Light of my Life

Sixteen

SIXTEEN

Duke sat across the table from Mayor Tidwell. Although he'd met the man before, this time Duke studied him differently. The portly middle-aged man smelled strongly of whiskey, and as he ordered food from the restaurant, he continued to ask the woman who worked there if she had any alcoholic drinks, which the woman said no. The man's red-shot eyes let Duke know the mayor had been drinking enough whiskey already. He definitely didn't need more.

"Mayor Tidwell, thank you for coming on such short notice." Duke tapped his fingers on the table. "I hope I didn't pull you away from anything important."

"Not at all," the man answered gruffly. "Finding my child is of utmost importance."

"Yes, I understand."

"So, did you summon me here to inform me that you caught the kidnapper?"

"Unfortunately, it's just the opposite." Sighing, Duke leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. "I followed up on the leads you gave me, and I found a woman by the name of Amelia Florence, but she did not have your daughter. In fact, she's never been to Astoria."

"Impossible." The man's dark bushy eyebrows drew together. "Don't you know a liar when you meet them?"

Duke hesitated to tell the man he had reservations about the mayor of Astoria right now. "I asked her questions. I tried to trick her into giving me some information that would make me believe she was the woman who'd kidnapped Georgia, but it wasn't her at all. In fact, she was in Nampa, Idaho, six months ago as a school teacher in an orphanage. It couldn't have possibly been Amelia Florence."

"Then you have the wrong woman." Mayor Tidwell grumbled and leaned his elbows on the table. "The woman I'm looking for is in her mid-to-late twenties. She has black hair. She's very pretty and quite charming."

"Your description could fit several women."

The mayor shook his head. "This woman is very good with children. Did I tell you she was Georgia's nanny?"

Duke frowned. "No, you didn't."

"Well, she was, and she disappeared with my daughter only after working for me for two months." He reached in his suit pocket and pulled out a flask. He unscrewed the lid and quickly tipped it to his mouth, gulping loudly. He finished and placed the lid back on before returning the flask to his pocket. The man blinked several times before his glassy gaze moved back to Duke. "She's a witch, I tell you. That woman knows how to charm the devil himself."

"Mayor," Duke lowered his voice. "By chance, were you attracted to the nanny?"

The portly man pushed his fingers through his greasy hair. "Shoot, most of the men in Astoria were attracted to her. I'm sure even Reverend Brown had impure thoughts."

Slowly, the missing pieces to this very confusing puzzle were starting to fit into place. When Duke had first met the mayor when he'd been hired to find the kidnapped girl, there were a few things that stood out. First, for being a man with a missing child, the mayor seemed more concerned about Duke finding Amelia Florence than finding out if his child was all right. The mayor seemed to have more details about the nanny than his own daughter. Another thing Duke realized, was that Mrs. Tidwell had sat quietly in the corner of the room, sewing, while the mayor showed his anger and frustration that day Duke had been hired. Why hadn't he noticed that the woman wasn't distraught over her daughter's disappearance? Of course, now he recalled her glassy eyes as she stared at her sewing. Now he wondered if she had been just as intoxicated as her husband was at this very moment.

"Mayor Tidwell, can you tell me what your daughter's favorite color is? Or her favorite toy?"

The man snorted and rolled his eyes. "What does that matter? She's with that woman, Amelia Florence."