13

Kelli waited until evening, then drove toward the address she had long since memorized. She had no idea if Alison Waters still lived at the house, she only knew this was where the candlelight vigils were held when David and Darcy Waters were missing—or Don and Kelli Huddleston, depending on which parts of history you chose to accept as true. It appeared that in this case, truth might be a little bit . . . relative.

She found Beuerlein Avenue and drove up it slowly, checking house numbers as she went. The homes here weren’t new, but they were all larger and more upscale than those she’d seen in the rest of Shoal Creek. When she came to a large two-story Tudor-style home, she looked at the number on the mailbox just to be sure. This was the place. She pulled her car to the opposite curb and looked at this piece of her history.

Five windows were visible on the second floor, the nursery had likely been behind one of them. Kelli looked from one side of the house to the other, wondering where her crib had once stood. As an infant, perhaps she’d gazed over her parents’ shoulders out these very windows at this very yard. Maybe she took her first steps here. Had she cried a lot? Who held and comforted her when teething kept her awake at night? She imagined her father peering out the window, her infant self in his arms feeling completely safe and secure and loved.

What had happened in this place that set the gears in motion for her to be where she was today? “Daddy, I know you had a reason for what you did. Help me find it.”

There were two cars in the driveway. Jutting up above the shrubs surrounding the backyard, she could see a swing set, and just beneath the front porch there was the outline of some sort of toy—it appeared to be a plastic lawnmower. Did these belong to her nieces and nephews, or did some other family live here now?

She could see shadows moving behind the curtains just to the right of the door, a fair amount of activity. Kelli imagined small children wrestling with their father just inside. Had she wrestled with Daddy in that very room?

A woman came toward her down the street, walking a border collie on a long leash. Kelli needed to leave before the woman came close enough to see her sitting here and got suspicious. She started the car and headed back toward the hotel, feeling a strange mixture of satisfaction and longing for what she’d found so far.

She knew that Alison Waters taught history at the local junior high school and that they would be out of session for the summer next week. She had to act fast if she was going to get the chance to see her. She just needed to come up with some plausible explanation to get close to her. She needed to make out this woman’s character. Surely there must be something about her that had caused Daddy to do what he did. Surely there was.

Shane looked through the glass door at his father limping down the first aisle of the store. For the life of him, he couldn’t understand what drove his father to want to keep this place going. It was such an overwhelming amount of work with no significant payback. Shane walked in, prepared to make a stand.

“Come on in, and before you start your lecturing, you’ll be happy to know I offered somebody a job here today.”

“Pop! Way to go! I can’t believe you finally did it.”

“Gah.” Pop waved him off. “You can wipe that smile right off your face. I find it offensive.”

“You find my smile offensive?”

“It’s your victory smile. I’ve seen it a thousand times after you hit a home run or caught someone trying to steal second base. I want you to know, young man, that I made my own decision.”

“Of course, of course.” Shane focused his energy on trying to keep his expression neutral, but he knew his father saw right through him. “Erica was a nice girl, though, wasn’t she? I knew you’d like her if you gave her a chance.”

“Erica? Who’s that?”

“She’s the girl I sent you today that I’d prescreened. The one you just told me you hired.”

Pop waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “Oh, her. Didn’t like her. Sent her away.”

“What? But you just said . . . you said you offered her the job.”

“Wrong. I said I offered somebody a job, I didn’t say anything about Erica.”

“All right, Mr. Argue-with-a-signpost, who did you offer the job, then?”

“Her name is . . .” Pop fished around in his pocket and pulled out a scrap piece of paper. “Kelli Huddleston. She’s not from around here.”

“Where’s her job application? Did you check her references?”

“My gut is reference enough, and my gut tells me she’s the right person for the job.”

“Your gut, huh?” Shane shook his head and jumped up on the counter, already reaching for a piece of bubble gum from the large glass jar beside the cash register. “It’s amazing to me that you have made it this far in this cruel world with your naïveté. Dad, you’ve got to look at hard facts, not just feelings. You’ve lived long enough to know this.”

“Thank you for the advice. I’m sure I’ll take it into consideration.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you will.”

“Can I at least meet this Kelli-who’s-not-from-around-here?”

“Sure, you can meet her when she starts work.”

“Pop, this is all so sudden, especially for you. What’s going on?”

“You’re the one who is so desperate for your old man to get some help. I’ve found someone, end of story.” He looked at Shane with a dare in his eyes, then rubbed the back of his neck. “Although, she hasn’t accepted the offer yet, not technically. We’re going to talk again in the next day or two.”

“You said she’s not from around here. Where’s she from?”

“California. She needed a little getaway, and her road trip led her straight to me.”

“Really? Right to your store from California, huh?” Shane shook his head. His father had done some unconventional things over the years, but this one was taking the cake. “Let me see that paper.”

“Nothing doing.” Pop put the paper back into his pocket. “Like I said, you can meet her after she starts work.”

Right then and there, Shane silently vowed to track down this Kelli girl and find out what she was all about.