Дэвид Балдаччи - King and Maxwell

“Where’s Michelle?” he asked.

Sean pointed over his shoulder. “Right behind you.”

Michelle pulled up in her Land Cruiser and got out. Sean eyed her. “Any problems?”

“No one followed him,” she reported.

Tyler glanced sharply at her. “I didn’t see you following me.”

“That’s sort of the point,” she said, coming forward and standing next to them.

The air was chilly and damp and the sky overcast. They all shivered at the same time.

She said, “Let’s do this in one of the vehicles.”

“Not yours,” said Sean quickly. “I hold the line against having meetings in Dumpsters. Let’s use my sedan.”

Giving him a brief scowl, Michelle followed them over to the Lexus and they climbed in. Michelle sat in the back keeping watch out the windows while Tyler and Sean sat in the front.

“Tell us about Jean,” Sean said. “Why do you think she’s disappeared?”

“She’s always at home when I get back from swim practice. She makes dinner. She nags me about homework. Always.”

“But she wasn’t there tonight?” said Michelle. “No dinner, no nagging.”

“Not only that. Her car is gone. And her clothes too.”

“Any note?” asked Sean. “Text, phone message?”

Tyler shook his head. “But I asked one of the neighbors. Mrs. Dobbers, the old lady across the street, said she saw Jean leaving around noon. She said she saw her put a suitcase in the trunk.”

“Any reason why she would head out somewhere?” asked Michelle. “Sick relative somewhere close? Anything happen between the two of you?”

“I don’t know about any sick relative. She never mentioned anyone. She and I had some words the other night. But it was nothing more than usual. She wasn’t mad or crying or anything.”

“What did she say exactly?” Sean asked.

“That she was sorry my dad was gone too. That we were all we had left. That got me mad. I told her I’d rather be an orphan.” He looked embarrassed. “I shouldn’t have said that. It was stupid.”

“But she didn’t break down crying or anything?” said Michelle.

“No. I just walked. Oh, I did tell her I was going to get to the truth. And that I was hiring you guys back to look into stuff.”

“Bingo,” said Michelle.

Sean nodded and looked at Tyler. “I think that’s why she left.”

“I don’t understand. What does she have to worry about? I just want to find my dad.”

“This is just speculation,” began Sean.

“And we could be wrong,” added Michelle.

“What!” Tyler snapped.

“Your dad married her really fast. They didn’t seem to have a lot in common. You weren’t even invited to the ceremony at the courthouse. That doesn’t sound like your dad, does it?”

“No. That’s what I’ve been saying.” He stopped abruptly and his eyes widened in realization. “Are you saying it was all made up?”

“It could be,” corrected Sean. “But right now it’s just a theory. We have no proof. Not yet anyway.”

“Why would my dad do that?”

“We learned some things about your dad today, Tyler.”

“Tell me,” he said quickly.

“He wasn’t really in the reserves. He was still in the regular Army.”

“What?” Tyler exclaimed, looking stunned. “My dad never told me that.”

“He probably was barred from doing so,” said Sean. “We believe he was on a special mission for the military in Afghanistan.”

“But I don’t understand. Why would he need to pretend to marry someone for that?”

Sean said, “There could be any number of reasons. He was going to be gone, Tyler. He had to have someone here to look after you. You couldn’t really live on your own, not at your age. It might have been his only option. And they might not have even been married. You didn’t attend the civil ceremony, right? You said they just showed up and said they were married.”

Tyler looked away, his lips trembling. “So it was all a lie. He just lied to me.”

Sean, seeing the hurt look on Tyler’s face, added, “Which shows how much your dad cared about you. He didn’t want you to be alone.”

“That’s bullshit,” yelled Tyler. “If he really cared about me he wouldn’t have pulled crap like this. He would have told me the truth. He told me he got married. He made me live with Jean for a freaking year. And it was all a bunch of lies?”

Michelle said, “We don’t know that for sure, Tyler. Like Sean said, it’s just one theory.”

“I bet it’s true,” exclaimed Tyler. “I could tell my dad didn’t really love her. They never held hands. I never saw them kissing. I never even saw them hug the whole time. It was all crap.”

Sean looked at Michelle and drew a long breath. “The mission must have been really important, Tyler, and a long time in the making if he purportedly left the military a year ago and then ‘married’ Jean in preparation for it. You know when soldiers go into combat they can’t tell anyone where they are, not even their families.”

“I know that, okay? But this is different.”

“It’s a little different but not entirely. Apparently your father’s mission was really dangerous and really covert. They chose him for it, which shows how much the Army thought of him. He sacrificed a lot. But most of all, leaving you.”

“And not being able to tell you anything, Tyler,” added Michelle. “I bet that was just eating away at him.”

He glared at her. “You’re just saying that stuff to make me feel better. Well, I don’t feel better, okay? My dad lied to me. It’s that simple.” He was silent for a bit and then blurted out, “What sort of mission? And is it finished?”

Michelle said, “We’re not exactly sure what the mission was. Apparently, to deliver something in Afghanistan.”

“Will he be coming back home then? Is he really alive?”

Sean replied, “Unfortunately, I can’t answer any of those questions, Tyler, because I don’t have the answers. I can tell you that apparently something went wrong with the mission. I can tell you that the Army believes your father is alive. They just don’t know where he is.”

“Was he captured?”

“Don’t think so. If he’d been captured, I doubt he would have been able to email you.”

“They could have captured him after he emailed me,” Tyler pointed out.

“Yes they could,” Michelle agreed.

Sean said, “There’s something else you need to know.”

Tyler looked at him apprehensively. “What?”

“A friend of mine who gave me the information about your dad was shot today at a local mall. Michelle and I were actually there. There were three gunmen. We managed to subdue all three.”

“We managed to kill all three,” Michelle corrected. “Before they could kill us.”

“You killed people?” Tyler said, looking astonished. “At the mall?”

“I’m afraid so. And a police officer was also killed.”

“And you think this had something to do with my dad?” Tyler said slowly.

Michelle said, “We don’t have any other active cases. And the shooters did look like, well, like former military although they carried no ID.”

Tyler looked at Sean. “That bruising on your face? Was that from what happened?”

“It’s nothing for you to worry about,” said Sean quickly.

“Will they be able to find out who the men are?”

“If they’re in some database somewhere, the answer is yes. If they’re not, there’s no guarantee.”

“So they came to the mall to get you and Michelle?”

“They wanted us to come with them. We just politely declined,” said Michelle.

Tyler looked back at her, his face pale as cream. “I’m sorry. I never wanted anything like this to happen.”