Page 71 of Night Hawk
Wilshire stopped nearby, his rifle pointed their way. “Ask your questions.”
Toni smoothed her hands over her jacket. “Why did you visit my grandparents when Lisa was visiting?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I was going through a divorce. Got me down, and your grandparents were great supporters, so I went to talk to them. Was surprised to see Andrew there, but he was great too.”
“And while you were there, you met Lisa?” Toni asked.
He nodded, but his gaze remained wary.
She smiled to try to relax him. “Tell me what she was like.”
“Cute kid. Funny. Seemed real happy. And seemed to have a strong love for the Lord. I remember thinking it would be great if all my youth were like her.” His expression softened for a moment.
“So you were taken with her,” Clay stated.
Wilshire jerked the rifle in Clay’s direction. “Not in the creepy, dirty way your tone is suggesting. And that’s exactly why the Longs didn’t tell the police about my visit. I was fighting for shared custody of my children, and that would’ve put an end to it.”
“Why the fight?” Toni tried to sound casual about the question.
“My wife claims I was having an affair and was an unfit father.”
“Were you?”
He didn’t answer right away. “She thought I was sleeping with a woman named Carla Meadows. But I wasn’t. She chaperoned one of our youth sleepovers, and one of the kids took a few pictures of us together. Like in one, we were sitting by the campfire. Just the two of us. Close together. I was holding her hands because I was praying with her. It was totally innocent. At least on my part. But here’s the thing. I later learned she was into me, and she said we were having an affair. She lied because she figured if I left my wife, we could be together.”
“Did she know what her claims were doing to your custody situation?” Clay asked.
“Yeah, but she thought her kids would be enough for me.”
“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” Toni said sincerely. “Sometimes our courts don’t get it right.”
“Sometimes? Ha! Way too often.” He gritted his teeth. “I couldn’t take all the hypocrisy and self-serving nature of the world anymore, so I moved out here. Been alone ever since.”
“Did you ever get to see your kids?” Clay asked.
“Once a month until they turned eighteen. Once a month! I saw kids in my youth group more than that, so what good did that do? They’re all grown now, and they don’t know me, and I don’t know them. I keep in touch through email, but they never invite me to their family events and always find an excuse not to accept any of my invitations.”
The anguish in his tone broke Toni’s heart. If he was telling the truth and he’d been cheated out of his children’s childhood, he’d lost such a precious gift. She felt the same way about Lisa, and she’d never even met her sister. She couldn’t comprehend Wilshire’s pain.
“I’m sorry,” she said, trying to convey her sympathy in her expression.
“Sorry doesn’t do me any good.”
“Tell us about the Rader family,” Clay said.
Wilshire didn’t answer right away. “Not sure who they are.”
“Their son Jason was in your youth group.”
He shook his head. “Don’t remember them.”
“Fritz and Ursula Rader,” Clay clarified. “Ursula left Fritz and Jason.”
“Sorry. Doesn’t ring a bell.” He looked at a clock over the fireplace. “Your time is almost up.”
“Did you tell anyone about Lisa?” Toni asked before they were thrown out.
His eyes flashed an emotion Toni couldn’t pinpoint, but it didn’t look good. “Not that I remember.”
