Travis did not return to the house that morning.
That decision cost him more discipline than anything Kurt had said at the door.
He wanted to drive straight back, pound until somebody answered, and demand his daughter's location. Every protective instinct he possessed insisted that action was better than sitting still.
Training told him otherwise.
He needed facts.
Travis parked behind a twenty-four-hour hardware store and slept badly in the truck. "Sleep" was generous. He drifted in and out while orange parking-lot light washed across the windshield, waking every few minutes convinced that he had heard Kaylee calling from the back seat.
The pink car seat behind him remained empty.
He had bought it in Amarillo during the drive home.
That now seemed embarrassingly hopeful.
At 5:30 he gave up trying to rest.
He washed his face in a gas-station restroom, changed his shirt, and drove to the sheriff's substation off Route 66.
The building opened at six.
Travis was waiting outside when it did.
A gray-haired deputy named Miller listened while Travis laid the documents across his desk.
Miller examined the deed first.
Then the military identification.
Then the loan paperwork.
Then Travis.
"You've already been over there?"
"Once."
"Any confrontation?"
"No."
"He threaten you?"
"No."
"You threaten him?"
"No."
Miller leaned back.
"What exactly do you want from us?"
Travis had rehearsed his answer.
"A peaceful standby while I establish what's happening at my property."
Miller studied him for another moment.
"And your wife?"
"Bethany."
"She's living there?"
"Apparently."
"Then we're not deciding a marital property dispute on a porch at sunrise."
"I'm not asking you to."
Miller tapped the folder.
"Good."
"My daughter's been withdrawn from daycare. I haven't been told where she is."
That changed Miller's posture.
"How old?"
"Three."
"Any custody order?"
"No."
"Divorce filing?"
"Not that I know of."
"Separation agreement?"
"No."
Miller chewed thoughtfully on a toothpick.
"You have reason to believe the child is in immediate danger?"
Travis hesitated.
"No evidence."
Miller nodded.
It was clearly the correct answer, though not the satisfying one.
"All right. I'll follow you."
At 6:42 they turned into the driveway.
Morning had begun whitening the sky behind the water tower.
Travis got out carrying the yellow folder.
Deputy Miller remained near the patrol vehicle where he could be seen.
Travis climbed the porch.
This time he knocked hard.
Movement came from inside almost immediately.
Kurt opened the door.
The gray robe again.
For half a second his face held the same smug irritation as before.
Then he noticed Miller.
The expression vanished.
"What the hell is this?"
"Morning," Travis said.
"You brought cops?"
"Deputy," Miller corrected from the driveway.
Kurt looked toward him.
That was when someone appeared behind Kurt.
Travis saw bare feet first.
Then an oversized T-shirt.
Then Bethany's face.
Everything he had prepared to say disappeared.
She stopped halfway into the hall.
Her hair was tangled. Her eyes looked swollen from either sleep or crying.
For one irrational moment, Travis felt relief.
Bethany was alive.
Then he remembered the empty car seat.
"Where's Kaylee?"
Bethany's gaze flicked toward Kurt.
Wrong answer.
Travis noticed it instantly.
He set the yellow folder on the porch rail and opened it.
The deed lay on top.
Kurt gave an incredulous laugh.
"What's that supposed to be?"
"My deed."
Bethany closed her eyes.
Travis pressed one finger against his name.
"You removed my name from the mailbox."
"Travis—"
"You let another man move into a house I bought before we met."
"We need to talk."
"Yes."
Bethany looked toward Miller.
"Not like this."
"Where's Kaylee?"
Her mouth tightened.
"She's safe."
"Where?"
"With my sister."
"Which sister?"
Bethany did not answer immediately.
She had two.
Travis felt the first real flash of fear.
"Bethany."
"Melissa."
"Where is Melissa?"
"Near Joplin."
"Address."
Kurt shifted forward.
"She doesn't have to tell you anything."
Miller straightened beside the patrol car.
Travis never looked away from Bethany.
"You withdrew Kaylee from daycare three weeks ago and told them we were moving."
Bethany's face changed.
"You called Dolores?"
"Of course I called Dolores."
"You had no right—"
Travis almost laughed.
"No right to ask where my daughter is?"
"That's not what I meant."
"Then explain what you meant."
Kurt muttered something under his breath.
Travis ignored him.
Bethany folded her arms.
"You weren't here."
"I was at Fort Sill."
"You chose to be there."
"I was serving."
"You reenlisted after I asked you not to."
