Secondhand Sinners (21 page)

Alan slapped her across the face with the side of the gun and pushed her back down. “Relax. I knew it wasn’t loaded.”

Emily held her face where the ache was starting to pound. “He didn’t! I didn’t!”

“Big deal. Hoyt used to do that to me all the time.”

“So that’s what you’re doing now? Whatever Hoyt used to do? I knew you were exactly like him.” She got her purse out of the car and slammed the door shut. “Good luck finding your non-existent key.” She picked Jack up and started to hurry away.

“I’ll tell Abby.”

“Not if I tell her first!” she called back over her shoulder.

“Come back here!”

Emily ignored him. She rushed as fast as she could to the front door of her parents’ house. Once she was in the house she could lock it. She looked back. Alan was gaining on her so she tried to pick up her pace. Jack was too heavy, and she was starting to feel a little dizzy from the blow she’d taken. She looked back again, right in time to see the hard metal grip of the gun coming down toward her forehead. Then everything went black.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-THREE

Miller

Miller kept checking his phone as he sat in the lobby waiting for Sheriff Owens to come back out and tell him he could leave. He’d already answered all their questions twice. Why couldn’t they let him go? He was going to have to pick Abby up from school soon. What the hell was he going to tell her? The truth. That was obvious. The way small-town gossip worked, if he didn’t tell her soon, she’d hear some crazy story about how Chester rescued her from the pack of wild dogs who’d been caring for her. Maybe that was better than the truth.

What was the truth? He never knew. He’d worked for so many years to bury the lies—hiding all photos of Daniel so Abby wouldn’t see the resemblance, giving Sara everything she asked for in the divorce in exchange for not telling Abby about the adoption, keeping the Wilson’s a secret from everyone—that he was digging on sacred ground.

“Well, Miller,” Sheriff Owens said as he came into the room. “He’s gone.”

“Norman’s dead?”

“Yep. Heart failure. The hospital has video of Gail walking to her car and driving out of the parking lot like nothing’s wrong. Funny thing is, we wouldn’t have even known about the bleach if Gail hadn’t left the syringe lyin’ around. Like she wanted us to find it.”

“What happens now? Is she responsible for the death or is Levi? I mean, he was already going to die from the head trauma.”

“He wasn’t gonna die.”

“Yes he was. He had a stroke last night. Emily had come up here to see him one more time and say her goodbyes.”

“I don’t know where you got your news, son, but he was stabilizing.”

“I got my news from Alan.”

“Alan?” Owens scoffed. “Well there’s your problem right there. Alan don’t know shit, ain’t been on duty for days.”

“He was on duty last night. He’s the one who came out to my house this morning to pick up Emily.”

Owens smiled. “You son of a gun. I had no idea you moved so fast.”

Great. In one hour’s time the whole town would be talking about how he and Emily were shacking up, which would only fan the flame of the news of Abby’s adoption.

“Alan came out to my house in his uniform and said he’d just gotten off duty.”

“He was pullin’ your leg. He came into my office the morning after Levi put Norman into the hospital and said he needed to take a few personal days. Weren’t much goin’ on so I said okay.”

“Was this the day Emily came back to town?”

“What day was that?”

“Today is Monday, so that would’ve been Saturday.”

Owens looked up and scratched his cheek for what seemed like forever. He finally put his hand down and looked at Miller again. “Yeah. Saturday. That’s right. I remember because that was the day Sookie Hanson came by selling fish off the back’a his truck. I said to him, “Sookie, you cain’t be selling them bottom feeders outta the back’a truck like that. You gotta have a license.”

Good God. It was like that nightmare Miller had sometimes where Abby was late getting home and he was trying to call her, but he kept pressing the wrong buttons on his phone. “Is there anything you can do about Alan pretending to be on duty when he’s really not?”

“You want me to arrest a police officer for impersonating a police officer?”

“I don’t know.” That did sound ridiculous. “What about Emily?”

“Did he force her into the car with him, or did she go voluntarily?”

