina business, I’m on edge because it does seem more than coincidence that this friend has appeared at the same time, we’re learning the truth or some of the truth about Nina.”

“Well, there’s snooping and then there’s snooping. I daresay a quick look might not be a bad thing, but answer me this, what if don’t like what you find out?”

Hunter didn’t have an answer to that, he was just hoping he didn’t find anything he didn’t like.

“The investigator,” Tom began, “He’s given you a lot of information?”

“He managed to obtain some semi classified information, they were apparently on Waiheke as they needed to lie low because of some issue with a mission they were on.”

“A mission. As in spies?”

“The exact nature of what they were involved in is classified. I guess in some respects it might explain how they were able to stage an accident because that’s what people in that line of work do that, don’t they?”

“Indeed.”

Olivia joined Hunter and Rick Waters on Saturday morning. Blake and Alex had taken Blake’s sister, Gabriella and her daughter, Allegra to Motutawa along with Leo, Jack, Mason, Lucas and Izzy. Hunter had retrieved Izzy’s laptop from her room and Rick was now in the process of downloading the data from her chat sessions.

“Ah,  here we go. She calls herself Moon Girl and it looks as though Izzy was in a chat room when Moon Girl initiated a conversation.”

Olivia doubted Izzy would initiate the conversation, she was too shy although she had to admit her friendship with Allegra was firming up and they were inseparable at school.

“Wow, Moon Girl is a little aggressive. Why don’t you both take a seat, that way you can read the conversation.”

Moon Girl: Why haven’t you been in the chat lately? You said we’d talk every day, but you missed two days.”

Izzy: Sorry, I was staying at a friend’s house for the weekend.

Moon Girl: Then you lied to me. You said you didn’t have any friends.

Izzy: I don’t have many friends at school. She’s the only friend I’ve made since coming back from Spain other than Olivia.

Moon Girl: Olivia? Don’t you think that’s a stuck-up name? I bet she’s a real snotty nose. Is she in your year?

Izzy: No. She’s older, an adult. She was my dad’s girlfriend when they were teenagers.

Moon Girl: OMG that sounds disgusting. Is she still his girlfriend? Didn’t he love your mum?

Izzy: I don’t know about my mother She died when I was a baby. She had a car accident, and I found some details online. She was with a man; I think she was running away with him and she left me behind.

Moon Girl: You don’t have to be so dramatic Izzy. I bet your mum was glad to get away from your dad, especially if he had a girlfriend.

Izzy: He didn’t have a girlfriend then. Anyway, its none of our business. I like Olivia, she’s kind to me. She’s like a mum, I’d love it if she was my mum.

Moon Girl: Are you for real? She’s probably pretending to like you. You’re such a baby!”

Izzy: Why do you say hateful things? You don’t know me; you don’t know Olivia and you don’t know my dad.

“Looks like your daughter ended that conversation,” Rick noted.

Olivia glanced at Hunter whose whole demeanour had softened,

“I never thought Izzy would stand up for herself like that,” he said, “When was this conversation, Rick?”

“Two weekends ago.’

“The weekend she was at Gabriella’s,” Olivia said, “I don’t have a good feeling about this Moon Girl, Hunter.”

“Me neither. When was the last time Izzy was in the chat?”

“Looks like yesterday, I’ll bring it up.”

Moon Girl: Hey Izzy

Izzy: Hey. I can’t chat for long because my dad is taking me to stay with friends.

Moon Girl: Always with friends. You suck, Izzy.

Izzy: I don’t need to talk to someone who trashes me.

Moon Girl: I’m not trashing you. It’s just that you don’t have any time for me. I think your dad is trying to stop you having me as a friend.

Izzy: My dad doesn’t even know about you so why would he stop me?

Moon Girl: Are you mad at me?

Izzy: No just disappointed. I got to go

“Looks like there are a couple of other conversations but only short. It seems Moon Girl has asked a lot of questions about you guys.”

“Like I said, I don’t like Moon Girl’s tone, Hunter. She belligerent, trying to trip Izzy up but I’m impressed with the way Izzy has handled herself.”

“Me too, but why hasn’t she shared more details about her new friend?” Hunter asked.

Olivia wondered that as well unless it was her way of showing people, she could make friends on her own.

“Do you have a printer; I’d like to print off the transcript of the conversations and if I can get her IP address we can see where she lives.”

“You can print from here,” Hunter said, “We have wireless and Bluetooth.”

“Great, thanks for that.”

“In your office Hunter?” Olivia asked him.

“Yeah, but you stay here, I can get it.”

He left the room and returned moments later with the transcript, placing it on the table.

“Now,” Rick murmured, “The IP address.”

