A Son's Tale

CHAPTER NINETEEN

MILLER DIDN’T TAKE Cal’s call. Not any of the times he tried to reach the Comfort Cove detective that day. And Cal didn’t leave any messages. He’d talk to the guy on his time. His terms.

But Miller had better understand that he would talk to him.

In the meantime, Cal had another matter to tend to. Not as disturbing as the Miller issue, but one that was still niggling away at his brain.

He put it off until ten o’clock that night, telling himself that if he gave himself time, he’d just let it go.

In truth, as soon as Morgan Lowen answered the phone, he knew that nothing short of her voice had been going to soothe what was eating at him.

“Are you still planning for Sammie to come here tomorrow after school?”

They’d made the arrangement when she’d picked her son up on Saturday. Instead of going to the day care after school, as he sometimes did when Morgan was working, Sammie was going to be spending Tuesday and Thursday afternoons with Cal and Frank.

Unless his mother had changed her mind sometime between noon on Saturday and Monday morning when, for the first time in four years, she hadn’t been paying attention in his class.

Every student had days when their minds wandered. He knew that. Expected it.

And she had a hell of a lot on her mind.

But…

“Yes. Unless you need me to make other plans.”

“No.” Sitting at the computer in his home office, Cal took a sip of whiskey and stared at the blinking cursor awaiting his attention. An autobiography of sorts, a compilation of researched facts and memories, should not take twenty years to complete.

And maybe it wouldn’t have if he didn’t keep going back over it, and every bit of research he’d done, searching for the answers that were missing. If he didn’t keep delaying the process by finding more research to do.

“So you’ll pick him up from school at three as planned?”

“Yes.” Why was he taking her lack of attention personally? It wasn’t as if he’d been lecturing. And even then…

“I let Julie know to release him to you.” Morgan interrupted his mental discomfort. “Since she met you last week you won’t need to show identification.”

She told him how to find the principal’s office where Sammie would be waiting with Julie. He took notes.

And when she was telling him thank-you and it sounded like goodbye was coming next, he said, “Everything else okay?”

“Yeah. Fine. The enrollment drive for the day care, which I missed on Saturday, was successful and I have a lot of extra paperwork to do to get all the kids registered by the start of school in September.”

Not quite what he’d been asking. But he was interested, just the same.

“I’m sorry for this morning, Cal.” Her voice had dropped. Like she was speaking intimately.

Or maybe his body just reacted that way because he’d had a long day.

“What was going on?” he asked.

“I didn’t sleep much last night. And my paper is already half-done. My mind just wandered.”

He knew immediately that she wasn’t telling him the whole story. But she didn’t owe him anything.

“You’re sure everything is okay?”

“Yeah.”

“No repercussions with Sammie?”