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So why did the back of her arms still have goose pimples?
Why did the muscles in her chest tighten?
She picked up her pace and told herself she was being a ninny, a “’fraidy cat,” as they said in grade school. But she did understand about Reed’s concerns. Who wouldn’t be after the other night when a stranger had entered their home unannounced and uninvited?
She made her way out of the park, crossed the street and once on the steps of her home, glanced over her shoulder.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
Whatever she’d seen or thought she’d seen was gone.
But the uneasy feeling remained.
* * *
Reed was on his way out of the office when his cell phone rang and he took the call, settling back into his chair. “Detective Reed.”
“Hey. Yeah. You been callin’ me and, um, I decided if I didn’t call ya back, you might come knockin’ and I don’t need any of that kind of trouble.” The voice was male and rough.
“I’m sorry. You’re—?”
“Oh, uh. Reggie Scott. You’ve been phonin’, leavin’ messages.”
Owen Duval’s biological father. “That’s right. I didn’t recognize the number.” He sat on his desk and hit the record button on his phone. “You’re in Atlanta.”
“Yeah, got me a job at the mill and I don’t want no one messin’ it up for me. Don’t need any cops comin’ to the mill or nothin’, but I ain’t got nothin’ to say anyway.”
“I’m calling about the bodies that were found at the Beaumont estate.”
“The Duval girls, yeah, I know. I put two and two together. Look, I don’t know nothin’ about that.”
“What about your son?”
“Owen. He ain’t my son. Gave him up way back when. Figured he’d be better off with Margaret.” He snorted. “I was back on the booze then, y’know, had my share of troubles and so I guess I can’t blame her for lookin’ for somethin’ better, but still it was a pisser, y’know.”
“What was?”
“You know. To find out your wife is bangin’ someone else? Sheeit. Doesn’t do much for a man’s ego, if y’know what I mean.”
“She was involved with another man?”
“Well, hell yeah. Harvey. She and he were gettin’ it on while I was doin’ a little time and when I get out, she tells me she’s takin’ my boy and to leave her and her new family alone. She offered me some money and I’m not ashamed to say I took it, and Harvey adopted Owen and she had her perfect little family.” The sarcasm in his voice was palpable. “Guess it didn’t turn out all that perfect after all.”
“Where were you the day the girls went missing?”
He laughed. “That’s a good one. Never met ’em. That was twenty years ago or so? How the hell would I know?”
“Seems like something you would remember.”
“Oh, for the love of Christ. If I remember correctly a friend of mine—Bill Seymore—and I were shootin’ dice, but he’s dead now. Can’t confirm. So just leave me the hell alone. I had nothin’, not one damn thing to do with those girls. Hell, I wouldn’t have recognized ’em if I ran over ’em. As I just told ya, I never met ’em. When Margaret and I split, that was it. Never saw her again and as for Owen, just a time or two. It just wasn’t worth it. I borrowed money from him a couple of times, but that was it. We didn’t have what you’d call a normal father/son relationship, if you know what I mean.”
“He loaned you money.”
Reggie snorted. “Had to pry it out of him. I figured he owed me. He did owe me. Look, man, now you know, so leave me the hell alone.”
He ended the call, and Reed went back to the records but saw no mention of Reggie Scott in the reports other than a mention that he was the biological father of Owen Duval.
Nothing else.
