“I sure wonder how it got in that desk but I’m not sure we’ll ever find out.” Gil flipped on his headlights to chase back the gathering dusk on the back country road.
“You know, I wonder if we could find out what happened to Paul. We could at least do an internet search.”
“We could try. He’s got such a common last name though. Clark. Paul Clark. I’m not sure we’d ever be able to find the right one.” Gil wished Paul had had the decency to be born with an unusual name.
“You’d help me find him?” Madeline asked him.
Of course he’d help her. He’d tumbled deep into this mystery and wanted to find the answers as much as she did. To see if he could help his aunt and, if he was honest with himself, he sure didn’t mind spending more time with Madeline. Though only on a friendly basis. He was done with female complications in his life.
“Sure I’ll help. How about you come by the Feed and Seed tomorrow? I have to work some, but we could set up my laptop on the table and you could see what you find.”
“That would be fabulous. You really think we can find Paul?”
“I don’t know. But we’re sure going to try.”
Madeline flashed him a quick smile. Her smile was nice. A bit tentative, but nice.
“So.” He pulled himself away from the smile and concentrated on the road in front of him. “How about I buy you some dinner before I take you back to the Sweet Tea?”
“You’ve already done so much for me. I don’t want to be a bother.”
“It’s not a bother. I have to eat, too.” Had he just said that? He had to eat, too? What was wrong with him this evening? Had he lost all his brain cells? “I mean I’d like you to join me for dinner if you don’t have plans.”
“That would be nice. I get tired of always eating alone.”
“Yep, I do, too. Dinner it is then. There’s this little restaurant, kind of in the middle of nowhere on our way home. Great food. A lady sings all types of music in the bar area, country, folk, gospel. It’s one of those places the locals all go to.”
“Sounds wonderful.”
~ * ~
The restaurant was surprisingly busy for a weeknight in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, Madeline hadn’t seen any other buildings. Just this one, at a crossroads. The parking lot was full and, strangely enough, across the road from the restaurant. The hostess told them there was a bit of a wait for a table for dinner, so Gil led her into a dimly lit bar. He found them a small table in the corner.
A woman with a deep throaty voice sang a love song that pulled everyone in the crowd to silence. Madeline and Gil joined in the vigorous clapping when she finished.
“Would you like something to drink?” Gil asked after the singer took a break.
“Red wine would be nice.”
When the waitress came by, Gil ordered up a cabernet for her and a beer for himself. She’d have pegged him as a beer drinker. That didn’t surprise her.
“You’ll have to get the fried chicken for dinner. It’s the best in the county.”
There was a lot of that best in the county stuff going on around here. “I’ll try it. I love fried chicken.”
“Good, you’ll really enjoy it.” Gil nodded and flipped a quick hi to someone across the room. “So, are you headed back home soon? I mean after we try our internet search for Paul?”
“Yes, I guess. I mean, I want to stay long enough to see if I can figure out what happened. But then I’ll head back.” She paused, wondering if she should tell him she was off work for weeks—maybe a month. At her boss’s request. She settled on “I’m off work for a bit.”
She fiddled with a coaster on the dark wood table top. How many coats of shellac did it take to make a wooden tabletop that shiny?
“I don’t really know if I’ll be around that long.” How long could this search take? More than likely she’d never know what happened to Paul. Or how the letter got in the desk.
She figured it was time to question him, instead of being the target of so many questions herself.
“So, you’ve always lived in Comfort Crossing?”
“I have. I thought I’d move away after school, but with my folks needing my help at the Feed and Seed, it just never happened. You know, I’ve only been to four states in my life. Mississippi, of course, Louisiana, Alabama, and one trip to Lighthouse Point in Florida with my folks when I was a kid.”
“Really? I’ve been to, well I don’t know how many states I’ve been to. More than half, at least. My parents loved to take a two-week driving vacation each summer. We’d always head out for somewhere new. Florida, Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee, Wisconsin. We even flew to California one year.”