By LARRY BALLWAHN | Wilton
“The Last Thing He Told Me” was a selection of Reese’s Book Club and the Ontario Public Library Book Club.
The narrator of this story, Hannah, had been happily married to Owen Michaels for slightly more than a year. Prior to marriage, he had been completely open with the fact that all his decisions were based on making a good life for his 16-year-old daughter, Bailey. But one day he didn’t come home. He sent Hannah a note with a high school girl, and he left a duffle of cash and a note in Bailey’s locker, but he disappeared.
Hannah’s note says, “Protect her.” He left a longer note for Bailey, but it didn’t really clarify anything. The company that he worked for, The Shop, was in trouble with the authorities for exaggerating their finances and therefore their stock value, but that was more the CEO of the company. Owen was a programmer not involved with the finances. Within the context of the problem, Owen’s disappearance didn’t make sense, nor did the note; protect Bailey from what?
As if Owen’s disappearance wasn’t enough, a U.S. marshal showed up at Hannah’s door, purporting to help her, Owen, and her stepdaughter. That didn’t fit when the FBI was trying to locate Owen to ask about the company’s problems and Owen’s possible involvement. The FBI didn’t give much credence to the U.S. marshal’s involvement.
The only good to come out of this situation was that Bailey seemed more in step with Hannah. It was the two of them that narrowed the focus to Austin, Texas. This was done because of the home base of the marshal, Bailey’s memories, and a description of Owen’s favorite college professor. Why Owen had fabricated so much of his past was nearly as much of a mystery as his disappearance? It might also be the key to locating him.
With some help from the professor, Hannah and Bailey discovered Owen’s real name and much of his past. Owen, whose real name was Ethen, had testified against his father-in-law, who had been the lawyer for a crime syndicate. He had changed his identity at least in part to protect Bailey. It would have all come out in the investigation of his company, thus the marshal and the disappearance.
Since the syndicate had a long memory, it was unlikely that either Bailey or Hannah would ever see Owen again. Or was it?