The Fountain of Infinite Wishes (Dare River Book 5) (22 page)

“Yes,” he said roughly. “Does Louisa know about this, boy?”

Vander could hear the man’s voice quaver when he said his ex-wife’s name. “No, sir, and the kids aren’t planning on saying nothing.” He wasn’t sure if that was true, but for the moment, he was going to say whatever it took to get this man to meet with him.

“You tell my girl I’m sorry, but I can’t meet with her. Or any of them. Don’t contact me again.”

The line went dead.

Vander fought a curse. That man was going to run. He knew it to the core. He had to find out where Myrtle lived stat.

He went inside to say goodbye to Pauline and May and report that Wallie hadn’t been very encouraging on the phone. Sure as shooting, May gave him Myrtle’s address, which was only three blocks from the diner.
 

“I’ll stop back in on my way out of town, Pauline,” he told her, knowing she was the strongest link to Preston. She was shaking when he put his hand on her shoulder. “Thank you for your help.”

“If it’s after two, I’ll be at the beauty parlor,” she told him.

He kissed May on the cheek for good measure. “You’ve been a peach. Would you mind calling Myrtle and telling her I’ll be dropping by her garage? I’d hate to scare her or get shot at if she’s opposed to trespassers.”

She laughed. “Myrtle couldn’t hit the side of a barn. Don’t worry. Happy to call her, Toby. You pop on by the station before you leave to give me a proper goodbye.”

“You bet, ma’am,” he said, fighting his impatience to jog to Myrtle’s.

He decided not to drive there. He didn’t want Preston to see an unfamiliar truck and run off. The gravel road to the woman’s house was hot and dusty, and Vander wished he had a bottle of water with him to swallow the grime coating his throat. When he arrived, he surveyed the woman’s home. The white paint was peeling, and the roof line was sagging although she had pretty rose bushes in her front lawn.
 

When he opened her rickety gate, an older woman appeared on the porch in a purple muumuu with flowers on it. “You that boy May said would be coming by to see Wallie?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, tipping his finger to his hat as a greeting. “Had May call so as to not alarm you.”

“That was a good idea, boy,” she said with narrowed eyes. “I still have my husband’s Colt, God rest his soul.”

Given the old woman’s frail body, a weapon like that would knock her flat on her back. “I’ll just be waiting in his room then. Out of this infernal heat. If that’s all right with you, ma’am.”

She nodded. “You’ll need the key. Come on up here, boy. I’ll get it for you.”

He waited a few steps off the porch and smiled when she returned. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“Wallie doesn’t have a pot to piss in, but I’m still telling you not to steal nothing—even if May thinks you’re an angel of a man sent from on high. That woman is a moron about men, if you ask me.”

“I appreciate May’s confidence in my character. You have nothing to worry about, ma’am.”

She huffed. “Seems I might if Wallie isn’t using his real name. I plan to have words with him after you leave. And bring my key back, mind you. Best get back inside. It’s hot as Hades out here.”

He tipped his hat again as she opened the front door. Once she had disappeared inside, he headed around to the garage and unlocked the side entrance. He climbed the uncarpeted wood stairs. The apartment was a clean and bare bones studio.
 

The rafters were painted white like the four walls. There was a hot plate on the counter by the kitchen sink. A pullout couch served as the bed. There wasn’t much of anything in the room save worn furniture. There wasn’t even a TV. Vander spotted a black suitcase in the corner by the couch and carefully lifted the lid. Clothes were stacked inside all orderly like: jeans, work shirts, underwear, socks. Nothing fancy, not even a Sunday suit. He didn’t see any other shoes, so he had to wonder if the man only owned one pair.

He stood by the window discreetly, watching the front. He supposed Preston could come around the back. If he’d had backup, he would have sent Charlie out to Old Red’s place. Fifteen minutes passed. Then thirty. Vander’s gut started to burn.

