“Hindsight always makes us question,” Blake said. “You did the best job you could’ve at the time.”
“Yeah, I guess.” He twisted gnarled fingers together.
“What did he and my grandparents think happened to Lisa?” Toni’s tone was tight.
“They said she was a well-behaved kid. Would never sneak out at night. And she didn’t know anyone, so she wouldn’t have left to meet another kid. They thought someone broke in and took her.”
He paused to take a quick sip of his coffee. “But there was no sign of a forced intrusion, and her window was unlocked. No strange fingerprints on any of the windows or doors. No footprints on the ground outside any window or doors. And no evidence of forced abduction. If someone took her, she didn’t cry out or struggle.”
“Could’ve been drugged.” Toni’s anguished tone cut right through him.
“We toyed with that idea, but again, no evidence.”
“And no one heard anything?” Clay asked.
Ziegler shook his head, sending the loose skin on his neck wobbling. “Your grandparents went to bed around ten, Martin closer to midnight. Your grandma got up at seven and went to check on Lisa. She was gone. She alerted your grandad and Martin. They looked for her near the house, and when they couldn’t find her, they called us.”
He leaned back in his chair again. “Our best hope in the early days were sex offenders in the area, but their alibis all checked out. Lost Creek being a tourist town coulda meant it was someone passing through, but that was a dead end too. Especially because of the no break-in thing.”
“And I’m right in saying there were no issues with human trafficking back then,” Blake said.
“Nah. Not around these parts. We were a pretty sleepy little town and a very rural county. Things have changed so much I hardly know the place anymore.”
“Can we switch to Rader and his wife?” Clay explained why he asked. “Blake shared what he knew, but I’d like to hear your take.”
“You know Rader didn’t even report her leaving. Neither did their kid. Well not a kid. Jason was sixteen and already had a juvie record by that time. Wife was carousing with all kinds of men, and the parents let Jason run wild.”
“We’ve connected him to our main suspect, a guy named Rich Hibbard,” Toni said.
“You gotta be kidding me.” Ziegler swung his head in wide arcs.
“Do you remember twine factoring in Lisa’s investigation or Ursula taking off?” Toni asked.
“Twine?” Ziegler tapped his chin with a crooked index finger. “Not that I recall.”
Blake looked at his old mentor. “I’m assuming you have a copy of Lisa’s case files.”
“You know I do.” Ziegler grimaced. “Figured once I retired I could solve my open cases, but I haven’t made any progress.”
“Mind if we take them with us for a bit?” Blake asked.
“‘Course I mind, but I’ll let you have them anyway.”
“We’ll return them in the same condition we got them in,” Toni said, her tone filled with respect.
“I believe you will, young lady.” Ziegler rocked his chair a few times to propel him to his feet. He stared at Blake. “C’mon, boy, you can help.”
Rolling his eyes, Blake pushed away from the wall and followed the older man out of the room.
“He’s a character,” Toni said.
“Seemed like he was on the ball for Lisa’s investigation.”
“Yeah.”
Clay felt bad about his next question, but he had to voice it. “What did you think about his comment about your grandparents maybe withholding information from him?”
“I didn’t like it, of course. But it will give me something to look for when I talk to them.” She crossed her arms. “It’s time to go see them.”
“Yeah.” He wished he didn’t have to agree. “We can drop Blake and the files back at my parents’ place. Then we’ll go meet your grandparents.”
Toni straightened her blouse and tugged on the collar as she slid out of the SUV into a break in the misty rain and the warmth of the sun. When they’d dropped Blake off at the beach house, she’d freshened up, changed clothes, and studied herself in the mirror for far too long. Wondering all the time what her grandparents would think of her. Would they be happy to see her? Sad because she reminded them of Lisa? Or even worse—would they refuse to see her because of the estrangement with her parents?
“Hey,” Clay said as he came up beside her. “It’ll be okay. They’ll love you and be glad to meet you.”
