Up Shute Creek: Rose Gardner Investigation #4

by Denise Grover Swank

  Jed gave her another kiss. “Let me know if you girls need anything.”

  Muffy trotted after him as though realizing I would be too busy to pay attention to her.

  “How’d things go with Joe?” Neely Kate asked gently as she turned back to me. She must have seen the sadness on my face.

  “Good,” I said, a lump filling my throat.

  Neely Kate took one look at me and gave me a tight hug. “We’ll talk about it later.”

  “Thanks.”

  We were in the process of dragging a dining room chair into the room when Neely Kate’s phone rang.

  Excitement filled her eyes. “It’s Bruce Wayne.” She answered on speaker phone, not bothering with a greeting. “What did you find?”

  “A few things I think you’ll be very interested in,” he said, sounding eager.

  “We’re both here,” I said.

  “First of all, Conrad Duffy is divorced from Nicole Duffy. It was finalized about six months ago. He has two kids, Nicole and Conrad, Jr., ages sixteen and seventeen. There are a couple of things I’m still diggin’ into, but I thought you’d want to know right away. One, Duffy was arrested for child molestation of his daughter. And two, he’s got an active profile on three datin’ sites.”

  I stared at Neely Kate in disbelief.

  “Why isn’t he in jail?” Neely Kate asked bitterly.

  “He was never convicted. The charges were dropped.”

  “He’s guilty as hell,” Neely Kate said through gritted teeth. “Nina herself says he hit on her while she was livin’ there.”

  “Which makes him even more suspicious,” I said. “But we can’t let on that we know any of this when we talk to him.”

  She looked me straight in the eyes and swallowed. “I’m not sure I can do that.”

  I was proud of her honesty, but we were five minutes from our call. “Then how about I question him and you can sit next to me and feed me questions?”

  “Like write them on paper and hold them up for you to see?”

  “Yeah.”

  I was shocked when she agreed. She must have seen my surprise, because she added, “I won’t let my feelings get in the way of nailing this shithead to the wall.”

  My heart burst with pride. “That’s the spirit.”

  Promptly at eight, I sat in the office chair, the bookcases behind me to make things look more official, and placed the video call. As we’d discussed, Neely Kate sat in a dining room chair off to the side with a marker and a legal pad, along with her pink, glittery notebook so she could take notes.

  He answered after a couple of rings, and the bed behind him made it apparent he was in a hotel room. He was a pleasant-looking middle-aged man, who still had a full head of hair and a nice tan, although I couldn’t tell if it was real or fake. He didn’t look evil—he looked like an average guy who cared about his appearance.

  The kind of guy who could easily get away with molesting teenage girls.

  “Hi, Conrad,” I said in a pleasant voice. “I’m Rose Gardner. I know Neely Kate contacted you, but she was unexpectedly called away. I hope that’s okay. But I assure you that we are working closely together and are doing everything we can to find your stepdaughter.”

  Neely Kate held up her thumb.

  His eyes widened slightly. “Thank you so much for lookin’ into this for us. Marsha’s had a devil of a time gettin’ anyone to investigate. But in the interest of full disclosure, I should say that Sarah’s not my legal stepdaughter. Marsha and I aren’t married.”

  I shifted my gaze to the side and slightly lifted my shoulders as though slightly embarrassed at my mistake. “Sorry, I knew that.”

  Conrad gave me a smug smile as though he’d already labeled me a ditzy woman.

  Score one for me.

  “What can I do to help with the investigation, Rose?” he asked.

  I made a show of situating the legal pad just right on the desk. “We like to start off by asking people a bit about their history with the missing person. So we can gauge how much they might actually know about them,” I said. “How long ago did you meet Marsha?”

  “About three years ago, but I didn’t move in until two years ago.” He grinned. “I’d just been separated, so I was keepin’ my options open, if you know what I mean.”

  I gave him a cheesy grin. “Had to sow some wild oats first.”

  He sat back in his chair, getting comfortable. “You get me.”

  Boy did I ever. Gross. But I nodded agreeably as I asked, “And when did you meet Sarah?”

  “Only about a week before I moved in. Marsha was real protective of her and didn’t want to introduce me until we were serious.”

  “Were you plannin’ to move in at that point? Was that why she introduced you?”

  “No, but after I met Sarah, I just knew we all clicked, and I told Marsha I wanted us to be a family.”

  More like Conrad saw the two pretty teens living at Marsha’s and decided he’d scored big-time.

  “And how did you and Sarah get along?”

  “We had our ups and downs, just like any father with a teenage daughter.”

  I glanced up from my notes and smiled. “I love that you considered her a daughter even though it wasn’t legal.”

  He beamed with pride. “How could I not? We lived together for two years. Blood doesn’t make family.” There was a hint of derision in his tone, which sounded like a slight directed at his own children, but I let it go.

  “Did you know Sarah’s friends?”

  “You mean Nina?” he asked with a hard glint in his eyes.

  “Her and anyone else.”

  “Nina was a bad influence with her smoking and drinking and her derelict boyfriend.” He paused. “Have you talked to them yet? Because ten to one they’re the ones who hurt her. Them or that delinquent Digger.”

