The Mortal Groove

The Mortal Groove by Ellen Hart

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Authors: Ellen Hart
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couldn’t let her find out, not until he had all the information he needed.
    â€œDid you see the letter from that TV station in Maine?” asked Sigrid, coming into the room. She was wearing a blue terry cloth bathrobe, drying her short blond hair with a towel. “I didn’t open it. I thought it might be another job offer.”
    A muscle twitched in his neck.
    â€œSomething wrong?” asked Sigrid, standing over him. She let the towel drop to her shoulders.
    â€œI glanced at the mail, but I didn’t see it.”
    â€œHere,” she said. She bent over the stack and found it for him.
    â€œMaine, huh?” He worked to keep his hands steady as he opened it. After reading the letter, he handed it to her. “You want to move to Bangor?”
    â€œSounds better than Oklahoma. I hate hot weather.”
    â€œAre you saying you’d actually consider moving out East?” It sounded like the end of the earth to him.
    Sigrid rubbed the back of his hair with the towel. “I don’t know, Peter.”
    â€œLet’s not go there tonight, okay?”
    â€œThere was another letter for you. I think the postmark was New Jersey.”
    As she reached for the stack again, he caught her arm. “Andno more talking about my lack of employment, either. Let’s just have a nice, relaxing evening.”
    Her expression softened. She sat down next to him, laid her head on his chest. “That’s sounds good to me. How come you’re home so late?”
    â€œMy dad wanted to meet with me and Jane at the Lyme House. Hey, get this. What if I told you I might have a job offer here in town?”
    She gazed up at him with a puzzled look. “That would be great, but I thought you’d checked out every station and nobody was hiring.”
    â€œI wouldn’t be working for a TV station. Dad wants me to come work for his campaign. He said he has to check it out, but he’s pretty sure he can offer me a paid position.”
    â€œWow, Peter, that would be a fantastic opportunity for you.”
    He pulled her closer to him, felt the warmth of her body through the thin fabric of his shirt. “I love you, Siggy. I don’t ever want to lose you.” He tipped her chin up. And then he kissed her.
    Right about then they both forgot about dinner.
    Â 
    The clock on the nightstand read 3:27 AM . Easing out of bed, Peter found his pants hanging over a chair. He carried them into the bathroom and turned on the light. Digging the letter out of his pocket, he tore the back flap open and removed an invoice with a scribbled note attached.
    â€œShit,” whispered Peter, reading through it quickly. This wasn’t what he’d expected. He’d hired a private investigator to locate and then send him a copy of the adoption papers Sigrid had signed ten years ago. The lawyer who’d brokered the deal in New Jersey, Vaughn Cabot, had drawn them up. Sigrid said shewould never forget the names of the people who’d adopted her baby—Matt and Carrie Tanhauer, residents of New York. Cabot told her they’d named the baby Margaret. Peter had never met Cabot, but it didn’t matter. He loathed him on general principle.
    Glancing back down at the note, he read it again:
No birth certificate on record. And no adoption record in either New Jersey or New York. That means whatever your wife signed was never filed. Found an address for Matthew Tanhauer in Manhattan. Don’t know if it’s the same guy who adopted Margaret, but will investigate further if you want. Tanhauer’s address is
—
    570 Parkway West
    New York, NY 10010
    Unlisted phone number. I included an invoice, in case you don’t want to pursue this further.
    Shifflet
    The invoice was for five hours’ work at $125 an hour.
    â€œMargaret,” whispered Peter, sitting down on the side of the tub. In the past few months, with little to do but brood about his life, finding Margaret had become

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