“Were you asleep?”

Still looking directly at him, Arden said, “No, I’m wide awake.”

The voice coming through the phone was as clear as a bell to him, but Arden didn’t retreat to conduct the conversation in private, so he didn’t retreat to grant her privacy. He propped himself against the counter and watched Arden closely, hoping to gain a clue as to why she seemed to have such a complex relationship with her sister.

Lisa said, “Well, what I have to tell you certainly won’t help your insomnia.”

“Then can it keep until morning?”

“You need to hear this now.” Arden looked ready to protest, but Lisa didn’t give her a chance. “After we talked today, I had one of our people who runs background checks on potential employees do one on Ledge Burnet. She discovered something startling.”

Arden blinked several times, but otherwise remained as she was.

Lisa took a deep breath. For effect, he thought. Then she said, “This guy is bad news. He was arrested on a drug charge—”

“I already know that.”

“But did you know that his second offense occurred on the same night that Dad disappeared?”

Arden’s lips parted in shock. By an act of will, Ledge kept his expression impassive.

“The same night, Arden,” Lisa repeated with emphasis.

Arden swallowed. “Are you sure?”

“It’s a matter of record. I had one of our legal team double-check.”

Her lips remained open. She was breathing through them. “I fail to see—”

“Think about it.” Lisa sounded as though she wanted to shake her. “In Dullsville, USA, where big news is who catches the largest bass of the month, in a single night a major burglary and a likely murder took place, both of which our father was alleged to have committed. That same night, this prior offender was out and about dealing drugs. Only marijuana, but still.”

Arden continued to stare straight into his eyes as she pieced together the components. “But what…what possible connection could there be?”

“I have no idea,” Lisa said. “But at the very least it’s a bizarre coincidence, wouldn’t you say?”

Arden didn’t say anything, only continued to search his eyes.

Lisa pressed on. “Furthermore, when he came clean with you about his criminal record, he didn’t say, ‘Oh, and by the way, get this. This is a weird coincidence.’ Wouldn’t that have been the time to mention it?”

Arden gave it thought, then said, “We didn’t learn about the burglary and the allegations against Dad until the following Monday. If Ledge was in custody over the weekend, maybe he never knew about the coincidental timing, either.”

“I’d find that very unlikely.” Lisa paused, then said, “No, he had to have known. Everyone did. Even if he was in jail, news like that would have been circulating. He had to have known,” she insisted.

“And it’s suspicious that he didn’t make reference to it when the opportunity presented itself. He owned up to his crime, but left out the most interesting aspect. He didn’t want you to know, or he would have told you. I think you should be asking yourself why.”

In a barely audible voice, Arden said, “I am asking myself why.”

“Well, good! That’s wise. You should have nothing more to do with him, at least not until we’ve had a chance to explore the matter.”

“I’m supposed to let him know by noon tomorrow whether or not I’m hiring him. I owe him that courtesy.”

“You don’t owe him a damn thing.”

“I’ll handle it on my terms, Lisa.”

Her sharp tone surprised Ledge and silenced her sister. Temporarily. Then Lisa said, “All right. I’ll leave it to you, but please call me after you’ve spoken to him.”

“I will. Good night.”

Arden disconnected and set the phone on the table, but she never took her eyes off him. After a silence the length of a freight train, he opened his mouth to speak, but she raised her hand.

“I don’t want to hear it.”

He did as she asked and held his silence, giving her time to determine just how irrelevant, or dire, the implications of this discovery were.

“Did you know about—” She broke off and gave a dry laugh. “Of course you knew.” She crossed her arms, hugging her middle. “I thought we’d met as strangers. But that’s not so, is it? We have a night in common. A night twenty years ago that drastically impacted both our lives. You knew that, but withheld it from me. Why?”

“What relevance does it have?”

“That’s what I would like to know,” she said, raising her voice in anger. “So would Lisa. She’s right. If it weren’t relevant, you would have said something about it. The fact that you didn’t is even more troubling than the coincidence itself. If it was a coincidence. Did you know my dad?”

“Knew who he was. Knew his situation.”

“You mean his being a widower with two daughters?”

“His reputation as a drunk.”

“Of course,” she said gruffly. “Was he a customer of your uncle’s?”

“I never saw him in the bar. Never.”

“That night—”

“I was in jail over that weekend and didn’t learn that your dad had been linked to the burglary until, as you said,” he said, motioning toward her phone, “the next week.” True.

She tilted her head, seeming to assess his trustworthiness. Rightfully. His truth had missing parts.

She said, “I don’t believe for a minute that it was a coincidence you were in the supermarket that day. What were you doing there?”

“Buying food and toilet paper.”

“Damn you! Don’t be cute. How did you come to be in the produce section when—”

“I followed you into the store.”

She inhaled a swift breath and on a soft expulsion asked, “Why?”

The time for playing it cool had passed. He pushed himself away from the counter and faced her squarely. “As I told you, someone had pointed you out to me. But not in the pie shop, and not after you had lost your baby. It was earlier on. You must not have been back in town for long, because you were in the post office to rent a mailbox. I was there to pick up a package. The woman working the counter caught me looking at you, and—”