The Heritage Paper

Chapter 79



A ray of sunshine glistened off Veronica’s eyelids, and she forced them open. It was just one single strand fighting through the pulled shades.

She felt a huge sense of relief, just as she always did when she woke up from a bad dream. But it seemed so real! Carsten had died, and of all things, she moved back to Pleasantville next door to her mother. Only in a dream would that happen! But things got even weirder. Nazis were chasing them, and somehow her children were responsible for saving the world.

It was just a dream, she told herself, feeling safe as she lay in the king-size bed in her New York apartment, listening to the sounds of the city outside the window. She rolled over and found the bed empty. Carsten wasn’t there, but she knew where he was—she inhaled the smell of breakfast coming from the kitchen. It must be Sunday morning, she thought, Carsten always cooked breakfast for her and the kids on Sunday morning.

But when the room came into focus, something occurred to her. This wasn’t her apartment!

She tried to open her eyes again, only to realize they already were. She was in Zach Chester’s townhouse, and since she met him in Pleasantville, it meant this wasn’t a dream. She fought back a scream.

Maggie and Jamie were gone!

Still fully clothed from the day before, Veronica hopped onto the wooden floor. She looked under the bed and found Eddie’s gun, just where she’d left it.

She grabbed the gun and followed her nose to the dark kitchen. What she found was Zach and her children sitting at the table and eating a candlelight breakfast.

“Mommy—you’re up!” Jamie exclaimed.

She looked at Zach. “You cooked?”

He motioned her to the table. “I found some bacon and sausage in the freezer. Sorry, if you don’t like breakfast meats, but that’s all we had.”

All Veronica really craved was a cup of the coffee. She poured herself a cup and asked, “So what did your editor say?”

“That I was certifiably crazy. He wouldn’t print my story in a million years, and I should think about going to work for one of those conspiracy-theorist blogs.”

Veronica had been afraid that would be the case, and it likely was what Kingston and Sterling were counting on.

Zach tossed her a printed version of his story and she read. When she finished the detailed account of the last couple days of her life, she set it down. “I don’t believe it either—I can’t blame your editor.”

“I’m more interested in your opinion than some editor who is more worried about covering his behind, than exposing the truth.”

Veronica grinned at the compliment. “I think it’s not half bad considering the writer was jammed in a dark closet.”

“Hey—Lincoln studied by candlelight.”

“You’re no Lincoln, Mr. Chester.”

He smiled as he poured himself another cup of coffee.

“Seriously, I think it’s good,” Veronica went on, “but won’t you get sued by Sterling? He’ll deny he told you any of this stuff about his involvement with 9/11. Without the memoir we have nothing to back up our accusations.”

Zach held up what looked like a cassette tape.

“What’s that?” Veronica asked.

“Youkelstein taped his conversation with Sterling during his capture at the Kingston estate. He slipped it to me when we dropped him off at the hospital, but I didn’t know what it was until I got a chance to listen to it last night. It came from his umbrella, which nobody thought to check—no wonder he keeps it close at all times.”

Veronica looked impressed. “I’m going to have to put one of those umbrellas on my Christmas list this year.”

Jamie began rattling off a laundry list of things he wanted for Christmas, while Maggie called him selfish and went on a tangent about kids in Africa who didn’t have food or medicine. Things almost seemed back to normal.

“So did your editor change his mind when he heard the tape?”

Zach shook his head. “No, he said Sterling would just claim I created it. He had no intention of taking on a man who just won fifty states.”

Veronica’s hope washed away. Which made it all the more strange that Zach was smiling.

“My editor was right—no legitimate news organization would run the story. So I needed to find a media outlet willing to swim in the cesspool, lacking any journalistic integrity, and more interested in pushing an agenda than seeking the truth. Guess who that would be?”

“I don’t know,” Veronica said.

“That’s easy, Mom,” Maggie chimed in. “Talk radio!”

Zach nodded. “I pitched it to Theodore Baer. He’s never been big on backing up sources, and after last night, he’ll do anything to shift the attention from his landslide loss. So I’m going on the air with him when his show starts at nine … if that’s okay with you?”

It was a risk, no doubt, but Veronica knew if they didn’t get their story out, and quickly, they were goners. “Okay, but you can’t use Maggie and Jamie’s names. They stay out of it.”

“Of course—I will not mention your family, other than Ellen.”

Veronica believed him. “We better get going then,” she said, caressing the key given to her by Flavia, “I need to stop off at the bank first.”