Page 41 of Rogue Wave

“There’s a man here claiming to be your father.”

It took a few moments for Dr. Marcie’s words to register in my brain.

I paused in my search and shook my head as if to clear the cobwebs and confusion from it. “What?”

“There’s a man out front named Craig Carson, who claims he is your father. He knew your name and several basics about you, but you don’t have him on the list for family visitors for today, and the sheriff that was here earlier told our security staff to keep a close eye out in case your ex tried to show up, so we’re just being overly cautious.”

There was a lot to take in there. First, my father was here—supposedly. Second, Hank had told our security staff about Rourke.

“Do you want me to tell him you’re busy, or…” she started to ask, but I held up my hand.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll go see him,” I told her, mostly because I was curious.

The name matched, but I imagine it wasn’t too hard to find that information on the internet.

I hadn’t seen or spoken to my father in more than a decade. I wasn’t sure if he was here because he saw my name and face on the news and wanted to see me, or if he, too, was curious about the reward money like Rourke was.

I followed Dr. Marcie out to the main visitor area, and we weaved through several exhibits before coming around a corner where one of our security guards, Allen, was standing next to two older men.

I had no idea who the man on the right was, but the man on the left was definitely my father. He’d aged quite a bit since I’d seen him last, but I guessed prison would do that to you—plus not seeing your daughter for nearly twenty years.

“Dad,” I said as I walked into the space.

I noticed Allen had relaxed a bit at my acknowledgment but didn’t move away.

“Hazel, dear, so good to see you,” my dad said, a big smile on his face as if this was totally normal and we saw each other all the time.

What the hell was he playing at?

“Sorry to just barge in on you like this at work, but I was in town with my old high school buddy, Samson, and he really wanted to meet you, so I thought I’d drop by and say hi.”

I didn’t remember him ever mentioning a Samson before, but honestly, I generally avoided most of my dad’s friends whenever I could because most gave me the creeps.

“You all good?” Dr. Marcie said quietly beside me.

My dad may not have been Parent of the Year material, but he wouldn’t hurt me. In fact, it was why he often taught us all the tricks for setting traps to see if someone had broken into your home or how to lie to strangers. It may not have been a common parenting method, but he’d done it because he cared.

“Yeah, thank you,” I replied.

She nodded and then walked away, though Allen stayed.

“I’m Samson. Nice to meet you,” the creepy guy next to my father said as he stuck out his hand for me to shake.

I’d been raised to be polite by the O’Haras, but I was also raised to never feel obligated to hug anyone or shake anyone’s hand if I didn’t feel comfortable doing so, which was why I kept my hands clasped in front of me but politely smiled and nodded instead.

“Nice to meet you too,” I replied and then turned to my dad. “Why are you really here?”

“Is there somewhere private we can talk?” he asked, confirming my suspicions that this wasn’t just a sweet reunion with my long-lost father.

If I knew my dad, my guess was he needed to borrow money or something along those lines.

“No, but we can walk and talk if you don’t want to stand here,” I offered.

I didn’t think my dad would hurt me, but I also wasn’t stupid enough to go someplace alone with him and the creepy man next to him. Among the general public would be safer.

“Actually, maybe we could—” Samson started to say, but my father cut him off.

“Walk and talk is fine.” He threw a pointed look at Samson that he clearly understood, but that only confused me more. He held out his arm to tell me he would follow my lead, and I began to walk down the nearest hallway.