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I shot a grateful glance her way.
“About fifteen years ago, I decided to visit.” Bill gestured to a photo of him and a woman about his age. “I met my wife and stayed. She has a lot of family here, so it made sense.”
“She’s beautiful. Where is she?” she asked.
“Cinta went to the market and to meet with friends. She’s going to be sad she missed you.” The broad smile and softening of his blue eyes told me he genuinely loved his wife.
“Do you ever hear from anyone from the factory?” I asked, my hand settling on Hazel’s lower back.
Where the hell was Tony? He should’ve been back by now.
“Not really. I think the last time I talked to Terri was just before I came here. A bunch of us had gotten a sizable bonus. It’s how I afforded the trip.”
“And you haven’t tried to keep in touch with them either?” I held back from outright asking if he knew more about Dad’s death than he let on. I needed to bide my time and find out who he might have stayed connected to.
Bill shrugged. “I tried, but with the time difference and everyone’s lives moving forward those friendships just faded away.”
“You started at Arabian Nights when my dad did, right?”
“Not exactly.” Bill rubbed his chin as he ruminated out loud. “He was there about a year before me and trained me when I started. We ended up on many of the same shifts after that and would sometimes grab a coffee or breakfast. He moved to more of a management position before he… ” his voice trailed off.
My hand resting on Hazel tensed. Dad’s death had been labeled a suicide, a drug overdose, with an accidental fall down the steps within the factory while he was high. With the typed confession found in his office, it had been an open-and-shut case for the cops involved.
“Died,” I responded, forcing any emotion from the word.
Bill’s eyes grew glassy. “I was surprised by his death. That he would take his own life.”
I studied Bill’s reaction. He seemed genuine. “We all were.”
He let out a heavy sigh. “He loved you so much, Jareth. The sun rose and set on you.”
My stomach clenched.
“For what it’s worth, I don’t think he could have been planning it long. “
I leaned back into the couch. Although my posture appeared relaxed, tension coiled inside me like a snake. “Why would you say that?” I’d read the note supposedly left by my father so many times that I could practically recite it word-for-word. The whole thing was ridiculously vague.
“Your dad was a happy man. He loved you and everybody at the factory. And they all loved him. But they say sometimes you never know what people are going through. After it happened, I wondered what signs I might have missed.” Bill’s gaze drifted toward the window, a frown settling on his face.
The more we talked, the more it seemed that Bill didn’t know anything. Or he was a damn good actor. I wondered if the Sultons knew I was watching them, and to retaliate sent me on a wild goose chase.
Tony entered the room and sat back down. “Sorry for the delay. You all might want to wait before heading into the bathroom for now.” He met my gaze and shook his head. At least there was nothing to worry about within the house.
Bill chuckled and then nodded toward my left hand. “I’m happy to see you’re wearing your dad’s ring.”
I looked down at the onyx stone. “It’s a replica. I never found the original.”
“Really? I could’ve sworn he was wearing it the day he died. We met at the diner for lunch.” Bill went quiet for a few seconds. “I remember him showing me his notebook. He was flipping through the pages and the sunlight streaming in through the window caught on the tiny diamond in the center.”
My brows drew together. Dad had kept numerous journals through the years. “You mean the blue one?”
A few months back, Jess and I had turned in a little blue notebook that we found to the Feds. It held pages of the coded language Dad and I used inside, leading them to the dates the Sultons had started to embezzle money from the company and which foreign accounts they used to hide it in.
“No, the brown one he carried everywhere.” Bill tapped on his chin. “He was always writing in that thing.”
“I’m not sure I remember that one.” I lied. I waited to see how Bill would respond.
Bill pursed his lips. “This one was definitely brown. It had a thick cover with a tree embossed on the front. I remember commenting on the tree when he opened it to the symbols he’d drawn inside. He’d been hoping for the two of you to get a tattoo of it together now that you were eighteen. I assumed you must have had it since the symbols on your arm look similar.”
