Fortunately, he usually didn't work on Saturdays. Two other officers, Grimsman and Pontiff, were on duty, out on patrol.
"Officer McCormick," she said into the phone. Her heart had started to race as soon as she saw the Alaska area code on her caller ID. She wasn't sure why she'd be nervous about talking to Clay's father, but she was.
"This is Lucas Montgomery."
"I recognized the number. I don't get many calls from Alaska. Thanks for phoning me back."
"No problem. What can I do for you?"
She tried to hear Clay in his voice, wondered if the two men looked much alike these days.
She'd seen a copy of an old family photo in the file, but it was blurry and over a quarter of a century old. "As I explained to your wife, I'm from Stillwater, a little town in--"
"I know where you're from," he said. "And I know why you're calling. But I don't think I'll be able to help you. My wife said you have a few questions regarding the disappearance of some man I've never met."
Allie heard a trace of resentment in those last four words, beneath a thin veneer of good humor. "Not some man, Mr. Montgomery," she clarified. "We're talking about your ex-wife's second husband."
"I'm afraid I never knew him. I haven't spoken to Irene since I left."
"Not once?"
"Not once."
"So you don't know that your family's suffered through a great deal of suspicion and doubt concerning the disappearance of Lee Barker?"
"No, I don't. What I do know is that Irene isn't the kind of person who'd harm anyone.
That's all I can tell you. I'm sorry if you were hoping otherwise."
"I wasn't hoping otherwise, Mr. Montgomery. I'm just searching for the facts."
"Isn't it a bit late for an investigation?" he asked.
"Excuse me?"
"Surely after nineteen years--"
"Nineteen years?" Allie interrupted, her breath lodged in her throat.
Silence fell over the line as if he'd suddenly realized his blunder, then he said, "It's been that long since I left."
"But you moved away when Clay was only ten years old." She could've used the actual date instead of Clay's age, but she wanted to remind Lucas of the little boy he'd abandoned.
"I'm not positive about that."
"You don't remember how old your son was?"
"Not exactly."
"It's been twenty-five years. A sixteen-year-old boy is quite different from a ten-year-old."
"Guess I lost count."
"So it's merely a coincidence that the nineteen years you just mentioned correlates perfectly with the length of time Reverend Barker's been gone?"
"I told you, I don't know anything about Reverend Barker!"
"Then it's even more amazing that you guessed the year he went missing, isn't it?"
There was a slight pause. "Listen, you--you're heading down the wrong road," he said. It was easy to tell that she'd managed to rattle him. "Like I said, Irene wouldn't hurt anybody. She's a good woman."
Yet he'd turned his back on her....
"Is it possible you know more than you're saying, Mr. Montgomery?"
"Are you calling me a liar?" he retorted.
For the first time, Allie wondered if he could've had something to do with Barker's disappearance. Could he have come back, found another man in his place, fought with that man and possibly killed him? That would certainly explain why Lucas Montgomery had made himself scarce for so long.
The thought came as a relief to Allie. She would much rather it was Clay's father than Clay.
"I'm just doing my job," she replied. "Can you tell me where you were the night the reverend disappeared?"
"Yes. I have an airtight alibi. So don't go trying to pin his death on me."
Allie's hand tightened on the receiver. "I didn't say he was dead."
No response.
"Mr. Montgomery?"
"After so long, I think it's safe to make that assumption, don't you?" he said. "Anyway, I've been in Alaska for twenty years, and you can't prove I ever left. No airplane tickets. No train tickets. No gas receipts."
"I see you've been watching your share of Forensic Files."
"I've sat through a few."
"So you've never been back to see your children?"
Silence.
"Do you need me to speak up?" she asked.
"I heard you."
"And?"
"I haven't been back, okay?"
"Well, as far as I'm concerned, that's as much of a crime as anything else." She had no business passing judgment on him. But her own experience with Sam's rejection of Whitney and what she'd sensed in Clay last night put her too close to the situation.
"Go to hell," he said and hung up.
Allie returned the phone to its cradle. She hadn't handled that call as professionally as she should have. But she'd caught him lying to her. She was positive of it. Now she just needed to figure out why.
Whitney looked up at her. "Was that Daddy, Mommy?"
"No," she said. "It was someone a lot like him."
Chapter 8
Reverend Portenski gripped the sides of the pulpit as he gave his weekly sermon, enjoying his own message--until he saw Clay Montgomery slip into the back of the church. The man scarcely made a sound as he came in and sat several rows behind everyone else--but it took only one person to notice him. Then the rumble of voices rose, and heads began to turn. Clay tolerated the attention with more dignity than he was ever credited with possessing. He stared straight ahead and ignored what was going on around him. But that didn't mean he liked it. Who would?
After a slight nod in his direction, a welcome Portenski forced himself to offer each and every time Clay showed up, he let his eyes seek out other parishioners with whom he felt more comfortable. Clay was an intimidating man. He'd probably seen and done things Portenski didn't even want to consider. The pictures in that dark hole explained why. But if Clay was as guilty as everyone believed, even the church couldn't bring him peace.
"Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord."
The confused expressions of those in the audience told Portenski he'd just spoken those words out loud, right in the middle of a persuasive argument on succoring the needy.
Clearing his throat to give himself a split second to gather his scattered thoughts, he recovered by telling his listeners that it wasn't their place to judge whether or not a beggar deserved his current circumstances. "We should never turn away the needy. For aren't we all beggars before God?"