  If I hadn’t known about Conrad’s sordid past, I would have been inclined to fall for this self-righteous tirade. There was no denying that Stewie and Digger were suspicious, and any parent might consider Nina a threat to their child. I knew better than to trust him, but I played along anyway.

  “We did. Those two boys…” I let my pause insinuate whatever Conrad read into it.

  “That Stewie has a temper and a half. And Digger goes along with whatever his buddy wants. If Sarah pissed him off—which could very well have happened—I wouldn’t put it past him to hurt her.” His mouth drew into a grim line.

  The problem I had at this point was I found his proposed scenario to be reasonable and logical. Especially if Stewie had found out that Sarah wanted to take Nina away from him.

  “Did you and Sarah get closer after you moved in?”

  “I would have preferred for us to be closer,” he said, “but I also understood that she resented my intrusion on their lives.”

  Again, a perfectly reasonable answer.

  “Did she ever share much of her life with you?”

  “Bits and pieces.”

  I took that as a no. “What did you think of Sarah’s new job?” I asked.

  “I thought it was good for her,” he said, but his smile seemed forced.

  “I spoke to her new boss and he said she seemed so happy with her new job that she was planning to move closer to his office with Nina.” Of course, she hadn’t told him where she’d be moving, but I figured it gave me an excuse to bring it up.

  Surprise flickered in his eyes. “Oh?”

  “You didn’t know?”

  “Like I said, I only knew bits and pieces.” He frowned. “I’m not sure Marsha even knew that. She was concerned Sarah would end up movin’ in with Digger.”

  “Did Sarah get along with her mother?”

  “As much as a teenage girl is capable of gettin’ along with her mother, if you know what I mean.”

  My own experience with my mother was not the norm, and obviously Neely Kate’s mother had been long gone by the time she hit her teen years. Nevertheless, I was certain there were plenty of teenage dau
ghters who got along with their mothers. “Actually, I’m not sure,” I said with a patient smile. “Can you explain?”

  He looked perturbed to have to expand on his answer. “They bickered a lot.” He paused and gave me a pointed look. “It seems wrong to be critical when the poor girl is missin’, but Marsha always seemed too lenient with her.”

  “You think she should have had a firmer hand?”

  “Without a doubt. She should have forbidden Sarah to be friends with Nina. That girl was a bad influence.”

  “You mean with the smokin’ and the drinkin’?”

  “Not only that. She was a high school dropout, for heaven’s sake!” Conrad said, getting worked up.

  I nodded, giving him a reassuring look. “I can appreciate your concerns.” I shot a glance at Neely Kate, who looked like she was about to jump out of her skin, but so far, she hadn’t used her legal pad.

  “I know your time is valuable,” I said. “So I’d like to ask you a few more questions before I let you go.”

  “Of course,” he said, leaning back in his chair again and looking at ease.

  “Could you tell if Sarah was upset the week before she disappeared?”

  “I was gone most of the week, so I only saw her from Thursday night until Sunday.”

  “How was she on Thursday night?”

  He shrugged. “Fine.”

  “And Friday night?”

  “She wasn’t home Friday night.”

  “Do you know where she went?”

  He shook his head. “She said something about needing to clear her head. I presumed she went to her usual spot.”

  “And do you know where that is?” I asked, on pins and needles.

  “Yeah. That place by the creek. The one where she and her friends go to hang out and drink.”

  “The smaller rec area by Shute Creek?” I asked.

  “That’s the one.”

  “Do you know what time she left?”

  “I don’t know,” he said with a long exhale. “Maybe nine.”

  “And do you know when she got home?”

  “After midnight because Marsha was askin’ for her when she got off her shift the Feed and Feul. She was worried about her after her breakup.”

  “Do you know what she was doin’ up until the time she left to think?”

  His lips pursed together. “She got home from work around six thirty and ate a sandwich. I tried to get her to cook dinner, but she got pissed and huffed off to her room. Then she came out around nine. I asked her where she was goin’ and she said it was none of my business, but I insisted I needed to know since her mother would be worried. That’s when she left.”

  “Did you see her on Saturday?”

  “She was gone most of the day, but she shut herself up in her room all night.”

  “Did you see her on Sunday?” As I asked the question, I realized Marsha had never mentioned his whereabouts that day.

  He laughed like I’d said something funny. “Sunday’s cleaning day.”

  “Okay…”

  “That’s the girls’ duty. I went fishing.”

  “With some friends?”

  “Nope. By myself up at Lake Fenton.”

  “I take it Sarah was still gone when you got back?” I asked.

  “Yep. I wasn’t too happy that Marsha didn’t have dinner ready. I like to eat early on Sunday nights, but she said Sarah had run off and refused to help with the housework, which threw her off schedule.”

  I nodded as though that was all perfectly reasonable and logical. I shot a glance at Neely Kate to see if she had any questions for me yet, but she was too busy fuming.

  I turned my gaze back to Conrad. “I can’t think of any other questions. Do you have anything else to add?”

  “No, just find that girl for her mother’s sake. Life’s been all off-kilter since Sarah went missing.”

