“You just left without telling him you were leaving?”
“Knew he’d try to talk me out of it. If he’d known I was pregnant, he would have followed me to Vegas. Allen was just one of those upstanding people, always doing the right thing. Was kind of dull actually.”
Man, this woman is cracked in the head.
“If you didn’t want to be tied down, why in the world would you even keep the baby?” I have to ask her. Because in the few minutes I’ve been in this woman’s presence, I can tell she has no business being a mother.
“I didn’t have the funds to get back to Vegas. Told my mom I was pregnant and abandoned, which wasn’t the entire truth, but she wired me money to get home. She made me promise to keep the baby though as she didn’t believe in abortion. So I had Catherine and lived with my mom for about three years. She pretty much took care of the baby until she died from a sudden brain aneurysm, then I had to step up to the plate and become a mom.”
Yeah, lady… you most certainly didn’t step up to the plate.
“Why didn’t you just give Cat to her father if you didn’t want her?” I ask, unable to hold the derision out of my voice.
“Because she had her uses,” she says without an ounce of shame, still looking me in the face. “Tax breaks and government assistance.”
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I growl at her from across the table, pushing my chair back and standing up. “You kept a child because she helped you with taxes and food stamps? What the hell is wrong with you?”
Trish’s face flushes red as she tries to defend herself. “I did the best I could. I never beat her or abused her.”
“You neglected her,” I spit at her. “You kept her from a parent who might have wanted to give her love and devotion. The only thing you love about your daughter is the money she gives you.”
She shrugs again, not willing to engage me in a debate over her mothering skills. Instead, she says, “Look… how about I just get my money and you go on your fool’s errand trying to chase Allen down? Not sure what you hope to accomplish with that, but that was the easiest twenty-five thousand made in the history of the world.”
“Twelve-thousand-five hundred,” I correct her as I pull my checkbook out of my back pocket. “You don’t get the other half until I find her dad.”
The disdainful task of handing money over to that woman complete, I jump in my Suburban and head back to the Bellagio, calling Bridger on the way through the hands-free Bluetooth.
“Fruitful discussion?” is how Bridger answers.
“Yeah… got the name of Cat’s father. Allen Henning. Was in the Army, at least as of 2003 when he won a Bronze Star. Originally from Green Bay and was stationed at Fort Bragg. That’s all I got.”
“Piece of cake,” Bridger says, and I will have to take his word on it. The man has dozens of contacts that provide all sorts of useful information, and I’m grateful he’s helping me on this. “I’ll have something for you by morning.”
“Thanks, man,” I say as I rub the back of neck, which is aching from the tension of having to actually be in Trish Lyons’ presence.
“Sure thing,” he says. “And your girl went home alone last night. Sat at the bar and drank water the rest of the night after that one glass of wine. Left around midnight. I’m assuming she went back to your place.”
I wonder what Cat thought when she got to the apartment and I wasn’t there. I left a note, intentionally vague, that just said I was going to be out of town for a few days and would call her when I could. That must have sufficed for her, as she hasn’t attempted to reach out to me.
“Also got something on Cat’s attacker,” Bridger says, causing me to sit up straight in my seat, my aching neck forgotten. “Kyle identified him… says he’s a member of the club but her attack was something he did on his own. It wasn’t brought before the president and sanctioned. Sounds like he got a nice chunk of change that he kept all to himself, so the club wasn’t happy at all about having heat brought down on them with no pay in return.”
I grimace because just a minute change of circumstances—Kevin approaching the head honcho instead of some rogue member—would have meant we’d never get this information.
“What’s that mean?” I ask.
“It means Kyle was authorized to tip the cops to where they can find the dude. Hopefully, he’ll roll on Kevin or they’ll find some evidence connecting them.”
Hopefully.
Because until Kevin was behind bars, Cat wasn’t truly safe. I hadn’t liked the thought of leaving town, but Bridger confirmed Kevin had gone back to Vegas and that he’d keep an eye on Cat for me.