Page 8 of Mending Fate
“What about her parents? Where do they live?”
Shame flooded me. “I dinnae ken.”
How could I not know where Keli’s parents lived? How could I know so little about that part of my daughter’s life?
“I’m a shite father,” I muttered as I buried my face in my hands.
“You’re not a shite father,” Brody countered.
I raised my head. “My daughter is missing, and I can do fuck-all about it because I never bothered to find out anything about her mother other than the fact that she blames me for her art career not taking off.”
Brody put his hand on my shoulder. “Aye, you’ve made mistakes, but that doesna make you a bad person. Just a human one.”
“As opposed to a non-human person?” I asked dryly.
He grinned at me. “Now you’re getting it.”
After a moment of silence, I said, “Thank you for coming.”
“Of course,” he said, tone serious once more. “Back to Evanne, or rather, Keli. What do you remember her saying about her family? Anything could be helpful.”
I thought back over the last nine years, trying to recall any conversation or hint where Keli’s family had been mentioned.
“She grew up in Monterey Bay,” I said finally. “Only child, so she has no siblings to take her in.”
“Do her parents still live there?”
I shook my head. “I remember her saying something about her parents moving after she came to Seattle.”
“Did she and Evanne ever visit them for holidays?”
“I don’t believe so. They’re not estranged because I know they’ve sent Evanne gifts for her birthday and Christmas, but I only met them shortly after Evanne was born. I don’t think they live on the West Coast.”
“So far enough away that travel is problematic, either because of cost or distance, or both?”
“That sounds about right.” I frowned as a new thought occurred to me. “Keli didn’t include any provisions for grandparent visitations in the documents she had drawn up before she went to Italy.”
Brody ran his hand through his sandy brown hair. “Maybe they didn’t agree with her moving to another country. They mighta been pissed at her for leaving their granddaughter in Seattle with you instead of with them. Could that have played a role in Keli taking Evanne? Trying to get back into her parents’ good graces?”
“Possibly.” But that didn’t feel quite right either. “If that’s the case, that would be the place she’d go.”
He nodded his agreement.
Before either of us could explore the idea further, Eoin came inside. He and Brody greeted each other, but I didn’t bother getting up. We would end up sitting in here anyway. It seemed like a waste of energy better spent elsewhere.
“Where have you been?” The question came out far harsher than I’d intended. “Sorry. That wasn’t how I meant it.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Eoin made a dismissive gesture as he came over to sit across from me. “It’s not as if you don’t have anything stressful going on at the moment.”
Brody returned to sitting on the sofa next to me. “All right, what did you find?”
“I went to Evanne’s school and spoke with her teacher.”
“You did what?” This time, I wouldn’t apologize for my tone. Not when Eoin had gone poking his nose into a part of my personal life that had no bearing on where Evanne was right now.
“I needed to know some procedural things, as well as whether or not Evanne had said anything that could have indicated Keli planning this for a while.” Eoin’s voice was mild, as if I hadn’t tried to bite his head off. “If this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision, it’s possible Keli might have said something to Evanne, who later repeated it to a teacher. Keli might think to tell Evanne not to say anything to you, but it’s doubtful she would’ve thought the same of teachers.”
“Unless Keli knew that Evanne’s teacher was more than a teacher,” Brody said.