Was he simply an asshole?
No. She immediately dismissed that one. A.L. was sometimes short, borderline rude, many times preoccupied with work, but he was not put off by her arm or lack thereof. And he was not the kind of guy who frankly cared what anybody else thought.
Except perhaps his daughter.
“Does that bother you, Traci? That I was in California with your dad?” She wasn’t going to dance around it.
Traci shook her head. “No. But I was worried about him being out there by himself. That he’d slip on a rock and go over a cliff or something. I guess it pisses me off that he didn’t tell me the truth.”
“I think your dad would rather cut off his arm before upsetting you. I’m sure he had his reasons.”
Traci picked up her fork. Took two bites. “Do you like him?”
Maybe she should stick to a one word answer. YES. But that seemed inadequate. “You know your dad and I met in unusual circumstances.” She’d been the target of a serial killer who had come really close to successfully snuffing out her lights for good.
“And I’ve had some things to deal with,” Tess added, glancing at her arm that ended two inches below her elbow.
“Uh-huh,” Traci said.
Tess heard, Yeah, great. But you didn’t answer my question.
“It’s good,” Tess said. “Right now, it’s very good.”
“Right now?” Traci repeated. “You’re thinking this is short-term?”
“You really are your father’s daughter,” Tess said. She hoped it wasn’t a summer fling but those were conversations that hadn’t yet taken place. “It’s just early in the relationship,” she hedged.
“He hasn’t really dated much since he and Mom got divorced. When he did, I certainly never met any of them. I guess I was surprised this summer when he had the barbecue. He told me about your accident. I think he wanted to make sure that I didn’t stare. I guess that’s when I first thought that this might be something different.”
“I was nervous to have your dad meet my daughter,” Tess confessed. “I didn’t want her to get too hopeful,” Tess added, wanting to be as honest as she could.
Traci stared at her. “I don’t know what I hope for. For so long after the divorce, I hoped that Mom and Dad would get back together. But now, I really don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Tess said nothing.
“I don’t want him to be alone,” Traci said, proving that she was pretty mature. “I mean, I’m off to college next year.”
“Right,” Tess said.
Traci stared at her. “I should probably be going.” She gathered up her tray. “It was good to see you again, Tess. And my dad, well, he said he had a really good time in California.”
Tess watched her walk away. Then picked up her phone and sent a quick text to A.L. Met Traci by chance at the mall. We ate together. She knows that I was in California with you.
She pushed Send before she could rethink it. A.L. needed to know so that he didn’t get caught in a lie with his daughter. They could deal with why he’d kept it a secret at a later time. Definitely after the police had found the missing five-year-old.
* * *
A.L. got the text from Tess just when he and Rena were about to park in front of Kara’s house. “Fuck,” he said.
Rena looked around quickly, as if expecting trouble. “What?” she asked.
A.L. waved a hand. “Nothing.”
“Tell me,” she said. “I need something to take my mind off the fact that we’re more than twelve hours into this day and not much closer to a happy ending.”
“Tess ran into Traci at the mall,” he said.
Rena waited. Finally she said, “And Traci told her that her butt looked fat in the dress she was trying on?”
A.L. frowned at her. “Of course not.”
“Then what is making you suddenly act as if your cat prefers me over you?”
“That will never happen,” he said. Then he sighed. “I didn’t tell Traci that Tess was going to California with me. And now Tess knows that.”
“And she’s going to wonder why?”
“I imagine,” A.L. muttered.
“So tell her why.”
“Nothing to tell.”
“Not sure I understand,” Rena said.
“Nothing to tell because I’m not sure why I didn’t tell Traci or Jacqui or anyone but you. I just didn’t.”
“Because you don’t like people knowing your business,” Rena said.
He hated that. “Maybe.”
“But maybe not?” Rena said. She could always get to the heart of the issue. “Maybe there was another reason?”
“I just said, I don’t know.”
Rena reached for the door handle. “You should really try not to screw this up with Tess. I like her.”
“Thank you for your counsel. Very helpful.” Tess wasn’t going to buy that he’d simply forgotten to mention it to Traci the night before they were leaving town.
He took the moment to send a quick text back to Tess. Thanks. We’ll talk later.
He pushed Send. There was no immediate response. He tried not to read too much into that.
Nine
Rena knocked on Kara’s door. When she opened it, Rena thought the woman looked tired, and her nose was sunburned. “Can we come in?” she asked.
“Of course,” Kara said. She stepped back.
Her house was a midsize ranch with a great room off the kitchen. Kara led them there. It smelled of lavender. Rena saw the lit candle on the fireplace mantel and figured that was the reason. “Is your husband home?” she asked.
“Working,” Kara said. She looked at the clock. “Well, by now, close to done with work. But like I said before, he’ll stop for beers with his friends.”
Kara Wiese was perhaps more understanding than Rena. If that was Gabe, she wouldn’t care if he had drinks with his friends occasionally, but every night after work? That seemed excessive. “Are we interrupting your dinner?”
“Difficult to think about things like food. I just got home about an hour ago. We searched all day.”
“I’ve shared the notes of our initial discussion with Detective Morgan, so she’s up to speed,” A.L. said. “Since that time, is there anything that you’ve thought of to add to that or perhaps modify in any way?”