I’m still not sure you have her best interest in mind. I just can’t see why you’d go to this much trouble for someone you barely know.”
I understood her concern. It was a legitimate question. She didn’t know me from Adam, and I hardly knew Lula at all. How could I explain my reasons to her when I hardly understood them myself?
My mind flashed to Rose and Neely Kate coming up to my broken-down car by the side of the road.
“I think maybe I’m helping her because I was recently in a very difficult situation, and strangers came to my aid. Maybe I’m just payin’ it forward.” When she didn’t bolt, I added, “When I took Lula home last night, she seemed scared, but she refused to tell me why. I asked her about Bingham, but she didn’t say much other than that he could make people disappear. Which makes him suspect number one. But when I talked to him this afternoon, he didn’t let on that he knew she was pregnant. Maybe she was delivering a package for him and something went wrong?”
If Lula had botched some kind of delivery for him, she had a legit reason to be worried. At the same time, I doubted she would have come back at all, let alone stayed by herself in that cabin, knowing Bingham might come gunning for her.
“He might not be the daddy,” Greta said so softly I barely heard her.
I wasn’t surprised, but I needed more to go on. “Who else could it be?”
“You can’t tell anyone,” she said, leaning forward again and grabbing my wrist in a tight hold. “Swear it.”
I couldn’t tell her I planned to share what I learned with Marco. She clearly didn’t trust him. At the same time, I didn’t want to lie to her.
Her hold tightened, her fingernails digging into my flesh. “Swear.”
“I swear I won’t tell anyone.” I hated the constraint, but it was obvious she wasn’t going to tell me otherwise. I’d have to find a work-around.
“She was seeing someone else around the same time, but I’m not sure who. I wasn’t even sure she was seein’ Bingham until you verified it.”
“Why wouldn’t she tell you?” I asked. “You two are obviously close.”
“Her crazy-ass mother puts all kinds of ideas into her head. She keeps telling Lula not to trust anyone, even me. Lula still tells me things, just not everything.”
“Do you have any clues to help me track this other guy down?”
“All I know is that he was supposedly a man of importance.” She made a face. “That’s what she called him. A man of importance. She doesn’t talk like that, so I figured he was the one who told her that. Other than that, I only know that he was older and she used to meet him at the Mountain View Lodge outside of Ewing.” Pushing out a sigh, she said, “Lula has daddy issues.”
I supposed having a father who’d tried to drown you would do that to a person.
“Do you know when she first started seeing him? Or the last time?”
“The last time I know of was back in September. She met him several times that month. As to when it started…I’m guessing early summer? I know she asked to borrow a bikini in June because he was taking her to the lodge and they have a hot tub. She wanted to look good.”
“And you loaned it to her?”
“I almost didn’t since she was so stingy with details. She finally confessed that he was married. He’d sworn her to secrecy. In fact, I don’t think her momma even knew about him.”
“What about Bingham? Did he know about the other man?”
“I’m not sure they overlapped. I can’t imagine he’d handle sharin’ well.” She shrugged. “Either way, I suspect he never knew. I don’t think she met her Ewing guy all that often in the beginning, and the only reason I knew was because of the bikini. She’s pretty good at keepin’ secrets.”
So I’d gathered.
“Do you know if she broke it off with the Ewing guy?”
“I honestly have no idea, but I can’t help but think it ended. By October, she didn’t seem to go to Ewing all that often anymore, and she just seemed sad.”
“Hidin’ a pregnancy might do that to a person,” I said, deep in thought.
“True.” She glanced over her shoulder and her face lost color. “I have to go.” She grabbed her purse, which was hanging from the stool back.
“Wait,” I pleaded. “What else do