Obsession(69)

Larry Wade. His last name was Wade.

Wade was Daphne Steel’s last name on the original marriage certificate that we had found in Marj’s basement. But it wasn’t her name on the one in the Colorado database.

Could there be a connection?

Probably not. Wade was a fairly common name. Maybe not as common as Smith or Jones but a heck of a lot more common than a lot of other surnames.

If I was going to investigate my boss, I’d do it at home. I wasn’t sure if I could clear my cache on the city server, so I didn’t want to do it here.

But my curiosity got the best of me. I had been covering my tracks as best I knew how since I started this investigation into the Steels. I could probably begin with looking up Daphne. She had to have a birth certificate somewhere, right? If she wasn’t born in Colorado, it might still be under her original name, Daphne Kay Wade.

Quickly I searched the Colorado birth records. Damn! There she was, Daphne Kay Warren, born in Colorado, and the age matched up. How in the hell did someone change a birth certificate? Whoever did this had to have left a stone unturned at some point. I hoped I could find it. I did a quick search of the national databases. A plethora of Daphne Kay Wades and Daphne Kay Warrens existed, but none of them matched the criteria I needed. She was indeed born in Colorado, and her certificate named her as Daphne Kay Warren.

As much as I wanted to start Googling Larry to find out more about him, my first priority was finding and getting copies of all the news articles that Marj had found since Ryan took her copies away.

That was simple enough. I found them easily in the local paper and in all the papers in Grand Junction. They appeared to be the same articles, so I sent them to the printer and started a file. After I put the folder of articles in my briefcase to take home, I went out to talk to Michelle.

“Did you need something, Jade?” she asked.

“Maybe. I’ve been doing some investigative work for Larry, and I’d like to be able to continue at home from my home computer. Is there any way to access the Colorado databases from home?”

“You can always log into our server.”

Of course I could. I knew that. But I didn’t want a paper trail. “I tried that,” I lied. “My computer doesn’t support the logistics.” I had no idea what I had just said, but I figured she’d buy it. “I was hoping maybe I could access them from my own browser.”

“I’m afraid not. Not without one hell of a hacker.” She smiled.

I chuckled. “That’s certainly not me. Guess I’ll just do my work from here. I just hate staying late.”

I went back to my office. I had no idea if Larry was watching what I searched. If he was, he hadn’t mentioned it.

What the hell? I got into the Colorado database and typed in Larry Wade, city attorney for Snow Creek.

Turned out Larry hadn’t been elected city attorney but had been appointed two years ago when the previous city attorney resigned in the middle of his term to take early retirement. So Larry got himself appointed, and he would be up for reelection in a year.

I chuckled to myself. Maybe I’d run against him. God knew I could do a better job than he was doing. Don’t get ahead of yourself, Jade. You’re still a first-year attorney.

Real name was Lawrence Kenneth Wade. Divorced, two grown children, two grandkids. His ex-wife’s name was Lena.

Nothing more about his family and certainly no mention of being related to anyone named Daphne.

I didn’t know where he was born, but I searched the Colorado database anyway. There he was—Lawrence Kenneth Wade, born to Jonathan Conrad Wade and Lisa Jeanette Baines.

Jonathan Conrad Wade… Where had I seen—

I grabbed the printout of Daphne Steel’s birth certificate. Daphne Kay Warren, born to Lucille Lynne Smith and…Jonathan Conrad Warren.

What were the chances that their fathers had the exact same first and second names?

My skin shrunk around me, my veins freezing. Search Jonathan Conrad Wade. A few hits, and I found the right one. Search Jonathan Conrad Warren…

Nothing. At least not in Colorado.

Jonathan Conrad Warren didn’t exist.

If what I suspected was true, and Jonathan Conrad Wade and Jonathan Conrad Warren were the same person…Daphne Steel and Larry Wade were half brother and sister.

And someone had gone to a lot of trouble to cover up that fact.





Chapter Thirty-One





Talon




“You left abruptly yesterday. Would you like to tell me why?”

I was back in the hunter-green chair at Dr. Carmichael’s office. She’d made room for me on her schedule right after my court appearance.

“I hardly ever sleep, but when I do, it’s plagued with nightmares.”