there when you try that explanation out on the judge.”
“No doubt you will be, if it comes to that,” Cord stated as the door eased open on the first try. “Bingo.”
He slipped inside and pulled the flashlight he’d brought along from his pocket.
“Mind telling me exactly what we’re looking for?” Harlan Patrick said.
“Evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
“That Hazel Murdock wouldn’t be fit to raise that baby.”
“Her evenings at the End of the Road ought to take care of that.”
“I want more.” He flashed the low beam of the light around the room, which was decorated with framed religious pictures and not one single snapshot of her daughter as far as Cord could tell.
“So far all I see is evidence of a God-fearing, churchgoing woman,” Harlan Patrick commented, holding up a stack of programs from Sunday services at the church down the block. “I don’t think that’s going to go against her.”
Cord was forced to admit that the house was well maintained, if not lavishly furnished. There wasn’t a speck of dust on anything and in the kitchen not even a coffee cup had been left in the sink.
He opened the refrigerator and peered inside. There was a six-pack of beer on the top shelf, a half-used stick of butter and a package of stale cheese slices that had darkened around the edges. Apparently Hazel wasn’t much of a cook.
The cabinets weren’t much of an improvement. He found a loaf of bread, some peanut butter and a tin of coffee. There wasn’t even a canned vegetable or box of cereal in sight. Under the counter, though, he did find several bottles of whiskey. It was obvious she didn’t confine her drinking to the saloon down the street. It made him wonder how she managed to stay upright on those walks home at night.
Still, would that be enough to keep her from getting custody? Especially if she worked hard, went to church Sundays, and stayed to herself. Who would testify that she was anything other than a responsible woman, who was willing to take on the burden of raising her grandchild? There were plenty of folks who would probably sing her praises for the sacrifice she was willing to make to care for her daughter’s baby.
“This place is giving me the creeps,” Harlan Patrick murmured, coming up behind him. “Can we get out of here?”
“Might’s well,” Cord agreed.
When they were back in the car and on their way back to Los Piños, Harlan Patrick asked, “Did you find what you were looking for?”
“Aside from the booze, I’m not sure if there was anything at all there to suggest she couldn’t care for the baby,” he admitted, not even trying to hide his disappointment. “Who knows, though, maybe her drinking will be all it takes? Or maybe when she’s had time to think about it, she’ll decide that she doesn’t want a baby messing up her dull little routine.”
“I sure as hell hope so, for Sharon Lynn’s sake and for the baby’s.” Harlan Patrick shuddered. “I know I wouldn’t want to grow up in that house. Reminded me too much of a monk’s cell. Is it any wonder that her daughter didn’t think she could go home with the baby? Dear old mama would probably have bombarded her with a diatribe about her sins. I counted four Bibles in the place.”
“There’s nothing wrong with owning more than one Bible. Some would see that as a sign that she’s a pious woman,” Cord replied.
“Maybe,” Harlan Patrick said. “But I’ll lay you odds, the words in the Bible weren’t used with love in that house. I’ll bet they were used as weapons.”
“Unfortunately, unless Vicki reappears, we won’t be able to prove that, and the last thing we want is the natural mother coming back to claim the baby.”
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”
Cord glanced over at Harlan Patrick. “Thanks for coming with me. I know you had your doubts about the wisdom of going in there tonight.”
“Somebody had to go along. Besides, you were doing it for my sister.”
“I just wish we’d accomplished more. I wish I could go back there and tell Sharon Lynn that there’s no chance a court would award custody of Ashley to that woman.”
“You’ve warned her. We all have,” Harlan Patrick reminded him. “Once she held that baby, there was no way that Sharon Lynn was going to do anything except see this through, even if she got hurt in the process. You get a lot of credit from all of us for