Minutes later we were seated in a booth in the coffee shop across the street from the pharmacy. As soon as the busboy brought us water, Michelle gulped down one of the pills she’d wanted so desperately.
“Carrie, thank you so much for getting these for me. They’re the only meds that help ease the depression. I promise to pay you back as soon as I can.”
“Please don’t worry about that now.”
Our waitress, a buxom woman in her mid-fifties wearing a nameplate that said “Mary,” appeared. “Good afternoon. What can I get you girls?”
Neither of us had glanced at the menus. “Just coffee for me,” I said.
“Me too,” Michelle said.
“Sure you don’t want anything else?” I asked. “My treat.”
She shook her head.
“Two coffees coming up,” Mary said as she took our menus and left. She returned a minute later with two mugs of steaming coffee.
“So tell me—how did you get into this predicament?” I asked.
Michelle shook her head. “I ask myself that question several times a day. Things started out great. Brad and I moved to Clover Ridge almost a year ago. Despite the awful time when my father left us, I had fond memories of growing up here. Brad was willing. He got a job through a relative who lives in the area—I never met her—and we moved into our apartment.” She stopped to put sugar and milk in her coffee, then sipped.
“We hoped to have a baby, but … there were complications. I think that’s when things began to change. Brad grew distant. Irritable. He started to stay late at the office.” She pursed her lips. “Or so he said. I should have realized something was going on.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” I said.
“He encouraged me to find a job. And I did—at an insurance company. But last month they said they weren’t doing well and had to downsize, so I was let go a week later. Nothing was going right in my life. I started feeling bad about myself. I found it hard to get up in the morning. Sometimes I slept till noon. I went out less and less.”
Michelle sniffed. “One morning Brad was gone. He’d packed up his clothes while I was sleeping. He left me a note saying he couldn’t live this way any longer.
“I found out soon enough he’d emptied our savings account, no doubt to spend money on some woman he’d met through work.” She began to cry without making a sound. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “And now I’m left with nothing—no money, no home, no family. Nothing.”
I reached across the table to hold her hand. “We’re going to do something about that.”
Michelle looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language.
“Really,” I said. “For one thing, you can’t be forced to leave your apartment. I’ll do some research, talk to my uncle who knows about these things. I may even call the mayor.”
“Call the mayor about me?” Michelle asked.
“Why not? I’ll find out if there are funds appropriated for people who have suddenly lost their jobs—which is what happened to you.”
Michelle nodded. “I never thought of asking for help. Not after I found out I wasn’t going to get unemployment insurance because I hadn’t worked there long enough.”
“And it’s time you got yourself a lawyer,” I said.
“I can’t afford—”
“I know that, but many lawyers take pro bono cases. Your husband had no right to cut off your funds. You’re going to need a lawyer to get some of them back. I’m going to give you the name of a lawyer I know well.” I jotted down Ken Talbot’s name and office number and handed it to her. “I’ll be speaking to him too. If Mr. Talbot can’t handle your case, he’ll find you someone who can.”
Michelle gripped my hand. “Thank you, Carrie. I’ve been so down since Brad left me, but you’re giving me hope that maybe I can put my life back together.”
I smiled at her. “There’s plenty of hope. And now I have to ask for your help.”
“Of course, though I can’t imagine how I can help you.”
I thought of Evelyn and plunged on. “I know this is difficult, but I’d like you to tell me everything you remember about the time your father left you and your family.”
I sat back and sipped my coffee, which was now lukewarm. According to the clock on the wall, I should have left for the library ten minutes ago. No matter. I was where I needed to be.
Michelle cocked her head. “Why are you so interested in something that happened fifteen years ago?”
Here goes. “I thought it would be great if you had a relative in your corner.” I raised my hand to stop her from uttering the words forming on her lips. “I know your father abandoned you and you haven’t heard from him in all these years. He may be dead, for all we know. But there’s a chance that he’s alive and well, and if he is I’m sure he’d want to help you. I’m a librarian with great research skills. Please tell me it’s all right to try to find him and let him know about your situation.”
Michelle nodded reluctantly. “How can I say no when you’ve helped me already.”
I waited while she composed herself. “I know it’s painful, but please tell me everything you remember about that period in your life.”
“My father was an accountant,” Michelle began. “He worked for a large company in New Haven. We were a happy family—my parents, my brother Harvey, and me. Sometimes my parents argued because my father liked to gamble. I never thought much about it, never thought it was anything serious. Just that Mom thought gambling was like throwing away money, money that we could use for home improvements or family trips.
“I was sixteen when my world, as I knew it, came to an end. I felt the tension and fear in the house. My parents speaking in worried whispers. Then suddenly Dad was gone and Mom had no idea where he was.”
“I can only imagine how frightening that was,” I said.
“I turned numb. I had trouble breathing. Moving. I didn’t go to school for two weeks.”
“Brad’s behavior must have brought it all back.”
Michelle nodded. “Another man leaving me. The story of my life.”
“Did you eventually find out why your father took off?”
“Oh, yes. This time Mom didn’t hide it from Harvey and me. Dad had run up a large debt at the tables. He had to pay it back or something really bad would happen to him, so he took money from one of the company accounts. He heard that the feds were coming to headquarters and figured they were after him.” She made a scoffing sound. “The irony was the feds came, all right, but they were after the CEO and top officers for corporate fraud.”
