Paul was true to his word. He didn’t leave Reese alone all night, but she did kick him off the sofa and out of the townhouse at five-thirty, just as the sunlight started to penetrate the sky, under the pretense of going for a run. Not that it had been easy to convince him to leave. He sat on the edge of the sofa with his damn near perfect bare chest tempting Reese, refusing to budge until she promised to meet with him during her only hour break during the day. She agreed with him that they shouldn’t talk anymore in the house, but it didn’t stop him from asking if she had figured out what Claire’s message had meant.

Reese was honest with him when she said she didn’t know. But the question lingered in her mind as she pounded out a five mile run, in the opposite direction of Cascade Hills Park. If Claire wasn’t referring to Andrew the Asshole, who had she been talking about? Reese thought of how she wasn’t particularly fond of the act of killing another human being, but ridding the world of yet another scumbag suited her just fine. Usually she didn’t need to take such drastic measures, but she could feel her patience growing thinner and thinner as she aged. She was disheartened by the number of crimes against innocent children and women which seemed to escalate as every year passed. Besides, Andrew was no human being as far as she was concerned. He was just one more asshole who thought he was entitled to whatever his twisted desire craved and then would probably blame his fucked-upness on a poor upbringing. She was beyond wit’s end with those criminal-minded people who never took responsibility for their own actions.

That thought brought her mind to Gregory. How had she gone all those years without thinking a grown man kissing a thirteen year old girl was at the very least odd? It annoyed her to realize she had never questioned his action. Maybe because she hadn’t felt thirteen at the time. She had felt more like a million years old. Maybe because once the kiss was over, it was over. He hadn’t tried any other moves on her, that night nor any other time. Maybe because she thought he had felt sorry for her. Whatever her reasoning was, it was irrelevant now. Now she needed to know if kissing young girls was a common occurrence for Gregory. She needed to know if he had anything to do with Addie’s disappearance. With that final realization, she picked up speed and didn’t slow down until she approached the walk to her front door.

On her stoop sat a young female with her head tucked onto her knees and her arms tucked behind her legs with her feet planted on the sidewalk.

“Lucy?” Reese asked as she approached.

Lucy lifted her sleepy, splotchy face.

Reese was glad to see her. Lucy was on her list of people to confront throughout the day, but it was bad timing. Reese wanted to head into the office. When Gregory was around, he usually was there by seven. She wanted a heart-to-heart with him before his secretary showed for the day.

“Hi,” Lucy mumbled and popped a hand out for a limp wave.

“What are you doing here?” Reese asked, now standing in front of Lucy.

Lucy craned her head up and Reese couldn’t be sure but she thought maybe the girl had been crying. Oh God! Did they find Addie’s body?

“I needed to talk with you. Mom saw the email you sent me and she went ballistic. She said I shouldn’t be getting you involved. Then she called Uncle Gregory to ream him out for telling me about you. I don’t know what to do. It’s like she doesn’t want to find Addie. She’s not even the one who reported her missing to the police. I did! I had to report her missing! Can you believe that? I don’t care what Mom says, I want you to help me find my sister.” Lucy’s eyes filled with fresh tears and she wiped her nose with the sleeve of her baggy sweatshirt.

“Does your mom know you’re here?” Reese asked, although she was pretty certain of the answer.

“Hell, no! She was like a nutcase when she found out I talked to you already. She demanded I didn’t contact you again.”

Reese couldn’t help but feel a little happy at this girl who defied her mother’s word. She liked a gal with backbone.

“Do you think you need to call her and tell her you’re okay?” Reese asked as compassionately as she could muster.

Lucy swiped at her nose with her sleeve again and scrunched her face into a scowl while still craning up to Reese. “No,” she said in a severe tone. “I’m twenty-nine. I don’t need to call her.”

Wooziness washed over Reese. Twenty-nine years? She didn’t have to do the math. It was twenty-nine years ago Luke died. It was twenty-nine years ago that Reese and Heather were twelve and then thirteen.

The girl … no, not girl, the woman eyed Reese suspiciously. “Are you alright?”

Reese collected herself enough to ask, “You’re twenty-nine?”

Lucy wanly smiled and propped her chin onto her palms. “I know. I don’t look it. I still get carded everywhere I go. It’s a pain in the ass.”

Reese leaned toward Lucy a little to scrutinize her more closely. She definitely looked related to Gregory, but not so much Heather. “Did Heather adopt you?”

Lucy giggled and covered her exposed teeth with the snot laden sleeve. She continued to laugh as she said, “No.”

Reese’s whole body stiffened with anger.

“She was young when she had me. Sixteen. But she’s definitely my mom. Only a mother could aggravate me as much as she does.”

Sixteen? Heather is either lying about her age or about really being Lucy’s mother. Reese was suddenly so pissed so could have screamed, but she didn’t want to scare Lucy away. Why would Heather lie about her age unless she really was Lucy’s mother and didn’t want her daughter to know just how young she had been when she got pregnant?

“Come on in, Lucy. I need a cup of coffee,” Reese said keeping her composure. She did a shooing gesture with her hands to indicate Lucy should get up and out of the way. Reese stepped around her and let them into the townhouse.

It only took Lucy about five seconds to notice the broken sliding doors. “What happened?” She asked in an amazed tone.

Reese wagged a finger in the air. “That reminds me.” She picked up the phone hanging on the kitchen wall and pulled out a slip of paper which was tucked behind it. While she called the maintenance emergency pager number, Lucy meandered to the back of the unit to explore the damage.

After inputting her return number, Reese hung the phone up and watched Lucy through the kitchen cut out window. Lucy’s skinny and tall physique wasn’t quite like Gregory’s lanky but shorter-than-normal for a guy statute. Reese debated for only a few more seconds and then asked, “Who’s your father, Lucy?”

Lucy didn’t look back at Reese as she continued to inspect the jagged edges of glass barely kissing the door trim. She started to reach out for one of the spikey teeth, but Reese hollered, “What are you doing?”

That got Lucy’s attention. She whipped around to Reese’s bellowing voice.

“Nothing. God, you act like my mother.” This time Lucy's voice was brimmed with whining.

Reese heaved. “Lucy? Who is your father?” She repeated.

Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Well, if Gregory is your uncle, don’t you know who his brother is?”

Lucy looked back with a confused expression washed over her face.

Reese decided to take a gamble. After seeing Gregory and Wayne together last evening, she was pretty sure they were related. Maybe not brothers, but definitely related somehow. Wayne certainly was a much more imposing figure but the facial similarity was too uncanny. If Gregory wasn’t Lucy’s father, maybe Wayne was. It actually made some sense. Heather moved away to hide her pregnancy.

“Lucy, is Wayne your father?”

“Who’s Wayne?”

Reese sighed again. This was getting nowhere. She needed to speak with Gregory and Heather. But first things first. Addie was still missing and Reese needed to find her.

“Okay. So you don’t know who your father is. Do you know who Addie’s father is?”

“Yeah. Some guy named Landon.” She shrugged again. “I don’t know his last name though. Mom’s weird when it comes to our dads. She doesn’t say boo. She only told Addie that her father’s name was Landon because she kept bugging her about it. And then like a week after she tells her, Addie goes missing.”

The phone rang. Once. Twice. Three times.

Lucy cocked her head at Reese. “Aren't you going to get that?”

Reese couldn’t move. Nothing in her body worked. Her muscles had frozen to a solid stiff statue. She could hear the phone ringing but it was like she couldn’t remember how to answer it. Landon. Landon Caldwell? Hers and Luke’s father?