Page 65 of Is Anyone Listening?
"You can't be my…granddaughter," she finally said.
"I am." I held her gaze. "I'm David's daughter. You really didn't know?"
She squared her shoulders. "How could I? David hasn't spoken to me since the day he left when he was eighteen years old." She paused. "Are you really his daughter? Or is this another lie?"
"I'm his daughter. And I think you know that, whether or not you want to admit it."
Ellen opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again. No words came out. She looked at the sheriff, at Dorothy, at the faces staring at her from the archway, and something in her seemed to crumble.
Without another word, she turned and walked out of the room. A moment later, I heard a door close.
The room remained silent. No one seemed to know what to do or say.
"Well," Dorothy said finally, breaking the tension. "I wasn't expecting to hear that. I don't think Ellen was either."
I turned to look at her. "I was going to tell her in private. I was waiting for the right moment."
"And you thought this was it?" Jeff asked dryly.
"I didn't know if I'd have another chance." My gaze moved to the sheriff, who didn't seem to know what to do now.
After a moment, he said, "I guess I'll let you and Ellen sort this out." He cleared his throat. "But the podcast needs to end. You're slandering the reputation of this town."
"Why are you so unwilling to admit that what's been happening here is real?" I challenged. "I didn't make up those women. They're gone. And no one knows where they are or what happened to them."
"Those cases were investigated thoroughly, and not just by me. There were private investigators involved, too. There is simply no proof that anything happened to them. That's why the cases were closed. Not because anyone wanted to hide anything. If you really want to tell the truth, you should put that on your podcast." On that note, he turned and walked out of the room.
I blew out a breath as he left. Then I turned to Dorothy. "Did you know my father? Do you know why he left? Why Ellen won't speak about him?"
"I knew him as a child. But I don't know what happened between him and his mother. That's a question Ellen has to answer."
"I knew your dad," Jeff interjected. "He was Tom's age, which makes him five years older than me."
"What was he like?"
Jeff shrugged. "I don't know. He seemed like a good enough kid. He wasn't a troublemaker like Tom. But if he got pushed, he'd fight; he wouldn't back down."
"Your brother was a troublemaker?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah, big time. So was I." Jeff paused. "Tom thinks I still am. But he was way worse than me back in the day. Drove my father crazy."
"Your father was the sheriff, wasn't he?"
"Yeah, he was in charge of everyone and everything. It's ironic to me that somehow Tom turned out just like him."
I was less interested in the Holloway brothers and more interested in what Jeff knew about my father. "Do you know why my dad left? Why he never spoke to his mother again?"
"I think it had something to do with his dad dying. Some people even think David might have pushed his father off the cliff, but I never believed that."
"There's no way my father would ever kill anyone."
"Why don't you just ask him why he left?" Jeff asked. "He's alive, isn't he?"
"Yes, he is, but he won't talk about his family or the past."
"And Ellen won't speak of him," Dorothy interjected. "It's a sad situation. Maybe you can bring them back together, Cassidy."
"That seems pretty impossible right now. I don't know if Ellen is going to talk to me again."
