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Right. This all sounded familiar. They’d picked all these possibilities apart long ago. “We have no proof of any of that, just our suspicions,” she said.
“I looked into your father.”
Her gaze shot to him, and she saw that he was watching her. “Mydad. My dad is dead.” She heard the resentment in her tone and took in a breath, letting it out slowly.
“It’s not because I suspected him of wrongdoing. I just thought knowing more about him might trigger something I already knew about my own father. Maybe I could make even more of a connection. And I asked that contact at the Reno PD to pull anything on him she found interesting.”
Noelle shifted in her seat. She felt irrationally bitter and worked to tamp that down. It was funny that it was still her gut reaction to defend her father when it came to a Sinclair. Even if that Sinclair had turned out to be a decent human being and was the father of her child. “Did she find anything?” she asked, attempting to sound casual.
“She did. Your father filed a missing person report right before you were reported missing.”
What?She frowned. “On whom?”
“A man by the name of Dow Maginn.”
It took a moment for the name to penetrate her memories. “Dow? He went missing?”
“Not only that, but he was later found murdered, the gunshot victim of an apparent mugging.”
“I didn’t know.” She gave her head a small shake. “He was my dad’s friend. I think we sent him an invitation to the memorial, but Paula took care of all of that. If the invite got returned, she probably just tossed it. Or if she asked me, which I don’t remember, I probably figured he’d moved or his shop went out of business. The guy wasn’t necessarily the most stable person. I remember him being a heavy drinker when he was at our house. He and my dad would watch a game, and he’d pass out on our couch.” She frowned again. “When I ... came home, I had no reason to look into his whereabouts. I’m honestly surprised my dad even noticed he was missing. They were friends, but from what I recall, there were periods of time where Dow didn’t come around for months. That was just him.”
Evan tapped his fingers on the edge of the table. “What else do you remember about him? He owned a computer repair shop, right?”
She nodded, casting her mind back. It’d been so long since she’d seen Dow Maginn, or any of her father’s old friends, mostly tradesmen who often worked together on jobs or recommended each other to those looking to have work done. She’d barely remembered his name when Evan said it, or that he existed at all. He was a nice enough guy, but he was herdad’sfriend. She hadn’t missed his presence in her life. “Yeah. He did work with computers.” She remembered something. “He might have been into some low-level hacking,” she said. “I think I remember hearing him brag that he’d changed the amount he paid forhis electric bill or something. I remember wondering if he could change my math grade in the school computer.”
Evan tilted his head, running his hand over his jaw. “Hacking the electric company? That doesn’t sound low level.”
“No, maybe not.”
They sat there for another minute, Evan’s tapping becoming quicker, as though keeping tempo with his speeding thoughts. “Computer hacking,” he repeated. “Noelle, you do realize that if we were being watched, there’d have to be a person, or people, on the other side of a screen?”
She stared at him in the low light. “Are you suggesting that Dow ... had something to do with what happened to us?”
“I have no evidence of that. But it’s odd, right?”
She massaged her head.Maybe. Maybe not.It was all too much. “I don’t know what to think.”
Evan sighed, running his palms over his thighs. “You’re tired. And I know you have work tomorrow. I should go. If you think on it, though, and anything comes to you that might help regarding Dow Maginn, will you let me know?”
“I will,” she said, standing, Evan following suit. She grabbed the empty bottles, and they went into the house. She set the bottles on the counter, and they walked toward the front door.
Evan glanced toward Callie’s room as they passed the hallway. When they got to the door, he turned toward her. “Will you let me know ...”
She nodded. “I’ll call and let you know her schedule tomorrow to see what works. She loves to go on bike rides. Especially if it involves ice cream.” She smiled, feeling sort of awkward and shy for some reason. “Maybe you’d like to take her on one. Sweetgrass rents bikes. I could have one delivered to you.”
“I’d love that,” he said, the words spilling out quickly as though he was eager to cement the plans before she withdrew them. She wasn’tgoing to do that, though. Now that he knew about his daughter, she wasn’t going to keep her from him.
“Great. Have a good night, Evan.” She pulled the door open, and he stepped through, turning again.
“Thanks for tonight,” he said. “Not just for letting me tag along ... spend time with you and Callie, but for listening to what I had to say about my own investigation. I know it’s not easy dredging all that up. You could have refused to talk about it.”
She leaned her head against the side of the door. “It’s not easy,” she admitted. “But if there’s something I can help with, I will. Just ... be careful, Evan, about getting dragged back under.”
He nodded, understanding in his expression. He’d obviously thought about the same thing. “I will. Good night.”
“Good night.” She closed the door, engaging the locks and walking slowly toward her bedroom. There were so many emotions swirling through her. Relief, tentative happiness. Hope that positive things would come from Evan’s presence in Callie’s life. But she also felt concerned ... on edge ... anxious ... a tremble of fear racing through her system with the worry that Evan—with her assistance—might have new avenues to follow regarding the crime they’d survived. And the deeper worry that following them might be like opening a Pandora’s box that couldn’t be closed.
A couple of days later, Noelle stood at the window, watching as Callie sprinted down the beach, her red sundress flying out behind her, arms raised, as the kite she was holding rose high into the sky. Evan ran next to her, jogging leisurely but easily keeping pace, his head raised to the sky as well. She couldn’t hear them from where she was, but she could tell they were laughing, and it made her smile.
