30. Said Stupid Shit

30

SAID STUPID SHIT

“ T hanks for meeting this late,” Sloane said to Zander Monday. He was glad he could get to Tennessee on Friday and be home by Sunday afternoon with everything he needed to close this case up concerning the guardianship of Sloane’s five-year-old sister.

“Never a problem,” he said. “Did you have a good Thanksgiving?”

“I did,” Sloane said. “After spending the holiday alone for so many years, it was a big change to go to Dane’s parents’ house and I was so happy to be able to give that to little Shiloh.”

“That’s great.” Zander smiled, knowing that Sloane and Chloe’s brother, Dane, were on the Fierces’ matchmaking list, and it looked like this was going to be another win for them.

“I know you’re recently dating someone,” Sloane said, “so I’m sorry if this case pulled you away from her for the holiday.”

“We got to spend it together,” he said. “No worries.”Regan didn’t seem bothered with him leaving early Friday. She said she was going to get some Christmas shopping done and then catch up on work. She had a few sessions booked that she’d take from home so he was glad to know she wasn’t going into the office either. “I’ve got information for you. Sorry it’s taken so long, but it’s hard looking in another state and tracking people down. Not everyone gets back to you via email or calls.”

“I know,” Sloane said. “I didn’t expect you to find anything but knew I had to try.”

“I did find things out,” he said. “Enough.”

“You found out who Shiloh’s father is?” Sloane asked.

“Sorry I’m late,” Dane said, opening the door. “I got held up at the hospital.”

“You haven’t missed much,” he said. “I was just telling Sloane that I have information for her. I’ll email the whole report to you, Sloane, and everything I found but will give you a summary now and answer any questions. You can ask more after you read everything too.”

“What did you find?” Dane asked.

“First, the locket that you had. That was from an old coworker. Actually, your mother’s boss. She’s the one I was waiting on. I had to go to Virginia to meet with her, then stopped in Tennessee after.”

He’d hated that the bill would be more, but there was part of this that Sloane didn’t know about that Dane had asked him to do so he did it all at once. That bill would go to Chloe’s brother.

“So it was a woman?” Sloane asked. “Who gave her the locket?”

“Yes. Her name is Barbara Hendrix. She felt bad for your mother. It was after Sabrina left home. Your mother was upset and Barbara had seen the pictures your mother had of you and Sabrina in your mother’s locker. She took them out, made copies and had the locket made and gave it to her as a Christmas gift.”

“That’s nice,” Sloane said.

“Your mother worked there for a few years and then moved to Tennessee. They didn’t keep in touch, but Barbara was able to give me the name of the person who hired your mother at her next job and the contact information.”

“They didn’t have that with social services?” Sloane asked.

It worked in his favor to be going to Tennessee for Dane anyway.

“No. Your mother was only employed for a few months and didn’t report it. There were no records of her paying taxes at that time either. My guess is she was employed under the table.”

“She did a lot of work like that,” Sloane said. “I didn’t think of it though.”

“It wouldn’t have made a difference if you had,” he said. “It’s not like you had names to give me. But one name led to another and I found that there was talk of Nadine dating a coworker.”

“Did you get his name?” Dane asked.

“I did. William Smith. Went by Billy,” he said.

“That’s a common name,” Sloane said. “No way you can find him.”

“I found him,” he said. “In a cemetery.”

The good with the bad in this job. At least it’d give Sloane closure.

He supposed if he were in her shoes, he’d want that to be the answer.

“So you can’t confirm it with him,” Sloane said.

“Actually,” he said, “I believe Billy was Shiloh’s father. I tracked a few more people down. It was a cleaning company. Most worked under the table but were still in the area. Two said Billy and Nadine had a thing going. When he found out she was pregnant, he’d broken things off. He had two kids already that he wasn’t supporting.”

“Guess my mother has great taste in men,” Sloane said drily. “Do you know how he died?”

“A bar fight,” he said. “He was drunk and was stabbed, but didn’t make it by the time they got to the hospital. I’m not sure any of this is what you wanted to know or hoped to find out.”

There were some things he wouldn’t share. That Billy was often drunk and causing problems. None of that made a difference in the outcome of things.

“It kind of is. I guess in a way I can breathe a sigh of relief that no one out there is coming for Shiloh. I can submit this to the courts too and maybe it will speed things up with the permanent guardianship.”

“I can give Trent a copy,” he said. “His office is right across from mine.”

“I hadn’t realized that,” Sloane said.

“It’s easy to run it over or email it,” he said. “Your choice.”

“If you want to give it to him, that’s fine. I’ll let him know it’s coming. So I guess there isn’t much more I can do. We just assume Billy was the father based on some people’s words?”

“We could track down his kids and ask for a DNA sample. Their mothers would have to approve it. That would make it more conclusive.”

“I don’t know that it matters,” Sloane said. “Shiloh has me. It’s not like I think there is anyone to come get her now. No one from my side of the family.”

“No,” he said. “Billy’s parents are nowhere to be found. I heard the father is in jail somewhere and I can find that out if you want. His mother took off when he was a kid. I didn’t know how much digging you wanted me to do.”

“That’s enough,” Sloane said.

“What about what I asked you to do?” Dane said. “Anything there?”

Sloane frowned. “What did you ask Zander to do?”

Zander was grinning when she asked that question and then turned back to Dane. “I can answer you here or privately. Your choice.” He hadn’t planned on telling Dane anything because he’d been told to keep it quiet. Which surprised him that Dane would bring it up now.

“Here,” Dane said. “I asked Zander to look into the man that raped your mother. I’m not going to say father. He’s not that. He’s not even a sperm donor.”

“Why would you do that?” Sloane asked as she stood up and her voice rose, but then she sat down again.

“Because I wanted to know if there was a chance anyone would come after you since you said your mother stole money.”

“He’s still where he’s been,” Zander said. “Doing the same that he’s done for years.”

Finding that information out on Sloane’s father might have been one of the more disturbing things he’d discovered in his career.

“Raping more young girls,” Sloane said. “Can’t he be arrested?”

“No,” he said. “He’s on protected land and no one can get to him. I was able to talk to someone that left the cult. A man. He was actually kicked out. His father was a leader.”

“At least he’s no relation to me,” Sloane said. “They tried to never do that. If another leader was going to take a woman, it was not one that had any relation to Simon. You can say his name.”

“No,” he said. “No relation to you. Silas was his name. He was kicked out for wanting a relationship with another member that wasn’t approved. At least per him.”

“Lots of control going on there,” Sloane said. “Once Simon was done with a woman, he decided if someone else could have her and the answer was usually no.”

Zander nodded. “As I said, he’s doing the same as he always did. There was no talk of stolen money. I asked if those things happened when people left. He was willing to be chatty after a few beers. Didn’t even know why I was asking.”

“I don’t need to know anything more,” Sloane said. “He’s not a part of my life and never will be. I might have you try to find my sister at some point, but for now, it’s best she lives her life and I live mine.”

“You know where I am if you need anything else,” Zander said, then left.

There was a fight brewing in that home. He’d seen a woman ready to do battle in Sloane’s eyes.

Maybe it was what he’d seen in Regan’s last week when he confronted her about the letter.

He supposed that was what happened when you were in love. You did and said stupid shit and then had to find a way to clean up your mess.

Good thing he was getting good at cleaning. Just not always good at maintaining it.