When Pauline opened up Myrtle’s white gate an hour after he’d arrived and walked toward the garage, Vander decided to go down and meet her. People didn’t trust skulking characters, and his cover had gotten him plenty of useful information so far.

He opened the door to the apartment before she could knock. “Hello, Pauline. Myrtle let me wait inside since it’s so hot out. I was waiting for Preston—or Wallie—to come back.”

Tears popped into Pauline’s eyes, and she dug into her tan purse for a tissue. “I thought I’d come by and tell you in person since I knew you were here.”

He already knew what she was going to say.

“Wallie called and told me y’all had spoken. He said he was leaving town and never coming back. Said he was sorry, but the past can’t be undone. He’s been running from it all his life.”

Vander leaned against the doorway, fighting the urge to curse. If Preston wanted to run, wouldn’t he have at least come back for his suitcase?
 

“That’s terrible,” he said, tugging on his hat. “I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I.”
 

He could tell she meant it. “I just don’t know what I’ll tell Shelby. I…did he say where he was going, ma’am? I keep thinking if I can talk to him, show him his daughter’s picture, he’d come around, you know?”

“I know,” she said, mascara streaking her tissue. “I’m disappointed too. We’d been seeing each other since last October when he came to town. I thought we might…”

She didn’t have to say what she’d thought. “I’m sorry for you too, ma’am. More than I can say. I’m sorry I might have caused this.”

“Don’t blame yourself none.” She inhaled jaggedly. “Guess it’s best for this to happen now, before I could get in any deeper with him. He said he loved me, that he hadn’t loved anyone for so long. I…believed him.”

Vander wondered if Preston was the kind of man to say that easily. Some men did. Anger took hold of him. He’d lost the last of his objectivity, it seemed. He often fought with his own judgments on cases like these—the ones that hit so close to home—but the kind of rage he was experiencing made him want to punch the man. Preston McGuiness didn’t deserve Shelby or the rest of her siblings, but that wasn’t his call.

“Do you know how he was planning to leave town?” Vander asked. “His mama said he didn’t have a car.”

“He didn’t say,” she said, wiping away more tears. “At first I thought he might have had too many DUIs, but…he just couldn’t afford one.”

Was the man planning to head out of town on foot? If so, Vander needed to search the area.

“He hitchhiked a lot,” Pauline said, pressing her tissue to her chest. “I just can’t believe this. I thought I knew him.”

Vander patted her back, fighting the urge to run to his car and get going.

Then he realized the full extent of his problem.

Preston didn’t want to be found, and when someone who’d been hiding for years set their mind to staying hidden, it was near impossible to chase them out.

Chapter 19

Shelby didn’t take it as a good sign when Charlie texted her and Sadie asking if the entire McGuiness clan could meet with her and Vander at five o’clock that day at one of their houses.

It had been two days since Vander had left for Haines. On day two after no word, she’d broken down and texted him. His response:
I’m on it.

She’d stewed and told everyone there was no word. That had apparently changed. Shelby volunteered Susannah and Jake’s house after conferring with everyone.
 

Somehow it made her worry that Vander hadn’t called her personally. Was the news so bad he didn’t want to share it alone with her on the phone? Had he changed his mind about them?
 

When she arrived ten minutes before five o’clock, cars lined the driveway. Everyone was eager to hear the news. Susannah answered the door and hugged her.

“I’m so nervous, I can barely sit down,” she said.

“I feel the exact same way,” Shelby replied, giving Sadie a smile when her younger sister barged into the entryway.

“I feel like I’m poised to leap off a cliff,” Sadie said, squeezing both of them tight.

“Best put on a helmet so you won’t get hurt,” J.P. said in that matter-of-fact way of his, but Shelby couldn’t help but notice that his mouth was tight around the edges.

She hugged her brother and then Jake. A car door slammed outside.

“They’re here!” Sadie said, throwing the door open dramatically.

