“Well, I have the paperwork for the Lawson Trust and your personal legal documents, Mrs. Lawson, but nothing else.”
Maggie squeezed her eyes shut in abject frustration.
“Were you looking for something in particular?” Justin asked. “Is there something I could find in court records?”
She sighed. She was looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack and the haystack was gone.
“Just…history. How the case started, who launched the investigation, that sort of thing.”
He thought for a moment. “Have you tried the Atlanta police department?” he asked. “It’s been a while, but they might have something.”
“My son has a contact in law enforcement, but he advised us to see what your father had kept.” She looked out at the soft dunes that gave way to the endless stretch of shimmering emerald waves.
Normally, that view alone would soothe her frayed nerves but this blasted phone call had soured the air, making it feel heavy and thick despite the ocean breeze.
It didn’t help that Jo Ellen sat five feet away playing some inane word game on a tablet computer that kept chirping incessantly.
“I’m sorry but we don’t have a thing for you,” he said again. “I don’t know where else to try but I promise, if I think of anything, I’ll let you know.”
Maggie inhaled sharply. “Thank you. I’d appreciate a call the moment you find anything.”
“Of course, Mrs. Lawson. I’m sorry.”
She ended the call with a tap, missing the days when a receiver could be slammed good and hard to deliver a clear message.
Jo Ellen looked up from the screen. “No luck?”
“Bad luck, the only kind we have, it seems. How do files that have to be a foot thick just disappear?”
Jo Ellen lifted a glass of iced tea. “Now what?”
“Your files. When are you getting them?” Maggie asked.
“I haven’t reached Kate yet,” Jo Ellen said.
“You can’t reach your own daughter?” Maggie asked, frustrated that Jo didn’t sense the urgency.
“She’s busy with end of the school year things for her kids and she works full-time,” Jo Ellen said. “But Tessa and I made plans to talk to Kate tonight. We want to talk to her about…something.”
At her obvious vague tone, Maggie eyed the other woman. “What…something?” she asked.
“Just…” She waved her hand. “Just a Wylie family thing. Nothing you need to know about.”
Maggie bristled—she hated to be out of the loop on anything. But she let the comment go and looked out at the water again, sitting in tense silence with a woman who used to know her every thought and feeling.
In some ways, these past few days, Maggie sensed Jo still wanted that kind of relationship. But they’d both made promises to their husbands, whether they understood why or not.
Still, should a promise be kept if the reason for it was unknown, dead, and never to be discovered? Did talking to Jo Ellen now break that promise?
The thought made her heart—the one no one thought she had—hitch and hurt.
Before she could brood any further, Vivien stepped out onto the deck, her expression curious. She hesitated when she saw them sitting there, like she’d just interrupted a funeral.
“Everything okay out here?” Vivien asked, glancing between them.
Maggie straightened, forcing a composed expression. “We hit a dead end with the attorney. Roger’s case files are missing. Can you believe that?”
Vivien’s eyes widened. “Missing? All of them?”
