The Newcomer (Thunder Point #2)(55)

“What if you had known?” Mac asked.

“Hard to say. I probably would’ve gotten married—I was prepared for that. But I was the stubborn idiot who thought nothing had to change about my life. I’d keep doing whatever I wanted to do and Bridget would go along. Right? Isn’t that what young men think?”

“Oh, man,” Mac said. “You really would’ve been surprised.”

“I think Spencer will call you. Be honest, Mac—this isn’t a favor I’m asking. You don’t have to tell me when he calls, what he asks. Austin’s a good little kid. I want his dad to be careful, to know the truth.”

“I don’t know anything bad about you, Cooper. And there’s a tradition that goes along with all this.”

“Oh?”

“Gotta buy us a couple of cigars,” he said. Then he put out his hand and said, “Congratulations, man!”

* * *

While Cooper had been dealing with the news of his surprise son, Mac had been busy with his own mystery. He’d been researching his ex, trying to figure out what Cee Jay was up to. Her car was registered to a Madeline Crofts from Los Angeles and that was the second time he’d come across a familiar name but wasn’t sure why. There was no police record, just an L.A. address.

It hadn’t occurred to him to look up his ex-wife’s attorney until days had passed. When he finally searched the California Bar Association using every possible spelling, the name didn’t pop up. A fraud? Could she be practicing without a license? Finally he looked up Antoinette LeClair on Google and had to go through pages of references until he came upon one that jiggled his memory—that was the name of a character on Law and Order. And she was played by none other than Madeline Crofts, formerly of Oregon.

Then he went to work on Cee Jay’s history, searching under a variety of aliases, including Cecelia Raines and bingo. Cecelia Jayne McCain was married to Martin Raines six years ago. Almost one year before her divorce from Mac was finalized.

“Bigamy,” Mac muttered.

The Raineses were divorced two years ago and the wealthy Mr. Raines left her a very large Laguna Beach home, two luxury late model vehicles, jewelry. He also paid two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year in spousal support. Further research a few days later showed that the house was in foreclosure. It appeared that it was left to Cee Jay free and clear and she’d borrowed against it. Its value was two-point-four million.

What the hell?

Mac had bought his five-bedroom home for one hundred eighty thousand and had done all the necessary repairs himself. His Aunt Lou was also an owner—they bought it together. Their plan was to own it free and clear in another ten years.

How had Cee Jay gone through that amount of money in such a short time? She was well-dressed, but how much money did that take? And if she had resources like that, what was she doing back here, trying to get reacquainted with her children? He had trouble believing it was sincere motherly love.

This all made no sense to him.

He called Sidney and asked him to get in touch with Cee Jay’s attorney to set up a meeting. Sidney called him back a few hours later to tell him that the number he had for Ms. LeClair was not in service. “Not a listing anywhere,” Sidney said. “And I can’t find her in the directory of California attorneys.”

“Neither could I,” Mac said. And then he told Sidney what he’d found on a computer search of public documents.

“I don’t recommend a meeting with the ‘so-called’ lawyer right now even if we could locate her,” Sidney said. “And, frankly, if I’d known all this, I wouldn’t have agreed to that meeting with the children. I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’m pretty sure it’s not legal. It’s certainly not responsible. There are the feelings of children involved!”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Mac said.

Mac didn’t discuss this conundrum with anyone else, not even Lou. Instead he called a colleague in L.A., who recommended a private detective with a good reputation. Mac hired him to gather background information on Cee Jay. He was primarily interested in where her money was and where her ex-husband had gone. Marrying and divorcing him, obtaining a very large settlement when she hadn’t been divorced and free to marry in the first place was fraud. She’d be lucky if she didn’t go to jail.

The very idea of the mother of his children in jail chilled Mac to the bone.

* * *

With the way things had been going with Ashley, Gina did something she thought she’d never do—she phoned the parents of Ashley’s biological father, Eric Gentry. She had no idea where he lived now and she hoped she could get a current address from his parents, whom, she knew, were residents of a retirement community outside North Bend. Without wanting to get into a lot of detail with them Gina fabricated a little white lie. She said she worked for an auto insurance company and had a large refund check for Eric Gentry, but had no current address for him. “Since he hasn’t been a client of ours for over fifteen years, we don’t have his address and the check was returned. I can’t send it to you—it will have to be signed for. Would you be able to give his contact information?”

Mrs. Gentry, gullible as many seniors are, gave Gina his current address. It was a business address in Eugene, Oregon.

It took Gina about fifteen minutes on the computer to learn that Eric Gentry owned a body shop in Eugene, which was relatively close to Thunder Point. She’d bet her last tip that he’d stayed clear of Thunder Point ever since he’d left town almost seventeen years ago.