of the couch and departed.
Pine and Blum took theirs black while Lineberry liberally doctored his with cream and sugar. While he did so, Pine studied the man. He was handsome, with features that one might see on an older actor or fashion model. Yet there was something about the man that seemed familiar. Then again, she had known him all those years ago.
“So, getting back to why you’re here,” said Lineberry.
“My sister, Mercy.”
His expression turned somber. “It was beyond awful. They never found her, did they?”
“No, they didn’t. You know they suspected my father?”
Lineberry dismissed this comment with a wave of his hand. “Tim had no more to do with what happened than I did. He was devastated. It ruined his marriage.” Lineberry blanched. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”
“No, I knew firsthand what it did to their marriage. You feel it was because they both felt guilt over what happened?”
Lineberry appeared uncomfortable with the question. “Yes.”
“We moved away from here before my parents split up, so how did you know that happened?”
Lineberry took a sip of his coffee and then cradled the cup in his hands. “I kept in touch with your father.”
“I was recently told that my parents moved out of Andersonville in the middle of the night. That no one knew where we had gone.”
“Yes, well, that was true. We all wondered what had happened. But your father got in touch with me some years later.”
“Why?”
“I think he knew I had been looking for him, wondering what had happened.”
“I lived with my mother after they split up.”
“Tim told me he thought it would be best that way, and, quite frankly, you wanted to live with your mother, Lee.”
“So you know what happened to him then?”
“He shot himself on your birthday. You had just turned nineteen.”
“How did you know those details?” she said suspiciously.
Lineberry hesitated and then said quietly, “I was the one who discovered his body.”
Pine just sat there stunned for a long moment, while Lineberry watched her closely.
“I thought your mother might have told you.”
“She didn’t.”
“Your father was my friend. I’d always thought he’d gotten a raw deal. It wasn’t enough that he lost one daughter, but he was also suspected in her disappearance. He blamed himself for being…drunk that night.”
“My mother was drunk, too.”
“But your dad was old-school. It was the man’s job to protect his family.”
“So you found his body why?”
“After he contacted me, I decided to offer him a job. Your dad was a smart guy. I knew he could do a lot more than drive a bulldozer around. So I offered him a job, and we had arranged to meet to finalize details. He didn’t show up for the meeting. I called and got no answer. This was before smart phones and everybody in the world having email. So I went to where he was staying.” Lineberry paused and looked down. “And I found him…dead.”
“In a crummy motel in Louisiana.”
Surprisingly, Lineberry shook his head. “No, it was at his apartment in Virginia. He’d moved there to work. Some sales job, he told me.”
Pine was so rocked by this that she stood and paced the room while Blum and Lineberry nervously watched. “That’s not what my mother told me.” She made her hands into fists and looked like she wanted to punch the wall. “She wouldn’t let me go with her to see my dad. She went there and then had him cremated.”
“You didn’t want to see your father like that, Lee. Trust me. I had to preliminarily identify the body and it was…difficult. The shotgun had—”
“I don’t like being lied to.”
“I’m sure your mother thought it was the right thing to do,” said Lineberry.
Pine sat down and said brusquely, “Did you see my mother when she came down?”
“No. I must have left town by then.” He shook his head sadly. “She had lost so much, and even though they were no longer together, I know that they still cared for each other. And, of course, that would mean that you had lost your father, too.”
She said slowly, “He would come to visit from time to time. Nothing regular and he never stayed long…but I always wanted to see him. To see him more.”
“Of course, Lee. Of course you wanted to see him. Families are special.”
“Do you have a family?” asked Blum.
“No, I never took the plunge. And before I knew it, I was in my sixties.”
“Never too late to say, ‘I do,’” said Blum.
“I think it is for me.”
“I came back home