Silence Reveals Hidden Answers’ by Michael Anderson novel Chapter 65

Chapter 65

Harvey Prescott.

@ (CU?)

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Now I’m living in two places at the same time. I didn’t expect to get to Jen’s apartment and see Jenna. It’s her encroachment. I’m not stupid. I know exactly what she’s doing. It’s a strategy…an antique tactic to blur the lines further between Jennifer and me until redemption is impossible. I don’t even care whether her sob story about being married off is true. Truth or not, it has nothing to do with me, not after what she and her brother have done.

I leave the Ocean Springs penthouse and get into my car for work. After watching Jennifer eat last time, I was so sure she was going to be fine. If she could stomach food and fruit in front of me, then her appetite would come back. I just needed to bring her food for the next few days, then I could go back to living in my own home and give her space. I didn’t know Jenna was tracking that, too.

Now, am I supposed to leave her there, with Jenna right at her door, ready to poke and prod?

I have to do something about that. I need to find a way to kick Jenna out, but I’m not sure how yet.

While I’m taking a detour to the casino, my phone buzzes with a notification. It’s from the butler back at the Prescott mansion where Winny and Francis live, telling me that Francis wants to see me.

I curse under my breath before turning my car around to head to the Prescott house. If this is about me tossing Baxter out of my place, I don’t want to hear it. But I doubt the old man would be angry about that…he disowned Baxter, from what I heard. So that shouldn’t be a problem.

In forty minutes flat, I’m there, glaring up at the architecture of the mansion. I hate coming here.

I open the massive front door and walk in, waiting for my father’s assistant to tell me where he is, when I see Winny storming toward me from the north wing. Her heels are clicking furiously against the marble as she closes the distance and stops right in front of me with the deepest scowl I’ve ever seen on her carefully preserved face.

“You!” she spits then raises her hand in the air. I look at it, then back at her. The hand is trembling, like she means to slap me, but she remembers she can’t. I’ll help her think twice about her next choice.

“Something wrong with your hand?” I whisper.

“You sent my son away!?” She closes that hand into a shaking fist instead, keeping it at her side. Good girl.

“I came here to see Francis-”

“I’m the one who called you. Francis left for work already.” Her words are gritted out between clenched teeth.

“Then I’ll leave.” I take my hand out of my pocket to light a cigarette and turn around.

“Harvey, I’m speaking to you!”

“Well, stop. Stop speaking to me ma’am.”

She sees my sarcasm and her chest heaves.

12:33 Wed, Feb 11 d.

Chapter 65

72

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“Baxter is your brother! After what happened at his wedding, Francis took everything from him. The credit cards, access cards…he came to you because he had nowhere else to go, and you shut him out.”

“Yeah, I did. It’s my house.” I keep the lighter.

“A bastard like you-

“Hmm. A bastard like me,” I repeat her words back to her, and her eyes widen, shaking in their sockets. “Since I’m such a bastard. So why do you want my help? I don’t use the family black cards for pocket money, but I still got access. Can’t say the same for your actual legitimate son.”

I smile around the cigarette before exhaling a plume of smoke.

“Do you think it was easy for me to accept you?” she tries again.

“Let’s not be stupid, Winny. Crack that lie. You didn’t accept me. I wasn’t looking for acceptance, either. I did my best to stay away from this house. I even went to the army and let the government try to kill me in a desert on the other side of the world just so you didn’t have to put up with me in your precious house. Yet, look at you… bitter as old gin. Seething like I stole the silver, when all I ever was, was the living proof that your husband couldn’t keep it in his pants. You forgave the man who made the vow and broke it. But couldn’t forgive the innocent child who didn’t ask for any of this?”

She opens her mouth, but no sound comes out. That’s what typically happens with an empty brain.

“Are we done in this fucking topic?” I ask.

“Please,” she begs with her eyes shut. “He’s staying in a disgusting motel. He won’t take anything from me.”

“Sounds like Baxter’s exactly where he wants to be.” I bite my lip. “You’re his mommy, okay? Not my fault your baby boy won’t take your money.”

I mock the dynamic and turn to walk away, when her voice cuts again.

“I know where your mother is.”

I freeze at that. My back is still to her.

“She disappeared because of what your grandmother said to her,” Winny continues. “But I know where she is. I don’t know if you’ve been searching, but if you help with this… I’ll tell you.”

I face her at this point with an innate feeling that I hate. I have been searching for my mom, but it’s obvious she doesn’t want to be found. The last time she saw me, she thought I was doing drugs, that I was completely out of control. That wasn’t me. For so long, I’ve been looking for her to tell her that. She probably thinks, after all these years, that she failed at raising me, and the best thing to do was pull away and let someone else handle the mess.

I continue walking, and Winny calls after me. “You’ll do it, Harvey?”

I just wave a hand over my shoulder as I walk off.

“It’s a motel called The Starlight Inn!” she shouts. “On the East district. He’s there.”

12:33 Wed, Feb 11

Chapter 65

J..

72

55 vouchers.

Instead of heading to the casino, I drive to the damn motel on the worst district of the city. It’s the part of town where hope goes to die. More than an hour’s drive into a different world. Fights are breaking out on the street as I slow down. Someone’s selling stolen fruit, others are hawking cheap bags. Cop sirens pop somewhere close, and a man spits off the sidewalk.

This is the worst part of New York. The gritty underbelly. Someone washing cars sprays soap across my windshield, and the girls loitering on the corner see the expensive car and start doing a sexual walk around it.

My eyes scan the crumbling buildings, searching for the sign. “Hey,” I say to one of the girls as I roll down my

window.

“Hey, papi.”

“Hey, daddy.”

More of them swarm, shoving their cleavage in my face.

“Where’s The Starlight Inn?”

“Right there, you’re close, papi.” The one closest points a long nail down the block. “You look so handsome…”

“Thanks.” I slip a bill into her hand, and she tucks it into her bra.

Finally, I pull up in front of a red, battered motel sign. Drunk guys are leaning against the wall, smoking. I look ahead and see someone being thrown to the ground.

“Let go!” he yells.

I’m about to step out, but I swear that sounds like Baxter. Tall like Baxter, fighting clumsily like him, too. There are four guys circling him, chuckling as they kick at his feet. Yeah, definitely Baxter.

They pull him up and instead of helping, I lean against my car and cross my arms. I think I’ll watch this for a

moment.

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