Free Orphans of Wonderland by Greg F. Gifune Page B

should’ve called you, and I’m sorry I didn’t. My father talked about you a lot. He missed you, missed your friendship. But he also felt bad for you, because he knew you’d been through hell with that other business. He told me that if anything ever happened to him to leave you alone, to let you know after the fact because you’d been through enough. I honored his wishes. Until I realized that, under the circumstances, you were the first person I should’ve contacted, not the last.”
    â€œIt’s fine,” Joel assured her, giving her hand a quick pat. “You mentioned he was friendly with a couple guys he worked with.”
    â€œThey weren’t terribly close, but he socialized with them now and then.”
    â€œIn our last conversation you said he was still working in the security field.”
    â€œYes, mall security. He was with the same company for years. He worked his way up to senior officer, a supervisory position. The company has contracts with several area malls, so he moved between them a lot.”
    Joel turned his notebook to a blank page, then handed it to Katelyn along with his pen. “Jot down their names and the company they work for, please.” He turned to Adam. “Were there any people he knew you’d call suspicious?”
    â€œSuspicious?”
    â€œAny friends with unsavory contacts or associations, troubled pasts, that kind of thing.”
    â€œNot that we know of,” Katelyn answered for him.
    â€œYou mean like a criminal element?” Adam asked.
    Joel nodded.
    â€œI don’t know; that Sal character is a little scary,” he said, laughing lightly.
    â€œHe could be intimidating for sure, and was always was a little rough around the edges,” Joel said, tossing out some brief obligatory laughter. “But far as I know, Sal was never a criminal.”
    â€œNo, of course he isn’t.” Finished, Katelyn slid the pen and notebook back. “My father didn’t associate with criminals. People make jokes about mall cops and all that, but he cared about people and their safety. He was a good man, he liked helping people and the businesses he protected, he took pride in keeping them safe.”
    â€œYou said he had very little credit card debt, but did he owe anyone else money? Personal loans or things like that?”
    Katelyn shook her head.
    â€œDid he have any enemies to speak of? People he’d had problems with or who were vocal about disliking him for some reason, maybe someone he had a disagreement with or had issues with through his job? A person he may have caught shoplifting or had a prior confrontation with, for example? Someone who may have had a vendetta against him and just taken it too far, or maybe a neighbor with some sort of gripe that got out hand?”
    Katelyn and Adam exchanged quick glances. “Sorry, the police asked these same questions. Far as I know there was nothing like that going on. He had problems with people at work at times, as you say, shoplifters or rowdy kids or whatever, but none of that ever translated to his personal life. He was careful to keep all that separate so he wouldn’t have problems with those sorts outside work. And on the personal front, as I said, his was a very small circle of friends and acquaintances, and within that circle he was well liked and respected.”
    Joel referred to the notebook briefly, then folded it closed. “You told me your mother and Lonnie were never married, and you lived with your father growing up.”
    â€œThat’s correct.”
    â€œCan you elaborate on that?”
    â€œMy mother had struggles with drugs and alcohol most of her life. She was out of the picture from the time I was a very little girl. She served time in jail on occasion and ran with a rough crowd—bikers and whatnot—so I rarely saw her. Now and then she’d appear as if from nowhere, and my father would let her see me for a few