Chapter 6

From the Tales of Flynnagan Rider

Confronting Your Past

Returning home after 8 years was more difficult than I could ever imagine. The house looked smaller than the way I remembered it. Everything was eerily quiet as I approached the house. I knocked on the door and waited. It seemed an eternity before the door opened wide. A middle aged woman with salt and pepper hair answered the door. She called herself Greta Gothel and explained that she was hired as our house servant 8 years ago, not too long after I climbed out the window.

She welcomed me in, and, not too surprisingly, told me that I was expected. Her exact words were "Make yourself at home, Mr. Rider. Your mother will be out in a few minutes."

And she vanished as if into thin air. Now all I had to do…

XXXX

Rapunzel stopped reading and looked up. They were hitting turbulence again She couldn't read while the plane was shaking. She tried to forget it as she turned her head toward the window to watch. It wasn't a long flight from Charon to Corona, a little less than 2 hours, maybe 1 if it was a good day. But that wasn't the case today. It was a clear morning, but growing cloudy and the weather unsettling. .

Rapunzel was going home, not only to see her mother, who had requested her return, but to attend the funeral of Mr. Eugene Fitzherbert, Sr. which was also a request from Greta. She shook her head and stared out the window.

The 1 carat diamond gleamed and sparkled on her finger. She stared at it smiling. She loved him and he loved her and that's all there was to it. So he would arrive in 2 days, maybe 3. Pressing business he called it; something big was on the horizon. He would join her in two or three days and nothing would stand in his way. She wanted to introduce him to Greta, but…..

She stopped smiling and looked down at the opened pages in the book. She had to see the name again. She had to make sure what she read was right. What year was this book published again?

She checked the front of the book; the back of the title page usually held the copyright and she wasn't disappointed.

"First published in 1803, copyright renewed,1912."

She shook her head. 1803? What the heck was going on here? Was this a trick or was this a relative or something?

How the heck was Greta Gothel there and here at the same time?

And how had she ended up her mother?

Then she smiled and shook her head. It was just a fairy story after all. None of it was real, right? Whoever heard of Flynnagan Rider anyway?

The doubts in her head continued. First thing she was going to do when she finally had some privacy was to search this Flynn Rider person.

She had made a promise to herself. And she never, ever broke that promise. Not ever.

XXXX

Edward Stabbington paced the floor. Why had they reopened this case? It was getting them nowhere, exactly like the first time.

"There are no hospital records for a "Rapunzel Gothel," he said, holding up the Certificate of Birth. "We only have this."

Elliot grabbed it and studied it. How many times did they have to pour over the same information and stare at the same papers over and over again?

He threw it down. "This is doesn't even have a watermark or a raised stamp. This isn't genuine. You do realize that computers can spit out these fake certificates every day. We should have realized this the first time. "

He was on Corona General Hospital site and checking the births of that year. There was no Rapunzel Gothel anywhere. His finger scanned the names hoping that he might have glossed over it for the 100th time. He did happen to stop at one name. One that corresponded to their case and the people they were working for.

"Edward, look. There was a Danielle Morgan King born exactly on that same day and year."

His brother ran over to look. He only had the one good eye, but instead of an operation, he opted for the patch. Without it, he saw double. Old fashioned he knew, but he didn't want to play around with the sight he already had.

"Print out that page, Edward, and show it to our clients. What did you find on Greta Gothel?"

"Only the fact that the only Greta Gothel I come up with was born in Prussia sometime in April, 1700."

That's Germany isn't it?" Elliot asked

Edward smiled. Yep, at least back then it was."

Elliot frowned. "That can't be right. Something's wrong somewhere. You sure you plugged in the correct info?"

Edward shook his head. "Nope, that's it. Maybe it's a relative with the same name or something."

Elliot shrugged. "Maybe Lisa's got some stuff on her. Maybe she can clear this whole thing up."

Edward looked at his twin. What was Lisa going to come up with? He took a look at watch. She should have been back from the library by now. They were going to have to make some calls and get some tests done and that wasn't going to be easy. But, hey, at least they got some leads. Whether Gothel's history was true or not, it's more than they had 17 years ago when they first opened this case.

And for the money they were getting paid, this time there wasn't going to be a dead end.

XXXXX

Eugene was furious. He hated everyone right now, but the one he hated the most was his mother. She just got off the phone with the wedding planner. This was no longer an arrangement, this was a wedding and it was going to happen in a week. He hadn't picked it, he was just told.

"It's going to be right after your father's funeral," she said after he followed his mother into her sitting room.

"Gee, Mom, thanks for asking me," he answered. "Maybe I might have something to say on this?"

Olivia Fitzherbert may be a beautiful woman, but she had a ugly temper.

And Eugene really didn't want to be on the other end of it.

"Of course you have something to say, Eugene," she said, smiling, "but you missed the opportunity years ago."

Eugene frowned. "What the heck does that mean?"

"That means, sweetie, that you'll do what I tell you to do, like it or not. You've been playing around with the ladies long enough, Mr. Flynn Rider. That's what they all call you now, isn't it?"

At least Flynn could do exactly what he wanted, he thought as he fiddled with a pillow, one of the many original hand-stitched pillow covers from Rapunzel.

"Put Rapunzel's pillow down, Eugene. And yes, I know how you feel about that little girl. I catch you mooning over her with those scrapbooks of yours." Well, it's all over. "

And so he stormed out. His mother wasn't even upset that his father was dead, she was annoyed that he didn't want this arranged marriage?

And who said he was in love with Rapunzel anyway. He would barely recognize her if she decided to come back.

And he truly doubted that he'd ever see her again.