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“I have no idea. I just know it’s the first thing that comes to mind. Of course, they’ll all be gone now, so it will be hard to find out anything about them. I just remember he was away a lot at some point, and usually with the same crew of people. And Mom always forbade them the house, arguing she didn’t want their bad influence to rub off on us.”

“Do you remember any names? Places they used to hang out? Anything like that?”

Rita nodded slowly as she thought back.“Um… They used to have a place where they met after work, shooting pool and hanging out. The Rusty Beaver, I think it was called. It’s not there anymore, though. It’s a flower shop these days, of all things. And the names…” She shook her head. “I’d have to ask my brother. He’s aces with names.”

“Well, please ask him and I’ll see if I can find out some more about these people.”

“Do you think the police will look into my dad’s murder?”

“I’m sure they will. Even though it’s a cold case, they’ll want to know what happened.”

“It’s going to be hard, though, right? It’s been…” She closed her eyes, then nodded. “Fifty-five years. Hard to imagine it’s been so long. I was twenty-one when he disappeared, still living at home, and Tom was sixteen. My mom used to burn a candle for dad each year on the anniversaryof his disappearance, telling us it might bring him back. A light to guide him home.” She smiled as tears trickled down her cheeks again. “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize. I can’t imagine how I would feel if my dad suddenly walked out and never came back. And fifty-five years later I discover he was actually murdered.”

“Yeah, it’s tough, not knowing. That’s the hardest pat. I sometimes think it would have been easier if we’d have found him immediately, but of course now I’ll never know.”

“So… your brother will get back to me about the names thing?” said Odelia, feeling slightly embarrassed to keep asking her reporter questions while the woman was in obvious distress.

But Rita pulled herself together, wiped away her tears and nodded.“I’ll call him now. I want to be the one to tell him about what happened.”

Odelia nodded. She’d taken out her notebook. “Your dad used to work for Courtyard Living, a landscaping company. Any idea if they’re still in business?”

“They might be.”

“I’ll have a dig. They might have an archive. Old personnel files.”

“Might be worth pursuing,” Rita agreed.

“Anything else that might be important?”

“Can’t think of anything right now, but if something occurs to me that I think might shed some light on his disappearance—his murder—I’ll call you, okay?”

“Please do,” said Odelia. “And please call me even if you don’t have anything to share and just want to talk.”

“I’ll do that,” Rita said with a warm smile. “God, how long has it been? Five years? It seems like yesterday that you were that adorable little girl with pigtails sitting on my lap.”

“You were the best babysitter I ever had, Rita. I mean that.”

“Yeah, I loved our evenings together, pigging out in front of the TV, watching until we both fell asleep.”

Odelia laughed.“Even watching stuff I wasn’t supposed to be watching.”

“Hey, what are cool babysitters for, huh?”

“Thanks, Rita,” she said fondly.

“Why didn’t we stay in touch?”

“I guess life got in the way,”

“Yeah, I guess it did. Well, let’s keep in touch now. You may be too old to need a babysitter, but you’re never too old to need a friend. And who knows, one day you may have kids yourself, and need the best babysitter in the world to keep an eye on them.”

“If that happens, you’ll be the first person I call,” she promised, getting up.

Both women hugged, and then Rita walked her to the door. And as she opened it, the doorbell chimed merrily though the hallway and Rita frowned.“Now who could that be?” And as they both watched, Odelia wasn’t surprised to see her uncle and Chase.

She grinned.“And that, my dear, sweet Rita, is my boyfriend Chase Kingsley.”

Chapter 16

His last patient had left, and so Tex was leaning back in his chair and stretching his arms behind his head. He loved his job, but at the end of a long day at the office he was glad to go home and relax. He was lucky that he had a wonderful family. A wife he adored, a daughter he loved, a mother-in-law… who wasn’t always as horrible as she could be.

He got up, grabbed his coat from the rack and opened the door a crack. Vesta had already left for the day. Unlike most employees she never said hi in the morning, and never said see ya in the evening. She simply showed up and left without announcing either arrival or departure. He’d learned to live with it, though at first it had irked him a little. A garrulous and kindly man himself, he loved chatting with people, and he would have loved a receptionist who dropped in from time to time between patients to shoot the breeze.