"That's the only explanation I can come up with. However, I've also gone through your mother's financial accounts, and there is no evidence that she has any money beyond what she takes in from her job. The purchase of her house sixteen years ago was made with a cash down payment, of about three hundred thousand dollars, but I have no idea where she got that, unless she took it from your father. The life of Kim Landry ended in that hurricane in New Orleans. The life of Laura Hawthorne began about nineteen months after that."

"Who was she for those nineteen months in between?"

"No idea. But at some point, she purchased a new identity. And this identity was incredibly detailed. She was given new identification that matched new fingerprints, a fake history that included a degree in music from a university in Colorado. That's how she was able to get a job at the school where she works."

His words blew me away. "How does one even do that?"

"If you have enough money, and/or powerful connections, it can be done." Jeremy paused. "I also don't think it was the first time she changed identities. I looked up her past before she married your father. You said she went to community college in San Diego, but I can't find any record of her at any school in that city. In fact, Kim Cooper came to life about a year and a half before she married your father. I was able to trace some credit cards in that name, but then that life ended after she disappeared in New Orleans."

"That’s crazy. How can she keep changing identities? And why does she do it?"

"Good questions. I checked with a friend of mine who is with the US Marshals to find out if it's possible your mother was in witness protection."

My heart leapt against my chest. "That would explain how she could become someone else."

"Yes. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get anyone to confirm that she was. I did point out that she's now lying unconscious in a hospital, so if she is supposed to be under protection, someone has messed up. I was told again that they couldn't provide me with any information."

I thought about that. "If she were in witness protection, that would explain why she faked her death, why she stayed away all these years, why someone tried to kill her now," I said. "People go into protection when they testify against someone, right?"

"That's one of the reasons. Their life is usually in danger by something they do to aid the government. I'm going to keep digging," Jeremy said. "Any word from your father? He hasn't come back to his hotel room. I know the police are keeping an eye out for him as well."