“Voluntarily, I guess.”

“Good. Cause I got a lot bigger things to deal with.”

“Can I go, now?”

“Sure. I guess so. If you see Gail, I’d steer clear and call me or one’a my guys.”

“Yeah. Sure.” Miller left the hospital feeling like he was in a daze.

What did Alan want with Emily? He shouldn’t have let her go with him. Like he had a choice. He checked his phone, hoping he’d missed the text message from that receptionist. Or even better, one from Emily. Nothing. What now? The list of wrongs he was responsible for was growing bigger by the hour. He’d never told Abby she was adopted, and now it was too late to tell her the truth. He knew Alan couldn’t be trusted, and now he had Emily. He told Gail where to find the bleach, and now Norman was dead. It seemed wherever he went he screwed things up. Should he go find Emily and get her away from Alan, or should he go to the school and tell his daughter the truth before the town’s gossip chain produced some hyped-up version?

When he got to his truck, he knew exactly where he needed to go and what he needed to do next. The choice wasn’t between Abby and Emily. It was between what he wanted and what he needed. He needed Abby. He wanted Emily. He was so tired of lying, so tired of there being something in between him and Abby. If he was going to start telling the truth now, he might as well start with his oldest lie. He loved Emily. He’d loved her since junior high, loved her even when he thought she loved Daniel, loved her when she ran away. The first thing he needed to do was tell Abby, neutralize the threat. No matter what happened, the truth would finally be out. Then he’d find Emily.

Miller drove to the school and parked in the loading zone. He ran up to the building, slowing to an easy stride when he went inside. He walked into the office and up to the counter to wait for Shirley, the attendance secretary, who was sitting behind the counter and talking on the phone, telling someone their child was close to failing due to absences in the worst Spanglish he’d ever heard.

She finished with: “I’m sorry seen-your-a Wauneka…that’s no bway-no. Bway-no…as in not good. Yes. Yes. Si. Graw-see-ass.”

She put the phone on its cradle, pulled a pencil out of her gray nest of hair, and wrote something on a yellow pad in front of her. “I swear to God I don’t know why these parents think I’m such an idiot.”

Miller was about to say,
Probably because they don’t speak Spanish,
but decided against it. If she didn’t already know Wauneka was a Native American name, he sure as hell didn’t have the time to explain it to her.

When she finished writing, she put the pencil down, looked at Miller and sighed. “You here to get Abby?”

“Yep. She’s got an appointment, and we’re late.”

“You know what class she’s in?”

“What period is it?”

“Fifth is about to start.”

“She’ll be in math I think. Want me to go get her?”

The phone rang. Shirley picked it up and waved Miller off. He went to the math hallway, dodging teenagers as he looked in every classroom window. It wasn’t hard to find her; she was in the third room on the right, sitting on the top of her desk in the middle of the room, surrounded by other kids who were listening to her talk with so much animation that she looked like the girl she was six years ago. She paused, looked around the crowd that was hanging on her every word and then said something that made the group laugh. Then she smiled, and his heart melted. He remembered that smile.

“You stalking your daughter?”

“Huh?”

Tabby Rainwater, Abby’s math teacher, was behind him. She cocked her head in the direction of the classroom. “Your daughter?”

“Oh. Yeah.”

“What in the world happened this weekend?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Abby as happy as she is today. At first I thought she was stoked over right angles, but she said something about yesterday being the best day
ever
.” Tabby smiled when she overemphasized the word
ever
to make it sound like Abby when she said it.

“We had company.”

“Well,” Tabby said, stepping backward into the classroom, “whoever was over yesterday, I suggest you invite them back.”

“Yeah. I will.”

Abby was happy because she thought he was. Within the span of a few hours, everything had gotten so messed up. He didn’t realize Abby had seen him until she waved at him. He didn’t have any time to adjust his expression to keep her from seeing the worried look that must have been on his face.

