I felt sorry for him. But I couldn’t offer him the spare room in our house as I would another Duck resident. If Gramps even knew we were speaking, he’d hit the roof.
“Come with me,” I said. “You can stay in the shop until the house, bar or van is fixed. It’s not much, but it’s dry and warm. Do you need money for food or clothes?”
He dug his hands into his dirty jeans. “I can’t take that kind of help from you. You don’t know me. You don’t know if you can trust me.”
“Maybe not. But I have an instinct about these things. It’s never let me down.”
I refused to think about that niggling doubt—he’d taken the makeup case from the counter. I couldn’t live that way. Besides, he was my father. If I didn’t help him when he needed it, who could I help?
“Yeah, well, your instinct isn’t so good, Dae.” He took his hand out of his pocket and in it was the gold makeup case. “I’m sorry. I won’t make excuses about being desperate. Old habits die hard.”
I took it from him with a smile. “You
“It won’t happen again,” he promised. “I was thinking how I could give it back to you without you knowing about it. This is it for me. I have a different life now.”
“A different life is good,” I told him. “But if you need money, I’d rather give it to you upfront.”
“I could use a few bucks,” he admitted. “The owner of the Sailor’s Dream evacuated before the storm with my paycheck. I’m broke, and I haven’t eaten since I got out of the hospital.”
I fished forty dollars out of my purse and put the gold makeup case in its place. “I’d invite you home—”
“But Sheriff O’Donnell has a long memory?” He shook his head. “You don’t have to tell me about it. That’s why your mom and I broke up, you know, all those years ago. He found out who I was and told me I wasn’t good enough for Jean. He threatened to put me in jail—make my life hell. I laughed at him. My life had been one long hell until I met your mother. But I guess he got to Jean. I never saw her again.”
I was surprised by the story but didn’t let on. Maybe it was the truth—or at least his version of it. Gramps hadn’t said anything like that to me. He’d said Danny kicked my mother out after learning she was pregnant with me.
And while Gramps had lied to me my whole life about my father being dead, I couldn’t completely distrust him either. I didn’t know Danny well, but he’d obviously had a troubled life. I didn’t want to start making him a hero when he obviously wasn’t.
But I was interested to know which way the truth lay on this path.
“Come on. Let’s get you settled into Missing Pieces,” I said after handing over the forty dollars. “There’s another curfew tonight. I don’t think either one of us wants to be out after dark.”
We walked up the stairs to the shops on the boardwalk in the evening stillness. He turned to me before we got to Missing Pieces. “Why are you doing all this, Dae? I know you’re the mayor and everything, but I don’t see you out rescuing every lost soul in Duck. Why me?”
I smiled as I opened the door to the shop. “I try to help as many souls as I can every day.”
He smiled and put his arms around me. “You’re so much like your mother. She wanted to save the world too. I’m sorry she’s dead. I always thought I’d see her one more time.”
I felt tears welling in my eyes and blinked them back before they could roll down my cheeks. “I’m sorry she’s not here too.” I changed the subject to something less emotional, pointing out the hot plate—if the power came back on during the night—the Sterno if it didn’t. I showed him where the extra key was over the door and where to find the spare blanket and pillow. I always kept one in back in case I decided to spend the night.
“That should do it,” I said, fastening a smile on my face and holding on to it despite the dangerous emotional undertow this man represented for me. “If you need to get in touch with me, here’s my cell phone number.”
“I’d say thank you, but it wouldn’t really cover it. I’ve never met anyone like you and your mother, who always see the best in everyone. I hope I can do something for you sometime when you need it.”
Again, I was ready to cry. I hugged him, then got out of there before I started blubbering and told him I was his daughter. It wasn’t the right time yet. I didn’t know when the right time would be, but it wasn’t now.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he called out the door while I ran down the boardwalk as if Davy Jones himself were after me.
As I was running down the stairs into the parking lot, Rafe joined me again. “What a sniveling worm of a man that is! I can’t believe ye let him stay in your shop knowing the blackguard stole from you! What kind of man does that?”
“You’re a pirate. Or at least you were. Figure it out.” Once I reached Duck Road, I slowed my frantic pace. It was getting dark, but I figured Tim could stop me and tell me the curfew was in force if he wanted to. I wasn’t running all the way home. I needed a little time to take a few deep breaths and think about what Danny had said about him and my mother.
“Aye, at least I never pretended to be anything else,” Rafe continued. “That boyo is just waiting for the right moment to steal you blind. I can’t believe any relation of mine would be fooled by all that mucky sentiment.”
“And maybe you’re not as smart as you think,” I yelled back at him. “That man is my father.”
“Maybe so—but don’t trust him. He’s a scallywag, mark my words.”
I kept walking down the deserted road. There were no streetlights, no lights from stores or houses. Only the glow of candles and lanterns, from living room and kitchen windows, showed anything was out in the dark at all.
“Have you given any thought to who the ancestor of the magistrate could be?” he asked before we reached the house.
“I’ve been a little busy,” I replied. “And it’s going to take some research. Have you given any thought to who killed Sandi Foxx?”
He grunted at me and scratched his head. “Keeping up with you has been a job, girl. I haven’t worked so hard since I started my career at sea as a boson’s mate.”
“Then I guess we both have work to do.”
Chapter 21
I went inside where Gramps was waiting with supper at the candlelit table in the kitchen. “I’ve been wondering where you were,” he said, serving up stew that had been in the freezer. “There’s a curfew, you know. The mayor isn’t above the law and needs to set an example.”
“I know.”
“You’ve been at Missing Pieces, haven’t you? You always lose track of time when you’re there.”
“Yep.” I wished I could say more. It was a strain holding back the things I really wanted to ask him. But I needed time to sort through everything and figure out what to say to him.
“I suppose you heard that the ME has ruled Mayor Foxx’s death a murder,” he continued.
“Yeah. That’s going to be a mess.”
“It’ll be bad for Kevin, since it means all those people coming back again on his dime.”
I stopped pushing the stew around on my plate. “What do you mean?”
“I mean the county won’t want to pay for them to be at the Blue Whale, and it will likely take a while for Ronnie to question all of them. Big group.”
“Maybe the town can help. Kevin is too good-hearted to complain about it. I’m sure it will seem like another civic duty to him. But that’s not fair.”
“Good luck getting that past the town council.”
“We have an emergency fund,” I reminded him. “This seems like an emergency to me.”
“That will be depleted after the storm,” he said. “Besides, how will it look for the mayor to advocate giving money to her boyfriend?”
“You sound like Mad Dog.” I told him about what the mayor wannabe had said.
