David Baldacci - First Family

Michelle noted the emphasis on the last words. "How much is very much?"

"I don't like to talk out of school."

"Listen, if my mom was messing around on my dad, that's very important to know, Nancy. Do you know who she was seeing?"

"It was more than one, actually."

Michelle slumped back in her chair. "How many more than one?"

"Three, at least that I knew of. Two moved away, the last about a month ago."

"Where'd they move to?"

"One to Seattle, the other overseas."

"And who was the third?"

"You didn't hear this from me because it's not common knowledge. Your mother was very discreet, I'll give her that. And I don't know if they were, well, you know, intimate. Maybe they were just spending time with each other. Maybe they were just lonely."

"Who?" Michelle said calmly, although she wanted to fire a round into the phone to make the woman answer without any more qualifiers.

"Doug Reagan."

"Doug Reagan? As in Donna Rothwell's steady, Doug Reagan?"

"That's the one. Do you know him?"

"Not really, but I think I will now. How long were they having an affair?"

"Well, I thought they were still having it, up until your mother died, I mean."

"Wait a minute, how do you know all this?"

"Your mother confided in me. We were very good friends."

"So no one else knows that you know?"

"I don't know if she told anyone else. But I've never talked about it to another soul until right now. A confidence is a confidence. But now that she's gone, well, I thought you had a right to know."

To know that my mother was a slut. Thanks.

"Are you there, dear?"

Michelle snapped back. "Yeah, I'm here. Would you be willing to tell the police what you just told me?"

"Do I have to?"

Sean put a hand on Michelle's arm and shook his head.

"Maybe not," Michelle said quickly. "At least not right now." She paused. "Uh, did my dad know about… the things my mom was doing?"

"As I said, I didn't know your father that well, but he always struck me as a man that if he did know he would've done something about it."

"Yeah, he strikes me that way too. Thanks, Nancy. Just sit tight and don't tell anyone about this, okay?"

"All right, dear. If you say so."

"I really appreciate you being so candid."

"I have four grown daughters of my own, two of them divorced. I know things happen. Life is never perfect. I want you to know that when your mother told me what she was doing I strongly suggested that she stop seeing these other men. To go back to your father and try and work things out. Like I said, I didn't know him all that well, but I could tell he was a good man. He didn't deserve what was happening."

"Nancy, you're a jewel."

"No, I'm just a mother who's seen it all."

Michelle clicked off and gazed over at Sean. "No wonder I'm so screwed up, right?"

"I think you're remarkably sane, actually."

"Why didn't you want her to talk to the police?"

"I don't know. Just call it a hunch."

"So what do we do now?"

"Until we hear back from my two-star, we don't have a lot to do. How about a quick trip to Nashville to run this down?"

They quickly found that the next direct flight to Nashville wouldn't leave until the next day, unless they wanted to connect through Chicago and then Denver and take most of a day, much of it sitting in airport lounges or else on tarmacs.

"Gotta love air travel," said Sean, clicking off his phone after listening to the flight options. "Fly north or west to head south."

"Screw 'em. Feel like a drive?" Michelle said.

"With you, anytime."

They bought some sandwiches and two giant cups of coffee and set out at eight that night. On the way down Michelle had phoned her brother Bill and learned that all her male siblings had returned to their respective towns except for Bobby, of course, who lived there.

"Got some good news," Bill had told his sister.

"What's that?"

"Dad isn't a suspect anymore. At least not a serious one."

"Why?"

"ME said the blow came from a lefty and Dad hits from the other side."

"They didn't know that before?"

"The wheels of justice move slow, sis, but it's still good news."

"How come you all left Dad?"

"We didn't, actually. He left us."

"Meaning what exactly?"

"Meaning he told us to get the hell out of town because he was sick of us being around. I wish he would've been more direct, you know." Michelle could almost feel her oldest brother smiling through the phone.

"You really think you should leave him alone?"

"Bobby's there. And Dad's a big boy. He can take care of himself."

"That's not what's bothering me."

Before Bill could ask what was bothering his sister she'd already ended the call.

Sean said, "So good news he's been cleared, but bad news because your dad knows the killer's out there and he may take matters into his own hands."

"My brother's are great cops but clueless sons. They could never even contemplate my dad doing something like that. Or my mom cheating on him."

"But you can?"

She glanced at him and then looked away. "Yeah, I can."

Michelle drove with her usual total disregard of all speed limits and, after stopping only twice for bathroom breaks, they arrived at her father's house at a little after five o'clock a.m., beating the arrival time of the nonstop morning flight by a good four hours.

Michelle glanced in the garage and shook her head. The Camry wasn't parked there. She used her key to get into the house. A quick search showed it was empty.

"Does your dad have a gun safe somewhere?"

"Just a pistol box, I think. Probably in the bedroom closet."

Sean checked. He found the box but there was no gun in it.

They sat on the unmade bed and looked at each other.

"Should we call Bobby?" Sean asked.

"Take too long to explain it to him. Maybe we should go see Doug Reagan. Ask him why he forgot to mention he was banging my mom."

"You have an address for the man?"

"Easy enough to find. Like everybody keeps saying, this town just isn't that big. Or we can always check with his hot steady, Donna."

"Well, first how about we shower and change our clothes? I haven't pulled an all-nighter in a car in a long time. In fact, the last time was with you."

"Expanding your horizons. It seems to be my lot in life."

Michelle showered first in the guest room bathroom. When she was done she opened the bedroom door and called down the hall.

"You're up, King."

He walked in as she was finishing wrapping herself in a towel. He held up a fresh cup of coffee. "Interested?"

"Always."

She sat on the bed drinking the coffee while he went into the bathroom.

She raised her voice. "What about the party next door? Maybe we should get a guest list and start hitting that too."

"Or we can get it from your brother," he called back. "I have to believe that was one of the first things the police did."

She moved closer to the door as the shower came on. "I'd rather we did it ourselves."

"What?"

"Do it ourselves," she said in a loud voice.

"Okay, your wish is my command."

"That'll be the day." But the comment still drew from her a smile.

She went into her father's bedroom and looked around. The photo of her mother was gone. She checked the trash can. It wasn't in there either. She looked under the bed for some reason. There it was. She pulled it out. The glass was cracked. She stared down at it. A bit of sharp glass had ripped across her parents' faces.

Is this what a nearly fifty-year marriage came down to? The next thought was equally devastating.

And where exactly is my life going?

She carried the picture back into the guest bedroom, slumped on the bed, and started trembling.