“That was some time ago,” she added. “Not recently.”
Figuring this might turn into a lead, Earl dredged up a tear, then with a great deal of display brushed it back.
“Sorry to be so emotional,” he said, “but she took my little girl, and I’m trying to find the child.”
Widow Hawkins raised an eyebrow. “If you’re the girl’s daddy, you’ve got every right to know where she’s at!”
“True as that may be,” Earl said morosely, “I haven’t been able to find her.”
“Suzanna’s daddy used to work with my Chester; far as I know he still lives over on River Road. Have you checked with him?”
Earl shook his head. “I doubt she’d go back there. They parted on pretty bad terms to hear her tell of it.”
A look of doubt tugged at Widow Hawkins’ face. “Family’s family. A spat’s not nearly enough to stop a girl from going home to her daddy.”
Earl thought about it for a second, then grinned. “You just might be right.”
With a look indicating she was pretty pleased with her own suggestion, she added, “His place is way down on the eastern end of River. T. P. Duff it says on the mailbox.”
That same afternoon, Earl drove across town and went in search of the mailbox with T. P. Duff stenciled on it. Three times he drove past the dilapidated two-story house before he caught sight of the faded name on the mailbox. He pulled into the rutted drive that led to a garage behind the house, parked the car, and got out.
After he rang the doorbell three times, he heard the shuffle of footsteps inside. He waited a minute and, when no one opened the door, rang the bell for a fourth time.
“Knock it off!” yelled a voice from inside.
Leaning toward the door so he’d be heard, Earl hollered, “I’m looking for Mr. Duff!”
Seconds later, the door jerked open. With his hair smashed to one side like he might have been sleeping, the man eyed Earl suspiciously. “I’m Tom Duff; what business you got with me?”
“I’m looking for your daughter—”
“I got no daughter.”
As Duff stepped back and tried to close the door, Earl stuck out his foot and stopped it. “I’m talking about Suzanna; she’s your daughter, ain’t she?”
“No more she’s not.”
Trying to sound sympathetic, Earl said, “Look, man, I understand the crap she gave you; it was the same with me. But I still gotta find her.”
“Why? She owe you money?”
“Some, but that ain’t it. Look, I got a bottle of Jack Daniels in the car; how’s about I get it, then you and me can have a drink and maybe hash this thing out?”
Duff wavered a moment then said, “Get the bottle if you want, but if this is about Suzanna thinking she’s gonna come back home, you’re wasting your time.”
“Don’t worry; it’s nothing like that.”
Earl scampered back to the car, reached under the seat, grabbed the bottle, and followed Duff into the house. They sat at the kitchen table across from one another and spent the afternoon downing one drink after another.
For the most part, Duff had no answers to give Earl. He apparently hadn’t seen or heard from Suzanna since she walked out eight years earlier.
“What about friends?” Earl asked. “She have anybody she was close to? Girlfriends she might’ve gotten in touch with later on?”
“A few girls used to come around once in a while. Can’t say I remember their names.”
“What about the guy she was going out with, he ever come around?”
“All the time, but I ain’t remembering his name neither. He was in her class, a big deal football player. For sure I’d recognize his name if I heard it. Maybe if you had a picture—”
The mention of a picture gave Earl an idea. “What about a yearbook? Suzanna graduated that year, didn’t she? Did she get one of those yearbooks with all the pictures in—”
Duff was already shaking his head. “She was two months from graduation when she left here big as a house. I can’t say if she ever graduated or got one of them yearbooks. Damn shame. You raise a kid up for eighteen years, you got a right to expect…” His voice trailed off as he poured himself another drink.
“Did Suzanna leave anything behind? Stuff she maybe stored in the attic?”
“Nothing’s stored. A few weeks after she left I figured she wasn’t coming back, so I gathered up her stuff and set it out with the trash.”
“Too bad.” Earl sat there for a minute then came up with another idea. “I might be able to get one of them books. Say I do, you reckon you could pick out the kid Suzanna used to go out with? The one who’s Annie’s daddy?”
“Annie, huh? That’s what she named the kid?”
Earl nodded. “The girl’s seven years old and supposed to be in school, but Suzanna took off. Now, I’m thinking maybe she’s back with that guy. The one who’s Annie’s daddy. So if you could point him out, then…”
“I could pick him out all right,” Duff said, “but you’re wasting your time. He ain’t gonna help none with the kid. Way back when, he told Suzanna he’d get her money enough if she wanted to get rid of it, but if she had that baby she was on her own.”
He drained the glass. “The boy ain’t the one to blame. He was looking to make something of his self before he got tied down with a family. Suzanna, she’s the one. She wouldn’t listen to reason. She wanted the baby, and that’s all there was to it.”
Segueing into a tale of how his daughter’s life could have been different, he continued on, but by then Earl was no longer listening. He was thinking about how he could get his hands on a yearbook and wondering if Suzanna had indeed left him to be with the kid who was Annie’s daddy.
He could still remember how
