“Matt Iverson. My friends call me MacGyver.” As they shook hands, MacGyver nodded toward her. “Think we should help her out?”
Pop flagged his hand as though shooing flies. “Naw. Hell, she can manage. I assume, since you’re with her, she meant to bring you. Let’s go in and have a beer.” He turned toward the stairs, not waiting for an answer. “What happened to that know-it-all marshal?”
MacGyver chuckled softly as Pop jogged up the stairs. With a grin, he stopped beside Kellie and offered her a hand. Chip bounced around by her side, apparently ready for the next adventure. Kellie locked arms with MacGyver and pulled herself up.
His smile warmed her as he brushed leaves and twigs from her hair. “I like him.”
She nodded. “Thanks. So do I.”
Chip raced up the stairs. MacGyver and Kellie followed at a slower pace. As soon as they stepped through the screen door, Pop handed them each a beer, twisted the cap off his and took a long swallow. Then he swept his arm toward a sunroom, bright with early afternoon rays just breaking through the cloud cover. A tile-covered, metal table sat dead-center, surrounded by white wicker chairs with blue cushions.
Pop surveyed her with the stern, somber expression she remembered from her childhood. “I believe you have some explaining to do. Perhaps MacGyver wouldn’t mind waiting downstairs.” Charlie’s stern consideration turned to the tall, muscular man who hadn’t left her side.
Knowing she had to own the mess she’d made didn’t make it any easier. Kellie glanced at MacGyver and noted he hadn’t moved. “He stays, Pop. I owe him an explanation too, so I might as well tell you both at the same time.” She strode into the sunroom, taking a seat facing the windows. Pop and MacGyver sat at either end of the table. Chip circled once and curled up in a sun spot.
“Bear with me, Pop, while I bring MacGyver up to speed. I know you don’t like to talk about Anna, but we can’t avoid it this time.” Kellie reached to pat his arm as he thumped his beer bottle on the table, and anger sharpened his aging features.
She looked toward MacGyver and found him watching her. His quick grin gave her the confidence to begin.
“Anna is my sister. My mother’s death was really hard on all of us, but Anna never really recovered. She began hanging with a bad crowd, lost her job and started drinking and staying out all night. Pop did what he could, but Anna wouldn’t listen. I called her from Iraq every chance I got, but then she started avoiding both of us. About a year ago, she disappeared without a trace. The police investigated, but they followed every lead to a dead end.”
She glanced at her stepdad, his stoic posture hard to read, before focusing again on MacGyver. “As I told you, I was in Iraq when my mother was diagnosed. I was a Marine—corporal to be exact—assigned as part of the Lioness program in Baghdad. We were charged with helping Iraqi women retain some dignity by having females search females coming and going at the gates.”
MacGyver raised one eyebrow as though he wasn’t familiar with the project, but since her last deployment wasn’t something she wished to elaborate on, she let it go. “It was four months before I could get home, and by then the detectives had pretty much given up.”
Kellie sneaked another peek at Pop. He stared out the bank of windows, his head turned away so she could only judge his reaction by half of his face. He sat ramrod stiff and had apparently lost interest in his beer, which told her all she needed to know.
Turning back to MacGyver, she made a pathetic attempt at a smile and was encouraged by the understanding that softened his eyes. Now, if she could only find the courage to tell her stepdad the truth.
As though he’d read her mind, Pop rotated to face her. She flinched from the accusation in his deep brown eyes.
“The stress was killing you, Pop.” She’d done the only thing she could think to do to bring some peace to his life. “Please forgive me—I lied to you.”
“What do you mean?” His gruff voice caught on the jagged edges of her heart, and she almost lost her nerve. Would have…if MacGyver hadn’t leaned forward and covered one of her hands with his.
“I told you the trail was cold. That there were no more clues to follow. But therewasone. Anna’s friend, Haley. Remember her? She had a brother in the Army. He was killed in Mosul last year. I went to see her to give her my condolences after I got home. We stayed in touch. I think, because I’d been there and knew what her brother had been fighting for, she got some comfort from talking with me. Anyway, one day she started telling me about Anna and what a good dancer she’d been.”
“Dancer?” Pop’s surprise was as great as hers had been.
“I didn’t know either, Pop. Haley broke down when she told me she’d gotten Anna a job in the same showroom where she worked. She said Anna was a natural. You know how pretty she was. She caught the eye of the boss. They started dating. She moved in with him. Haley said the last time Anna came around she had bruises all over her body, and she was scared. She begged Haley to help her get out of town. They made plans and arranged to meet, but Anna didn’t show up, and Haley never saw her after that. When she asked about her at work, management made it clear talking about Anna wasn’t healthy.”
Kellie jumped as Pop surged upward, sending his chair screeching backward a few inches, and slapped his hands on the table. “Who? Who was it? Why didn’t you tell me?”
MacGyver squeezed her fingers, and Kellie managed to swallow around the lump in her throat.
“Charlie, what do you say we hear her out and then decide what to do next?” MacGyver’s calm voice was a lifeline, and she quietly threaded her fingers through his, hoping somehow he’d understand her gratitude.
Pop massaged the back of his neck as he sank into his chair again.
“I couldn’t tell you. I was afraid I’d lose you too.” Kellie hated the way her voice trembled. “So I spent eight months learning everything I could about him. All of his dirty secrets, the people he controlled, the lives he’d ruined. And I came up with a plan.”
Pop shot from his seat and turned his back on her, staring out the windows. Tension vibrated in the air. Kellie glanced at MacGyver, and even he wouldn’t look at her.
“Tony Palazzi was her boss and her lover…and is probably the only person who knows what happened to her, or at least that’s what I thought until today. I had to get inside his circle no matter what it took. You taught me to play Blackjack when I was a kid. Remember, Pop?”
Charlie grunted. “You were always a quick study. One of the best at counting cards I’d ever seen.” He sighed. “Thought your mother was going to disown both of us.”
Kellie smiled at the memory. Mom had been sure Charlie was leading her daughter straight to hell. Clearly, her mother’s assessment had been spot on.