Page 22 of King

Whatever she knows must be important enough — and dangerous enough — to require secrecy.

Part of me wants to text Harrison and let him know what I’m doing, but I did promise not to tell anyone.I’ll see what Carla has to say, and then I’ll decide.Maybe she just wants to pass on info and not be involved in anything bigger.

I grab my jacket and bag and leave the apartment, sad that I will be out instead of relaxing.I wonder about what Harrison would think of me meeting a stranger, but I really have no other choice.Not if she has some info and knows who I really am — whatever that means.I leave a quick handwritten message on a notepad by the front door just in case Harrison comes home unexpectedly.and then take the stairs to the main floor.

Outside, the sky is bright, but I can tell by the clouds that rain is in the forecast.I hope it doesn’t rain while I’m out, and a part of me wishes I could ignore that text and block her number.I feel like it’s not the best place to meet, but I’m too curious to say no.Hopefully, we will be safe.Many people bike and walk along the greenway.There are several businesses there, so I figure we will be fine.

I text for an Uber and in a few moments, one arrives.I’m lucky that there are a lot of people who work near Central Park, and so I hop in and off we go towards the East River and then south along FDR Drive.We arrive at the location, and after I thank the driver and send a tip, I get out and walk towards the gas station where Carla and I are to meet.

I see her right away — white lab coat, pink hair.She looks to be in her forties, a bit tall and gangly, and looking every inch a medical tech nerd with her glasses, headphones, and cell phone in her face.

She sees me and knows who I am right away as well.She raises her hand hesitantly and gives me a brief wave.I walk over to where she sits and take my place beside her.

“You must be Carla," I say."Well, here I am.What can I do for you?What can you tell me that I need to hear in person and that you need to maintain secrecy?"

She takes in a deep breath and glances left and right as if she's checking to see how close anyone is to us.

“You must think I'm crazy," she says."But when you hear what I have to say, you won't think so."

"OK, go ahead, I'm all yours,” I say.

Carla adjusts herself on the bench and opens up her backpack.She removes a file from the interior and opens it.She reads from it briefly and then sighs audibly.

“Read for yourself," she says and hands me the file.I take it from her and open it up to see a series of documents inside that look like they've come from the police department.I can see after reading for a moment that they're about the death of my mother and stepfather, and the car accident that took their lives.

"I already know about this," I say and hand the file back to her."This is nothing new, although I am very upset about it."

“What you may not know is that the investigation into your parents’ death was closed prematurely.There was research done on the type of car and any recall issues around the brakes.None was found.In fact, there was research done on the last time your stepfather's FBI car was serviced, and there were no problems with the brakes, which were tested.So, something happened to the brakes in between the last service, and when it was in the garage, where your stepfather parked before the crash.I think the brakes were tampered with on purpose and that led to the accident."

I nod."I already know about that.I can't tell you how, but I do know.Let's just say that officials in the FBI know about this, but that it's an operation that is being kept secret for reasons I can't say anything about right now.”I hesitate for a moment, unsure of how much to tell her.“But I appreciate that you felt this was important and that I needed to know it.Idoknow it.It broke my heart.It's bad enough for people to die on the highways without their being anything nefarious to it, but when it's done deliberately, it destroys your faith in people."

Carla nods.“I don't have a lot of faith in people," she says, her tone derisive."I just thought you should know.The name I found of the official involved was Giordano.I did some research on the name and man's position, and he’s a mid-level bureaucrat in the Highway Patrol involved in the investigation, but he also has distant family members in the Italian mafia.But I have also uncovered other information that might interest you."

Of course, I already knew about Giordano, but her mention of other information surprises me.I turned to her and frown."What new information?About what?"

Carla reaches into her backpack and pulls out another file, and it looks completely different from the one she handed me earlier.It's a larger size and a different colour, like it's from a different organization.

“Here, read this," she says."You should know that I also work for a genetic genealogy company part-time.I came across your name because your mother was searching for her other children.When I saw that she had died in a car accident, I checked on her files at the medical examiner’s office.I saw that she was married to a Russian, a very prominent Russian man, before divorcing him and marrying your stepfather.Anytime someone with Russian mafia ties dies, we all become suspicious.I'm sorry to admit it, but I started digging.Even telling you that could get me fired.”She turns to face me, her eyes wide, her expression intense.“More than that, it could get me in big trouble, maybe even jail time.So please, whatever you do with this, don't reveal where you got it from and who you got it from.I look after my ailing mother.I'm her only source of income besides disability.If I went to jail, she'd have to go into one of those horrible, low-budget nursing homes, and she would be very unhappy.I don’t want to do that to her after everything she’s done for me.”

I open the file and read for a few moments.Yes, it does appear that my mother was searching the databases for genetic matches.The description given was that she had given up two children for adoption when she was young, before she married my father, and was hoping to find them.

That means I have some other half-siblings somewhere out there.Two of them.And based on what the files say, a boy and a girl.

“You've got quite a scandal-plagued family," Carla says."I hope this is useful.As you can see, I did find some genetic matches for you with two people in the United States.You can keep that file.It's a duplicate.If you want any help digging into those two people, I'd be happy to help, but only if you keep my name out of it, just in case anyone asks you where you got this information."

"But who will I say gave this information to me?It's not like I could get it on my own."

“You can duplicate the search, so you will have a record of your own that you can use.That way, someone else will be involved and not me.Just say you were looking for relatives after your mother died who were in North America, and that your mother may have been married before she married your father, and you're interested in knowing if you have any siblings.That way, the person will search for people with genetic profiles that could be a close relative to you."

I read over the file for a moment, unable to process what I've just heard and read.Carla confirmed the fact that my parents’ case was closed prematurely, almost as if the Feds didn't want the details to be revealed.I'm sure it was because they were working to take down people tied to my mother and the case itself.

"Is there anything else?"I ask as I put the file into my own bag.

“Just be careful,” Carla says, and she exhales heavily as if she doesn't really want to bring this up.“The FBI official who closed the case on your parents’ crash — Giordano.He has ties, familial ties, to the Italian mafia, and they have no hesitation about cleaning up messes and silencing people who may be a threat.Remember that.”

I laugh ruefully.“Don’t I already know that.As to his ties to the mafia, who doesn't have ties to some branch of the mafia?If you have money and power in New York City, the mafia is involved in some way."

“Ain't that the truth?"Carla says with a laugh.