“Great. I’ll see you tomorrow.” It frustrated me to put it off another day, but at least I’d managed to set it up again. Hopefully she wouldn’t bail on me a second time.
Since both Savannah and Josh were still asleep, I checked my calendar for their schedules. Seeing nothing important this morning, I left a note that I’d taken Coco on a walk, and snapped the leash onto his collar.
A few blocks away from home, my phone rang again. I checked the number, but it wasn’t familiar. “Hello?”
“Shelby? This is Austin Haywood. Did you send the police over to talk to me?”
“What? No. Why? Are they there?”
He huffed out a breath, clearly upset. “Not right now. I’m at my dad’s house. They were next door, so they came over. They just left, but they practically accused me of killing my own father. Why would they do that? Please tell me you have something.”
“I do have something, but I’m still looking into it. You know what? I’m not too far from your dad’s place. I can be there in about fifteen minutes. Why don’t I stop by and we can talk. Will that work?”
“Yeah… sure. I’ll probably be here most of the day.”
“Okay, I’ll see you soon.” I could hardly believe that Williams and Clue would accuse Austin of his father’s murder. I’d told them he didn’t do it. Had they spoken with Reed Gardner’s wife next door and found out something about Austin?
Several minutes later, I stepped onto the porch, and knocked on the door. Coco stood quietly beside me, but he didn’t seem too happy about being there. “It’s okay buddy, we’re just stopping by to talk to Austin for a minute. Then we’ll go home.”
Home?
It sounded like a question. Was that because this used to be his home, and now he thought I was bringing him back here? “We’re just staying for a minute. Okay?”
He sat down on his haunches and woofed. Yup.
Austin opened the door, and Coco dashed inside. It was like he was looking for Mack all over again, and it broke my heart. It broke Austin’s heart too. Guilt tore into his chest. He didn’t know I’d have Coco with me, or he might not have wanted me to come.
“Hey, Coco’s doing great with us, so you don’t have to feel guilty. I think he just wants to look around for a minute, but he’ll come back. So… what happened with the police?”
“I guess the detectives were next door talking to the Gardners and saw me over here, so they stopped by to chat. But the woman detective started asking me about my inheritance and basically said that having all that money would sure help me out.”
He clenched his jaw. “She was insinuating that I’d kill my own father for money. Why would she do that? I’ve got a good job. I don’t need the money. I can take care of myself.”
“Of course you can. I know you had nothing to do with it, so try not to let them get to you. They’re just grasping at straws, you know?”
He sighed and nodded, grateful for my comforting words. Burying his father had been the hardest thing he’d ever gone through, and it hurt every day. He wasn’t sure he’d ever feel whole again. Now he was an orphan, all alone, with no family left to belong to. Even his girlfriend didn’t get it.
His sorrow lanced through my heart, and I wondered if there was anything I could do to help him. Coco came back and sat down beside me. Austin ran his fingers through his hair, thinking that even the dog didn’t want anything to do with him.
He could hardly blame Coco after he’d left him at the shelter. Now he was thinking it had been a huge mistake. Even if he didn’t have his father, he could have had his dog. Now he had nothing.
I pulled away from his thoughts, and my gaze landed on a box of photos. One of the binders was opened to a page of Austin as a small child. “Is that you?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “My parents were so young there.” His father held Austin’s hands, while Austin took a few steps. “I’m just learning to walk in that one.” He turned the page, and a large photo of Austin, his parents, and a little girl took up the space. “That’s the last photo of all of us before my sister was killed.”
I took a good look at the photo, feeling a hint of déjà vu. Had I seen her before? Then it hit me. She looked a lot like Ava, Misti’s daughter. My stomach twisted, and the room swam. I swallowed and it came back into focus. “Do you have any other photos of your sister?”
“Sure. There’s a whole binder full of them.” He rummaged through the box and pulled out a pink binder. “Everything’s on a disc now, but there are several photos in here.”
I took the folder and opened it up. The photos of his sister began as a newborn at the hospital and continued through the years until she disappeared. Several had Austin in them as a baby, with his sister holding him and smiling, along with both his parents. His sister looked so much like Ava that my breath caught.
“Are you sure your sister’s dead? I mean… did they find a body?”
He shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. I don’t even remember her. She was four or five then, and I’m three years younger. My parents never spoke to me about the details, probably to protect me.”
“What was her name?”
“Macie.”
A shiver ran up my spine, and my heart raced. Macie was close enough to Misti that it was easily interchangeable. Everyone had assumed she was dead, but what if she wasn’t? Could this be Mack’s missing daughter and Austin’s sister? Had Mack recognized something about Ava and confronted Carolyn?
If
