Finding Madelyn (17 page)

When he landed
,
he went straight for Harland’s little house on the edge of town. His brother answered the door in faded boxers and a white T-shirt.

“You won’t believe what I found.” Galen half smiled.

“Madelyn?” Harland blinked, trying to see better and rubbed his hands over his head.

“How did you…” Galen let his mouth hang trying to
figure
it out.

“Where the hell else would you run off to?”

“All right. I’ll give you that. Now
,
let me tell you what else.”

“I’m guessing you haven’t been home, yet.” Harland led the way to the kitchen. “Dad is hopping mad that no one knows where you went.”

“All the better.” Galen started putting the papers on the table with a prayer that Harland was the right person to come to. He couldn’t see his brother
siding with his father
after he told him everything. That was the hope
,
anyway.

Harland started water to boil for coffee, he didn’t have a machine like Maddy did.

Rita looked out of the bedroom, crossed the kitchen and kissed his cheek. “Did you find her?”

“Am I really that predictable?”

“Your heart is.”
Rita’s eyes lit up even at
half-mas
t
. She gave Harland a little kiss on the cheek and went back to the bedroom.

Harland poured two cups of coffee and sat down at the table. “What do you have for me here, kiddo?”

“I’m bigger than you now, would you stop calling me kiddo.”

“No.” Harland picked up one of the papers and
stared at it. Then another.

Galen sat across the table and let him look. Harland would understand what he was looking at far better than Galen.
So, he sat back and sipped the weak coffee
,
letting the memory of Madelyn in his shirt play.
That memory had left his shirt where she would find it.
Anything would have worked to keep his mind from what could play out when Harland finished.

Harland looked over everything, then went through it all again.
When he sat back, the lines around his eyes looked deeper. “What are you going to do with all this?”

There was no doubt his brother was feeling very suspicious. Galen sat back studying his
only sibling
. Long ago
,
he’d changed his mind and enjoyed having a brother. Right now though
,
he was going to choose his words carefully. No different than finding your way through rubble trying to stay away from a sniper.
He sat back in the chair.

“I was hoping you’d help me with that.”

Harland nodded, slowly. “You plan to attack Dad—just because you can?”

Galen leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table, rubbing one hand over the other clinched in a fist. With a deep breath he relayed the story of Maddy’s last night in Washington.

Harland didn’t interrupt. He refilled his coffee once, and sat with his eyes growing more intense by the second.
He remained
silent
long
after Galen was done.

“She knows Mama passed.”

Galen nodded, “Sent her condolences along.”

“Is she still the same
Maddy?” Harland’s voice stayed
guarded.

“Older, wiser, same Maddy.”

“Are you going to try and find her mother?”

It was Galen’s turn to rub his hands across his face. “I think it will end up that way.”

“I can’t see Will killing anyone.”

“Me either. But I can’t see Mama or Maddy lying.”

“Daddy on the other hand,” Harland shook his head. “I always knew something…”

They fell silent for a bit before Harland asked, “What do you need from me?”

“A course of action.”

“You don’t want me standing by you?”

“I’d love for you to stand with me, but you’ve got Rita. Whereas I can’t have this between me and Maddy. There’s enough there.”

Rita came out of th
e bedroom looking refreshed,
stopping
when she saw the downcast faces at her kitchen table.

“I’m going shopping.” She grabbed her purse and went out the back do
or without another word
from anyone.

Harland smiled at the empty doorway, grabbed a notepad from the kitchen
draw
er
and sat down.

“
If it was Rita, I’d want your help.
Don’t show anyone what I’m giving you. Dad will recognize my handwriting in an instant.

“
The good thing...
most of the people listed here are dead or at least no longer in office. You’ll get to talk to their replacements. And most will be very receptive. Start with the
s
heriff, that’s why he’s on the top of the list. If he’s a dead
end
go to the next and so on.” Harland
rubbed
the hand not holding the pen across his stubble. “
Don’t
go straight to Dad or Will. If it’s true, I’m afraid of what that confrontation would cause.”

“Thank you, Harland. That’s why I came to you, so I didn’t go straight to Dad and clock him one.”

“I’ve thought about
that
a few times too. This will be far better.” Harland grinned.

With a few of the papers
in hand, Galen walked into the s
heriff’s office. What wasn’t on him was safe with Harland.
Several of the guys in the office watched him walk back to the office and knock, instead of having himself announced.
But this was his town, he was a Langley, and not a soul said anything.

Sheriff Jennings sat behind a desk that reminded
Galen
of the one in the study at home.
Only behind this one sat a tall stocky man that actually intimidated him.
The husky baritone didn’t hurt that fact.

“Galen.
” The sheriff stood to shake his hand.

He dropped the papers and a letter he wrote at Harland’s table on the desk and sat down. Handing his dad over to the authorities wasn’t sitting well with him even if it was the right thing to do.
If he didn’t have to speak
the truth on the desk
again, it was better.

