Page 96 of Long Gone

“No,” I said, then drew in a deep breath to steady my nerves. “I wanted to see you.”

He studied me a moment longer, I suppose reassuring himself that I really wanted to be here, before sitting back down.

Sitting opposite him, I reached for the water glass that had already been placed there and took several long gulps.

“Have you heard anything from Mom?” I asked when I set down the glass.

“No. I tried calling her again, but she didn’t answer.” He grimaced. “But to be honest, she’s mad enough at me that she might not have answered anyway.”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t be worried?” I asked. “This is so unlike her…I think.”

“The leaving part, sure,” my dad said, “but the manipulative, dramatic behavior? Not so much.”

Kylie, who usually worked the day shift, came over with her notepad and I realized Dad already had a menu sitting to the side. “Y’all ready to order?”

I gave Dad a questioning look and he nodded. “I got here early and looked at the menu. But you can take more time if you need it.”

He ordered a hamburger and an iced tea, and I ordered a chicken sandwich and a beer. As Kylie headed to the back, I snuck a glance at the bar and saw that Malcolm still wasn’t there. While I hadn’t wanted to see him, now I was worried about what he might be up to.

I had planned to wait until our food arrived to ask my questions, but I was concerned that Malcolm was planning a sneak attack. I wanted to get my answers before he could pounce.

“When I mentioned Hugo Burton,” I said carefully, “you said we’d talk about it at dinner.”

He drew in a breath, then nodded. “That’s right.” But he hushed up because Kylie was headed back to the table with my beer and my father’s iced tea. After she set them down, he watched her leave, and when she was almost to the bar, he leaned in closer and said, “I helped Hugo set up his corporation and the contracts for his investors.”

I wasn’t sure why that surprised me. He was a property attorney, so it made complete sense.

“The sheriff’s department says they never found contracts.”

He didn’t react.

“Why didn’t you tell them you created them?”

“I didn’t know they didn’t have them,” he said weakly.

“Then why don’t you seem surprised?”

“I heard they didn’t have lots of things in that case. They said Hugo ran off with it all.”

I held his gaze. “Do you know where the contracts went?”

“I already told you that?—”

“That everyone thinks he ran off, but that’s not the same as telling me what you think.”

A sheepish look filled his eyes, and he dropped his gaze to the table.

“What happened to the contracts, Dad?”

He kept his gaze down for several seconds before he said, “Did you ask the sheriff’s department what they think?”

Disappointment sank into my bones. He wasn’t really lying, but he was evading the truth. “They also think he took them.”

I picked up my beer and took a long pull. My father gave me a questioning look but didn’t say anything.

I set the bottle on the table and held his gaze. “The law firm has copies of every contract generated in the office. I bet I could go into the file room tomorrow morning and pull them.”

“They’re not there,” he said, his cheeks turning pink.

---