Page 115 of NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority
“Good call,” I said. “After work, Cheryl and I will drive you to the airport to pick him up. Then the plan is to meet Kylie and Shane over at his place for a victory dinner. Unless you and your father would rather have some private time together.”
“Heck no,” he said. “I think my dad is going to want to spend some quality time with the two cops who kept me from getting on the plane to South America.”
“We’re also the same two cops who handed you over to a murderer at the museum,” I said.
“We can downplay that part,” he said. “Besides, my dad knows Kylie from the old days, and I think you and he will totally hit it off. You have a lot in common.”
“I’m sure we do,” I said.
The rest of the day, Kylie and I got caught up juggling meetings and phone calls with the PC, three deputy commissioners, the chief constable of the Vancouver Police Department, even Mayor Sykes herself. But the one that mattered the most was the unexpected visit we got just before we left the office.
Evan Belmont, Jonas’s son, showed up.
“My father was my idol,” he said. “Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a cop just like him. I’m sure if he were alive, there’d still be a lot of things he’d have wanted to teach me. I just want to thank the two of you for picking up where he left off. This morning I went to his grave and told him how sorry I was for the way you were treated when you came to my house just to do your jobs. Now I’m here to apologize to you.”
Kylie and I thanked him, shook his hand, and promised to get together soon. He walked toward the door, shoulders slumped, the burden not yet lifted.
“Evan,” I said, catching up to him.
He turned. “What?”
I put my hand on his arm. “Your old man would be proud of you,” I said.
We all have our emotional breaking points, and Evan reached his. “He’d be just as proud of you, bro,” he said, no longer able to hold back the tears. “I don’t know if he ever told you, but he loved you like a son.”
That’s when I hit my own breaking point. After everything that had happened since that indelible moment when I came upon Jonas Belmont’s lifeless body on the rug of Warren Hellman’s town house, I lost it.
He and I stood there, arms wrapped around each other. Two tough cops. Crying.
An hour later, Cheryl and I were in the car on our way to pick up Theo. I stopped at a red light on Park Avenue.
“The DNA report came back,” I said. “Theo is my son.”
The news came out of left field, but she didn’t blink. She responded like a professional. “How do you feel about that?”
“How do Ifeelabout it? I don’t know. How do Idealwith it? I know even less. For now, you’re the only one I can tell. I told Kylie I took the paternity test, so at some point I’m going to have to tell her the results.”
“And Theo?”
“The kid’s been through hell. I’m hisbirthfather. He’s about to reconnect with his real father. Maybe I’ll tell him someday, but now’s not the right time.”
“Thank you for sharing with me,” she said.
Theo was waiting for us in front of my apartment building.
“So how did your day go?” Cheryl asked as soon as he got into the car.
“Fantastic,” he said. “I made a decision not to get sucked into watching the news on TV, so I took the subway out to Brooklyn Botanic Garden. My mom used to take me there. When she died, I stopped going. First because I didn’t want to go there without her, and by the time I was eight or nine, I was like, flowers are lame compared to video games.”
“Wild guess,” Cheryl said. “They weren’t lame today, were they?”
“No. I sat in the water garden for about an hour, trying to let go of all the shit that happened this past week and move on with my life.”
“Did it help?” Cheryl asked.
“A lot. I started to think about the eight million dollars that Mr. Sheffield left me. I wasn’t going to take it at first, but Mr. Nivens, the lawyer, told me if I don’t, it’ll just go to the state. He said take it and give it away, so that’s what I’m going to do. I decided to open a foundation.”
“Theo, that’s wonderful,” Cheryl said. “Have you thought about your mission?”
“That was the easy part,” he said. “There are a lot of kids like me who want to become filmmakers, but they can’t afford it. Mr. Nivens agreed to help me set it up to work with film schools like NYU, USC, and Howard to give out scholarships and grants. He said he thought it would mean a lot to Mr. Sheffield that every dime of his eight million dollars is going to help young people fund their dreams and change their lives.”
Cheryl rested a hand on my arm, and I could feel the lump growing in my throat.
“I decided to name it after my mom,” Theo said. “The Sylviane LeBec Wilkins Foundation for the Cinematic Arts. I can’t wait to tell my dad about it.”
I wanted to hug him. I wanted to tell him how proud I was of him. But I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even turn to look at him. Because for the second time in a couple of hours, tears were streaming down this tough cop’s face. And I realized that I hadn’t felt this good in a long, long time.