She took her focus from the worn but neat bungalow abutting the beach. “You can’t know that.”
“I can. After all, I’m glad I met you, and you’re very easy to fall in love with.”
How could she possibly respond? She couldn’t. She straightened her blouse again and marched up the walkway. Her heels clicked in sharp staccatos on the concrete, mixing with the gulls’ cries from the beach.
She knocked on the door painted a crisp white and stood back. She fidgeted with her hands, not knowing where to put them, and Clay took one in his. Her skin was clammy, but he didn’t say a word, just held tight, and his firm resoluteness bled into her skin and warmed her heart.
The door opened, and she jerked free.
A tall man appeared. He had a long face and bushy gray brows beneath a partially bald scalp with bright white hair sticking out.
“Help you?” His voice was warm and crisp at the same time.
She was suddenly transported back to her childhood when she’d imagined all of her grandparents were alive. He sounded exactly like the daydreams of the grandpa she never knew. But he looked different. Much different than she’d imagined.
“Walt, who’s at the door?” The woman, Toni’s grandmother, she assumed, joined them. Toni drank in the sight of her. She had iron-gray hair cut in a cap around her face holding as many wrinkles as a cotton shirt left to dry in a ball. Her eyes were big and blue just like Toni’s mother’s.
Toni gasped.
“Say, what’s this all about?” her grandmother asked. “Who are…oh.” She paled and took a step back. “Your badge. On your belt. You’re the law. Is this about…have you finally…” She grabbed onto her husband’s arm.
“Is Lisa dead?” he asked matter-of-factly. His gaze flicked to Clay as if he was in charge.
“No…no,” Toni got out. “We’re not here to tell you she’s been found.”
Her grandmother let a breath out and sagged against Toni’s grandfather, clutching his crisply pressed blue-and-white gingham shirt.
“Then why are you here?” Toni’s grandfather asked.
“I’m Toni.” She didn’t explain, just let the words hang there to see if her parents had told them she existed.
“Oh my stars.” Her grandmother stared at Toni. “Yes, yes, I can see Edie in your face.”
They stared at each other, none of them knowing what to do. Toni felt like she was there under false pretenses and needed to introduce Clay. “I’m an FBI agent, and this is my associate Clay Byrd. We were working on an investigation, and I just learned about Lisa.”
Her grandfather tilted his head. “They didn’t tell you?”
“No.” Her voice broke on the single word. “I didn’t even know I had a sister until yesterday.”
“Would you mind answering some questions for us?” Clay asked.
Her grandmother stepped back. “Come in. Please come in.”
Toni crossed the threshold and caught the smell of arthritis cream mixed with something fried.
“May I give you a hug?” her grandmother asked.
Toni nodded, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to hug this woman she didn’t know. Sure, they were blood relatives, but she still felt like a complete stranger to Toni. A stranger with your mother’s eyes, she reminded herself.
Her grandmother gathered her into her strong arms, her body solid and lean. She wore a feminine green blouse and khaki pants that matched her grandfather’s pants. Ton
i held herself back a bit but inhaled her grandmother’s flowery scent. Maybe roses or gardenias. Way too sweet of a scent for Toni or her mother, who’d never worn perfume.
But if this was the only time Toni saw her grandmother, she would always have this smell to remember the meeting. She pushed back.
“Come with me.” Her grandmother took Toni’s hand, her skin papery soft, and led her down a short hall to a living room that was straight from the eighties. The walls were paneled, and the room had a dark, dank feel instead of the lightness in the Byrd’s house. A burgundy modular sofa with plush fabric took up a corner of the room and a large brown recliner that looked as if it was on its last legs was next to it. There was also a blue-and-mauve club chair, and an octagonal dark wood table nearby, plus an oversize matching coffee table with a glass top in front of the sofa.
“Please have a seat.” Her grandmother released her hand. “Can I get you anything to drink? I could brew some coffee or tea. Water?”
