to get pregnant with Thomas’s child and suddenly she had an affair with another man and got pregnant. “Whose baby was Joey?”
Hope shook her head. “She didn’t know. She was in a panic. I tried to get her to take a DNA test before the baby was born.”
“Did she?”
The woman shook her head. “She was determined that it was Thomas’s. She broke off the affair. She told me her boyfriend was really upset.”
Mo thought about the emotional roller coaster Tricia had been on during her pregnancy. No wonder she’d been all over the place. “Did her boyfriend not want the baby?”
“Oh, no, he wanted it. He wanted her to leave Thomas and marry him, but she was having second thoughts, regrets, you know. Thomas had found out that she was pregnant and was so happy that she convinced herself that it was his and lied to her boyfriend about taking the test. She said the baby was her husband’s and that the affair was over.”
“But she didn’t know who Joey’s father was?”
Hope shook her head. “Then when he was born with so many medical problems and the doctor said he probably wouldn’t live...”
Mo knew her sister. “She blamed herself.”
“I told her it was stupid. That it was just bad luck.”
Mo sat back on the couch. This explained so much. Natalie must have seen how out of control Tricia had been. Once she saw Tricia with the other man... “If you think of anything she might have said about the man that might give me a clue who he was...”
“Like I said, she didn’t tell me that much about him. Mostly she talked about the way he made her feel. He was like her. He loved animals.” Mo thought about her sister’s disappointment that she couldn’t have a dog because Thomas was allergic. “And he was romantic,” Hope was saying. “One time he carved their initials into a tree.”
Mo pulled out of her thoughts to look at the woman. “Where was this?”
“On a camping trip they took some weekend when Thomas was at one of his seminars. Their inside joke was how taken Thomas was with the Jeffrey Palmer seminars.” She looked over at Brick. “Jeffrey Palmer is a self-made millionaire. He gives leadership seminars that he charges a fortune for so others can believe they might one day be rich, too. Thomas idolizes him and never misses one of his seminars, especially since his company sends him along with his associates so they can become leaders.”
“The carving on the tree,” Mo said pointedly. “Where was it exactly?”
Hope seemed to give it some thought. “I think it was near Red Lodge by a creek.” She shrugged. “I just remember how happy Tricia was.”
“Until she wasn’t.”
“I hope you find him. I do remember that when Tricia told me about breaking up with him over the pregnancy, she didn’t come out and say it, but I could tell that she’d been worried about how he was going to take it. She said he was so angry, she’d never seen him like that, and she was sure that she’d done the right thing by breaking it off, but then later he called. She sat right here and cried her heart out. I think she really loved him.”
Mo felt her heart ache for her sister. “She kept seeing him, didn’t she?” Hope looked away, answer enough. Mo got to her feet, thanked her and started for the door.
Brick asked behind her, “Where was this photo taken?” She turned to see that he was pointing at a snapshot that had been stuck into the edge of a framed photograph on the mantle.
It appeared to be one of Tricia. In the photo, her sister was smiling at the person taking the photo. She did look happy. Behind her was a stream and pines.
“Oh, I forgot all about that photo,” Hope cried. “Tricia left it here since she couldn’t take it home. It was her favorite from their camping trip. He said it was his favorite photo of her and gave her a copy of it. I’m sure there were others of the two of them but she never showed them to me. That reminds me.” Hope got to her feet. “She left some stuff here. I thought you might—”
“I’d like it, please,” Mo said and they waited as the woman disappeared through a door and returned moments later with a large manila envelope.
“I don’t know what’s in it. I never looked.” She handed it to Mo. “Tricia