Jamie Garrett - Riley Reid 02 - Fire and Lies (8 page)

Still, the pastor did not answer.

“Fine, you can wait here and think about it. Maybe some time alone will jog your memory.”

Sam left the interrogation room. He met m in the hallway. Almost at the same time we both exclaimed, “We got him!”

“Yeah, but not on tape,” added Officer Rodriguez, who followed me out.

“What do you mean ‘not on tape’?” All the enthusiasm was drained out of Sam’s face.

“It didn’t record. Something went wrong.”

“Why didn’t you tell me!? Now I’m going to have to do that all over again!” Sam was incensed.

Officer Rodriguez became sullen. “Sorry, Detective. I’ll see if I can fix it.”

Being the nice guy that he was, Sam went over to him and put his hand on his shoulder. “Let me take a look at.”

Both Officer Rodriguez and Sam went to go see what was wrong with the monitor. I remained in the hallway. There needed to be some digestion of what I had just heard.

The man I knew as Pastor Pritchard was an ex-con who was in cahoots with Dr. Wen and Fresh Horizons. He was ordered to kill Robert and Destiny Branch. And he did just that. And he left us all with a simple question. Who was he taking those orders from?

I sat in the Side Car Diner in my favorite booth. My favorite person sat across from me. Lisa was chomping on some rye toast.

Lisa and I talked about what happened at the police station with Pastor Pritchard. I told her about his past and Fresh Horizons. She was just as shocked as I was when I told her about him being a murderer.

“I was baptized by him,” Lisa said through her last bite of her toast, and continued talking with her mouth full. “My parents used to have him over for dinner. He was in our house. This is kind of creepy.”

“Creepy is putting it a little mildly.”

Carol, the waitress, came over with a plate of hash browns, eggs and sausage. The smell made my mouth water. She set it down in front of me. It was like a gift from the greasy diner food gods.

“You keep eating that crap, you’re gonna end up a little more than chunky.”

“I got a metabolism like a furnace.”

“You’ll be the shape of a furnace maybe, girl.”

We both laughed. Then my phone rang. I took it out and looked to see who it was. It was Richard.

“I should take this,” I told Lisa. I got up. “I’ll be right back.”

With that, I got up and went outside. Then I answered the call.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Hey, Riley. You know how you told me about looking for birth parents? You mentioned your dad’s car.”

“Yeah?”

“I called my friend at the DMV. He tracked down his Trans Am from its VIN number on your dad’s registration. It was registered again about thirteen years ago in a town in Kentucky. I’ll send you the address.”

The news came as a shock. I hadn’t dared to hope that following the trail of my dad’s car would work. It was even more surprising that Richard would’ve gone so far to help me. That wasn’t because he didn’t care, but I always suspected that he never wanted me to find my parents. Part of him wanted to be the only dad in my life.

“That’s … that’s great. I don’t know how to thank you.”

“You don’t have to. We’re family.” Richard meant every word. And I agreed. He was my family, maybe not by blood, but family all the same. And I loved him.

I headed back inside the Side Car. Lisa was sitting there, finishing her breakfast. My mind was full of ideas and possibilities. Finally, there was a lead that could result in me finding my dad. It was a long-held desire that could come true.

As I sat back down in the booth Lisa and I were sharing, my phone beeped. I took a look. It was a text from Richard. He had sent me the address that he promised.

“Who’s that?” asked Lisa after downing the rest of her apple juice.

“The old man.”

“Yeah, what did he want?” Lisa was being a bit nosey, but I didn’t mind. She didn’t mean to. Plus, it would be pretty hypocritical of me to fault someone for their curiosity.

I left Lisa hanging for a few minutes. After my last bite of my breakfast, I told her. “He might’ve found my dad.”

Lisa’s mouth didn’t hang open in shock, but it might as well have. Her eyes were wide and shocked turned into a smile. “That’s great!”

“Yes, it is,” I gave my best friend a grin. “Yes, it is.”

Troy Reid was nervous. He’d driven around the streets surrounding Jefferson High School for an hour just to make sure he wasn’t tailed. After what had happened at the Crescent Moon, a state away, he was a wanted man. Not only were the cops surely after him, but also Harlan Greene’s men. The latter would surely chase him to the ends of the earth.

His pursuers weren’t what was most important to Troy at the time. He wanted to see his daughter one last time. Then Harlan Greene could have him. Without Riley and without his wife there was nothing left to live for. There was a voice deep in his soul that told him he should’ve died next to Dana a week earlier.

It had been three years since Troy had last seen his daughter. At the time, she had been a freshman at Jefferson High School. By his calculations, that made her a senior now. And her last year started that day.

Troy waited in his car. He had sold his Trans Am a couple months ago and was driving a sedan. It wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as his treasured Pontiac, but he couldn’t risk anyone seeing his easily-identifiable vehicle.

As Troy waited, he sipped on a pint of whiskey. It helped numb the pain from the still relatively new hole in his hand that he had acquired during the shootout. It also helped numb the pain from being so close to his daughter, the only thing left of his beloved Dana.

Troy was parked across the street from the school. He was close, but not close enough to be seen by Riley. It was important that she didn’t know he was still alive. Her safety depended on it.

A loud bell marked the end of the school day. Troy eagerly scanned the throngs of kids who came out of the school’s front doors. But he didn’t see his daughter.

After about twenty minutes, Troy decided to get out of his car. He tried to look as unassuming as possible as he crossed the street. There, he saw a group of girls come outside and onto the soccer field next to the main building.

There was a chain link fence that separated the sidewalk from the soccer field. Troy stood by the fence, hoping that Riley played. His wishes were answered.

Riley had grown since he had last seen her. She looked like Dana did when Troy first met her. Tears rolled down his cheek as he remembered he couldn’t hold her. He couldn’t say he was sorry. He couldn’t even talk to her.

She ran drills with the rest of her team, blissfully unaware that the father who had disappeared three years earlier was within yards of her. If she had known, what would she do? How would she react? And did she deserve to know?

“Can I help you, Sir?” Somebody was next to Troy.

Troy turned to see who it was. Standing there was a Jefferson High School teacher. She was a frumpy older woman with short red hair and thick glasses.

“What?”

“Can I help you?”

“No.” Troy quickly started walking away, back to his car. He could feel the teacher’s eyes follow him.

Troy started his car and started to drive away. He knew he was driving to his end. But there were some things you just had to do. And going to your wife’s funeral was one of them.

Riley Reid Mystery #3 Coming in March 2014

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