Shadows of Lancaster County Read Online Free PDF

wasn’t sure how long the crew might be filming, but I thought I could seize the window of opportunity to slip out the front door and get away from here unseen. The paramedics had told me which hospital they were taking Kiki to.
    I just hoped I would get there before it was too late.

 

FOUR
     
S TEPHANIE
     
    November 14, 1828
    My Dearest Son,
    It is with the greatest of urgency that I write to you.
    With the appearance of this package today, I can assume that your adoptive parents have now informed you of the identity of your true parentage. In my original agreement with them, this news was to be withheld until the date of your eighteenth birthday. However, circumstances have dictated that I act now, despite the fact that you are only sixteen. I apologize to you and the Jensens for not waiting until the established date, though given recent events in Nuremburg, I feel certain that they understand the need for expediency. Surely a young man of sixteen is old enough to digest and comprehend all of this information.
    In any event, the shocking news your guardians have given you about your rightful parentage is true. Enclosed you will find proof, including your
geburtszeugnis
, as well as the listings from the
Adelsmatrikel
and from the
Almanach de Goth
. Please note that in both the
Adelsmatrikel
and the
Almanach de Goth
you are listed without name, as “son, stillborn.” This deception was necessary at the time, as I am sure you will come to understand. In addition, I have included the guardianshipagreement I conducted in secrecy with the Jensens three days before you were born.
    Also enclosed is one perfect pair of ruby-and-diamond earrings. Until now these earrings have been kept in the royal vault along with the other six pieces that comprise the full set of the Beauharnais Rubies, a gift given to me by Napoleon upon the occasion of your birth. I send these earrings to you as proof of their provenance and yours, and as proof of my sincerity. Please keep them hidden in a safe place until such time as you can return to the palace and rejoin them with the full set. On that day, I shall put on these jewels for the first time since receiving them and wear them with pride, standing beside you, my son, as you assume your rightful place in a long line of nobility. Only then will the true heir be known and the evil plottings and actions of your stepgrandmother and her son will be brought to light.
    Please be in readiness, as I will summon you at the appropriate time.
    With deep and abiding love,
Your mother, SdB

 

FIVE
     
A NNA
     
    My brain was so addled by my encounter with the intruder, the subsequent questioning by the police, and the appearance of the media that I was almost to the hospital before it dawned on me to contact Kiki’s mother, a spry little septuagenarian who lived nearby. I called her on my cell phone as I turned into the parking garage, and she arrived at the hospital so quickly that she almost beat me to the reception desk. Together we waited for news of Kiki, and we were finally told that she was conscious but resting and that they had given her twelve stitches to the scalp. They were still awaiting the results of her CAT scan, but the preliminary diagnosis was a grade 3 concussion. She had also lost a lot of blood. According to the nurse, they would probably keep her overnight for observation and to give her a transfusion, and then release her to go home tomorrow.
    When we learned that only blood relatives would be allowed in to see her, I was actually relieved. Overwhelmed with guilt for what had happened, I wasn’t sure if I could face Kiki just yet. I kept thinking about how she had struggled for her life upstairs while I was right there, downstairs, talking on the phone. Why hadn’t I realized something was wrong? That man was there for me. Whatever he wanted, it was my fault he had come, my fault Kiki was now in the hospital.
    Feeling sick at heart, I told Kiki’s mother to give her my love,