Softly, I say, “But he wants to talk to you now, doesn’t he? Isn’t that what your mother was trying to get you to do just now?”
When he doesn’t answer, I decide to give the subject—and him—a rest. I watch a cloud pass over the moon. We’re in the middle of nowhere, and I can’t see much of anything to clue me in to our location.
“Where are we?” I ask.
“In the Oklahoma Panhandle. We just left Guymon.”
I stifle a yawn. “Are we getting close? I can drive if you’re sleepy.”
“I’m okay. We’re not even halfway.”
“I can’t wait to get there,” I say, twisting sideways in the seat to face Ty. “We’re going to see Iris’s boyfriend! Don’t you think that’s amazing? She led me to him. She made this happen.”
He reaches over and tugs my hair. “It’s more than amazing. But Iris had some help from you.”
“Only a little.” Watching the scenery roll by, I gesture out the window. “This is the farthest I’ve ever been from home.”
“Not very scenic so far, huh?”
“It’s pretty bleak. What’s it like in Winterhaven? You’ve been there, right?”
“Yeah, I went to your aunt’s bookstore, remember?”
“Yes, but you never said why. How did you even know my dad had a sister?”
“One of the scientists who worked on your dad’s team at Cell Research Technology told me. That eccentric old guy, Dr. Beckett.”
Iris rouses with a start, instantly on full alert. Her reaction makes me wonder again if Dad and Beckett might’ve used some untested method to try to save her, like Dad did with that little boy. I’ve read the articles about Dad’s work at least a half-dozen times, and each time, I became more sure that could be a possibility. Only, I’m not so certain they were trying to find a cure for leukemia. I’m afraid they had another way of saving her in mind. If I’m right . . .
I swallow hard. “Yeah, you mentioned Dr. Beckett,” I say to Ty. “So what do you mean by eccentric? Is he crazy, or what?”
He lifts a shoulder. “I don’t know. There was just something weird about the way he looked at me that made my skin crawl.”
“Iris keeps telling me he did something bad to her, but she can’t remember what it was. She was afraid of him.”
Ty’s forehead creases. He turns to me, searching my face.
He’s wondering the same thing I am, I think, and dread tightens my chest. “I hope Jake can tell us what he did,” I say quietly. I’m not ready to voice my dark suspicions that Dad might’ve also been involved.
Ty looks back at the road, blinking. I get the feeling he wants to say something, but isn’t sure he should.
“So what did Beckett tell you about my aunt?” I ask.
“Apparently, he called her a couple times right after your folks disappeared. All she’d say was that Adam had left a message that he didn’t want her to try to find him, and that he and your mom were fine but wanted their privacy.”
“If she wouldn’t say more than that to Beckett, what made you think she’d confide in you?”
“I didn’t know if she would or not, but I had to try. I showed up at the bookstore, and by a stroke of luck, there was a Help Wanted sign in the window, so I applied. The clerk put me in your aunt’s office to fill out an application. That’s when I saw the photo of you and your dad standing next to his van with the two peaks in the background. It was on her desk.”
I recall how upset Mom became when I put that same photograph in the paper with Dad’s obituary. Her reaction finally makes sense.
“How did you know it was Dad?” I ask, baffled by how he was able to put it all together and find us.
“I recognized Iris.”
“Iris.” I blink at him. “You thought I was her.”
“At first. But something seemed off. The picture didn’t look old enough. I mean the clothes you were wearing . . . your hair . . . and then I gave your dad a closer look.” Ty glances at me. “My gut told me it was him, but it was you I couldn’t figure out.”
“Did you ask Gail about me?”
“I didn’t get a chance. After she came in and interviewed me, I reached for the picture and asked if the man was her brother.”