Chapter 161| A Fragment, A Family Name
Life in Hegeville settled into a steady, considerable rhythm that week, the schoolhouse and vocational center’s continued success occupying most of the family’s daytime attention, and Allen found himself grateful for the ordinary, hopeful busyness of it all — a welcome counterweight to the still-unresolved weight of Reginald’s document, which continued, patiently, to occupy his thoughts whenever the day’s work finally quieted.
Farrow’s call came two days later, and this one Allen answered immediately, recognizing the particular, focused energy in her voice the moment the connection opened.
"We identified another fragment," she said. "Same abbreviated format as before. This one references a family name, partially decrypted. I think it might connect to someone still active within your extended relations."
Allen felt his chest tighten at the observation. "Which family?"
"I can’t confirm yet," Farrow said carefully. "The decryption’s incomplete. But the fragment includes enough context to suggest whoever it references has considerable, ongoing contact with someone in your family’s own extended circle. I wanted you aware before I dug further, in case it’s someone you’d rather I approach with particular care."
"How partial is ’partially decrypted’?" Allen asked. "Enough to narrow it down at all?"
"Enough to rule out your immediate household," Farrow said. "Beyond that, not yet. I don’t want to hand you a name I’m not confident in. False alarms in a case like this do real damage to relationships that might turn out to be entirely innocent."
Allen turned the possibility over, old unease resurfacing at the thought of the conspiracy’s roots extending even deeper into his own family than Reginald’s decades-long deception had already revealed. "Keep me updated," he said. "Whoever it turns out to be, I’d rather know than be blindsided."
"Understood," Farrow said. "I’ll have more within the week, I hope."
---
That evening, Allen found Vivian reviewing her own considerable, ongoing notes on the extended Veton family, cross-referencing names against Farrow’s fragment with the same patient thoroughness she’d once brought to studying every unfamiliar face near the schoolhouse construction site.
"Anyone stand out?" he asked, settling beside her.
"Several possibilities," Vivian admitted. "None confirmed. Your family’s considerable enough that ’ongoing contact with someone in your extended circle’ could mean nearly anyone. William’s own social circle, your parents’ considerable business associates, distant relations neither of us has properly tracked in years."
"I hate how wide that net actually is," Allen admitted.
"So do I," Vivian said. "Which is why I’d rather not chase it too aggressively yet. A wide net with no confirmed target just wastes considerable effort. We wait for Farrow’s next update, and narrow from there."
Allen nodded, some of his earlier tension easing at her measured approach. "That’s fair," he said. "I don’t want to start looking at every distant relative like a suspect before we actually have a reason to."
"Exactly," Vivian said. "Suspicion without evidence just poisons relationships that might otherwise still be worth having."
---
The observation lingered with Allen through the following days, and he found himself, prompted by nothing more concrete than her gentle reminder, reaching out to a handful of extended family members he hadn’t properly spoken with in considerably longer than he cared to admit — brief, warm messages, nothing urgent, simply the quiet work of maintaining connections that had, for years, gone neglected beneath the weight of his own family’s earlier dysfunction.
The replies came gradually over the following days, mostly warm, mostly unremarkable, and Allen found himself, reading through them at his desk one evening, genuinely glad he’d made the effort regardless of whatever Farrow’s investigation eventually turned up.
"Good news?" Myria asked, glancing up from her own work.
"Just family," Allen said, smiling faintly. "Nothing urgent. Just nice to hear from people I’d let drift out of touch."
"Keep that," Myria said softly. "Whatever Farrow eventually finds, I’d rather this stay simple for as long as it can."
"Me too," Allen agreed, and let the evening’s small, genuine warmth carry him back toward the considerable, ongoing work still waiting for Hegeville’s continued attention.
He thought, setting his panel aside for the night, that this was perhaps the strangest part of everything they’d uncovered so far — that even a conspiracy this patient, this considerable in scope, hadn’t managed to poison every corner of his family entirely. Some threads, apparently, were still worth pulling toward simply because they led somewhere good.
Myria settled beside him as he finished tidying the evening’s scattered paperwork, her own composed exterior carrying a rare, quiet softness. "I meant what I said earlier," she said. "About keeping this simple. I know that’s not always possible, given everything else demanding our attention. But I’d like to protect at least a few corners of our life from becoming another front in this considerable investigation."
"I’d like that too," Allen admitted. "I don’t want every conversation with family to feel like gathering evidence."
"Then we won’t let it," Myria said firmly. "Farrow can chase her fragments. We’ll chase the people who actually matter to us, for their own sake, and let the two things stay properly separate for as long as we’re able."
Allen drew her close, grateful for the reminder, and let the evening’s quiet, considerable peace settle over them both before the next day’s demands inevitably returned.
Vivian found them there a while later, her own careful review of the day’s extended family replies already complete, and settled quietly into the remaining space beside them. "Any concerning names surface?" she asked.
"None yet," Myria said. "Mostly just people glad to hear from Allen after so long. It’s good to be reminded that not every corner of this family requires careful, guarded suspicion."
"I needed that reminder too," Allen admitted. "It’s easy to start seeing everyone as a potential thread in this investigation, instead of just people who might genuinely care."
"Then let’s hold onto tonight," Vivian said softly. "Proof that both things can still be true at once."
They sat together a while longer as the evening deepened around them, and Allen let the day’s small, hopeful warmth settle fully into place, grateful for a family patient enough to keep choosing connection even while the wider investigation continued its own careful, considerable work in the background.