Olivia watched Rick tense,

“Well fan me! Moon Girl’s IP address is hidden, she or he is most likely using a VPN, which prevents the IP address being visible.” He shrugged his shoulders, looking from one to the other, “Of course, this could simply be a kid whose parents protecting their kid but -,”

“You don’t think so.” Hunter added.

Rick shook his head.

“Hypothetically Rick, using a VPN is something a person familiar with lurking on the internet as part of their job?” Olivia suggested.

“More or less. I’d be wary, to be honest.”

“I’m more convinced than ever that Moon Girl is Nina or whatever Nina’s real name might be.” Hunter growled

“Actually, I have some updates on Nina’s real name, Lana Conroy, born in South Africa, educated in Australia. Studied French, Italian and German at school and is fluent in all of them.”

“Lana Conroy,” Blake repeated the name softly, “Well, I guess my marriage to Nina Larsen is as fake as everything else about this b***h?”

“Spot on,” Rick agreed, “Technically you were never married, Hunter,” he said with a certain amount of pleasure.

“I’m so sorry Hunter. If only we’d told her to bugger off right from the start things might have turned out differently. We’ve all been duped, but especially you and you didn’t deserve that.”

“Thanks Liv. Yeah, I bet she laughed all the way to wherever she was headed. I don’t suppose we’ll ever know who those people in the car were.”

Rick shook his head, “Unlikely. Lana and her team were efficient to say the least, staging that accident took some amount of planning and then to have someone on the inside at with the police to make files disappear or fraudulent documents put in their place, these people are professionals, and their exit is text-book extraction. I don’t have to remind you that Lana is a trained killer and as such lacks even the slightest degree of empathy. Please be careful.”

“Hunter?”

“Don’t stress Liv. One way or another we’ll flush Lana Conroy out. I’ll give Dan this information although I have concerns that if he passes it on higher up the ladder, her informant may well give her a heads up.”

“Highly likely,” Rick said, “If I were you, I’d tell Dan but ask him to keep it to himself.”

“I can do that. Geez, who’d have thought it would all come to this,” Hunter said, “And I wonder what she wants after all this time?”

“Do you still want me to take a quick look at Mason’s laptop?” Rick asked.

“Liv, what do you think? With Hunter it feels as though I’m really invading his privacy big time.”

“If it were Leo, I’d do it, Hunter. I know how you feel but if Rick just gets a quick idea of any activity, it will put your mind at rest, mine too.”

Hunter left the room, returning a few moments later with Mason’s laptop, handing it to Rick.

“Don’t worry, Hunter. I realise he’s most likely tech savvy and could pick up some interference, I’ll be in and out as quickly as I can and.”

Olivia reached for Hunter’s hand and squeezed it.

“Okay, what do we have. Your guy likes his sport, he’s in a couple of sport rooms. I can see conversations with a Leo, another guy called Lucas and another one called Jack. You recognise those names?”

Olivia saw the relief on Hunter’s face, “Yeah, those are his friends from school and families we socialise with. Leo is also my son.”

“Cool. Well, it looks like…wait a minute, what’s this?”

Again, they sat either side of Rick,

“Back in January, no early February, someone using the tag Moon Guy, tried to instigate a conversation with him, but it looks like Mason shut them down pretty effectively, look,” he pointed to the conversation as it started to run.

Moon Guy: Adam Fairley said he’s a friend of yours. Want to chat?’

Mason: Why?

Moon Guy: What’s your problem, man. I just asked if you wanted to chat?”

Mason: I don’t know you and I’m not sure how you got in this chat, but it’s private and I’m the moderator so you should f**k off.

Moon Guy: f**k you, man. I bet you have a stick up your arse just like your old man.

Mason: You don’t know my dad and FYI last time I looked he didn’t have a stick up his arse. Maybe that’s your problem?

Moon Guy: Ooh, a real comedian. So, tell me, funny man, why so pissed off with the world?

Mason: My brother had a bad accident today so I’m not in the mood to talk to douche bags.

Moon Guy: Too bad, man. What’s his name?

Mason: Mind your own f*****g business.

“Mason terminates that conversation and then, just scrolling down, yeah! Here, Moon Guy tries again and this time it looks as though he has trouble getting into the chat, so maybe Mason changed the security settings, but this guy has managed to get in and he tries talking to Jack.

Moon Guy:  Hey Jack Sprat, what’s happening?’

Jack: Do I know you?

Moon Guy: Dunno, do you?”

Jack: Doubt it, you sound too stupid.

“Jack shuts him down straight away. Looks as though this guy keeps on trying but those boys aren’t on all time. Again, I’ll print off the transcript and check the IP address.”

Hunter went to retrieve the printed transcript, returning just as Rick said,

“No surprise here, hidden so I’m guess VPN.”

“Jesus,” Hunter rasped.