“Dad?” I blurt out, my heart pounding. “Dad, is it you?”
I’m not sure why I thought it might be him, but if there’s even a chance it might be, I have to know.
“Dad, if it’s you, say something!”
Silence. I look at my phone and see we’ve been disconnected. I call back. It rings and rings, but nobody answers.
I find my dad’s number and call it. I’ve called it several times since I got here, but he never answers. Maybe now he will. If he called me, it must mean he’s out of rehab, but why is he calling from a different number? And why wasn’t his phone working? Is he somewhere that doesn’t have a signal?
The phone continues to ring with no answer, so I give up and call Jackson. He picks up right away.
“Rumor, we shouldn’t be talking. Not now. The cops could show up here any minute.”
“I’ll make it quick.” I take a breath, trying to calm down. “I just got a call. I think it was from my dad.”
“Yeah? What’d he say?”
“I couldn’t hear him. It was a bad connection. I just heard a few words, something about meeting, or needing to meet. I don’t know. I’m not even sure it was my dad, but it was a man and he knew my name.”
“Couldn’t you tell it was him from his number?”
“It wasn’t his number. It was a California number, but it said ‘unknown’. We got disconnected so I called him back, but I still couldn’t tell what he was saying.”
“It was probably just a wrong number.”
“But the guy knew my name. It’s not like it’s a common name. He knew me.”
“Did you try calling your dad’s number?”
“Yeah, and he didn’t pick up. I really think it was him. Maybe he lost his phone and was borrowing one.”
“If it was him, I’m sure he’ll try to call back. I just don’t want you getting your hopes up. If he’s not in rehab, there’s a good chance he’s using again. He may be calling looking for money. He knows you’re with Brock, right?”
“Yeah, unless Brock lied about that, but I don’t know why he would. I don’t think my dad would call asking for money. He’s never done that before.”
“But it’s Brock’s money, not yours. I’m sure he knows you get an allowance. I’m not saying any of this is true. I just know how addicts think. I worked with them when I was an actor. They’ll do anything to get their next fix.”
“I don’t think he’d do that.”
“Rumor, I need to go. I need to talk to my lawyer before the cops show up.”
“I think Braden’s doing the same thing. He said something about lawyers coming over. Brock just got home. I think he took them in his office to talk.”
“Them?”
“Braden and Trystan.”
“What’s Trystan have to do with this?”
“He found her body. That makes him part of the investigation, right?”
“I wouldn’t think so, but maybe. Did Braden tell you what’s going on?”
“No, they’re all acting like it’s a big secret. But I accidentally said something about new evidence.”
“Rumor, what the hell? The only people who knew about that were Braden and me. If Braden didn’t tell you, that only leaves me as the person who told you.”
“I told them it was just a guess. I mean, you wouldn’t reopen a case until there’s new evidence, right? So that’s what I told them.”
