Page 25 of Fragments of the Past

A name so clearly visible that I hadn’t noticed it at first glance.

Shocked, Susan turns to Harvey. Her lip trembles as she regards her husband. “Pearl. She was unhappy we were seeing each other after her father died. I broke things off and dated Alan. But it was impossible not to see Harvey at work. So I called it off with Alan,” she explains for my benefit.

“How long were you involved with Mr. Adair?”

She places the paper on the coffee table. “A few months.”

“Was it serious?”

“No. Not on my part. Between the business and Harvey helping out around the house, I’d been torn.”

“What was Adair’s reaction to you deciding not to date him any longer?”

Susan’s shoulder’s hit her ears. “Alan was upset. He said he wasted a lot of time trying to make things work with me.”

“Do you think he was resentful?”

“I—I don’t know. He told me he was leaving town after I broke it off. I didn’t see him afterwards.”

“You have a timeframe between the last time you spoke with Alan Adair and the evening Pearl went missing?”

“I’d been back with Harvey for four weeks. Maybe more? I haven’t even thought of Alan since,” Susan says, bewildered. As if she should have thought harder, racked her overwhelmed brain at a time when the primary emotion a parent feels is sheer terror.

“What was Adair’s relationship with Pearl like?”

“Good. He went out of his way to include her when…”

“When?” I prompt after Susan’s pregnant pause.

“When I told Alan that Pearl seemed resentful of Harvey taking her father’s place. Oh God, did I?” Susan takes a choking gasp. “Pearl went with Alan didn’t she? Was it my fault?”

I lean in, taking Susan’s hands in mine. “The person responsible was the one who took your child. Remember that. Always.”

“Where is he? Where is Alan now?” Pearl’s mother sounds panicked.

“Alan Adair has been incarcerated in Texas. He was found guilty of trying to murder his second wife after a kidnapping.”

If Susan Turner needs the rest of the story, she can search it out. It’s ugly. Adair intended to ransom the baby he’d stolen.

Along with a victim statement calling to light the safety of another child in the same family, Brighton P.D.’s quiet interest in Adair recently swayed the parole board from releasing him.

And while his lawyer argues that it’s neither here nor there, since Adair knew Susan Tatton, the penitentiary’s search of his personal effects has found articles pertaining to the Pruitt murders and Pearl Tatton’s disappearance. The lawyer also takes exception to the partial fingerprints found at the scene. Years ago, investigators hadn’t been able to match those prints because Adair’s weren’t entered into the system until he was booked for his arrest.

We’re slowly building a case that Adair—a grifter—ingratiated himself to Pearl. That he came to the Tattons’ that night in an attempt to reconcile with Susan, who had inherited a sizable amount upon her husband’s death. And that sometime after Pearl opened the door, Adair hit her on the head with her softball bat. Trace metal fragments were embedded in the bone. He cleaned the bat with the hand towel and hid it under Pearl’s bed. Then the park maintenance worker brought her body, wrapped in the tarp, to the park and buried her next to the wishing well where he knew the town was putting the sidewalk because he was on the crew.

Except the following day, Adair failed to show up for work. He’d moved to Texas and moved on to bilk another unsuspecting widow.

Epilogue

________________

RAE LEE

“Can I ask you something?” Susan rolls her lips.

I have a duty to see this through, but couldn’t agree to meet Pearl’s mother before the prosecutor presented his case against Alan Adair. I knew whatever came out during the trial would create new uncertainties for Susan. Except, I also have to protect myself and the life Anson and I are building together. Because of that, I can only speak to Pearl again this once to help her mom heal.

We have a blanket spread at Pearl’s gravesite. Susan brought a basket filled with petit fours and teacups she allowed Pearl to play tea party with before Pearl’s father died. It’s an unusual place for a picnic … nowadays. A long time ago, people used to spend time with their dead relatives this way. Some cultures still do.

---