I saw a hint of confusion cloud her face for an instant, but then she was back on her game. She smiled. “Okay. Finn’s father. When did you get into town, Mr. Gannon?”
He ignored her question and looked at me. “Are you Jillian or is she the one I need to talk to?”
“I’m Jillian.”
“Is he with you?” he said.
“I’m sorry, but no,” I said.
This obviously wasn’t what he wanted to hear. His agitation was evident in eyes that darted everywhere. His gaze finally settled on my van.
I stepped away from the driver’s door and gestured toward it. “Go ahead and look if you don’t believe me.”
He took me up on the offer while Kara and I exchanged “what the heck is going on?” glances.
Once he’d assured himself Finn was not in my car, he walked over and checked out her new hybrid SUV. Finally satisfied we didn’t have Finn stashed away somewhere, he returned to us.
“Finn wasn’t with you in the restaurant? ’Cause some waitress said you had a teenage boy sitting with you,” he said.
I knew better than to give up any information to this strange man. “Can I ask how you ended up in our little town looking for your son—and found me?”
“You can ask all you want.” He stared past me at my front door. “Is he in your house hiding from me?”
“Why would he hide from you?” Kara asked.
This question seemed to fluster Gannon. “He doesn’t know me too well, is all.”
“Does he even know you a little bit?” I made sure the question sounded sincere and not like an accusation, since he’d apparently never been a part of Finn’s life.
“What’s it to you?” Gannon said. “He’s my flesh and blood, so you better tell me where I can find him. I deserve to know.”
That’s debatable, I thought. But I wasn’t about to get him any more riled up than he already was, so I said, “I wish I could tell you, but I’m not sure where your son is.” Not exactly where he was, anyway.
He stepped toward me. “You’re lying.”
Kara moved between Gannon and me. “You need to leave, sir.”
Why was she acting like she could take him on? This guy was obviously a loose cannon. Feeling afraid for both of us now, I pressed the speed dial number—something I should have done immediately. “Is this the Mercy Police Department?” I said, loud enough to send a message to Rory Gannon.
B.J. said, “Jillian? Something wrong?”
“I’d like to report a trespasser,” I said.
Gannon said, “You’re siccing the police on me when you’re probably a kidnapper?”
“Am I hearing the voice of your trespasser?” B.J. said.
“Yes. You know the address,” I answered.
“Does he have a weapon?” B.J. said.
“Not that I know of,” I answered.
“I’m sending someone now,” B.J. said.
Kara’s hands were on her hips and I saw no trace of fear in her body language. She said, “I suggest you leave while you can.”
“I get it. You’re hiding him and you’re determined to keep him from me.” He pointed at me. “I’ll be back.”
Rory Gannon jogged to his car and drove off.
I still held my phone to my ear and was listening to B.J. dispatching a squad car. I said, “He left, B.J., but I got his plate.” I rattled off the numbers. “His name is Rory Gannon and he’s Finn’s biological father.”
“Him? Uh-oh,” B.J. said. “He—he said he was Finn’s father and seemed nice enough, so I told him where y’all went for lunch. Guess I screwed up.”
“Does Candace know he’s in town?” I asked. She surely would have interviewed Gannon if that were the case.
“She will in a minute. I am so sorry if he bothered you, Mrs. Hart. He seemed nice, real polite,” B.J. said.
“I guess he forgot his manners on the drive over here,” I said. “Better let both Candace and the chief know about him as soon as you can.” Poor B.J. had so much to learn and was such a good kid, I couldn’t be upset with his mistake. Candace might not be so forgiving, however.
“I’ll talk to them right away. Let me correct my dispatch to a BOLO. If Mr. Gannon comes back, call me and I promise to do better.” He sounded so down in the mouth I felt terrible for him.
“You take care, B.J. No harm, no foul.” I disconnected.
While I’d been talking to him, Kara had gotten into her SUV and rolled the window down. When I was off the phone, she said, “Not what I expected to find when I came back here. That guy’s seat is not in the full, upright position.”
