She followed him to the sofa. “He’s not on social media. I already checked.”
“There are other ways of investigating people.”
“Oh, you’ve stalked someone before, then?”
He clacked away at the keyboard. “We’re not stalking. We’re just digging a little.”
“Potatoes, po-tah-toes. Oh, put in Washington, DC. That’s where he’s from.”
A screen opened up with a list of Gordon Smiths living in DC. Her hopes sank. “There are fifty-two of them?”
He pointed to the screen. “Yeah, but the listings include the ages. Do you know how old he is?”
“Around sixty, I’d say.”
He began clicking on all the Gordons ranging from fifty-five to sixty-five. The complete listings included people related to each Gordon as well as associated phone numbers and addresses.
Jenna soon became overwhelmed by all the information. “That didn’t narrow it down much.”
“We need more information so we can refine the search. You said he was twice divorced, right?”
“Once divorced and once widowed. Or widowered? But who knows if it’s the truth. We don’t even know for sure that’s his real name. I mean,Smith. Really?”
“He would’ve had to provide proof of identity for the cruise. Surely your mom saw his key card, which would’ve had his name on it.”
“True. That’s something, I guess. We’ll assume it’s his real name for now.”
“He has two grown kids and he was an accountant?” Ty asked.
“As far as I know. I haven’t learned very much about him. He really doesn’t talk about himself much, so I have to ask questions.”
“And it’s hard not to sound like you’re suspicious.”
“Iamsuspicious.”
Ty nodded. “Me too. I don’t like that he’s letting your mom pay for everything. That’s odd.”
“And then there’s the mysterious person on the other end of his ‘I love you.’”
“If you could find out his address or his exact age, we could narrow this down a lot.”
“That’s true.” Jenna sagged against the sofa. This was so frustrating, knowing the man might be taking advantage of her mother and feeling so helpless to fix it. Her mom had already been hurt so badly when Dad died. It was a rough few years for both of them. The last thing Mom deserved was some con man scamming her.
Jenna’s heart pinched at the thought of the pain this would cause.
Ty touched her arm. “Hey, you okay? Having second thoughts about this?”
“No, I just... I don’t want to see Mom get hurt again.” She pressed a palm to the pinch in her chest. Funny how you could love someone so much that you could actually feel their pain as your own. “She’s already falling for him, Ty. You should see the way she looks at him. It reminds me of...”
“What?”
“The way she used to look at my dad. I can’t believe this has progressed so quickly, and I can’t help but think it’s because Gordon’s manipulating her.”
His eyes softened. “I’ll do whatever I can to help. You know that, right?”
“Thanks. You’re always there when I need you.”
He bumped her shoulder. “That goes both ways.”
