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“No.”
“But something disturbed you?”
“Yeah, I heard a noise downstairs. Banging, and someone shouting.”
“I guess that would have been me,” Barbara said with a thin smile. “And that’s when you came down and opened the freezer?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Barbara glanced at Dan. “And where were you, sir?”
“I was right behind her.”
“Funny. I thought you were trying to sneak out of the bar.”
He glared at her. “I was trying to protect Mayflower.”
“Really?”
Mayflower laid a hand on his arm. “We both agreed we’d keep this secret till Stephen turns sixteen.”
Dan gave a small nod but didn’t say anything.
“Then we’ll leave this shithole and set up someplace else, right?” Mayflower turned to Dan.
He managed a weak smile. “Sure.”
Barbara eyed him cynically. If she had a dime for every time a man had spun a young girl that hackneyed line, she sure as heck wouldn’t be freezing her ass off in Deadhart right now.
When the time is right. When the kids are grown. We’ll leave and make a new life.
Few ever did. And those that actually managed to grow a backbone and leave soon came crawling back. The grass was never greener. Young girls grew older, sex became sparser, and babies are harder work at fifty than thirty.
Barbara had thought that Mayflower was too smart to fall for any of that baloney, but perhaps the cynical, world-weary facade was just that.
“Look,” Dan said now. “You’ve asked your questions, Detective. We haven’t committed a crime. It’s after four thirty in the morning and I need to get home.”
For a moment, Barbara had a vindictive urge to make him stay. Or better still, to force him to come to the police department to make a statement and reveal his deception. But what good would that do? The likelihood was that Mayflower would be the one who got hurt while Dan remained in his “sour” marriage with Jess and a son who now saw his father for what he really was. And no child needed that. Sometimes, lies are the things that bind a family as much as love.
“Of course, sir—and thank you for your help. But I’d like your phone number in case I need to speak to you again.”
Dan got out his phone and Barbara put his number into hers. She smiled. “Well, I think we’re all done here. I’m sure you’ll be keen to get back to your wife and son. Being the good father you are.”
Dan looked as if he was about to retort, but then seemed to think better of it.
“I’ll let you out,” Mayflower said.
“It’s fine. I can do it myself.”
He turned and stalked off toward the door. He opened it a crack, peered through and then slunk out.
“I can see why you fell for him,” Barbara said. “A real Prince Charming.”
Mayflower gave her a look. “Slim pickings around here, if you hadn’t noticed.”
“Can’t say I was looking,” Barbara said.
“You still need me, or can I go too?” Mayflower asked.
