“Yeah, he strikes me that way too. Thanks, Nancy. Just sit tight and don’t tell anyone about this, okay?”
“All right, dear. If you say so.”
“I really appreciate you being so candid.”
“I have four grown daughters of my own, two of them divorced. I know things happen. Life is never perfect. I want you to know that when your mother told me what she was doing I strongly suggested that she stop seeing these other men. To go back to your father and try and work things out. Like I said, I didn’t know him all that well, but I could tell he was a good man. He didn’t deserve what was happening.”
“Nancy, you’re a jewel.”
“No, I’m just a mother who’s seen it all.”
Michelle clicked off and gazed over at Sean. “No wonder I’m so screwed up, right?”
“I think you’re remarkably sane, actually.”
“Why didn’t you want her to talk to the police?”
“I don’t know. Just call it a hunch.”
“So what do we do now?”
“Until we hear back from my two-star, we don’t have a lot to do. How about a quick trip to Nashville to run this down?”
They quickly found that the next direct flight to Nashville wouldn’t leave until the next day, unless they wanted to connect through Chicago and then Denver and take most of a day, much of it sitting in airport lounges or else on tarmacs.
“Gotta love air travel,” said Sean, clicking off his phone after listening to the flight options. “Fly north or west to head south.”
“Screw’em. Feel like a drive?” Michelle said.
“With you, anytime.”
They bought some sandwiches and two giant cups of coffee and set out at eight that night. On the way down Michelle had phoned her brother Bill and learned that all her male siblings had returned to their respective towns except for Bobby, of course, who lived there.
“Got some good news,” Bill had told his sister.
“What’s that?”
“Dad isn’t a suspect anymore. At least not a serious one.”
“Why?”
“ME said the blow came from a lefty and Dad hits from the other side.”
“They didn’t know that before?”
“The wheels of justice move slow, sis, but it’s still good news.”
“How come you all left Dad?”
“We didn’t, actually. He left us.”
“Meaning what exactly?”
“Meaning he told us to get the hell out of town because he was sick of us being around. I wish he would’ve been more direct, you know.” Michelle could almost feel her oldest brother smiling through the phone.
“You really think you should leave him alone?”
“Bobby’s there. And Dad’s a big boy. He can take care of himself.”