She frowned, got up, and walked over to him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Why are you here? The last time you showed up at my school like this—”

“No. I was…”
Shit.
He was losing his nerve. “I had to go to the hardware store so I thought I’d drop in to see you.”

She still wasn’t convinced. He could tell by the way her eyes darted as she tried to read his face. “Where’s Emily?”

“She uh…” The last time he showed up at her school unannounced was to bring her home to say goodbye to Sara. She and Sara stood there staring at each other. They didn’t hug, didn’t cry, didn’t even speak except to say “goodbye.” After Sara left, Abby did a load of laundry and then went through the house taking down all evidence of the woman who had left her, leaving only the one picture in his room. Like an idiot, he’d thought she was okay. It took two years and a diagnosis of depression to realize she wasn’t.

Now, as far as Miller knew, Abby had gotten better. He kept a close eye on her, took her to her psychiatry appointments, and made sure she took her medicine religiously. They caught the Wilson’s Disease early so Abby had very few physical side effects from it. But it was the possible behavior changes that worried him the most. He’d seen what could happen with Daniel.

“Well?” Abby asked. “Where’s Emily?”

“She’s back at the house. With Jack,” he lied and hated himself immediately. Why couldn’t he do this? “You better get back to your friends.”

“Can we cook dinner together again tonight?”

“Sure,” he said, already panicked over how to get out of this lie.

“Let’s cook Italian.” She pecked him on the cheek and went back to her desk.

Miller walked down the hall quickly, trying to tame the chaos in his mind.

“I thought you were gonna take her out,” Shirley said when he walked by the office.

“I had the day wrong,” he said, still walking.

“Happens to me all the time.”

Miller got back in his truck and slammed the door. How could he have been such a coward? Abby wasn’t weak. She was a strong girl who deserved a strong father. He rested his head on the steering wheel and took deep breaths. He was going to have to do this, if not now, then in a few hours when she got home from school when he’d have to explain why Emily and Jack weren’t there. He couldn’t lie to his daughter again. He had to do this. Today.

No, now.

He walked back into the school, poked his head in the attendance office and said, “I’m back.”

Shirley stuck her pencil back behind her ear and sighed. “Good Lord.”

“Gonna take her out anyway.”

“I signed her back in.”

“Sorry.”

He went to her classroom, stuck his head in the door and said to her teacher, “I’m going to go ahead and take her home.”

Abby smiled, gathered her things quickly, and waved to the class on her way out the door. When she met Miller in the hallway, she nudged him with her shoulder. “Didn’t want me to miss out on any of the fun, huh?”

“Yeah.” He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “We have to talk.”

“Oh my God. What?”

“Not here. Let’s go to the truck.”

“No, Daddy. Here.”

“Fine,” he sighed. “Can we go somewhere private?”

“There are some benches outside.”

“Perfect.”

They went outside and around the building and sat on a concrete bench that looked out onto the field house next to the high school where Emily and Daniel would go when she got that look in her eyes. He took Abby’s hand and pressed it between his.

“I want you to know that I love you more than life. I will do anything for you, and I know that you are going to do great things with your life. I would hate it if what I’m about to say—”

“This is killing me. Say it.”

“Okay.” He let go of her hand and stood up. He paced back and forth in front of her a few times and sat down. “Abby. Sweetheart.” He took her hand and clasped it in between his. “You’re adopted.”

Abby stared at him for a few seconds with a blank expression before she pulled her hand out of his and clasped it to her mouth.

He wished she would talk. “Say something. Say anything. Say—”

She started laughing.

“I’m not joking. You’re adopted.”

She removed her hand from her face and sat up straighter. She closed her eyes like she was willing herself to stop laughing, and it worked. When she opened her eyes and looked at Miller, she started giggling again.

“Come on. This isn’t funny.”

“You’re right.” She shut her eyes. “I need a second.” When she opened her eyes again, she stifled one more laugh and then said, “You are so serious.”

“This is a serious conversation. You’re adopted. Isn’t there something you’d like to say about that?”