Aubrey glanced around. “In the closet.”
The filing cabinet was locked. Meghan went back to the desk and started rifling through again, came up with the key. “Ta-da,” she cried, holding it aloft. She unlocked the cabinet and started sifting through the files.
Aubrey had never spent any time in Daisy’s office. She wasn’t exactly sure why Daisy had an office in the first place. Daisy didn’t do anything. She didn’t work. She didn’t have friends. Oh, she had the people she called friends, acquaintances from the club, people she tried to one-up. But actual girlfriends, people she confided in? Aubrey couldn’t remember Josh ever saying anything that would lead her to believe that Daisy was anything but a bitter, shriveled-up woman, old before her time.
Her office reflected that life of isolation. No pictures, no homey touches. It was frank and utilitarian and clean. Too clean. It was the office of a woman desperate for control.
“Bingo,” Meghan said. Aubrey heard clinking, looked over to see Meghan pulling out two bottles of vodka, one fresh, one half empty.
“Is Daisy a drinker?”
“I guess. I really haven’t spent a lot of time with her since Josh . . .” Say it, Aubrey. Say it. You don’t want to mess up now. “. . . died.”
“Hmm. Check this out,” Meghan said.
She handed Aubrey a file folder that had aging yellow cuttings from The Tennessean. Front and center was a photo of a young woman, no older than Aubrey was now, with a wide smile, frank eyes, and a microphone in her hands. The piece was called “New Voices,” and the name under the photograph read Daisy Dee.
Aubrey read it quickly, shocked to find out her mother-in-law had been a lounge singer. A pretty good one, from the sound of it. She’d been honored along with a few other session musicians and singers as the best the city had to offer in the way of country music.
Good grief. She checked the date on the article heading. This was from before Josh’s birth.
Daisy, a country singer.
Would wonders never cease?
The article mentioned that Daisy had gotten her start in the Nashville music scene after being widowed.
Aubrey showed Meghan the paper. “Check this out. Daisy was a singer.”
“That’s not all. God, there are medals in here. Bronze Star. Purple Heart. Tom wasn’t in the military, was he?”
“Those must belong to her husband who died. Tom said he was in the service. She was married to him briefly before she married Josh’s real dad.”
“So she’s had three husbands? Wow. Daisy really got around. What’s the deal with Josh’s biological dad?”
Aubrey sat in the desk chair, pushed off and whirled around in a circle. “Bad news, that one. I met him once, when we were kids. He showed up and I thought he was a pedophile trying to steal us. But he’d just gotten out of jail. Josh was blown away. Daisy had told him his real dad died. He told me he had no earthly idea that his father was still alive, but I think he did know. I remember that day . . . Josh was wrecked. It really messed him up. He rebelled against Daisy completely then. Basically cut her out of his life, even though he was stuck living here. That’s when he and Tom got close. And he and I got closer, too. Which made things with Daisy that much worse. I think she always blamed me for Josh finding out the truth.”
Now Meghan was interested. “What was his dad in jail for?”
“He was convicted of identity theft. It wasn’t as common back then as it is now. But there were all kinds of allegations against him, including an attempted murder. He was a classic crook. He got out early for good behavior before Daisy ever had a chance to tell Josh he was really alive.” She went quiet for a moment. “I didn’t like him. He was a handsome guy, all smiles, but something about him made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. He just seemed wrong, somehow.”
“Where is he now?”
“Hardsten died a little while back. Before we got married. Got on the wrong side of a knife in a bar fight.”
“Figures. Once a criminal . . .”
Always a criminal.
Like father, like son?
Another chill paraded down Aubrey’s arms.
“Yeah. Anything more there?”
Meghan shook her head. “Nothing that screams ‘I had a child no one knows about.’ Though you have to admit, Aubrey, Daisy was certainly holding things back from people. Sounds to me like she’s an expert at compartmentalization.”
“So where do we look for a kid?”