Truth

his embrace, and allowed her body to go wherever he led.
     
    *****
     
    It wasn’t difficult to access her laptop. A few different tries and her password was easily discovered. The information within was more than he could ever have imagined. Just recently he’d formed his own ideas about Anthony Rawlings being Anton Rawls, but now he had it in black and white. She had so much information about the Rawls family. Years ago he’d tried to do similar research, but everything came up a dead end. Why wouldn’t it? By 1990, the Rawls family ceased to exist.
    According to Ms. Nichols fine research, Sharron died first of natural causes. There was very little information about her, especially during the last three years of her life. She didn’t even appear in any family photos. Nathaniel passed away in May of 1989, while incarcerated in a minimum security prison in New York. Next, yes, he liked this part: Samuel and Amanda died in a murder / suicide in Santa Monica, California. Why did Ms. Nichols have a question mark next to the murder / suicide? Obviously she questioned the accuracy of the assessment.
    He often wondered how Anton got the police investigators to go along with that conclusion. Perhaps, he made the same bargain with them that he had with him. Ms. Nichols even had copies of police, ballistic, and autopsy reports. The scanned copy of the 911 call caught his attention. Apparently, Anton hadn’t been as thorough as he thought. This must have been how she and Harrison Baldwin found him. His name appeared on the report.
    Smirking, Patrick Chester thought it funny; he’d actually thought Ms. Nichols was Anton’s daughter. Seeing her recently all over the internet, she wasn’t Anton’s (aka Anthony Rawlings) daughter; she was his ex-wife. According to the gossip people, they were working on reconciling. Patrick wondered if Mr. Anthony Rawlings had any idea of the wealth of information his ex-wife had accumulated against him.
    Patrick considered the possibility of blackmailing Claire Nichols, too. But she wasn’t exactly living in the lap of luxury. Oh, her condominium was nice, in a very high priced part of town. She even kept affluent company. Amber McCoy, CEO of SiJo Gaming, was valued at quite a bit. Her brother, Harrison Baldwin, wasn’t hurting for cash either. Nevertheless, in comparison to Anthony Rawlings, they were paupers.
    Why had Patrick accepted such measly annual supplements, when Anthony Rawlings could so easily afford more? Of course, it was because up until Ms. Nichols made an appearance at his home, he never suspected Anton Rawls of being the great Anthony Rawlings. The way Patrick saw it; he was due twenty plus years of back payments.
    The missing information on Ms. Nichols laptop was about Samuel Rawls’ sister. Patrick didn’t even know her name; he never did. He just remembered Amanda Rawls referring to the woman as Samuel’s sister. Funny, as he scanned Ms. Nichol’s research, it didn’t even look like Samuel had a sister. That didn’t matter. For all the time, Anton – Anthony -- had paid to keep the information about that woman hidden, she must be someone important. Patrick wondered if Mr. Rawlings would pay a bonus for keeping this information away from Claire Nichols. Seriously, what man wants his wife or ex-wife to learn he’s been paying to keep a secret about another woman?
    Another picture just hit the internet. Wasn’t today’s technology wonderful? The photo was taken only minutes ago, via someone’s cellphone -- amazing quality for a phone. The picture was of Anthony Rawlings and Claire Nichols dancing. They seemed very dressed up. The caption mentioned a wedding reception. Patrick Chester smiled. The sinister grin was truly too large for his face. He knew without a doubt, the real money was right there, in Mr. Rawlings’ arms. The mega-billionaire would gladly pay big, no huge, for the safe return of that woman. And to think he’d had her right on his property. If he’d only known what a gold mine she was the day she and Mr. Baldwin visited. That didn’t matter. Patrick knew now.
    Searching the laptop he found her travel itinerary. Ms. Nichols’ flight was due back to San Francisco at 17:40:00, tomorrow. She had a first class ticket. That figures , Patrick thought. Well, her accommodations won’t be as luxurious once I get a hold of her.
     
    *****
     
    To: Anthony Rawlings
    From: Phillip Roach
    Date: June 8, 2013
    Re: Ms. Nichols
    I have confirmed with