“No kidding. But are you going somewhere?” I said.
“I’m not leaving, especially after a guy straight out of a bad movie just visited. Could you pull your car up so I can get closer to the back door? I did some serious damage at the mall and cleaned out the Piggly Wiggly.”
I pulled the van close to the garage, and after I took Yoshi out to relieve himself, I helped Kara empty the back of her SUV of the bags of groceries and the clothing purchases for Finn. I explained what little I knew about Rory Gannon. Yoshi and the boy cats, who seemed to have forged a truce while I’d been gone, sniffed at each sack of groceries. Yoshi was the more interested party, and once I located the dog food, I offered him a dish of kibble.
Syrah sniffed the food while Yoshi sat patiently and watched. My cat took his time and finally walked away, seemingly indifferent. Merlot didn’t even bother checking out the kibble and Chablis had only shown her whiskers momentarily and then rushed off to whatever safe place she’d found to hide from Yoshi. Only then did the little dog eat.
As we put away groceries, Kara asked if she needed to pick Dashiell up. I told her Tom said he planned to do it—and would then be kicking his brother out of the house.
“Do you know anything about Bob and Tom’s history?” Kara asked as she stacked cans of cat food on the pantry shelf.
“Nothing, except Tom can’t stand him,” I said. “I’m pretty sure Karen isn’t feeling the love, either.” I was checking out the sweatshirts, jeans and T-shirts Kara had bought for Finn. They looked like they’d fit, plus they appeared a lot more teen friendly than what I would have bought.
“Ah, it’s logical Karen would know about Finn,” Kara said. “From what little contact I’ve had with Karen, she strikes me as, well… odd.”
“She’s different, yes. But she adores Finn.” I told Kara about our lunch and then said, “Tom’s ex is in town, too.”
“I expected her to arrive and hoped to get an interview,” Kara said. “How did you find out she was here?”
“She was at the police station and wanted to talk to Finn, but he wanted nothing to do with her,” I said.
“Is Tom going to have her arrested for what she and Nolan Roth did to him?” she said. “You did say Tom thought she was involved, right?”
“There could be a problem. See, Candace told us Hilary claims she knew nothing about Nolan’s actions. Since Tom never saw her when Nolan made him drive to North Carolina, I’m not sure what will happen.”
“Uh-oh. A he-said, she-said problem. What’s she like, by the way?” Kara asked.
“First impression? Normal. Concerned. Oh, and gorgeous,” I said. “She’ll be at the Pink House, if you want an interview.”
Kara’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
I started at the sound of a knock at the back door, but then realized it was Candace’s special rat-a-tat. She came in looking even more tired than when I’d seen her last at the police station.
“Hey, you two. I heard about Gannon. He didn’t come back, did he?” she said.
“No,” I said. “But he said he would. The man’s intense, to say the least.”
“I’m so glad you called us. B.J. screwed up on this one.” Candace took a spot at the breakfast bar. “I sure hope you have tea because I need a sugar boost in the worst way.”
Kara poured her a glass and then took her keys from the pocket of her j
eans. “I have a paper to run. Call me if you need anything, Jillian.”
She waved to us both and was gone.
Candace took a long drink of tea. “Tell me about this Gannon guy.”
“You haven’t found him?” I asked, filling a glass with water. My lunch had probably supplied an entire week’s worth of sodium and I was thirsty now.
“No. We are so undermanned we only had one squad car to follow up on the BOLO. They thought they’d run into him coming away from this neighborhood, but nothing. It’s like he disappeared into thin air.”
“He said he’d be back—and I believe him.” I drank half my water, realizing my heart had sped up again at the thought of his return.
“What did he want?” she asked.
“He wants his son. Thinks I’m hiding him.” Syrah was weaving between my legs and rubbing his head on my calves. Marking his territory in case the curious Yoshi got any ideas, no doubt.
“I searched the NCIC database before I came here,” Candace said. “I don’t want to scare you any more than you already are, but you need to know this. About fifteen years ago, Gannon served time—first in a hospital for the criminally insane and then when he was competent to stand trial, he did a stint in prison.”
