Look Closely - Laura Caldwell [66]
“He changed his name from Sutter to Singer when he moved to Santa Fe. Something about wanting to cut ties with his family. It was symbolic for him. Not that I knew this back then. It only came out when we got divorced. I kept the Singer name for Annie’s sake.”
I tried to ignore the bitterness that had crept back into Sharon’s voice. “And he never mentioned me?” I said.
“Dan didn’t mention much. That was part of the problem. He always kept secrets from me, and it made me crazy. I only found out about Caroline because I found a receipt that showed he wired money to her. I went nuts. I thought he was cheating on me, but then he tells me that he has a sister named Caroline in Portland who needed cash.”
“When was this?”
“God, it had to be the first year we were married.” She put her water glass down on a rough-hewn side table and gave me an appraising look. “You’re obviously younger than Dan.”
“Ten years younger.”
“And so, are there any other brothers and sisters I should know about?”
“Just Caroline and me.”
Sharon gave me that appraising stare once more. “There’s no estate battle or something like that, is there?”
“What do you mean?” A breeze blew through the open windows behind my head. My hair lifted and swirled into my face. I grabbed it with one hand and pulled it over my shoulder.
“I’m not Dan’s biggest fan anymore, but as I said, he is Annie’s father. I don’t want to hurt him or anything. So if you’re here to dig up dirt for some legal battle or something…”
“No, no. It’s nothing like that. I’ve just never known Dan, or Caroline for that matter, so I want to get in touch.”
“Well, I wish I could help you, but like I told you on the phone, we haven’t heard from Dan in weeks.”
“And is that typical?”
Sharon shrugged. “It’s not totally out of character. He used to have a mean drinking problem, and sometimes he’d disappear for days, but since we split up, he’s never missed a date with Annie. Every Wednesday and every other weekend and one holiday a year, he drives up from Albuquerque like clockwork. So I am getting a little worried now.”
“I’m flying out of Albuquerque tomorrow, and I was thinking of stopping by his house.”
“I can give you directions there, but you’re probably wasting your time. If he was home, he’d pick up Annie. I know that much.”
“Have you called his friends to see what they know?”
Sharon laughed. “You really don’t know him, I guess. Dan doesn’t have any close friends.”
Just like Caroline, I thought. “Why?”
“Oh, he’s got lots of acquaintances. He’s got the typical sales personality.” She made a wistful face, as if remembering something. “So he’s got buddies in the business. I know some of the guys at his company, and I figured if he didn’t show up tomorrow again, I’ll give them a call on Monday.”
“What’s the name of the company he works for?”
“Rider Pharmaceuticals.”
I nodded. I knew of it. It was a large, publicly traded corporation. I thought of Dan and how alone he must feel sometimes. No wife, a child he saw only on prescribed days, no real friends. I wondered if he still wrote the way he used to, filling those lined notebooks with his stories. I asked Sharon if he was still a writer.
“You know about the writing, huh?” Sharon said. She sipped her water again, her face suddenly sad. “I think I might be the only person he let read those stories.”
“What were they like?”
“They were usually about men or boys who ran away from home and experienced freedom on the road. They used to piss me off.”
“Do you have any of them?”
“No. He let me read them, but he always kept them close. Too close. I was always telling him to send them to literary magazines, but he never would. He did write a short essay for one of the papers in town.”
“Do you still have that?”
“I think I might. Do you want to wait while I look for it?”
“Yes, thanks.”
Sharon began walking out of the room. She stopped under the door frame and turned around. “Would you like to see some pictures?”
“Oh, that would be great.” I could hear the excitement in my own voice.
“There’s an album right there,” she said, pointing