asking for a roster, Marco, and it’s not like I’m going to tell Bingham, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Why is it so important to know if I slept with her last summer?” he asked, growing irritated.
“It just is, Marco,” I said, torn between my promise to Lula and the need to know if he was a potential father to her baby.
He shot me another look, and then his eyes widened slightly. “Wait. You know something. What aren’t you tellin’ me?”
I countered his question with my own. “Will you help me find her?”
“Do you have any more leads?” he asked in frustration. “Because this seemed to be our only one. Unless you tell me what you’re holdin’ back.”
“You have to swear you won’t tell another soul.”
“Okay.”
“No, you have to swear it, Marco.”
“Okay, I swear.”
I still wasn’t sure if I should tell him, but I needed to find Lula, and he was the only person liable to help me. Which meant I had to take the risk. “Lula’s pregnant.”
The car swerved to the right as he jerked his head to face me, but he quickly corrected it. “She’s what?”
“She’s five or six months pregnant. She’s not sure how far along she is because she hasn’t gone to see a doctor…which means she doesn’t know when she got pregnant. So Bingham could be the father, or if you slept with her…”
He shook his head. “It’s not me.”
“So you didn’t sleep with her?”
“It’s not me, Carly,” he said, keeping his eyes on the road. “Let’s just leave it at that.”
I would have felt more relieved if he’d flat out denied sleeping with her, but it was obvious this was the best I was going to get. “So Bingham’s in the running for the father, but I don’t think he knows about her pregnancy. Could there be anyone else?”
“Why are you askin’ me?” he asked defensively.
“You seem to know more about her personal life than Ruth does.”
A frown tilted his mouth down. “Ruth is hard on ’er. She thinks Lula’s slow and dimwitted, and she’s hurt her feelin’s more times than I can count. Lula purposefully keeps her personal life from Ruth because she doesn’t want her to rip it apart.”
I felt disloyal for even thinking it, but I suspected Marco was probably right. I’d seen their dynamic play out the night before at the tavern. “Surely Lula has someone she talks to. A friend she confides in.”
“As you’ve figured out, working at the tavern doesn’t leave much time for socializin’, but last I heard, her closest friend is Greta Hightower.”
I repeated her name. “Where have I heard that name before?”
“She’s a waitress at Watson’s,” he said.
I shook my head, working it over. “That’s not it.” I snapped my fingers and pointed at him. “Max slept with her and pissed her off.”
Marco cringed. “Yeah, Max mentioned something about that.”
“Do you think you can talk to her?”
He snorted. “I’m not sure she’ll talk to me. I’m guilty by association with Max.”
“Then there’s no way she’ll talk to me. I work for him. And then there’s the fact I’ve been filling in for her best friend at the tavern. She might be one of the people who think I’m trying to steal Lula’s job.”
“Maybe you can butter her up by talkin’ bad about Max.”
I was already shaking my head. “Max has been more than generous to me. I won’t do that to him.”
“Well, you took Lula home last night, and you’re lookin’ for her now. Surely she’ll want to help you find her.”
“If she trusts me. It’s all about trust, Marco.”
“Yeah,” he said, the corner of his mouth twitching up, “but you have a way of makin’ people trust you, Carly. Just be honest with her and she’ll see that you’re on the up and up.”
I glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “Well, I won’t be talking to her tonight. I’m barely going to get to work on time as it is, but I’m off tomorrow afternoon.” I gave him a sly smile. “What are you doing tomorrow morning?”
“Why do I think it’s going to Watson’s Café for breakfast with you?”
“Because you’re more than just a pretty face, Marco Roland.”
“Ha!” he said with a laugh. “Try convincin’ my boss of that.”
“You’ll prove it to him by finding Lula.”
“She still could have taken off again, Carly.”
“Maybe,” I conceded, because I’d had a few moments of doubt. “But my gut tells me that someone took her. And I feel really guilty about going to work knowing she’s