"Have you been in touch with Dad all this time?” Ben asked, putting his cell phone back in his pocket and finally asking the question Harriet wanted answered.

"No, I haven't.” Gerry got up from the floor and started pacing again. “It's not like Dad and I made some plan together. He called me to his office one day. He gave me a piece of paper with the address of a post office box and a polymer formula. He said he was leaving on a business trip the following day. He said no matter what I heard after that, I shouldn't believe it. He told me not to tell anyone else what he'd said. Then he told me that if I ever started seeing orders for that polymer come across my desk, I should send a postcard to the address. A blank postcard. That's it."

"And you didn't hear anything else all this time?” Harry asked.

"I heard nothing for almost twenty years. When Dad left, I was a clerk in the purchasing department. When I became manager of the department, I made a habit of reviewing all chemical purchases, just in case. For nineteen years, nothing out of the ordinary happened. I caught a few counting errors by my own employees, but no sign of the polymer.

"Then, about two and a half months ago, someone ordered a small quantity of the stuff. I didn't do anything right away, because the product development people order small quantities of all sorts of chemicals, and besides, I wasn't sure Dad was still out there.” He picked up his ice bag and held it to his jaw again.

"Sorry,” Harry said, and hung his head momentarily.

Gerry put the bag down and took the two ibuprofens Harriet handed him.

"I decided to check out who was using the chemical and what they were using it for,” Gerry continued. “I went down to the production area, and I got the run-around on who had placed the order. The best I could get was that a new project was coming up, and they were preparing for it. Brett, one of the production managers, said he'd heard Carlton had purchased a new product from a company that was closing. He said they were relocating their own managers and technical people. He said they had probably ordered the stuff under Carlton 's account number because they aren't set up here yet."

"So, you sent the postcard.” Ben said.

"I did. And to tell you the truth, I didn't think anything would come of it. The first couple of years, I thought Dad would show up with some explanation so all this would make sense. Then, for a few more years after that, I told myself he probably did have an accident, or a heart attack or something. If he'd really left us behind, no one would know to notify us."

"Did you ever try to find him?” Ben asked

"How was I supposed to do that?” Gerry protested. “Don't forget, it was twenty years ago. Everything wasn't a computer keystroke away. He was supposed to have died in Malaysia, but other than that, he could have been anywhere. I couldn't leave my job and go searching the world. Besides, I couldn't afford to go anywhere."

"So the first thing we need to do is hire an investigator and figure out where he's been,” Ben suggested.

The brothers bickered for a minute about how to go about hiring and paying for an investigator. It was clear Mavis hadn't told them about Ilsa yet. Harriet didn't want to be the one to break the news, but it couldn't be helped.

"Guys,” she said, and held up her good hand to silence them. “I can save you some time and money."

"Do you know something?” Harry asked.

"Of course, she knows something,” Ben said, “Why do you think she said that?"

"Does anyone need more coffee?” Harriet stalled.

"Let me do that,” Ben said, and took the coffeepot and refilled their mugs.

When everyone was settled again, Harriet took a deep breath and began.

"There's no easy way to tell you all this, so if you could, let me get it all out before you ask any questions.” She proceeded to tell them about Ilsa and the Netherlands, and then Lauren's discovery about their dad's sale of his invention and the resulting money.

"Dad remarried?” Harry said.

"Dad's a millionaire?” Ben said at the same time.

"What do we know about this woman?” Gerry asked.

"I don't think we know anything about Ilsa, except for what she told us,” Harriet said. “She claims to have followed your dad here. I'm not sure how else she would have ended up here unless she got the information from him in some way, or followed him. I know it doesn't mean anything, but I've spent a few hours with her and she seems sincere. From listening to her talk to your mom, she either knew your dad for some amount of time or did really thorough research."

"We should be able to call Dad's cousins in Holland. At least we could verify that much,” Gerry said.

"Lauren did find the information about the fiber formula under Gerard Van Auken, which is the name Ilsa knew him by, so that must mean something, too,” Harriet said.

"I can't believe our dad left us and married someone else,” Harry said in a hollow voice.

"This is all pretty unbelievable,” Gerry agreed.

"There's one more thing,” Harriet said. “I'm not sure if this was a coincidence or if it's connected, but your mom was called to go babysit for your brother Pete during most of the re-enactment. She got back just before we saw your dad lying at the edge of the forest. She told me she thought something was off about the request. Pete told her their babysitter had to attend an out-of-town funeral, and then Mavis ran into the girl at a coffee shop. She fled when Mavis recognized her."

"You're not trying to say Pete's in on this, are you?” Gerry asked. “Why would Dad ask Pete, of all people?"

"I don't know what I'm trying to say. It just seemed weird. It came up all of a sudden, and then the girl was in town when she was supposed to be gone. I think that's a pretty big coincidence."

Gerry stared at the ceiling. “This just keeps getting better,” he said.

"What's so important about that particular polymer?” Harry asked. “Is it poisonous or environmentally dangerous?"

"No more so than any of the other chemicals we use to make the fireman's turnouts. None of the stuff we use is without its dangerous properties, but nothing radical. But I'm a business guy, what do I know. We can ask one of the chemists tomorrow, if you want."

"Speaking of tomorrow, it's going to be here before we know it.” Harriet took her cup to the sink and rinsed it before putting it in the dishwasher. “I'm going to bed. Can I trust you not to tear the place up?"

"I'll behave,” Harry said. “I'm sorry I over-reacted. This has been a lot to take in."

"I'll take responsibility for the coffeepot,” Ben offered.

Harriet thanked him, called Fred and went up to bed.

Mavis was drinking tea in the kitchen the next morning when Harriet and Fred came downstairs.

"How's the shoulder, honey?” she asked.

"It's getting better each day. I'm really tired of this tie-down though.” Harriet wiggled the fingers on her injured side.

"I'm sorry the boys misbehaved last night. They confessed as soon as I got here this morning."

"Where are they?"

"Harry is out running, and Ben went to get doughnuts."

"Did they mention what we talked about last night?"

"Yes, and I'm sorry you had to be in the middle of all this, honey. I'm sure it was no picnic telling them about their dad's new wife."

Harriet looked away. “I wasn't sure if I should be the one to break the news, but they were getting worked up about hiring an investigator. I felt like I had to stop them before they actually did something."

"Well, I'm sorry, honey.” Mavis reached over and patted Harriet's good arm.

"Have you decided what you're going to do?"