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But when he took a step away from the cruiser toward me, this strong Goliath of a man seemed shattered and confused. Childlike, almost.

“Mercy?” he said, relief flooding his face.

I lunged for him and pulled him into a hug.

“Let’s all go inside,” Deputy Carnes said.

A third cruiser pulled up. Sheriff Henderson got out, took one look at my dad, and sprinted to catch up with us.

We got inside. I sat my father down in one of the plush waiting area chairs. I pointed to the water cooler. Carnes picked up on my intention and walked over to fill a cup.

“Dad, tell me what’s wrong,” I said. My dad looked crushed. Defeated. He kept shaking his head.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know. I don’t know where I was. I was just going to drive to Lloyd’s.”

“Here you go,” Carnes said, handing my dad a cup of water. Dad drank it with an unsteady hand.

“I got lost, Mac,” Dad said. Mac took a chair beside him and patted my dad on the knee.

“It’s okay, Tom. It happens. We’re all family here.”

Mac caught my eye and gestured with his chin toward Carnes. While Mac said soothing words to my father, I led Carnes into my office out of earshot.

“What happened? Where was he?”

“I found him walking down Boyne City Road.”

“He was in the road? The highway?”

“In the berm,” he said. “Thank God. He was just shuffling along. A couple of cars honked and seemed to scare him. I picked him up and bribed him to get checked out at the ER. He’s okay. Just a little scraped up.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“He didn’t have his phone on him. He couldn’t remember your number offhand. Anyway, that was the bribe. He said he’d only see a doctor if I promised not to call you or anyone else. I figured it was better to risk you being mad at me now if I could get him checked out.”

I sat on the edge of my desk.

“He got lost?”

“Yeah. Best I can piece together, he was driving to Lloyd Murphy’s. Got confused. Disoriented. He made a wrong turn and ended up driving the wrong way down by Potter Pond. His car’s still out there. He went off the road and slid into a ditch. That and climbing up to the embankment back to the road is how he got scraped up. He’s okay though, Mercy. Physically anyway.”

“Thank you,” I said, touching Carnes’s elbow.

Then I went back to Dad’s side. Either the water or Mac’s words seemed to have worked on him. He didn’t seem scared anymore. Just frustrated.

“You can all leave,” he said. “I’m fine. I need to get the car.”

“Taken care of,” Mac said. “I’m sending a tow truck out as we speak. We’ll get her towed over to Gimble’s for you. You can square up with him on any bodywork you want done.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“You sure we can’t stick around a bit, Tom?” Mac asked. “I hear you walked out of the hospital against medical advice. I’d feel better if you went back.”

“So would I,” I said.

“Enough,” he said. “Only thing hurt on me is my pride. With respect to that, Mac, I sure would appreciate it if you’d all just go back to work. I’m tired. I need a shower.”

“I’ve got it from here,” I said. “Thank you.”