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Although...what he found here, much closer to home, might make the long drive unnecessary.
After parking down the street, he got out to walk the rest of the way to his aunt and uncle’s property. At least it wouldn’t take long to do what he had to do, and no one was expecting him, so he should be able to get it done and leave without incident.
He eyed the drive before he drew too close. Lynn’s truck was there. So was Stuart’s.
Great. He could check both.
He looked at his watch. He’d been hoping to come while they were eating dinner, when they’d be together and preoccupied, so no one would startle him by coming out of the office or pulling into the drive at the wrong time. His aunt was pretty methodical and typically adhered to a routine. Unless what was going on between them had somehow caused her to deviate from the norm, he should be able to get what he wanted without their even knowing he was there.
Stuart’s truck was closest, so he checked that first. Although he was skeptical, there was a possibility that Lynn had pressured her husband into damaging the well. Or she could’ve drivenhistruck to the Haslems’ property that night and done it herself.
But Hendrix hadn’t expected to find a match, and he didn’t.
It was Lynn’s truck that worried him. He’d believed her when she denied any involvement, but belief was different from proof. He hoped to get something he could show Ellen.
To document what he found, he’d been taking pictures of the tires he checked and labeling them. If he was going to the work of trying to use the tire-imprint impression to find the saboteur, he figured he might as well.
He glanced at the house. Leo’s day was less structured and predictable than Lynn’s or Stuart’s. And if Leo saw him, he’d scream his name and come running from the house...
But all remained quiet.
Hendrix kneeled to check the back tires of his aunt’s ride. The body of the truck would block any view of him from the house. He’d only be exposed once he circled around to the front, so he was saving those tires for last.
No match.
Allowing himself one more glance at the house, he strode to the front. If they caught him, they caught him, he decided. He didn’t want to make matters any worse, but he was bent on finishing his inspection, regardless.
The front left tire didn’t match the tire impression—and the front right tire had the same tread as the front left, so it wasn’t a match, either.
“Thank God,” he muttered and breathed a sigh of relief as he took a few pictures.
He’d just finished and was eager to show Ellen what he’d found and who he could eliminate—if the picture she’d taken that day truly meant what they thought it did. But before he could get out of the yard, Zeus started to bark and jump against the front door of the house, trying to get out. Then the door swung open, Zeus came running across the yard to greet him and Leo was right behind him.
Ellen had reached her house, but after pulling into the drive, she just sat in her truck. She was too focused on her telephone call to bother getting out. “I sent you the proof, Mom. He mailed those checks religiously on the first of each month—and you cashed them. Didn’t you take a look at what I sent?”
“I couldn’t really see it on my phone.”
“Then get your glasses on and enlarge the photos, because it’s all there. Why’d you lie to me?”
“I didn’t lie,exactly—”
“You told me he didn’t pay. That’s a lie!”
“Well, he didn’t pay enough. It should’ve been a lot more.”
“That’s a dodge!”
“Fatherhood isn’t a few hundred bucks a month!”
“Then why didn’t you take him back to court? And why did you always discourage me from trying to help you do that once I got older?”
“Because it’s negative. We didn’t need that in our lives. He let us down no matter how you look at it.”
“That depends, doesn’t it? It was generous of him to pay anything at all if he’s not my father!”
The phone went silent for a moment. “What’d you say?”
Ellen let her head fall back onto the headrest. “You heard me. Did you have an affair with the pothead next door?”