“No, but thank you for asking.” Toni perched on the end of the sofa.
“I’m good.” Clay came to rest on the arm next to her. He’d gone into his protective mode and was giving her grandparents a wary look as they sat on the easy chair and recliner.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” her grandmother said. “We’d heard you were born, but that was all.”
“Who did you hear it from?” Clay asked before Toni could.
Her grandfather kicked back his recliner. “Gert’s brother, Andrew. Right before he died. He was living out in the D.C. area with your parents.”
“How’d he die?” she asked as if she didn’t know.
“He was murdered. Drive-by targeting someone else was what the police told us.” He took a breath. “How’re your mom and dad doing?”
Toni didn’t miss the sudden change in topic. “I’m sorry to say, both my parents have passed away.”
Toni’s grandmother clamped her hand over her mouth.
Toni hated shocking them like this, but she had no choice. “Mom died when I was ten from a fall off her horse. He was spooked by a rattlesnake.”
“She always did love horses, so maybe that was a good way to go.” Her grandfather’s eyes were watery with tears, and he swiped a big hand at them. “And your dad?”
“Shot in an op just last year.”
“I’m real sorry to hear that.” He planted his hands on the arms of the chair.
It was then she noticed that he had long, narrow fingers like hers, though his knuckles were gnarled.
She wanted to take her time and absorb her grandparents’ essence. To sit and look at them both and find other similarities between them, but she had a purpose in coming here, and she wouldn’t forget the girls who were depending on her. “Would you tell us what happened when Lisa went missing?”
Her grandmother stiffened. “Is the FBI agent wanting to know, or is my granddaughter asking?”
“Both,” Toni admitted. “I can’t separate the two, but I’ve been an agent longer than I’ve known you were alive, so probably more agent than anything.”
“They told you we were dead?” her grandfather asked. “Your parents, I mean.”
She nodded.
He sucked in a sharp breath and gripped the arms of his chair.
Toni didn’t like seeing him upset. It wasn’t in a close or personal way, but more like an agent observing suffering people. Would she ever feel anything for this man? He seemed okay, but then she didn’t know anything about him and needed to stay on track so she could learn something. She focused on his face, the wrinkles telling of his years of living, so many of them with the sorrow of losing a granddaughter and being estranged from a daughter.
“Can you tell me why my parents didn’t want me to know about you?” She hated that the suspicion in her tone tightened her grandfather’s expression, but her parents were good people and had to have had a good reason to lie to her. At least she’d thought they were good. Now she didn’t know.
“Answer’s as simple as can be.” Her grandmother captured Toni’s attention as she crossed her arms. “They blamed us for Lisa’s disappearance.”
“Were you responsible?” Clay asked.
Toni gasped and looked up at him, but his gaze was razoring between her grandparents like a bullet seeking a target.
“In as much as she was in our care at the time, yes.” Her grandfather crossed his long arms and glared at Clay. “But in every other way, no.”
“She just vanished!” her grandmother cried out as she sat forward. “We said good-night, and she was gone in the morning.”
“What was she wearing when she disappeared?” Toni asked.
Both of her grandparents shook their heads. “She was wearing Rainbow Brite pajamas, but those pjs were on the bed. So she must’ve changed at some point, but I didn’t know what she’d brought with her. And even your mother couldn’t come up with what was missing from Lisa’s suitcase.”
Clay shook his head. “Do you think she left voluntarily?”
“She wouldn’t do that,” her grandmother said forcefully. “She’d only been here three days. She didn’t know anyone, and no one knew her.”
“No one,” her grandfather echoed.
“Just me, Walt, and Andrew.”
“And you don’t think Andrew had anything to do with her disappearance?” Clay asked.
“Of course not. Why would we think that?”
“Because of his near conviction for sex with a minor.”
Her grandmother waved a hand. “He was innocent and cleared. He volunteered for a church youth group, and a girl got it in her mind that he’d assaulted her at camp. But they never proved he did it.”
