“That bastard!” Addison stood, the look on her face telling me she’d connected the dots. “He stole from you?”
My eyes stung, and oddly enough, my immediate response was to defend him. “Booze is expensive.”
Whatever Addison saw in my expression caused her to refill my wine glass and set iton the end table beside me. “Oh honey, why didn’t you ever tell me about this?”
It was such a ridiculous question I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Like when? When we first met? Hi, I’m Dylan. I’m from the sticks. My dad’s a drunk who stole my school clothes money, but he doesn’t beat me or make me go hungry or anything so...”
The next thing I knew, Addison was crushing me in a hug. She let me cryon her shoulder until I pulled myself together and pushed her away.
Wiping my cheeks, I got back to business. “I still don’t understand what Brandy has to do with this. I can’t see her covering for my dad. I mean, she wouldn’t exactly turn him in either. Nobody would.”
“Well, we sure as hell aren’t letting him get away with this,” Addison declared.
She was so cute with all her hope and optimism.She didn’t understand how the town worked. “Addie, my dad has been caught drinking and driving more times than I can count. He’s probably spent a thousand nights locked up, yet has never been charged with anything.”
“Why not?”
I shrugged. “The DA is his second cousin, and he’s related to most of the police force. Dad’s the town butcher...the guy everyone brings their deer to. People have thisweird mix of pity and appreciation for him.”
“Nobody’s untouchable.”
“I know,” I admitted. “But we need to make sure we have so much evidence they have no room to screw with this case.”
“Okay, we can do that. We just gotta think about what he’d do with the jewelry. Is there a pawn shop in town, or would he sell to the locals?” I asked.
“I think the closest thing we have to a pawn shop wouldbe the Murphys’ weekly garage sale or the secondhand store, but Dad wouldn’t sell it here. To many busybodies.”
“So what’s he doing with it?” she asked. “It has to go somewhere.”
I pulled out my phone and checked the Internet. “There are three pawn shops in Klamath Falls. It’s about a hundred miles away, but Dad goes there at least every other week for supplies for his butcher shop.”
Addisonsighed. “Well, I guess we can make calls, right? I don’t know how much information they’ll give us over the phone, but we can try at least.”
“I’ll make the calls. Klamath is still a pretty small town and I’ll get more traction as the daughter trying to track down my grandma’s missing necklace that my dad thinks he accidentally pawned than you will by pulling the PI card.”
“Makes sense. But areyou sure you’ve got this?”
The underlyingAre you okay?was unmistakable. I forced a smile. “We’re going after the bad guy. That’s what we do. I just...I knew he was a wreck, and I left him. Maybe if I’d stayed he wouldn’t—”
“Be stealing from old people?” Addison asked. “You were a kid trying to get out of a bad situation, and I will not let you blame yourself for your father’s mistakes. Youhear me?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I get it. But you might have to remind me a few times.”
She giggled. “Don’t think I won’t. Now go make those phone calls and I’ll start a pretty little spreadsheet showing the dates and times your father went into the rooms.”
I took my refilled glass of wine into my room, set it on the end table, and collapsed on my bed. I’d never put my dad on a pedestal or anything,but finding out he was a thief was pretty much wrecking me. If Addison and I were able to collect all the evidence, and the justice system actually worked, he’d most likely spend time behind bars. My family would never forgive me for putting him there.
But could I forgive myself if I let him go? He stole from his own mother. Worse, he stole from my sweet kindergarten teacher. He had to pay forwhat he’d done.
Desperate for an extra shot of courage, I took a big gulp of wine and pulled up my background photo on my phone. Asher’s sexy smile greeted me. It had only been a few days since I’d last seen him, but it felt like forever. He was back in my new life and I felt trapped in the old one. I almost called him and told him what was going on, but stopped myself. He was busy and didn’tneed to be dragged into my stupid family drama.
Determined to do the right thing, I put on my big girl panties and made the damn phone calls.
