safe.
His jaw tightened as he realized it wasn’t Mary Jo who annoyed him as much as David Rhodes. If Linc could just have five minutes alone with that jerk…
“I’ll bet he’s married,” Linc said to himself. That would explain a lot. A married man would do anything he could to hide the fact that he had a wife. He’d strung Mary Jo along, fed her a bunch of lies and then left her to deal with the consequences all on her own. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. No, sir. Not while Linc was alive. David Rhodes was going to acknowledge his responsibilities and live up to them.
“Who’s married?” Mel asked, staring at him curiously.
“David Rhodes,” he said. “Who else?”
The exit was fast approaching and, while they still had twenty miles to go, traffic would thin out once he was off the Interstate.
“He’s not,” Ned said blithely from the backseat.
“Isn’t what?” Linc demanded.
“David Rhodes isn’t married.”
Linc glanced over his shoulder. “How do you know?”
“Mary Jo told me.”
Ned and Mary Jo were close, and he was more apt to take a statement like that at face value.
“He probably lied about that along with everything else,” Mel said, voicing Linc’s own thoughts.
“He didn’t,” Ned insisted.
“How can you be so sure?”
“I checked him out on the Internet,” Ned continued with the same certainty. “It’s a matter of public record. David Rhodes lives in California and he’s been married and divorced twice. Both his marriages and divorces are listed with California’s Department of Records.”
Funny Ned had only mentioned this now. Maybe he had other information that would be helpful.
“You mean to say he’s been married more than once?” Mel asked.
Ned nodded. “Yeah, according to what I read, he’s been married twice. I doubt Mary Jo knows about the second time, though.”
That was interesting and Linc wished he’d heard it earlier. “Did you find out anything else while you were doing this background search?” he asked. He eased onto the off ramp; as he’d expected, the highway was far less crowded.
“His first ex-wife, who now lives in Florida, has had problems collecting child support.”
Linc shook his head. “Does that surprise anyone?”
“Nope,” Mel said.
“How many children does he have?” Linc asked next.
“Just one. A girl.”
“Does Mary Jo know this?” Mel asked. “About him being a deadbeat?”
“I didn’t tell her,” Ned admitted, adding, “I couldn’t see any reason to upset her more than she already is.”
“Good idea,” Mel said. He leaned forward and looked up at the darkening sky. “Snow’s starting again. The radio said there’s going to be at least three inches.”
“Snow,” Linc muttered.
“Snow,” Ned repeated excitedly. “That’ll make a lot of little kids happy.”
Mel agreed quickly. “Yeah, we’ll have a white Christmas.”
“Are either of
“I guess I’m still a kid at heart,” Ned said, exhaling a sigh.
Considering Linc’s current frame of mind, it was a brave admission. With a slow breath, Linc made a concerted effort to relax. He was worried about Mary Jo; he couldn’t help it. He’d wanted the best for her and felt that he’d failed both his sister and his parents.
To some extent he blamed himself for what had happened. Maybe he’d been too strict with her after she turned eighteen. But to his way of thinking, she was under his protection as long as she lived in the family home.
Not once had she introduced him to David Rhodes. Linc was convinced that if he’d met the other man, it would’ve taken him all of two seconds to peg David for a phony.
“What are you gonna say when we find her?” Ned asked.
Linc hadn’t worked out the specifics. “Let’s not worry about that now. Main thing is, we’re going to put her in the truck and bring her home.”
“What if she doesn’t want to come with us?”
Linc hadn’t considered this. “Why wouldn’t she? We’re her family and it’s Christmas Eve. Mary Jo belongs with us. Anyway, that baby could show up any time.”
