“Until they find us,” Maddie replied with a sigh. “It’s a small town. There are only so many places we can hide.”
“You can stay here until they do,” Sherry declared. “Now come on in and have some coffee. I made cinnamon rolls this morning. Are you hungry? Did you have a chance to eat yet today? I can make sandwiches if you’d rather have lunch.”
“I don’t think I can eat, but I wouldn’t mind some coffee.” Maddie linked her arm with Tanner’s. “Are you hungry?”
“Not in the least. But thank you, Sherry.”
Sherry laughed and shrugged. “What can I say? I’m just a mother at heart. You’re in luck today that the kids are out with friends. The house should be quiet.”
Sherry had twins and the house had been rarely quiet when they were growing up. Now that they were home from college for the summer, she was complaining that they never wanted to spend any time with their parents. They were always off with their friends.
They went into the house through the back door and his campaign manager Brian was waiting there, looking like he’d combed his hair with a yard rake. It seemed that he’d been pacing the floor waiting for them.
“Thank god, you’re here. All hell has broken loose. You have to get out there and make a statement. Hudson is taking great pleasure in smearing your name in the mud this morning.”
Arnold Hudson was a son of a bitch that didn’t care about anyone or anything else but himself. He wanted power and money, and he didn’t care who he had to run over to get it. Tanner couldn’t prove it, but his gut was telling him that Hudson wasn’t completely on the up and up. Some of his business deals with foreign governments seemed shady as hell.
“How is my name in the mud?” Tanner asked. “I didn’t kill Marty.”
Brian heaved a loud sigh. “You have to hear it to believe it. I recorded it for you.”
Brian held up his phone and they all gathered around it. Maddie held his hand while Amanda, looking more worried than he’d ever seen her be, clung to his arm. Josh and Sam stood in the corner, wearing identical grim expressions. Sherry hung in the background, holding onto a dishtowel with white-knuckled fingers.
The screen lit up and Tanner could see his opponent. It appeared that they’d caught him coming out of his home.
“All we know is that Martin Parnham is dead,” Hudson said, several microphones in front of him. “We know that Parnham was shot. Why was he shot? That’s still to be found out. But I will say this, and I take no pleasure in saying it. We need to tread carefully here. For all we know Tanner Marks might be involved in the death. We don’t know what he’s done or hasn’t done. He has a history of alcoholism and that’s well known. Has he fallen off the wagon? I think that’s something that we should find out. That’s something we should know about a man running for governor of this great state. It’s a sacred trust from the people and we need to be cautious. My question to you is this…why hasn’t he made a statement? What is he hiding from? A man that won’t answer questions can hardly be trusted.”
“Asshole,” Maddie muttered under her breath as Brian turned off the recording. “That man is evil personified. He’s a—“
“Douchebag,” Amanda finished. “A total and complete douchebag. I want to march up to him and smack that smug smile off of his face. He enjoyed every second of that. I take no pleasure, my Aunt Fanny.”
Tanner considered himself to be a modern man but he still didn’t like to hear words like douchebag out of his youngest daughter’s mouth. Since the word had come so easily to her lips, he was sure that it wasn’t her first utterance of it, but he still wasn’t thrilled.
He also didn’t need his wife and daughter to run to his defense. He could handle Arnold Hudson.
“Nobody is going to smack anyone,” Tanner said. “Hudson said those things to get a rise out of me. He’s going to be disappointed because no one here is going to give him the satisfaction of showing they’re upset.”
“I’d still like to smack him,” Amanda said, her arms crossed over her chest and her lips tight. “He insinuated that you were a drunk.”
“I was a drunk,” Tanner replied. “But I’ve been sober for years. However, that is not something that I’m ashamed of or want to lie about. I’ve been upfront about that, and I intend to keep acting that way. He might have something to hide, but I don’t.”
“Your ex-wife was questioned by the police and released this morning,” Brian said. “And Hudson is making outlandish statements to anyone that will stick a microphone in his face and put him on YouTube.”
“Just ignore him. He’s just riling up his base who hate my guts anyway. They’d believe anything bad about me because they don’t like me. Chances are I wasn’t even in town when Marty was killed. I’m going to talk to Sam and then after I talk to him, I’ll talk to the press and answer their questions.”
Tanner didn’t have anything to hide.
But he also needed to talk to Abby. Just what had happened last night?
“Maybe we could sit in the kitchen?” Sam asked. “That would probably be the most comfortable.”
“I’m going to need that coffee,” Maddie said. “Sherry, do you want me to start a fresh pot?”
“I’m way ahead of you. As usual,” Sherry grinned. “Go ahead and sit down. Relax. I’ll pour the coffee. Cream and sugar is on the table. Are you sure I can’t fix something to eat?”
They all sat down around the large kitchen table with their coffee. Sam sat across from Tanner and Maddie, pulling out a small notebook.
“I’m going to ask you a few questions and then I’ll tell you what I’ve found out about the case so far.” He flipped through a few pages before retrieving a stubby pencil from his shirt pocket. “When was the last time you saw either Abby Parnham or Martin Parnham?”