“They didn’t prove he didn’t, either,” Clay said. “He was released on a technicality, not because he didn’t do it.”
Her grandmother glared at Clay. “I know my brother. He wouldn’t have done such a thing.”
Ah, now Toni was seeing the hesitancy and unease that had Ziegler questioning if there was more to the story than they were letting on.
“What about Andrew’s friends?” Clay asked. “He grew up here. Did he see anyone while he was home?”
“He was kind of a loner,” her grandfather said, not really answering the question.
“But did he see anyone while he was here?” Toni asked.
“Maybe,” her grandmother said. “Was a long time ago.”
“Maybe or he did?” Toni pressed.
Her grandmother’s chin lifted, and Toni almost sucked in a breath at the similarity to her mother. An older version, but her mother nonetheless. And she was stubborn like her mother. Like Toni too.
“Did he see someone while he was here?” Toni asked again.
“Yes, all right,” her grandmother snapped.
“Now, Gert,” her grandfather said.
“I’m so tired of holding onto this. It’s time to let it out.” She knitted her fingers together in her lap. “Andrew was an elder in our church before he moved to Virginia, and he mentored our church youth leader, Nolan Wilshire. Nolan came over for a few minutes the night before Lisa went missing. He met Lisa while he was here.”
“Why didn’t you want the police to know that?” Toni asked.
“Because Nolan didn’t do anything wrong.” Her grandfather glared at her. “He was a good Christian man. The sheriff was so eager for a lead he would’ve hounded him.”
“If he had nothing to hide, he would’ve faired okay,” Clay said.
“He was going through a nasty divorce.” Her grandmother reached for a glass of water and took a long drink. “His wife cheated on him, but she claimed it was Nolan doing the cheating, and he was faced with losing custody of his kids. Any suspicions cast his way would’ve made sure he did lose custody, and he had nothing to do with Lisa, so why ruin his life?”
“And did he? Lose custody, I mean?” Toni asked.
“Sadly, yes. His ex lied so very convincingly.”
“So you could’ve told the
sheriff about Nolan then,” Toni said.
“No. No.” Her grandfather pointed his long chin at her. “Would’ve made us look like liars and call into question everything else we told him. And what would the point be? Nothing. ’Cause we told him everything else. Honest.”
When someone felt a need to add the word honest to the end of their statement, they were most likely hiding something else, but the stubborn tilt to her grandfather’s head declared he had said all that he planned to say about that point.
“Might Nolan, Andrew, or either of you have mentioned Lisa’s visit to someone else?”
“I mighta told my golf buddies,” her grandfather said. “Not sure if I did or didn’t.”
“I know I didn’t say anything,” her grandmother said. “The trip was a quick thing. The DEA wanted to send your dad to Chicago, and your parents needed to decide if they wanted to move before telling Lisa. That was why they sent her out here. To give them time. If we’d had a Sunday before she arrived, I woulda told everyone at church because I was so excited to have her stay with us. But they called on a Monday, and she was here by Wednesday. No time to tell others with getting a room ready for her.”
“But Nolan might have?”
“No. I asked him. He swore on his Bible that he didn’t say a word.”
Swearing on a Bible meant nothing. People lied and used every method to cover it up, but clearly her grandfather didn’t think so.
“Did you ever hear the name of the woman he supposedly had the affair with?” Clay asked.
Her grandparents both shook their heads.
“And does he still live here?” Toni asked.
“No.” Her grandmother looked so sad. “Poor man went a little crazy when he lost his children. Threatened his wife. She got a restraining order. He was so dejected he took off.”
“To where?”
“He went to live at his grandfather’s old farmhouse in Douglas County,” her grandfather said. “He wanted to be on his own. Find some seclusion and live off the land, and I don’t blame him. We wanted to do the same thing back then. You have no idea what we went through.”
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