it’s up to twenty-four rooms. We got a pretty good restaurant too. Wiley always calls it a ‘bistro.’ Thinks it sounds fancier. And the gift shop does a nice business. Sells souvenirs and candles, junk like that. I’m getting off topic, aren’t I?”
“Not at all.”
“You want to know about Aaron.”
Simon didn’t reply.
“Well, Aaron, even as a kid, he was always a little dark, if you know what I mean.”
One of the tattoo guys met her eye by a back door. Enid nodded and the guy slipped out.
“I don’t see how any of this could possibly help you,” she said.
“They.”
“What?”
“You said, ‘They only rented out six rooms.’ They.”
“So?”
“I’d think you’d say ‘we’ instead of ‘they.’”
“No ‘we’ yet,” she said. “Wiley and I weren’t married back then.”
“Back when?”
“When Wiley lived in the original inn.”
“But you said Aaron lived there.”
“Yeah. With Wiley. I’m his stepmom. I wasn’t on the scene until he was nine. Truth be told, I’m not the maternal type. Surprised, right? Aaron and me, we were never close.”
“And his real mom? Where is she?”
Enid glanced at the back door. The tattoo man came back in, making sure that Enid spotted him. Her glass was empty. Gladys with the Hay Hair filled it without being told.
“Mrs. Corval?” Simon said.
“Call me Enid.”
“Enid, what happened to Aaron’s real mother?”
“It has nothing to do with any of this.”
“It might.”
“How?” Enid turned now, placing one arm on the bar, and faced him full-on. “I mean, I told Aaron from Day One in here: You don’t try it. Not ever. Not a taste. He saw every day what that crap does to you. Still he ended up murdered in a junkie-infested shithole. So tell me, Mr. Greene. How could his birth mom have anything to do with Aaron ending up like that? And while you’re at it: How could his birth mom have anything to do with your daughter vanishing into the wind?”
“I don’t know,” Simon said.
“I’d probably be more the one to blame, don’t you think?”
Simon said nothing.
“His dad and I get married. When he’s a teen he wants to start hanging out here. That’s the problem with growing up in a quiet place. People think it’s magical or some shit. Beauty bores. It traps. Someone like Aaron, he’s got that edge in him. Just the way he is. Like me, even though we aren’t blood.”
He wanted to ask what this place was, but that would be the wrong way to go. He shifted gears and asked, “Was Aaron’s birth mother at the service today?”
Enid kept her head down.
“Can’t you at least tell me—”
“No,” Enid said. “She wasn’t there.”
“Is she still alive? Did she have any kind of relationship with her son?”
“I don’t know you, Mr. Greene.”
“Yeah, you do. I mean, you know enough. I don’t care what you do here or what’s going on with the inn or any of that. I don’t mean you the least bit of trouble. But at the risk of sounding one-note, my daughter is missing.”
“And I don’t see how that has anything to do with—”
“It probably doesn’t,” he interrupted. “Except that’s not how it feels, does it? The police think maybe Paige killed Aaron to save herself. Or maybe I did it. Or my wife. To protect our child. Or maybe it was a drug deal gone wrong. Those are all good theories, but I’m asking for your help.”
She started swirling her glass, her eyes on the liquor.
“Is Aaron’s mother alive or not?”
“The truth?” Enid looked up and studied his face for a very long time. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know if she’s alive or dead?”
“That’s right.” Enid turned to Gladys. “Get my friend here another beer and bring it to the corner booth. He and I need to talk for a bit.”
Chapter
Sixteen
The entrance to Tattoos While U Wait was blocked off with old-school A-frame traffic barricades, the kind with slanted reflective orange-and-white stripes running across the horizontal beam.
Elena Ramirez spotted two fully emblazoned police cars plus two other vehicles that looked to be unmarked. She pulled her rental Ford Fusion with the overbearing cherry scent into the tattoo parlor’s entry between the highway and the barricades.
A cop frowned and started toward her.
“You’ll need to leave.”
“What’s going on here?”
“Please remove your car from the premises.”
Elena could wave her credentials, but they probably wouldn’t get her anyplace. She also had no idea what the situation was or why the police were here, and it was never a good idea to go in blind.
Time to do a little recon.
Elena thanked