Anything for Her(76)

“Honestly, it’s barely a step up from a garage sale,” she said with disdain.

Allie argued, of course, because it was expected. She ought to be relieved that they were back on familiar footing.

Deep inside, she was still so angry, she was afraid she could never feel the same for her mother.





CHAPTER THIRTEEN



“GOT TO BE HONEST,” the P.I. said. “I’ve hit a roadblock. I can’t answer your questions yet.”

Nolan peeled off his goggles. He’d already set aside the ear protection. With his forearm, he swiped granite dust from his face, keeping the cell phone to his ear. “You can’t track down any family?”

“Oh, yeah, I’ve done that. Haven’t been able to talk to the brother yet, though. He’s a sales manager for one of our bigger employers in these parts. My brother-in-law works there, too. Mannerville Furniture. You know them?”

“No,” Nolan said tersely. “Should I?”

“The company manufactures fine wood furniture. Sells in fancy stores all over the country.”

Nolan pinched the bridge of his nose. “And this is relevant how?”

Small silence. “Well, I guess it isn’t. Only meant to say, this Jason Nelson is on the road most of the time. Hard to catch him home.”

“And the father?”

“Him I talked to. Mark Nelson. First he said he didn’t have a daughter and what was I talking about? When I took out a copy of the yearbook page and a printout of the emergency-contact page from the school records, he slammed the door in my face.”

“Huh.”

“He looked real shook-up,” the investigator remarked thoughtfully. “Not like someone who just didn’t want to be bothered. More as if...” He trailed off.

“He was scared?” Nolan didn’t even know where that came from.

“Yeah. That, or seriously ticked off. Hard to say.”

“I assume you checked out newspaper archives? Arrest records? You didn’t find anything suggesting domestic violence?”

“Nothing like that. There’s no hint the divorce was anything but amicable. Mrs. Nelson never called the cops on her ex, that’s for sure. Neither parent was ever investigated for child abuse.”

Then what in hell had happened? Nolan asked himself in frustration. Could there have been an ugly incident when the family was out of state on vacation, say? He raked fingers through his hair, stirring a cloud of grit. No, of course not; Judy and Mark Nelson had been divorced two years before she and Allie took off. Ridiculous to think they’d have vacationed together.

“Aren’t there other ways to investigate someone’s background?” he asked, grasping at straws. “Where did the Nelsons live before they showed up in Fairfield? What’s Nelson’s working history? Did the school record show a work phone number for the mother?”

“Oh, I pursued all those avenues even though they were peripheral to what you asked me to find out,” the man said. “I tried, anyway.

“Mrs. Nelson was a buyer at a department store that’s gone out of business. I got the name and number of a former employer of Mr. Nelson’s before they appeared in Oklahoma, only that number has been disconnected. The area code was Michigan, Detroit area. Did some searches for a Mark and Judy Nelson in Michigan back fourteen, fifteen years ago and came up with zip. No drivers’ licenses on record, no traffic tickets, no indication they owned property.” His tone was the equivalent of a shrug. “I can go back and knock on Nelson’s door again, or try to find an acquaintance who knows something, but...”

“No.” Whatever instinct had made him speak so quickly, Nolan was listening to it. Or, hell, maybe it was his bank balance talking. “No, let’s call it quits for now.”

“Your decision. What about the son?”

Nolan mulled that over. “Let’s hold off for now. I’ll let you know if I want you to talk to him, too.” He pushed the button to end the call and tossed his phone back onto the counter. “Shit.”

What had he stirred? It made him uneasy that Mark Nelson first denied he had a daughter at all then refused to talk about her. If Allie and her mother had changed their names to make good their escape from him, you’d think he’d have been intrigued by a P.I. coming around and asking questions. It might have occurred to him that this could be a chance for him to track them.