“And you never heard from your father again?”
Michelle shook her head. “Mom was sure he’d come back when word got out about the arrests, but after a week of not hearing from Dad, she tried to track him down. She contacted everyone he knew—friends, relatives, people at the firm—but no one knew anything. His disappearance crushed her spirit. My aunt urged her to move to Ohio, so she sold the house and the three of us went there.”
“I was sorry to hear that your mother died. Are you in contact with your brother?”
“We lost touch a few years ago. Poor Harvey’s in and out of rehab. I wish there was something I could do for him, but …”
“Was there anyone your father was especially close to? Someone with whom he might have stayed in touch?”
“Instead of his own family? I don’t think so.”
“Michelle, I didn’t see much of my father when I was growing up. He was in jail some of the time. Other times, he simply stayed away from the family. Eventually my parents got divorced.”
Michelle grimaced. “Another wonderful father.”
“Except Jim made big changes in his life. Now he has a good job and he’s in my life again.”
Michelle shot me a look of disbelief. “I hope you’re not expecting that to happen in my case.”
“I just thought it might be worth the effort to find your father. He might be in a position to help you.”
“I doubt that. For all we know, he’s dead.”
“That’s possible.” I waved to Mary. When she hurried over, I asked for the check. “I have to run,” I said to Michelle. “Please stay and have a sandwich or something to eat.”
She smiled for the first time. “Thanks, Carrie. Maybe I’ll have a tuna salad sandwich, after all.”
Mary jotted down Michelle’s order and gave me the bill. I left her a nice tip and handed Michelle my card. “Please call if you can think of anyone who was especially close to your father. And call the lawyer on Monday. Meanwhile, I’ll talk to my uncle. He knows a lot of people in Clover Ridge. I’m hoping he might be helpful finding you a job.”
“A job,” Michelle echoed wistfully. “I think I’d welcome that most of all.”
The library was even quieter—if that was possible—when I returned thirty minutes past my lunch hour. Smoky Joe was waiting for me outside my office door.
“Poor baby,” I said, sweeping him into my arms. “You must be starving. And since it’s the weekend, neither Trish nor Susan was here to let you inside.”
He gobbled down the food I set out for him, then ran to the door. “Off you go,” I said as I watched him race into the reading room. I checked my email, then texted Ken Talbot to expect a call from Michelle. I called Uncle Bosco, who said he would ask around about a job for Michelle. I decided to call Al Tripp on Monday to see what funds might be available to someone in Michelle’s situation. Besides, he knew everyone in Clover Ridge. If Uncle Bosco couldn’t find her a job, Al certainly could.
When Evelyn showed up, I filled her in on my conversation with her niece. “She seemed calmer when I left her,” I said, “but she has no idea where her father is now. I gave her my phone number, in case she remembers someone who might know something about him.”
“Thank you, Carrie.” Evelyn shot me an enigmatic smile. “I have a feeling you’ll be hearing from Michelle before a week is past.” Then she disappeared.
I went downstairs to look in on the one program in progress, a crafts class, then I headed to the hospitality desk to relieve Marion’s assistant, Gayle, till closing time. A few patrons stopped by to chat. I appreciated having a spell of quiet time after the turbulent emotions I’d experienced listening to Michelle’s sad story.
At ten to five I stood and was about to return to my office when Tommy Vecchio came striding toward me. He set both palms on the hospitality desk and leaned forward. I stumbled back into the chair. “Tommy. What are you doing here?”
His eyes were popping with rage. “I’ve come to tell you to keep you nose out of my business.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t, eh?”
I felt a pang of real fear as he jutted his face forward until it was inches from mine.
“No. Please move back.”
He ignored my request. “You didn’t tell that police captain I had it in for Aiden and planned to give him what he deserved?”
My face grew warm. Sure I had told John what I’d seen and heard, but he’d never share that with a suspect. “Chief Mathers never told you that.”
Tommy’s face took on the crafty look of a fox. “Maybe he didn’t tell me, but you’re the reason I have to stick around here instead of flying home.”
“Don’t put that on me. I heard you tell your father you were staying in town to see some people about backing your movie.”
Tommy made a scoffing sound as he straightened up. “Like I’d really poison my cousin’s husband!”
Rosemary must have told Tommy what I’d overheard him say about Aiden to his girlfriend after the ceremony. “Plenty of people heard you say hateful things about Aiden because he decided not to back your movie.”
“I was just letting off steam.”
“Really?” I was getting annoyed. “Is that what you’re doing now—letting off steam?”
He reached out and gripped my upper arm. “I’m warning you, don’t mess with me, Carrie.”
Before I could think what to do, a meaty hand settled on Tommy’s shoulder. “You don’t want to do that, son.”
Tommy swung around to face Max, our senior custodian. “Keep out of this!”
“I will not,” Max said. From his height of six two, he peered down at Tommy. Then he glanced over at me. “Carrie, want me to call the police?”
I shook my head, too flustered to speak.
Max took hold of Tommy’s upper arm as Tommy had seized mine seconds earlier. “In that case, I’ll escort this gentleman out of the library.”