“You already have the proof. You can do that yourself.”
I nodded. “But then she would know that you’re still the same selfish prick you were back then. So, I guess I’m kind of hoping that you’ll do the right thing and prove to her that you actually do love her.”
“Why would you assume that I love her? She tried to kill me.”
“After you beat the shit out of her.”
He glanced away, running his hand over his beard. “I was messed up back then. I did things…I was not the father I should have been.”
“And are you that man now?”
His eyes flicked to mine. My hands were sweating as I waited for him to answer. I really didn’t want to have to go tell Lorelei that her father was still the same piece of shit he always had been.
“When the town started dying and her mother’s cancer returned, I didn’t know how to cope. I was too proud to leave town and go find other work. I thought I was entitled to something after all those years. I didn’t think I should have to leave my home. And then after a while, I realized how wrong I had been, but I was ashamed that I hadn’t been taking care of my family. That’s when I started drinking.”
The slump of his shoulders made me feel like the weight of the world was dragging him down. But he deserved it. He should have taken care of his family.
“And when I saw Lorelei’s mother drifting away, and I couldn’t do anything to save her…I kept seeing my wife in her face. And I hated that I had that reminder day in and day out. I’d lost the love of my life, my job, basically everything that made me the man that I should have been…I’m not proud of what I did to Lorelei. I just couldn’t stop myself at the time.”
“Where have you been all these years?” Robert asked. “How is it that you survived and then hid for years?”
He laughed slightly. “I woke up in the mine…maybe days later. My head was killing me and it took me a while to find my way out. I went back to the house, but since I was finally sober, I saw how happy my daughter was. And it was because I wasn’t there. She smiled for the first time in years. So I walked away. I slept wherever I could. I walked to another town and slept in a shelter for a while. And then the rumors started about me, and I didn’t correct them. I never let anyone see me. Except for one person.”
“Who was that?” I asked curiously.
He was quiet for a moment and then sighed. “So, what do I do? Just go turn myself in or is there some procedure for this?”
“I’ll take you,” Robert said. “I’ll represent you in court, if you want.”
He nodded. “Thank you. I’d appreciate that. It’s more than I deserve.”
I stood, but before I could leave, I had to know. “Why did you do it?”
“When I found out that he married Lorelei, I checked up on him. I wanted to know what kind of man he was. But the more I found out, the more I realized exactly who he was. And that was when I understood that he was the man that had destroyed my life.” He shook his head slowly, staring off into space. “Call it a fit of insanity. Call it years of rage bottled up. It doesn’t really matter though. He ruined my life, and I wanted to ruin him. And now it’s done.” He finally looked over at me. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad she found you. You seem to care about her, and that’s all I ever wanted for her.”
“Yeah, well, don’t count your eggs before they hatch. She might end up being a killer like you,” I smirked.
Lorelei was waiting at the door for me when I showed up on her doorstep three days later. I wanted to be there when Lorelei’s dad surrendered himself to the police. I handed over the evidence to them and made my statement about my investigation, and when they still wanted to go after Lorelei for fleeing the scene of a crime, Robert talked them down.
I had convinced Callum to hand over the evidence Lorelei had collected against Arlen, proving that he was taking bribes from the government. When the police heard that recording, it wasn’t hard for Robert to convince them that Lorelei had been running for her life. After all, if Arlen had Murray killed, it wasn’t a huge leap for her to think he would go after her as well. If Arlen suspected at all that Lorelei knew Murray’s crash wasn’t an accident, he wouldn’t have hesitated to take her out.
But now it was all over. Lorelei’s dad was behind bars after making a full confession and Lorelei was officially off the hook. There was just one last piece of news that I had to share with her, besides the fact that her father was alive.
“Hey,” she grinned. “You were gone longer than I thought you would be.”
I had told her I was meeting with a new client, which wasn’t totally a lie.
“I got hung up with a few things.”
“Yeah? Anything interesting?”
“Actually, it was very interesting. Um…we should talk.”
“Uh-oh,” she laughed. “It’s never a good thing when a man says he wants to talk.” At my grave expression, her face fell. “Okay, let’s talk.”
“Look, there’s no easy way for me to say this…Your father is still alive.”
She stared at me for a moment and laughed. “Right, okay.”
“I’m serious. Matthew didn’t kill him.”
“What are you talking about? We carried his body down into that mine. He was
