Chapter 186

“This is he,” Scooter said, more or less on autopilot.

“Hello, Mr. Stahl,” the woman said, staying formal. “This is Doctor Ellen Huang. I…have some distressing news for you, sir, regarding your daughter.”

“Excuse me?” Scooter wiggled a finger in his ear and then put the phone back to it. “I don’t have a daughter—”

“This is Mr. Winston Stahl, 100 Sandfiddler Road?”

“That’s me, but—”

“And Mary-Alice Stahl is your daughter?”

“My sister,” Scooter corrected. “Our Dad’s been dead about four years now. I got th’ same name.”

“Mr. Stahl,” Huang continued, “I’m afraid I have some bad news for you. I would have waited until the sheriff’s department contacted you, but since you live in Virginia…”

“Yeah,” Scooter said. Everyone knew about Georgia and Virginia police; Scooter personally knew of several deadbeat dads who’d relocated to Georgia because of the difficulty in legal conversation between the states. He stepped back a few paces and almost fell in one of the kitchen chairs.