  I gave him a confident look, trying not to let my anger show. “We’ll do our best, Conrad. I hope it will be okay for us to call you if we have any more questions.”

  He winked. “Of course. You have a good night.” Then he disconnected the call.

  I sat back in my seat, feeling like I needed a shower.

  A quick glance to Neely Kate suggested that Connor was lucky he wasn’t currently in Fenton County.

  “I think we should watch the recording of the interview,” I said, hitting the stop button.

  “Good idea.”

  She scooted her chair around and we watched it together, then sat in silence.

  “I think she found out about the money at the rec area at Shute Creek,” I said. “Maybe she overheard something about where the money would be on Sunday.”

  “But did she lose her purse Friday night or on Sunday?”

  I lifted my shoulders into a shrug. “We don’t even know that she planned on pickin’ up the money there. She could have heard it was at another location.”

  She frowned. “True.”

  “The thing is,” I said reluctantly, “Conrad had a point about Stewie. If he thought Sarah was trying to sneak Nina away, I wouldn’t put it past him to kill her.”

  Neely Kate was silent for a moment. “Agreed.”

  I pushed out a breath and sighed. “I say we sleep on it and regroup in the morning. Stewin’ about it any longer won’t do any good.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.”

  But there was a discouraged look in her eyes.

  “We’ll find her, Neely Kate,” I said. “We’re gettin’ closer. I can feel it.”

  “I’m glad you can.” Then she got to her feet. “You look like you need a good soak in your tub. I’ll see you in the mornin’.”

  “Goodnight.”

  I headed upstairs, thinking that Neely Kate was right—a long soak was exactly what I needed. But when I went into the bathroom, I could hear Carly crying softly in her room, and so I sat on the sunporch instead, staring out at the stars and the dark woods behind the barn. My emotions broke loose as I thought about life without my sister, the horrors that Neely Kate had faced, and the likelihood that the girl we were looking for was dead. When I’d cried myself out, I looked at my phone, desperate to talk to the man I loved and share my sorrows with him, but that wasn’t part of our arrangement.

  For the first time, I wondered if our expiration date was approaching. I’d always suspected our relationship would end when he got spooked and ran, but now I wondered if I would be the one to end it. I already realized I needed so much more.

  Chapter 20

  The next morning, Neely Kate and I dropped Carly off at the nursery. She seemed in better spirits than the day before, and thankfully, she didn’t seem as nervous around Jed. She’d likely realized he wasn’t a threat.

  I waited until we were on our way to the diner in Sugar Branch before I told Neely Kate about my conversation with Joe and my plan to move Violet into my room and the kids across the hall from her.

  “Where are you gonna sleep?” she asked in dismay.

  “I don’t know. We’ll work it out.”

  “You could sleep in the guest bedroom Carly’s usin’ if she weren’t in there.”

  “But she is in there, and I’m not kickin’ her out. We’ll figure something out.”

  She was quiet for a moment, then said, “You could sleep in my room. I can stay with Jed.”

  It seemed like the logical choice, but it broke my heart. “It might be safer for you there,” I said, keeping my voice neutral. “Half the county knows where I am, and with Hardshaw… we both know Jed’s place is a secret.” But that left me, Violet and the kids, and Carly unprotected.

  “All the more reason for me to stay,” she said. “I’d be leavin’ you as a sittin’ duck.”

  “We’ll be fine,” I said. “No more Lady stuff for me. Not with Violet and the kids or even Carly in the house. They don’t deserve to be dragged into all of that.” But I’d need to come up with another way to protect us. I just didn’t know what it was yet.

 
“What about Skeeter?” she asked.

  “I don’t know.” Only I did. I just didn’t like the thought of it.

  “Rose…” Sympathy filled her voice.

  I shook my head. “Let’s make a list of the things we want to ask Nina. We have to verify that Digger was the one who slashed Sarah’s tires. We need to ask her if she knows who was givin’ Sarah her bruises, and if she knows what Sarah was doin’ the Friday night before she visited her at the café, and see if it meshes with Conrad’s story. We also need to find out where Stewie and Digger were Friday night. I know Nina and Sarah supposedly weren’t seeing each other then, but she might know anyway. Anything else?”

  “I’m sure more stuff will come to us while we’re talkin’ to her.”

  We were quiet for a moment before I asked, “What did Jed find out about Carly’s father?”

  “Her father owns Blakely Oil. He’s not just the CEO. He outright owns it.”

  “So why doesn’t she have any money?” I asked. “And why’s she driving a clunker?”

  “I’m guessing she didn’t have a chance to get much cash before she left town, and she doesn’t want to use her credit cards or her father will find her. As for the car, maybe Austin Kelly is her friend and loaned her the Escort. Maybe he switched the plates.”

  “Yeah. Good point,” I said. “What else did he find?”

  “Randall Blakely has one child, Caroline Elizabeth Blakely, who’s thirty-one. She has a Facebook account but hasn’t posted anything public in two years. No other social media accounts that Jed or I could find.”

  I was quiet for a moment. “So she likes her privacy.”

  “Looks like it. I couldn’t even figure out what her profession is.”

  “I don’t believe she’s a nurse,” I said. “She hesitated too much before she said that.”