Confession is good for the soul after all.
“So what happens now?” I ask. “Do I get a head start, or are you going to rat me out right away?”
The look on his face says he hadn’t thought about it. But as if catching himself, he turns stoic again and shrugs. “What if I didn’t have to?”
“And why wouldn’t you?” I don’t trust the way he says it.
“Listen, I’m gonna be real with you—I’ve been trying to get the Beaumonts to agree to be interviewed for my podcast for years, and they’ve always very politely declined.”
“You want me to convince them to do your podcast?”
“No, no. I can’t possibly continue making the episode I want to after knowing you’re an imposter.”
Imposter. I hate the word, but itisapt.
He continues. “Look, at some point you’re going to leave—with any luck, which admittedly has been on your side so far...”
If you say so.
“They’re going toknowyou weren’t really him. I assume you’d tell them the truth in a letter or something so they don’t think they lost their son twice, right?” I nod. “Okay, so my podcast is going to be about you instead.”
“So you’re going to admit you knew I wasn’t really me?”
His face pales and I can tell he hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. “Oh, yeah. I guess I will. Shit.” His so-called journalistic integrity won’t let him lie. With a flick of his hand, he waves the idea aside. “I’ll burn that bridge when I’m on it. What I want from you is some intel. You go over there and find out what you can for me, report back, and I’ll keep your secret. At least then I can make a few episodes about Nate’s disappearance before dropping the bombshell that I knew you weren’t him. Maybe people will take pity on you. And me?” He doesn’t sound sure, though.
“What intel are you expecting?”
Again, he bites his lip. I haven’t known Miles that long, but it seems like he does that when he doesn’t want to say what’s on his mind. So I sit there and wait for him to spit it out.
“I assume you did some kind of research on the person you’re pretending to be?”
“A little.”
“And... you probably saw a few theories online. About what might have happened to Nate?”
“Serial killers, serial abductors, sex traffickers, aliens, time travel.” I shrug, waiting for him to tell me which one he believes.
“Them.”
“The Beaumonts?”
Miles nods. “I think they killed Nate.”
Sixteen
The Beaumonts killed Nate? The idea makes me feel like an elevator’s safety cable has snapped. All my insides have jumped up to my throat and I’m in free fall.
How could they? And why? I shake my head. “They’re a nice family. They’re genuinely happy to have Nate back. I don’t think people who killed their own son would invite more scrutiny.”
“No, you’re removing scrutiny. People have suspected Nate was murdered for almost ten years. Now that you’re here, it’s case closed. You said yourself that Valencia refused the DNA test. Why would she refuse to find out the truth after nearly a decade? That doesn’t seem suspicious to you?”
Well, yeah, now that he mentions it. Still, I shake my head.
“Why would they kill him? They need a motive, right?”
Miles shrugs. “I mean, that’s kinda the reason I’m asking you to do the investigation. Find out what might have made them snap. Hold on.” He turns around and unlocks his computer again. He pulls up a document and waves me over.
It’s a timeline of events from the day before the disappearance to the day after. Wow, Miles reallywashyperfocusing on this. Every event has a time and date next to it.
