“What?” Arabella exclaimed.
I was equally, if more quietly, surprised. I tried to remember exactly what Nolan had said about contacting Caitlin, and remembered again how he’d kind of ducked the question. “This wasn’t the first time she’d heard from him, was it?”
Jason looked between Arabella and me. “No, I don’t think so. She’s been writing to him for months. Sorry, Arabella, she didn’t want you to know.”
I turned to Arabella. “She never told you?”
“No!” she snapped. “She knows how I feel about him. He abandoned us and never looked back. I’ve had nothing to do with him for years, decades even. How did they ever find each other? I wouldn’t have known where to look for him.”
“He’s never contacted her? He is her father,” I said, trying to defuse the situation.
“He never tried,” Arabella said. “Not that I would’ve let him when Caitlin was younger. I can’t say what went on when she was in college, but she never mentioned him to me.”
“I think she started it,” Jason said. “It’s not hard to find people with the Internet nowadays, and Ireland’s not that big.”
“Do you think that’s why he really came back-to see Caitlin?” I asked.
Jason shrugged. “I don’t know. She told me he’d been in touch, but she was kind of secretive about him. She didn’t want to bring him to our place, and I’m not sure she wanted him to meet me. It was like she wanted him all to herself, at least for now. Why, do you think maybe she’s with him?”
“She used to talk about him at school,” Eric said, speaking for the first time. I’d forgotten he’d even come along. We all turned to look at him, and he shrank back in his chair. “I got the impression that he was a sort of heroic figure to her. He was some kind of noble revolutionary who’d been forced to flee the country because he was being pursued by the authorities for his political activities-and because her mom pushed him away. The fact that he never got in touch with her meant she could idolize him without pesky reality getting in the way.”
Arabella looked devastated. I stepped in. “Do you know how to get in touch with him?” I asked her. “I think he needs to be part of this conversation. Either Caitlin’s with him, or he might know something.”
Arabella shook her head, her jaw tight. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask, when I saw him.”
“Jason, do you have any idea?”
“If I was home, I could look at the phone and see the listings for recent calls. Sorry-can’t do it from here.”
I thought for a moment. James no doubt had an address for him, but I didn’t want to drag the FBI into this situation-yet. Barney Hogan had said he knew Nolan slightly, had seen him around town recently. Maybe he knew where Nolan was hanging out these days. Shelby would have Barney’s number. I stood up. “Excuse me-I’m going to make a call.”
I stalked out into the hall outside Arabella’s office and called Shelby on my cell phone. When she answered, I said without preamble, “I don’t have time to talk right now, but can you give me Barney’s phone number? Does he have a cell?”
“Yes, ma’am-that’s how I reach him.” She read me off the number, which I copied on a scrap of paper.
“Thanks. I’ll fill you in when I have time.” I disconnected, then immediately called Barney, waiting impatiently through five rings. Thank God he finally answered. “Barney, it’s Nell Pratt. I can’t explain right now, but do you know where I can find Nolan Treacy at the moment?”
Barney, bless him, didn’t waste time asking stupid questions. “He’s made himself at home at O’ Reilly’s, on Chestnut. You want me to roust him from there? I’m only a couple of blocks away.”
“Would you? And if you don’t find him there, could you let me know, and spread the word that his ex needs to talk with him? It’s about his daughter.”
“I’ll do that.” He rang off. A no-nonsense man, exactly what we needed at the moment.
I went back to Arabella’s office, where three sets of eyes swiveled toward me. “I’ve got someone looking for him. It may be a while. Does anyone have any more ideas? Jason, any friends Caitlin might contact? Arabella, is she close to anyone here at the museum?”
They both hesitated, just as the phone on Arabella’s desk rang. She looked at it as though it were a snake, then reached out a hand and snatched it up. “Hello?”
I watched as her face fell. Not Caitlin, then. But not bad news, either.
“Nolan, you get yourself over here now! If Caitlin’s not with you, she’s missing, and you’ve got to tell me what you know.” Arabella listened for a moment, then hung up. “He’s on his way.”
CHAPTER 27
Arabella had calmed down a bit by the time the front desk called to say that Nolan had arrived. We’d spent the intervening time going over the same sparse information. Caitlin hadn’t called, and she still wasn’t answering her phone. I had no constructive ideas, so I devoted some of my time to watching the rain dribble down the windows of Arabella’s office. If the temperature dropped much, it would turn to sleet.
Nolan appeared in the doorway to the office, a cliché tweed cap dangling from his hand. Arabella didn’t rise to greet him. She was sending a clear signaclass="underline" this was her domain, and she was in charge here. The rest of us nodded at him.
“What’s going on?” he demanded. “Something about Caitlin?”
“She’s missing,” Arabella said flatly. “Would you know anything about that? I understand you’ve been in contact with her for some time. A fact you neglected to mention to me.”
It was interesting watching Nolan trying to decide what tack to take with his clearly angry ex-wife, as expressions chased across his face. Resentment? Contrition? In the end he said, “She tracked me down, said she wanted to know me better. I am her father.”
Arabella pointed to a chair, and Nolan sat. “Yes, and a lousy one,” she said. “Funny, you never had much time for her before.”
Nolan held up both hands in a gesture of surrender. “I’ve admitted that, and I’ve apologized-to you and to her. I was wrong. I was young and stupid. But what’s that do for us now? Tell me, why is it you think she’s gone missing?”
“Jason, here…” Arabella began and then stopped herself. “Oh, right, you two haven’t met. Nolan, this is Jason Miller, Caitlin’s fiancé. They live together, in case she hasn’t mentioned that. Jason said you and Caitlin talked on the phone last night. She left for work this morning, or at least that’s where she told Jason she was headed, but nobody’s seen or heard from her since. Do you know anything about that?”
“We talked, yes. We were going to try to meet up after she got off work today. She said she’s been busy with this exhibit, but she really wanted to see me. That’s all.”
“You hadn’t seen her before this?”
“I did, a time or two. Bella, what’s all the fuss about? She’s an adult.”
“And she’s under a lot of stress. There’s the exhibit, and you might recall that there was a fatal accident here two weeks ago. She really doesn’t need you in the mix, not right now.”
Nolan shook his head. “She said she wanted to see me again. She didn’t mention a thing about troubles at work. And as for the death, I’d only just arrived when that happened. Yes, before you ask, I saw Caitlin the same day as I landed. She’d been pushing for us to get together for a long time.”
“Which she never told me,” Arabella said bitterly. “What did you talk about?”
“This and that. We had quite a lot to catch up on, you know.”
“Tell me, how long has this been going on?”
“A few years now. She was in college at the time. Like I said, she found me, not the other way around.”
“Did she ask you for money?”
“She did not! Bella, that was always your fight, and I know I did wrong by you. But that wasn’t what she wanted from me. She was curious, is all. Why shouldn’t she be? From what she’s told me, you tried to erase me from the face of the earth, to pretend I never existed. Was that fair to the child?”