The memory of Maddy sleeping when he left made him look up to the sheriff when he finished reading what he had.

“What do you want me to do with this, son?”

With a drawn out breath, Galen started. He’d talked
it over with Harland and
had
chose
n
the best course of action they could think of.

“Do
es
your dad even know you’re in town?”

“No, sir.”

“Yet
,
you want to be the one to confront him?
”

“And Will.” Galen added.

“You know that’s my job?”

“But it’s something I have to do.”

By lunch Galen slipped into the back of Will’s little shack. Will always went home for lunch and a few times since he’d gotten home they’d eaten at the dingy table.
Will even offered him another job. If it hadn’t been for the hope of finding Madelyn, he would have taken it.

He sat at that table and looked at his clasped hands. They trembled with anger over what his family had caused Maddy. Fredric had always been part of that pain. But Will…how co
uld he possibly be part of that?
How could he take Cassie and…

Air vibrated passed his lips and his head shot up when the
door opened and Will smiled across his living room.

“When’d you get home.” He shut the door.

“This morning.” Galen glared across the space.

“You go visit an
A
rmy buddy?”

Galen averted his eyes to the table. “No.”

“What’s wrong, kid?”

Galen stood from the chair making sure Will couldn’t run if he tried. “Where’s Cassi
e?”



Frank pulled into the cottage driveway wondering what in the hell he was doing there. It was
his
habit to come by after church on Sunday’s.

He’d always found her staring over the water sitting on her dock. Her own personal communion with God under
way. He would stand back at the end of the dock watching the sun light up her hair with the wind blowing it back from her face. She’d always turn and smile, stay for a few moments, and then join him for lunch. The boy from Washington had changed every
-
thing. Still she was a friend and he would make sure Washington was being gentlemanly.

With that, he stepped out of the car and put on his hat. The sun wouldn’t be lighting her hair if she was on the dock this morning, but the wind would be blowing. Mother nature had turned out in all her glory to make sure this morning was a cold, blustery mess.

He knocked on the door and waited. Knowing if Washington answered he was going to have a little talk with him. No one answered though, he kick a pine cone heading around the side of the house, wis
hing he could get the anger out
, crunching leaves with each step.

He’d barely rounded the house when he spotted her wrapped up in one of her quilts on the dock. Today instead of facing east, she was facing due south with her head resting on the pole.

He made his way down the yard and onto the dock. She didn’t look up as his boots echoed across. The wood was cold when he sat looking north and a little at her.

“Where’s Washington?”

She didn’t look at him. “On his way home
,
I’d guess.”

“Didn’t work out then?”

“He got what he came for and left.”

A tear rolled down her cheek. If given the chance, he’d punch the boy again.
“Did I tell you about Ida?”

“The lady that came to visit a while back? Family reunion if I remember right.”

“Yes, her. She was all I wanted when I was younger. When she came of age, I asked her to marry me. She said no, she didn’t want a husband or kids. A month later she ran off to New York with dreams of Broadway.”

Maddy’s brow scrunched, “Didn’t she have a husband and four kids when they were here?”

“When she sent me pictures from their visit she also told me number five was on the way.”

“Must have hurt.” Her voice was still monotone.

“It did, until I realized how happy she was. The way I see it, my Ida is your Washington. The only difference is that boy still loves you.”

“Then why would he leave, Frank?”

He thought a moment,
“Not sure about all that
,
but I know how he got here.”

Her head rolled to finally look at him.

“I’d always wondered what you were running from. Mostly whether or not it was a husband that would get in the way if I every asked you to marry me. Well
,
one of those pictures from Ida was a real nice shot of you serving me coffee in the diner. I sent it to a cousin in Oregon and he took it down the coast ‘til he found someone that knew you. Guy gave him fifty for the photo and another twenty-five to know where it was taken.”

“That explains that. I didn’t even remember someone taking a photo.”

“You were busy that week. That family reunion brought you more business than you could handle.”

She nodded.

Frank continued. “The way I see it, if Washington is gone, I’ll be here when you’re heart forgives me.
If he comes back . . . I wish you
’ll many children.”

“Thanks, Frank. I don’t think he’ll be coming back, at least not soon
,
and I might need your help before then.”

When Galen left Europe he’d thought the days of washing blood off his hands were over. Using Will’s kitchen sink told him otherwise.

The police were dragging Will out shackled, mumbling something about being sorry.
Make sure and tell Maddy I’m sorry.

Galen flexed his fingers under the running water. They hurt but he wasn’t going to stop today to see the doctor about it. He hadn’t even realized he’d been hitting Will until one of the officers
yanked him back.

Will’s
telling of what happened to Cassie was far more graphic than what Mama had told
Maddy. At least the pain had been worth it, sometime before Will started mumbling
,
he’d said where they took Cassie.
As long as he hadn’t been lying
,
Cassie would be at the morgue by morning.