The Father Hunt

Both of my brows went up. "That makes a liar of you yesterday. Yesterday you had never had your father and didn't know who or what he was, and the two thousand-"

"I know. That was true, I never had a father. This is what happened. When my mother died I came to New York, of course, but I had to go back for graduation, and anyway Mr. Thorne had her instructions, about cremation, and that there was to be no funeral, and he attended to all the… the details. Then when I came to New York after the graduation he came-"

"Mr. Thorne?"

"Yes. He came-"

"Who is he?"

"He's the television producer my mother worked for. He came to see me, to the apartment, and he brought things-papers and bills and letters and other things from my mother's desk in her room at the office. And a box, a locked metal box with a label glued on it that said

Property of Amy Denovo. And a key with a tag that said Key to Amy Denovo's box. It had been-"

"Was your mother's name Amy?"

"No, her name was Elinor. The key had been in a locked drawer in her desk. The box had been in the office safe. It had been there for years-at least fifteen years, Mr. Thome said. It's about this long." She held her opened hands about sixteen inches apart. "I waited until he had gone to open it, and I was glad I did. There were just two things in it: money, hundred-dollar bills- the box was more than half full-and a sealed envelope with my name on it. I opened the envelope and it was a letter from my mother, not a long one, just one page. You want to know what it said."

"I sure do. Have you got it?"