I finally got tired of thinking about it, dressed in warm clothes and went downstairs. Gramps was already awake, drinking coffee and storing extra bullets for his gun in a jacket pocket.
“I thought they said no guns.” I made myself some tea and set bread to toast.
“Yeah, well, I’m not going in there with old Bunk Whitley’s hired guns and no weapon. I’m sure you’ll find Kevin will be carrying a little something too.”
I sat at the kitchen table and looked at the man who’d been everything to me my whole life. His features were creased with age, skin leathered by the hot sun and sea. I recalled how proud I was when he’d come to school to pick me up in the sheriff’s car. I’d never forget the things he’d said to keep me going after Mom died—even though he’d been hurting too.
But now I needed answers from him. Would he give them to me? “Gramps, Bunk told me a few other things about people in Duck.”
“I wouldn’t necessarily put a lot of stock into everything Bunk said, honey. He might be right about Agnes, but it strikes me that it’s something he knew you couldn’t ask her about without causing a fuss. He probably banked on that.”
“He told me my father was still alive.”
He didn’t stop cleaning his pistol. “And?”
“I want to know if it’s true.”
He glanced up at me. “What do you think?”
“I think I’d like a straight answer. Is he alive or not?”
He put the pistol into a shoulder holster that would be hidden by his jacket. “Do you believe I’d do anything that would hurt you in any way?”
“Gramps! Please! If you were a suspect in a murder case, I’d believe you were guilty by now.”
“Dae—” The phone rang and he went to answer it.
I felt like there were pins and needles sticking into every part of my body. I knew it wouldn’t be easy for Gramps to answer me. Clearly, it wasn’t. But his response so far made me think Bunk knew what he was talking about. Why would Gramps hide something like this from me?
When he came back, he said, “We have to go, Dae. There’s a problem with the Coast Guard boat. We’re going to have to pick up Walker and his men.”
“You haven’t answered my question.” I wouldn’t be put aside for Walker or anyone else.
“I know I haven’t, honey. I wish your mom was alive to answer this question for you. It’s not really my place.”
“You’re my only living relative—as far as I know. Can’t you answer this question?”
“I can.” He nodded. “But you aren’t going to like it.”
I braced myself. “It can’t be worse than not knowing.” “All right.” He pulled on his red plaid jacket. “We’ll talk in the truck on the way to the docks.”
“With Kevin?” Gramps didn’t own a truck and rarely drove anything but a golf cart. He had to mean that Kevin was coming for us. I knew he wouldn’t discuss this with him there. “No!”
“Dae, can’t we talk about this later? There’s a lot going on right now, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“I don’t know. I guess I’ll wait here until you get back.”
He let out a heavy sigh. “You know everyone would just end up back here waiting for you.”
“Exactly. Maybe we could discuss this with all of them too.”
I saw a look on his face that I hadn’t seen since high school when I came home from the prom at one A.M. “You’re a stubborn woman, Dae O’Donnell.”
I didn’t disagree. “Did I get that from my mother—or my father?”
“Dae—your father is alive. At least he was last year when I saw him at the Coral Reef bar in Kill Devil Hills.”
I’d wanted to know—had demanded to know. But knowing floored me. “He’s alive? All these years I had a father? He didn’t die before I was born?”
His cell phone rang. “We have to go. I’ll tell you the rest later. I’m sorry for this. I guess I hoped it wouldn’t come up. I know you’re surprised.”
“Surprised doesn’t really cover it. All this time—why did you lie to me?”
“It was your mother’s story to tell, not mine. She planned to explain one day when you were old enough to understand. She would’ve too, if she’d lived. After she died, I didn’t know how to say it. Believe me, I would’ve told you when you were a child. But your mom felt different about it.”
His cell phone rang again, and there was an insistent knock on the front door.
“We have to go,” he said again. “This will have to wait. Don’t forget, this isn’t just about you. You represent Duck too. These people are counting on you.”
I needed some time—a long soak in a hot bath, maybe some donuts, definitely some ice cream. I needed to know the world hadn’t just turned upside down, that the people I’d always depended on hadn’t really kept this truth from me. But there wasn’t time since I needed to do my “duty.”
“Like I was counting on you to tell me the truth about my life, Gramps?” I yelled at him. “Who is he? I need a name. I’m not leaving here until I get a name.”
“Dae—”
“You owe me that much.”
His mouth became a grim line. “Danny Evans. His name is Danny Evans.”
“Thanks.” I picked up my jacket and walked outside.
“Everything okay?” Kevin asked when I walked past him.
“Just fine.”
Danny Evans. I have a father. He isn’t dead, and his name is Danny Evans.
As the Eleanore made her way to the coordinates I’d given Gramps—the only thing I’d said to him since we’d left the house—the police boats followed like an armed escort through the dark Atlantic.
We’d picked up Walker and five of his men from the Coast Guard boat that had broken down right offshore. I could feel Walker’s embarrassment at having to be rescued from the dead vessel by a civilian.
There was no extra room on the Eleanore after that. I sat beside Kevin in the stern as the dark began to fade and dawn arrived, rosy and golden, on the horizon.
“You and your grandfather have a fight?” Kevin guessed as he shared coffee from his thermos with me.
“You could say that.” The clear light of morning picked out the men’s weary faces around us.
“Was it about going out to the island?”
“No. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“All right.” He put his arm around me, and I felt the hard metal edge of a gun under his blue winter vest.
“You brought a gun too.” I nodded. “Just like Gramps.”
“Old habits.” He shrugged. “We don’t know what we’re going into out here. That’s why your grandfather didn’t want you to come out alone.”
“Only you and he would consider being with a group of SBI agents followed by a dozen police officers as being alone.”
“Is there a problem between you and your grandfather?”
“Maybe. I don’t know.” I turned to him. “Could I move in with you?”
He choked on his coffee, then recovered. “This is a little sudden.”
“I know. But it’s not what you think. I need some time to myself. I could rent a room from you. You wouldn’t even know I was there.”
“That wouldn’t happen.” He kissed me lightly, then smiled. “You might as well tell me what’s going on.”
I told him the briefest details even though all of it wanted to burst out of me. I hoped the men around us couldn’t hear my tearful whispers. Kevin held me and didn’t speak until I was finished.