The Charlton Affair by MJ Doherty Read Free Book Online Page A

his distraught wife another tissue.
     
    *****
     
    Amanda placed two freshly brewed coffees on the coasters on Charlie’s large old-fashioned wooden bureau. Sitting down, she sipped hers while she waited excitedly for Charlie to finish perusing her spreadsheet and notes. 
    After reading the notes, Charlie looked at her, eyebrows up, “Are you sure?”
    Amanda nodded, “Pretty sure. Have a look at the old photos from the Boston newspaper archives and see what you think? It looks like him as a child, but it’s hard to absolutely certain. There could be another Michael Rawlins out there that fits the bill. But I really don’t think so.”
    Charlie thoughtfully spread out the images and examined them.
    “I can see why he lied. Actually, he didn’t outright lie, he was just economical with the truth. With good reason. If that was in my past, I wouldn’t want anyone to know about it.”
    “Not even your wife?” Amanda replied.
    Charlie thought for a moment before answering, “Good question. You’ve just reminded me how hard it is to truly put myself in someone else’s shoes. I’d hope to have someone in my life I didn’t have to keep such an awful secret from. But I don’t really know what’s it like to have lived through something like that. Maybe for Michael it’s so horrible he can’t bear for anyone at all to know?”
    Amanda looked sadly at some of the old articles and excerpts she had gathered from the web. The Charltons were an old money Boston family, incredibly wealthy socialites who had suffered a catastrophic event nearly thirty years earlier.
    Jefferson Charlton had shot and killed his wife Mary and their ten-year-old daughter, Honore, in their beds at night. He had stalked his two sons, who had managed to hide, one in a small attic space, and the other in a laundry cupboard. After he was unable to find them he turned the gun on himself, blowing his own brains out.
    Stillman, aged thirteen, had emerged from his hiding place to get help. Jefferson Junior, aged six, was found cowering in a small cupboard in the attic the next day, still utterly terrified. Both boys told the Boston police a horror story of being stalked by their enraged drunken father and then hearing shots. None of the reports gave any explanation about why it had happened. The papers preferred to speculate on the millions Stillman and Jefferson Junior inherited as the only survivors.
    Charlie shook her head gravely, “Extreme domestic violence. Perhaps mental illness?”
    “I don’t know. I haven’t been able to find anything more specific about the family,” Amanda replied. “There’s plenty about their wealth, though.” Amanda pointed to a couple of printouts. “In a nutshell, the Charltons were old tobacco. They diversified into manufacturing early in the 1900s, eventually making a lot of money out of the two world war effort efforts. The companies were sold off after the scandal and the money invested in a trust for the two boys.”
    Charlie followed on from Amanda’s summary, “Little Jefferson gets shipped out to a maternal uncle here in Queensland. His name is changed and he starts a new life. What happened to Stillman?”
    “I don’t know.” Amanda replied, “I can follow it up if you like?”
    “Don’t bother. We have enough here for our purposes.” Charlie replied.
    Amanda didn’t bother hiding her disappointment. Not for the first time, she wondered if she should follow her father and join the police service. She reminded herself once again that her husband would hit the roof if she did that.
    “This is going to make the advice a nightmare.” Charlie moaned, “I bet he didn’t tell his wife who he really is or how much money he had when he made the Financial Agreement with her. If that’s true, it’s going to be almost impossible to hold it up. I mean, how could it be valid when she didn’t know what she was agreeing to forego?” Charlie rubbed a tense spot in her neck and added, “He would never