Chapter 36

Rebecca couldn’t decide if old man Whitmore had a screw or two loose in his head.

 “Excuse me?”

 His tale sounded like a pirated version of ‘The Man In The Iron Mask’.

 Outside, thunder bellowed across the sky and the sound echoed throughout the dimly lit hallway.

 The old man could see the disbelief in her eyes, for he frowned in annoyance, “Why did you seek me when you don’t believe in me?”

Rebecca tried to be polite, “But no one’s heard of the twin. I didn’t even know about it until I came across your article. Plus, even IF the twin survived, where’s the twin now?”

 At this, the old man shrugged, he too found it strange, “I don’t know. Look, I’m telling you what I know. The fact that you came looking for me after doing an article on William Silverman means that you probably think that something is off too.”

 Oh, he knows about my piece on the murder cases.

The old man continued, his yellow eyes boring into hers, “I saw you in the papers too, you were at some charity gala with William Silverman. Shouldn’t you be asking him instead of some old man?”

Perhaps Whitmore wasn’t so senile after all.

Sheepishly, Rebecca nodded her head. “Mr. Whitmore, please tell me what you know.”

The old man limped over to the reception desk and pulled out a tattered blue chair. Gently, he eased himself onto it and started to rub at his knee.

“It’s arthritis, bloody hurts every time a thunderstorm comes, “ he explained as he massaged his knee with his crooked thumb.

Rebecca came over to where he sat and leaned against the desk, it was dusty but otherwise still neat and intact. She rubbed at her nose, the dust was making her nose itchy and eyes watery.

The old man began his tale as the first raindrops began to hit the ground….

 “Thirty years ago, I scored an interview with the Silverman family. The late John Silverman’s company was fairly new and we, at Whitmore had covered a piece on his establishment. I guess he liked what we wrote so my partner and I were invited to have a drink at his place. You know, as a ‘thank you’ gesture for putting in such a good word for his company.

There I met his wife, Mrs. Silverman. Mind you, she wasn’t his official wife then, she was just a mistress, so her pregnancy had been shrouded in secrecy. Not many knew that she had given birth to twins.

We were at the patio when Mrs. Silverman came out to join us. She was carrying one child in her arm while the wet nurse was carrying the other. The children were probably almost a year old then. The one in the nurse’s arms kept crying but for some reason, the mother never paid any attention to him.

Silverman was annoyed by this and sent them all back into the house while we gentlemen remained outside. After a few rounds, I felt the need to answer nature’s call, so I excused myself and headed for the bathroom.

 Have you been to their house? No?

 The mansion, it’s huge. It’s like a maze in there and I almost got lost trying to find my way to the bathroom. It got to a point where I told myself that I would just release everything into the next potted plant I saw in the hallway. The place was filled with greeneries even from within the house.

Then I heard it, the child’s wailing. And the mother’s screaming. It was coming from one of the rooms. Curiosity got the best of me and I crept towards it. You know how it is with journalists. We just have to know EVERYTHING.

The pristine white door was slightly ajar, and I peeked inside. And what I saw still haunts me to this day.

The child was on the floor, literally crying his eyes out while the mother repeatedly kicked him in the stomach. The other twin was cowering in the corner of the room. I couldn't see the wet nurse anywhere. Then the most sickening thing happened. The mother opened the closet door in the room and shoved the wailing boy in!”

At this point, old man Whitmore’s eyes had a wild glint in his eyes as if he was witnessing everything in real-time. His face twisted into a look of disgust as his memories played out.

 Rebecca could not believe what she had just heard, “That’s child abuse!” she blurted out, anger welling up in her chest like a balloon.

 How could any mother do this to their child?!

“It was a sickening sight, but when I heard footsteps coming from behind me, I quickly backed away. It was the wet nurse.”

Rebecca struggled with her feelings, “Why didn’t you do anything then?”

 At this the old man looked down in shame,” I should have, shouldn’t I? We left not long after that, my partner and me. That night, I couldn’t sleep. The Silverman corporation had just started, but they were a growing company with connections. I guess I was scared. But the very next day, I decided to report it to the authorities. I went to the station and was just about to lodge a police report when the news broke, one of the Silverman twins had died of heart failure.”

Rebecca shook her head in disbelief. Then she remembered how Mrs. Silverman had struck William across the face with such menace. She wondered how it was for William growing up, did he get beaten regularly by his mother? Had the tall, strong, and brooding CEO who had everyone at his whim and mercy had been a victim of child abuse growing up? Her anger seared through her.

 “The coroner had declared the baby’s death and the Silverman family had requested for a private funeral. So, what could I do? How could I plunge a sword into an already grieving family’s heart? So, I chose to keep mum. But imagine my surprise when John Silverman called me over for an interview about 6 months later. His wife needed closure, he said and the best way for them was to publish a simple article about the life of their wonderful little boy, Thomas Silverman.

 “I went and conducted the interview half-heartedly. Oh, Mrs. Silverman cried, it was such a moving act, that I actually thought that perhaps she was sorry for what she did. We wrapped up the interview and I took my leave. The grieving family did not send me off and I went to my car alone.”

 Lightning struck again and sent a tremor throughout the building. Rebecca coughed again.

 “My car was parked just right beside the mansion’s left-wing. They had a tower built for that particular wing, and it must have had an astounding view of their land. And just as I was about to enter my car, I instinctively looked up. Up in the tower was a lone window and who did I see but two little boys, staring down at me.”

 Old man Whitmore’s gaze shifted up from his knee and looked right into Rebecca’s eyes, “One was William Silverman, and the other was the supposedly dead twin.”