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“What more?” Twyla asked.
“Some that didn’t disappear,” Josie said, “were found dead.”
Twyla believed her sister fully. Goose bumps covered her arms as she turned to Norma Rose. “What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know yet,” Norma Rose answered. “I need to talk to Ty, and Father—”
“But he’ll stop us.” Desperation crept up Twyla’s spine.
Norma Rose nodded. “They all will. Father, Ty, even Forrest. None of them will want us involved. However, on the other hand,” she continued, “we can’t come up with a plan if we don’t know what’s happening. Let me gather a bit more information, and then we can decide what we can do.”
Twyla wasn’t impressed with that plan, but considering she didn’t have one of her own, she nodded.
“Sometimes,” Norma Rose said thoughtfully, “when you make your bed, you have to lie in it.”
Twyla’s insides jittered. She had no idea exactly to whom Norma Rose was referring.
* * *
Forrest had sat down in the extra chair and without protest accepted the glass of brandy Roger had poured for each of them. The alcohol might do him some good, and it wasn’t as if he was going to go flying again today.
Roger had climbed out of his chair as soon as Forrest had closed the door, and had been making small talk ever since. About driving around with Palooka George, looking at land the man might be interested in buying, how swell the party had been last night, even how successful businesses in the area were.
Having finished his drink, Forrest leaned over to set the glass on the table between him and Ty—at the same time Ty did—and they locked eyes. Forrest took it that Ty was just as perplexed by Roger’s behavior as he was.
Roger picked up his glass then, having been too busy talking to drink much of it, and finished it in one long swallow. He set the empty glass on his desk and included both Forrest and Ty in a long, somewhat scrutinizing stare. Sitting down in his chair, he let out a sigh. “I wanted to give both of you a chance to get over that little scene outside. I know my girls can be a handful, but you two handled it quite well, keeping those girls apart.”
Forrest glanced toward Ty, curious to know how the other man was reacting to that compliment.
Once again, Ty met his gaze. “I don’t know about you,” Ty said, “but I was hiding behind Norma Rose for protection.”
The ice that could have been filling the room cracked, and the laughter Roger let out melted any frost that may have been lingering behind. Forrest grinned at Ty in agreement. “I was sure it was going to break out into a full-blown boxing match.”
“Without gloves,” Ty added.
“I haven’t seen those two go at it like that in years,” Roger said.
“Really?” Forrest asked dryly. “I remember them fighting fairly regularly.”
Roger shook his head. “Things have changed since you left, Forrest. Norma Rose was always full of herself, but she lost a bit of it for a while. I figured giving her charge over her sisters would bring it back. It wasn’t the trick I’d hoped it would be. She turned into a tyrant. I still wasn’t too concerned, figured when the younger ones got tired of it, they’d give her what for.” Roger sighed again. “I was right, while also being wrong. Norma Rose’s iron hand kept the girls at home, where they needed to be...protected, but it also made them stir-crazy. They started sneaking out. Running away.” He ran a hand through his silvery white hair. “Ginger ran away to Chicago, you know. I’m heading down there tomorrow to get her, something I almost don’t want to do.”
Forrest attempted to keep his surprise hidden, both at hearing Ginger had run away and Roger’s statement, yet he had to ask, “You don’t?”
Roger shook his head. “Oh, I want her home, but I’m glad she took a stand. The others haven’t. Josie’s buried herself in that cumbersome Ladies Aid Society, throwing birthday parties for women four times her age, and Twyla, well, up until lately, she’d reverted back to being ten. Which drove half the men in my employ, as well as her sister, crazy. I couldn’t even punish her when she snuck out to the Pour House or the boxing match down in St. Paul.” Settling his gaze on Forrest he added, “Or when I found out about her kissing booth.”
“I wondered if you knew about all that,” Forrest admitted.
“How could I not?” Roger asked. “My men tell me everything. I also know a man can’t keep his children under his thumb forever. My girls have been cooped up like a brood of chicks for years. But that’s how it had to be.” Roger paused briefly to glance at Ty. “Until Galen went to prison.”
