I hate him a little tonight.
Not because he was Legend’s father.
Because he may have been Amelia’s too and still she had to arrive here as a desperate woman with no one else.
“What did you find?” I ask Whiskey.
He ends the call and sets the phone down. “Jeremy Alan Vale. Thirty-eight. Insurance agent in Paducah. Married to Amelia Bell Welles. She didn’t change her name. One child listed in public records, August Michael Vale.”
“Michael?” Legend says.
I close my eyes for half a second.
Of course.
Amelia named her son after a ghost.
Whiskey nods. “Could be coincidence.”
Legend gives him a look.
Whiskey continues. “Vale has two LLCs. One clean enough if you don’t look hard. One messy. Money moves through community outreach programs, church-linked accounts, and insurance settlements that smell wrong.”
“Pearly Gates?” I ask.
“Not direct yet. But adjacent. Same lawyers. Same donors. Same people pretending charity washes money better than soap.”
Legend’s jaw works. “And Oregon?”
“Too early.”
Royal’s voice comes from the shadows. “It won’t stay too early long.”
We all look at him.
He steps forward. “The woman running the old Oregon chapter has been quiet. Quiet people are either dead, planning, or waiting.”
Legend looks at the photo. “Amelia left Oregon in grade school.”
“Children can carry names without knowing they’re carrying matches,” Royal says.
A chill moves through me.
I don’t like when Royal is right.
I also don’t like how much this room wants a pattern. Patterns make men feel safer. If everything connects, then everything can be cut. But some things are only cruel because the world has too many cruel men in it.
“Whatever Oregon is, Amelia doesn’t understand it,” I say. “I barely do.”
Legend’s eyes lift to mine. “You sure?”
“I’m sure she’s exhausted, terrified, and ashamed of needing help. I’m sure her son asks if doors lock. I’m sure Derby nearly swallowed his own tongue trying not to scare her after he ordered her to sit. I’m sure she changed clothes with her back to me and still apologized with her whole body for taking up space.”
The room goes quiet.
Good.
Let them hear it.