Well, what was left of it.
She returned her gaze to William, then snapped back to Wyatt and narrowed her eyes. “Is that . . . Alan Crane?”
William glanced around, saw his son, and shrugged. “Looks like it.”
Melanie tilted her head. “You knew he was coming?”
He finished off his corn and wiped his mouth with the red and white checkered napkin before placing it on the table. “I might have had my people contact his people.”
“But my daughter’s not missing.” And Alan Crane was the face of missing children. After the murder of his young daughter many years ago, Alan’s life revolved around finding missing children and the perpetrators who harmed them. He was the media face of the forgotten.
“Mr. Lewis is,” William said.
She stared at Wyatt’s father without humor. “But Wyatt asked you to help with Nathan.”
He laid his hand over hers. “No. He asked that I help with you. And Melanie . . . my son has never asked a thing of me since before he was in college. Even then . . .”
Tears were close, but she pushed them back. “I’ll pay you back someday.”
Hope took that moment to climb up into the chair she had beside them. She shoved food in her face and smiled at them both before scrambling off.
“You already have.”
Zoe snuck up behind her and slid into a chair. “Well, do I pass the test?” Zoe asked the question to William.
“Just like back home.” He waved a rib before taking a bite.
Melanie questioned her friend with a lifted brow. “You knew he was from Texas?”
“Oh, please. The minute the man opened his mouth I knew where Wyatt got all that swagger and charm.”
“I may not have the accent I once did, but I’d have to turn in my born and raised card if I’d lost my swagger.”
They were both laughing at the twang William put behind his words.
“I guess the name ‘Wild Bill’ makes a little more sense,” Melanie said.
“When do you fly out?” William asked.
Zoe sighed. “Tomorrow early.”
Melanie leaned her head on her friend’s shoulder. “It means so much that you came.”
Zoe offered a one-arm hug. “Always, anytime.”
And before Melanie let her friend go, she told her, “And tell Luke your plans. The guy goes a little nutty when you leave.”
With a heavy sigh, she said, “He knew I was leaving the last time.”
“Two words . . . Bar. Fight.”
“Fine!” Zoe pushed herself off the seat and searched the crowd. Once she caught sight of Luke, she darted across the street.
“Your friend is a fine chef.”
“Yeah . . . and you’ve only tasted her barbeque. She makes things I can’t even pronounce.”
“And lives in Dallas?”
“Yep. Left town shortly after we all graduated from high school.” When she left again, Melanie would miss her all the more. Seeing Zoe’s face around town made it feel more like home.
“I’ll have to find out where she works when I go again. I wouldn’t mind sampling her other menus.”
Melanie stood and grabbed her plate. “You won’t be disappointed. Can I grab you anything while I’m up?”
“No, no . . . I’m good. Why don’t you go enjoy your town?”
Such a thoughtful man. “Wyatt’s lucky to have a dad like you,” she told him.
William smiled and cocked his head to the side. “Where are your parents, darlin’?”
The thought had crossed her mind a dozen times once she realized Hope was going to be okay. “My mom called, her boyfriend took her on a cruise . . .” Melanie was too embarrassed to tell him that her mom didn’t offer to jump off at the nearest port to join her. When she’d called and heard Hope was going to be okay . . . she suggested Melanie call her if things changed. “My dad didn’t get word from my brother, Mark, until night before last.”
“And is he going to visit?”
She paused. “Not all family is helpful, William.”
She heard Zoe laughing from across the street and turned to see her talking with Wyatt, Luke, and Alan Crane.
“It’s a good thing you have such a tight circle of friends.”
“Yeah . . . a very good thing.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
They’d been filming all day.
Crane and the crew showed up at the inn before dawn with two huge trucks and a crew of no less than twenty-five people. There were shots taken as the morning fog lifted from the ground, and they filmed the sunrise from the vantage point of where Hope had been standing the last time Miss Gina saw her.
A small company of actors resembling Miss Gina, Melanie, and Hope were brought in, as well as a man who had the same body type and general look of Mr. Lewis.
The fake Mr. Lewis went through the motions of being checked into the inn by the fake Miss Gina for close to two hours before they got it right. Melanie stood to the side and watched as her double told the Hope’s double to stop running through the inn. It took four takes before getting it right, and each one was a tiny knife in her side.
In the dining room, Mr. Crane had set up the interview room for the real players in the American Fugitive program.
Watching Miss Gina fidget under the hand of the makeup artist was almost comical. Eventually she settled down to recall, for the camera, as many details as she could about Mr. Lewis.
Mr. Crane was a gracious host who asked questions with real concern for the answers. He didn’t ask her to repeat anything in any way other than how she felt. “What went through your mind when you realized a guest in your inn was the one responsible for Hope’s disappearance?”