Page 45 of Long Gone

I nodded. “I’m sure it helped make your family closer.”

His gaze dropped to his plate, and he said quietly, “Yeah.”

“Brett Colter said your father got more money from the investors by telling them you were ill and needed the money. Do you know anything about that?”

He shook his head, his eyes wide. “No. He wouldn’t have done that. It would have been a lie.”

So either Colter had lied to me to make Hugo look bad or Anton didn’t know his father as well as he thought he did.

I gave him a second to let his emotions settle before I asked, “Did your mother know about Larkspur Limited?”

“She knew Dad was meeting with a potential new investor, but I don’t know if he told her the name of the group. Just that the meeting was happening.”

“How did you know?”

He reached for his glass but didn’t pick it up. “He told me more than he told her. I was probably his best friend, and in hindsight, he might have told me too much. It was a pretty hard burden for a kid to know how bad things were for his dad.” He lifted his glass and took a drink.

“I’m sorry.”

He shrugged, trying to look nonchalant as he lowered the glass, but I saw the pain in his eyes. “It is what it is.”

Realizing I hadn’t touched my food yet, I picked up my fork and started to mix up my salad. “So if the meeting with the investor went badly,” I said, “and your father hadn’t disappeared, how would he have reacted? Would he have gone to your game?”

His jaw set. “Absolutely. Like I said, he never missed any of my games.”

“But this would have been particularly bad news. Do you think he would have needed to regroup before he went to the game? Is there some place he would have gone? Maybe a bar? The gym to work off his frustration? A nature spot?”

He took a bite of his sandwich with a pensive look. When he swallowed, he said, “I’m racking my brain, but can’t think of any place like that. I really think he would have come to the game and pretended like everything was okay.” He paused. “I’ve given this a lot of thought, and he would have known that he was about to let all of us down. He wouldn’t have made it worse by not going to the game.” His mouth twisted into a half smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, Anton. It does.”

“It’s just…Mary Ann and I were everything to him. He pretty much lived for us. He would have come to the game.”

I stabbed some lettuce with my fork. “Let’s say your father showed up. What would he have done after the game?”

“We would have all gone home and had a late dinner.”

“Would he have told the family that the meeting went poorly?”

“Yeah. I think so. We all knew the meeting was that afternoon, and we knew it was important. We would have asked.”

“Do you think the pressure of telling your family could have been too much for him?”

His face reddened. “I told you he wouldn’t have run, Harper.”

I leaned closer, lowering my voice. “Anton, he obviously went somewhere. If he was murdered, I’m trying to figure out the timeline. Where would he have gone? And if he was murdered, by whom and why? Murder by a stranger is extremely rare, but it does happen.” I knew that all too well from my sister’s kidnapping and murder. “Was it a case of a robbery gone wrong? Or was it one of his investors?”

His cheeks turned pink. “Sorry. I know you’re trying to help, but for the past five years, I’ve had dozens of people tell me I’m deluded to believe he didn’t run off. I guess it’s hard to accept you think there might be another explanation.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I understand your frustration, but I will tell you that I’m not making up my mind one way or the other yet. While I think it’s less likely he ran away, I’m not ruling it out. I need to look at all the angles, so don’t be offended by my questions.”

“Yeah, I get it.” His gaze dropped to the table, and he repeated, “I’m sorry.”

“And I’m sorry you’ve had to live through this, but every piece of information you can give me, even if it makes him look guilty of deserting you, will help.” I held his gaze. “I know you don’t know me and have no reason to trust me, but I’m asking you to anyway. I’m likely the first person who has actively investigated your father’s disappearance in years. If you want me to find out what happened, I need you to be honest with me.”

He studied me for a moment, then said softly, “Yeah. Okay. I will.”

I nodded and took a bite of my food, giving him a moment to absorb everything. I needed to establish a timeline of the last places he’d been. “Your father had a lunch meeting with Brett Colter, but I’m not sure what else he did that day. Do you know what time he was meeting his investor?”

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