Page 40 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“Please, call me Jeff. What do you mean?”

“I’ve been getting a lot of strange looks since I got to town, and some older guy questioned me the other day about my mother’s whereabouts.”

“Lots of people are curious about what happened to your mother,” he said. “It was a scandal back then.”

“What kind of scandal?”

“Look, your father moved to Hawaii to protect you.”

“Wait…” She processed his words, then asked, “Did you know my dad before?”

He bobbed his head once. “Your dad and I go way back.”

She hadn’t told Jeff about Dad’s last words, figuring he’d handled the purchase of the house and nothing else. But, now that she thought about it, why had her dad needed a lawyer in New Hampshire? He had one in Hawaii who’d managed his business and his will and trust. A person didn’t need to hire a lawyer to buy a house, right?

To clarify, she asked, “So you knew him when…when my mother disappeared, when he moved away?”

“Knew you too.” He offered a grandfatherly smile. “You were the prettiest baby I’d ever seen.”

She wasn’t going to get sidetracked. “Did you know my mother?”

He shifted on his feet and cleared his throat. “We met, of course, but I didn’t know her well.”

“What can you tell me about what happened back then?”

“Young lady?—”

“I’m thirty-one.” She didn’t mean the words to come out curt, but she wasn’t a child. He needed to see her as a capable adult, not the baby he’d known before. For good measure, she added, “And I deserve to know.”

“Your father left for a reason. He didn’t want you involved.”

“There’s nothing to beinvolvedin now. It’s been three decades. I just want to know?—”

“I’m sorry, but it’s not my place.”

“Dad sent me here. Did he tell you that?”

The old man’s eyes snapped wide. “What do you mean?”

“Before he died, he told me to come here and…” Now she did turn to see who might be listening. Because it seemed there were people in this town who weren’t on her side, and her business was not theirs. But the lobby was empty. Still, she lowered her voice. “Can I trust you to keep this to yourself?”

“I’ve been acting as your attorney since your father died, so attorney-client privilege applies.”

“On his deathbed, my father asked me to find my mother and do right by her. I have no idea what he was talking about, but he mentioned the house. Do you have any idea what he wants me to look for?”

Before she stopped talking, Jeff’s head was shaking. He took a step back. “Your father must’ve been delirious. Was he on painkillers or something? Your mom’s been missing a long time, and nobody knows what happened to her.”

The confident words coming out of his mouth did not match the fearful expression on his face.

“Why are you lying to me?”

He rubbed his lips together, and his gaze darted all around the lobby. “Your mother is gone, Aspen. There’s nothing you can do to change that. Coming here and stirring up the past is only going to cause trouble.”

“For who? You?”

“I had nothing to do with it.”

“With what? What is ‘it’?”

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