Buried in Secrets (Carly Moore #4) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,82

town yesterday, but she never showed up at work and she didn’t go home last night. I thought you might know where she is.”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass where she is,” he said, dumping the bag on the front sidewalk with loud thunk, then turning around and heading back to grab another.

“Don’t you care about your baby?” I asked as he brushed past me.

He stopped and turned to face me, his eyes dark. “That’s a good one.”

That pissed me off. Maybe it was the fact my own father had turned his back on me, but the thought of him already blowing off his baby didn’t sit right with me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Look,” he said in frustration. He stopped walking and swept a hand in front of him. “I don’t know what that bitch told you, but it ain’t my baby.”

“What are you talking about?”

His eyes widened, and he leaned forward as he enunciated each word. “That. Baby. Ain’t. Mine.”

“But—”

“She cheated on me. We went for the stupid ultrasound a few weeks ago, and they said she was six months pregnant, not five like she told me.”

I shook my head, still not understanding what the problem was. “So?”

“I was in jail, lady, and I wasn’t gettin’ no conjugal visits.”

“Oh. Crap.”

“More like she fed me a crock of shit.”

I hated asking this question, but it had to be done. “Do you know whose baby it is?”

“That slut’s been sleepin’ around with anybody with a dick, so there’s just no tellin’.”

“Take a guess.”

“Probably Jonathon Whitmore’s. Rumor has it she’s been shacking up with him from time to time.”

“Got any idea about how I can go about reaching him?”

He released a bitter laugh. “You’re something else, ain’t ya?”

“So I’ve been told.”

He shook his head and then laughed again, only this time it sounded more genuine. “I like you, so sure, I’ll tell you. He lives up toward Hogan’s Pass. Blue house that looks like it’s about to fall in.” He clenched his jaw. “I hope it falls in around both of ’em.”

“But what about the baby?” I asked in disbelief. I could understand his hateful feelings toward his ex, but an innocent baby?

He turned and spat on the concrete, barely missing a potted plant. “Ain’t my kid. It’d be better off not coming into that sick as fuck family.”

“Ashlynn’s?” I asked.

“The tooth fairy’s,” he snarked. “Of course hers. They’re as messed up as they come. Her mother murdered that insurance guy. Her brother nearly killed himself and two other people, and her father is a mean son-of-a-bitch.” He paused, and I saw a momentary flicker of pain in his eyes, but rage burned it away. “And she’s a fuckin’ slut.” He spun around and headed for the large pile of mulch bags in the back.

I considered following him, but I wasn’t sure what else to ask him. His directions to Jonathon Whitmore’s house sucked, but that was the best I was going to get out of him.

“Thank you,” I called out, figuring I owed him that much.

Keeping his back to me, he lifted his right arm and flipped me off. If he flipped off the people he liked, I sure hated to see what he did to those he didn’t.

I got back in my car and pulled out of the parking lot. Maybe Marco could get me an address for Ashlynn’s other boyfriend. Or I could look it up in the phone book. I started toward the Ewing library, turning down a side street that would get me there faster. It was then realized I was on Bird Street, the street that matched the address I’d found for Jim Palmer.

Pulling to the side of the road in front of a bungalow with pretty flowers lining the sidewalk and the numbers 324 painted on the siding next to the door, I got out my notebook and searched through my notes. Sure enough, the Palmers lived at 758.

I pulled away from the curb and continued down the road for several blocks. When I was in the 700s, I saw a For Sale sign in a yard up ahead and gasped when I realized it was in front of 758.

Melinda had already put her house up for sale?

My phone rang, and my pulse picked up when I realized it was Marco.

“Hey,” I said, hating that I sounded slightly breathless.

“I think sex with you is amazing too,” he said in a low tone that set my body on fire. “But I’m relieved to know you