There it was.
Not an explanation.
A wound.
Travis recognized the difference.
They had fought about his reenlistment. Bethany had cried the night he signed. She had accused him of choosing the Army whenever civilian life became complicated.
Travis had thought the argument ended.
Apparently Bethany had thought the marriage did.
"I called," he said.
"Calls aren't the same."
"No."
"They don't fix a sink. They don't take a sick kid to urgent care. They don't get up at two in the morning when she throws up."
Travis absorbed the accusation.
Some of it hurt because some of it was true.
But none of it answered the question.
"Address."
Bethany shook her head.
"You're not taking Kaylee."
Travis became completely still.
"I didn't say I was."
"I know you."
"Apparently not."
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Stand there acting calm so everybody thinks I'm crazy."
Kurt stepped beside her.
Travis looked at the robe again.
The absurdity almost overwhelmed him.
Miller approached the porch.
"Folks."
Nobody spoke.
The deputy stopped several feet away.
"This isn't getting solved here."
Bethany pointed toward Travis.
"He can't just come back after months and decide everything belongs to him."
Miller glanced at the deed.
"I'm not making that determination."
"The house is his," Kurt said suddenly.
Bethany turned sharply.
"What?"
Kurt shrugged.
"I mean technically."
Her face hardened.
Travis watched that exchange carefully.
Kurt had known.
Bethany apparently believed something different.
"You told me—" she began.
Kurt interrupted.
"I said we'd work it out."
"You said military spouses—"
"Bethany."
The single word carried a warning.
Travis filed it away.
"What did he tell you?"
"Nothing."
"What did Kurt tell you about my house?"
"I said nothing."
Bethany snatched a cardigan from the coat rack.
"We're not doing this."
She pushed past Kurt.
Travis stepped aside to let her onto the porch.
Miller watched everyone.
Bethany descended the stairs and headed toward a small sedan parked behind the Ram.
"Where are you going?"
"Away from you."
"Give me Melissa's address."
"No."
"Bethany."
She opened the driver's door.
Travis stayed on the porch.
He did not chase her.
"Then I'm filing today."
She froze.
"For what?"
"Whatever my lawyer tells me protects access to Kaylee."
Bethany turned.
"You'd take her from me?"
"I want to know where she is."
"She's safe."
"You keep saying that instead of telling me where."
Bethany's eyes filled, but her expression remained angry.
"You don't understand."
"Then help me."
For one second Travis saw the woman he remembered.
Frightened.
Exhausted.
Almost ready to speak.
Kurt came down the porch.
"Beth, don't."
That ended it.
Bethany climbed into the car.
Travis looked from her to Kurt.
Kurt stared back.
The dynamic had changed.
At four in the morning Travis had believed Kurt was simply the man Bethany had chosen.
Now he wondered why Kurt seemed so interested in controlling what she said.
Bethany started the engine.
Before backing out, she lowered her window.
"Don't go to Melissa's."
Travis walked closer but stopped several feet away.
"Why?"
Bethany looked at Kurt.
Then back at Travis.
"Just don't."
She reversed quickly and drove away.
Travis watched until the sedan disappeared.
Deputy Miller came alongside him.
"Sergeant."
"Yeah?"
"Whatever you're thinking, don't follow her."
"I'm not."
"Good."
Travis looked at Kurt.
Kurt was no longer pretending confidence.
"You need to leave," Kurt said.
Travis glanced toward the house.
"My house."
"She's my tenant."
The words came too quickly.
Travis turned back.
"Your what?"
Kurt realized his mistake.
Miller noticed it too.
"What did you say?" the deputy asked.
Kurt retreated one step.
"Nothing."
"You said tenant."
"I misspoke."
Travis felt the pieces shifting.
"Kurt."
The man stared at him.
"Did Bethany sign something?"
No answer.
Travis looked toward the black Ram.
Then the changed curtains.
Then the missing wedding photograph.
This might not be merely an affair.
Something had been arranged.
"Show me."
Kurt laughed nervously.
"Show you what?"
"Whatever she signed."
Kurt stepped inside and slammed the door.
The deadbolt turned.
Miller looked at Travis.
"That answer your question?"
"It gave me a worse one."
Click here to continue reading: PART 3: A Missing Child, a Quietly Signed Document, and One Phone Call Forced Travis to Stop Treating This Like a Marriage Fight
After Nineteen Hours on the Road, Travis Found Another Man Wearing His Robe and Answering His Front Door
Part 2 of 28