I drank the rest of my water, the glass nearly slipping from my trembling hand. “F-for what?”
“He went nuts when he was pulled over on a routine traffic stop,” she said. “Wailed on the officer with a baseball bat he conveniently had in his front seat. Put the officer in critical condition. Seems Gannon claimed the officer was an alien. He was convicted of felonious assault, so this guy is a violent offender.”
“Both Kara and I knew he was off, but now I’m even more scared of him,” I said. “My question is, how did he find out Finn was in Mercy?”
“Exactly. I have no idea. But I intend to find out. Violent offenders reoffend. He could be our killer—but I have to find him and interview him before coming to any conclusion on that.” She stood. “Where’s Finn, by the way?”
“He’s with Karen,” I said.
“I’ll ask the squad car out in the field to run by her neighborhood,” she said. “If Gannon found you, he might be able to find Karen, too. She was at the diner with you, right?”
“Yes, she was there and so was Tom.” I tore at a cuticle with my teeth.
“Guess we should alert Tom to the situation. Trouble is, the man doesn’t have a cell phone and I don’t have the time to—”
“I’ll go to his place and tell him. He planned to pick up Dashiell and then see if he could extricate his brother from the house. He’ll want to protect Finn and his mother from Gannon.”
Candace pointed at me. “You lock this place up tight and set your alarm—whether you’re out of the house or not. You hear me? If anything happened to you, well…” She shook her head and averted her eyes.
I walked around and hugged Candace. “I’ll be careful. I promise.”
Fourteen
Fifteen minutes later, the late-afternoon sun doing little to kill the chill in the air, I pulled into Tom’s driveway. As soon as I got within five feet of the front door, I heard raised voices. My stomach tightened and I stood still. What is going on now?
Then I recognized the voices of both Tom and Bob exchanging heated barbs. I went to the door and knocked loudly so they could hear me over their argument.
Bob was saying, “You owe me, brother. Mom owes me. I’m tired of this family crap.”
I knocked even louder, and this time Tom opened the door. His face was flushed with anger and his eyes had what looked like minuscule red lightning strikes mapping the whites.
He said, “Oh. Hi.”
“Hi.” I smiled, wishing I could relieve the distress that seemed to have taken over his whole demeanor. Too many awful things had happened to him in the last week.
“Come on in.” He stood aside so I could enter. “Bob was just leaving.”
Didn’t look like he was leaving to me. He was standing, arms folded, his cheeks just as red as Tom’s. No flirty smile today.
“Where am I supposed to go?” Bob said.
“Back under the rock you slithered out from,” Tom answered.
“Um, guys, please. This isn’t good for either of you.” I felt out of place playing referee, but someone had to. The bad blood between these two must have gone back a long way.
Turned out, a cat accomplished what only pets can do. Dashiell came lumbering into the living room and offered up a pitiful meow.
“See?” I said. “Even Dashiell wants you to stop.”
Tom looked embarrassed. Even the brash Bob looked down at the floor.
Tom said, “You’re right. The stress isn’t good for Dashiell. His blood sugar is stable and I want it to stay that way.”
I knelt and Dashiell came to me. He rubbed against my knees. I petted him, glad he could do catlike things again after the major scare of finding him unconscious. “He looks fine, Tom. I know you must be relieved.”
“Guess I should say I’m sorry for letting him escape,” Bob said. “I had no idea he’d get so sick.”
Tom stared at his brother, looking a tad stunned. “Was that an apology?”
“Yeah, it was,” Bob said. “You want to apologize for treating me like dirt on your shoe now?”
“Okay, how’s this?” Tom said. “I’ll give you money to leave. A thousand bucks. One condition, though. You leave Mom alone.”
“You’re kidding, right? You think I came here for a thousand stinking bucks?” he said.
“Why did you come, Bob?” I said.
He reverted to his rogue smile and I saw a change in his eyes. Like a curtain dropped. The mask was back on. “Family first, they always say.”
