Page 1 of Tracking Payton
Chapter 1
Payton absently ran her finger around the rim of her growing cold coffee cup, as she sat in a booth at the restaurant where she was meeting her dad. He was only forty minutes late. She knew because she’d checked her watch several times now. It wasn’t odd for him to be late. Once he became engrossed in his work, it was hard to pull him away even to get him to eat, let alone remember a lunch date with his daughter.
She would give him five more minutes then leave. She still had a case sitting on her desk that wasn’t going to solve itself. She was a homicide detective, and crime never waited for anyone. Most likely her dad completely forgot about her and their date. It was the story of her life being a military brat. The government always came first. Payton had long become accustomed to it, but that didn’t mean she liked it. Always taking second place. Government first. Family second.
Payton’s mom had hated it, but she always put on a brave face for Payton. Her mom went out of her way to make sure Payton never felt unloved. Cancer had taken her when Payton was just seven.
It had devastated her father. For as absent as he was from home, he did love her mother. It had brought them somewhat closer. He didn’t work as much out of home, but he still holed himself up in his office for hours on end. Saying it was to keep her and the world safe.
Her dad did his best, but he was always busy with work and left most of the parenting to nannies until she was old enough to take care of herself.
It didn’t stop her from still trying to connect with her dad every chance she got. He was the only family she had. When he was around, he made her the sole focus of his attention. He was always curious what cases she was working on. He listened to what she had to say.
That was more than she could say about her last two boyfriends. The last one never cared about her work. He was too focused on his own career. Everything was about him and how she could help him. Payton got tired of it and left. The time before that, she’d dated a work colleague; she’d caught him snooping on her laptop, and he’d stolen her lead and passed it off as his own, closing the case.
Yeah, men sucked. Boyfriends especially. She didn’t have a great track record with men.
“Hey, pumpkin, sorry I’m late,” her father said, coming up behind her and making her jump.
“Hey, Daddy.” She smiled as she recovered from her mild heart attack.
“Did I scare you?” he asked, taking the seat across from her. He was dressed in his usual military uniform. She rarely saw him in civilian clothes. She was convinced he always slept in them.
“Yeah, lost in thought.” She shrugged.
He tsked at her with a smile on his face. The corners of his eyes crinkling. The wrinkles on his face getting deeper every time she saw him. His hair was more white than grey anymore. He should be thinking about retirement, but don’t tell him that. Nick Weber thought he was still in his thirties the way he worked. “Your current assignment?”
“Yeah,” she easily lied. There was no point burdening him that she was thinking about the past she’d missed with him. There was nothing she could do to change it, and she didn’t want to spend their lunch arguing. She’d rather enjoy the time they had together. Who knew the next time she’d see him? “How’s everything with you?”
“Good. Work is keeping me busy.” Her dad was a colonel in the army and head of an analyst group. She didn’t know everything it entailed, and he never bothered sharing.
“Doing what?”
“Hoping to get me to spill my secret? I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed,” he replied as a waitress came to their table with a coffee pot. Her dad flipped over his cup and let her fill it to the rim.
“Do you need cream or sugar?” the waitress asked, a bored expression on her face.
“No, thank you.” They both preferred straight black coffee. Always had.
Payton smiled as she brought her own cup to her lips, hiding her grimace as the cold liquid went into her mouth. Yuck, cold coffee. “Can I get a new cup please?”
“Sure, would you care to order lunch?”
“Yes.”
The waitress nodded. “I’ll be right back with menus.”
“Just curious,” Payton said, answering her father’s earlier question.
“You know what they say about curiosity.” He chuckled as he raised the cup to his lips.
“I’m a detective, it’s an occupational hazard.” She shrugged, knowing she’d never get a straight answer out of him. She’d interviewed hundreds of people over the years; her dad was the only person she couldn’t crack.
“Let it go, Payton.” There was a hardness in his eyes that told her that she was pushing him too hard. If she pushed him much further, he would leave, and that wasn’t what she wanted.
He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small rectangular velvet box. “Here.”
Wow, and it wasn’t even her birthday. “You shouldn’t have.” Payton opened the lid and couldn’t hide the gasp as she saw the gold heart necklace. “It’s just like Mom’s.” Payton looked up at her dad with tears glistening in her eyes. Her dad smiled broadly at her.