The whole lot of them clustered around her to watch. Vander and Charlie walked forward, looking like characters from
Men in Black.
Both had on dark suits with white shirts, although Vander was sporting a red tie. Neither was smiling beneath their reflective shades.

They had bad news. Shelby knew it. Her stomach gripped, and Sadie squeezed her hand like it was a stress ball.

“You didn’t find him,” her younger sister said to Vander when he arrived on the threshold.

He took his sunglasses off and tucked them into his pocket. Charlie did the same.

“Let me tell you everything from start to finish,” Vander said simply. “It will be easier that way.”

The McGuinesses comforted one another with looks, arm pats, and squeezes as they made their way into the house. Once they were all settled in the den, Charlie stood off to the side as Vander took the center of the room.

“I’ll tell you the news you all want to know first,” Vander said, unbuttoning his jacket and shoving his hand in his pocket. “Your father was in Haines when I arrived. When I spoke to him, he said he couldn’t meet with any of you. He asked that you not try to contact him again, and then disappeared from town shortly thereafter, leaving everything behind.”

Shelby felt like a car had crashed into her middle. Distantly, she heard Sadie make a whimpering sound, and noticed Susannah turning to Jake, and J.P. pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I arrived in town under cover as Shelby’s fiancé. Charlie thought that storyline would be more effective than if I went in as a mere boyfriend.”

He said that word while looking into Shelby’s eyes, and a ripple of heat shot through her. She found herself on the edge of her seat waiting for him to continue.

“The administrative assistant to the local police department was moved by the story about wanting to reconnect Shelby with her daddy as a wedding present. She and the deputy recognized your father immediately from Lenore’s picture. He was going by the name of Wallie Blevins. May, the assistant, proceeded to take me over to the town diner to meet the waitress Wallie was seeing. Her name was Pauline. She was the one who gave me your daddy’s phone number.”

Shelby’s chest grew tight as he described waiting at Daddy’s apartment, only to learn from Pauline that he’d left town. Sadie leaned her head against her shoulder, and she put her arm around her sister. J.P. grabbed her hand as she was sitting in between them.

Vander described his actions after he’d learned the news. He’d worked with the Haines police to speak with other law enforcement in nearby towns, asking them to be on the lookout for Preston, explaining that the man’s family simply wanted to be in touch with him. They’d agreed to help, something small town police forces were more liable to do, Vander said. They’d canvassed a few local truck stops and rest stops, but there’d been no hits. On the third day, Vander and Charlie had conferred and decided to call off the search.
 

“One of the hardest things about my profession is tracking down someone who doesn’t want to be found,” Vander said, gazing thoughtfully at all of them. “There isn’t a warrant out for him. Local law enforcement doesn’t have the interest or the manpower to find someone who simply takes off.”

No, why would they?
Shelby thought, the shock of everything making her head spin. There were enough people who were truly missing and in need of help.

“I don’t know why your father leads this kind of life or why he’s unwilling to speak with you,” Vander said, shaking his head.

Shelby couldn’t fathom any of it. It was like their daddy had slammed the door in their faces. But
why
?

“Since Preston likely hitchhiked out of town, there isn’t much more we can do. I could have Charlie stake out where he was living or follow Pauline around in the hopes he returns, but it’s highly unlikely he’ll return now that everyone in town knows he’s not who he claimed to be. Besides, everyone in Haines knows we’re looking for him. If he does return, I expect May will call me.”

“But he was seeing that woman,” Sadie said, tears running down her face. “How could he simply leave without another word to her?”

Shelby bitterly thought it was no different than what their daddy had done to their mama.

“Seems he hasn’t changed after all these years,” J.P. said, sighing heavily. “I suppose it’s best we know his nature so we don’t cling to any false hope.”

“I never had false hope,” Susannah said, sitting up straighter next to Jake. “We already knew his true colors when he left us. I say we put this behind us and never tell Mama.”