“Oh, sure,” Tom said. “And I’ve got a bridge spanning the Atlantic I’d like to sell you.”
“Is a compromise possible?” I asked before Tom got worked up again.
“I won’t stay long. How’s that?” Bob said.
“How long is not long?” Tom said.
“I’ll be gone in a week,” Bob said. “I’ve got some prospects and just need a place to hang out until I settle a few things.”
“You’re broke again?” Tom said.
“Is a week tolerable, Tom?” I asked. Though I wasn’t exactly fond of Bob, I was beginning to feel a little sorry for him. I mean, what kind of prospects could he have here in Mercy?
“As long as he stays out of my face, I guess a week is okay. But no longer.” Tom turned and walked toward the kitchen. “Come on, Jillian. I need a drink. And I’m not talking about sweet tea.”
Tom grabbed the bottle of Jameson’s Irish Whiskey from a high kitchen cupboard and poured us both two fingers in water tumblers. I am not really a fan of whiskey, but there are times we all need the comfort of spirits, as my grandma used to say. Tom downed his drink in one gulp. He closed his eyes and said, “I needed that.”
Staring down into the glass, I said, “You might need more than one shot after what I have to tell you.”
His eyes widened. “What’s wrong? It’s not Finn, is it?”
“Well, there is a connection. A big connection.” I quickly told him about the episode with Rory Gannon.
“Great. How did he end up in Mercy?” Tom said. He wasn’t actually expecting me to answer, just voicing his frustration. He went on, saying, “We have to get over to my mom’s house right now. If he knew where to find you, he probably knows where to find my mother.” Tom started for the back door.
“But how, Tom?” I said, hurrying after him.
“I don’t know, but somehow the man’s found out about Finn and is here looking for him.” He pulled me by the hand as we went outside. “Right now I’m just sorry I got you involved. Since my mother has zero security, even though I’ve offered to install a system at her house at least a dozen times, Finn won’t be safe there.”
“There’s no room for him here,” I said as we practically ran around the back of the house toward the
driveway.
“I’ll make room,” Tom said. “If Bob has to go, so be it. Let’s take your van. Get over there as fast as possible.”
After I slid behind the driver’s seat and Tom was beside me, I said, “Let Finn stay with me. You can, too. Bring Dashiell. You know I have plenty of room, and somebody named Tom Stewart installed a state-of-the-art security system at my house.”
“It won’t work,” he said. “With Dashiell’s blood sugar scare—”
“Being around a dog would be too stressful,” I finished. “But you know my house is open to you.”
“I have to stay home while Bob’s hanging around. If I don’t watch out, he might rob me blind or spend his time figuring out ways to get to Mom. Here’s what you could do, though. Keep the dog while Finn stays with me. That way I can protect him. I’ll roll out a sleeping bag for myself if I have to.”
“You don’t even know if Gannon intends him any harm,” I said.
“What’s your gut tell you about him?” he said.
“He’s a scary guy,” I said, remembering his face and his intensity. “Whatever you decide, I’m with you.”
Minutes later, I pulled into the driveway of the house where Karen lived with her partner, Ed Duffy.
Ed, wearing blue jean overalls and a plaid flannel shirt answered the door. I noticed his beard was showing more signs of gray than the last time I’d seen him.
He smiled and said, “Haven’t seen Karen this happy in a long time. Come on in and join the party.”
Ed couldn’t possibly be this jovial if Rory Gannon had shown up. We found Finn and Karen sitting at the dining room table playing chess. The house was chilly and Karen wore a pale blue collared cardigan with every pearl button fastened. I wondered where she bought these vintage clothes, or if she’d bought them years ago and simply taken excellent care of them. I noted a can of Dr Pepper beside Finn’s hand. I was glad I had a good supply at my place now and would make sure to hand over a few liter bottles to Tom.
Karen looked up at Tom. She was beaming. “He’s beaten me twice already. What a difference a few years make.”
“I play chess online all the time,” Finn said.
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