“I don’t know where Jane went, but her ex, Robert Carter, never left Mobile. I have a phone number for him. Maybe he would have further information for you. Do you want it?”

“Absolutely,” Sully said, and took down the number. “Got it, and thank you, Marilyn. I’ll stay in touch.”

“Okay, and if I find anything more, I’ll let you know.”

They disconnected, and Sully immediately called the number Marilyn had given him. No one answered, but Sully left a message and his number on voicemail. All he could do was wait to see if Carter called him back.

It was just after eight that same night when Robert Carter called.

“Hello, this is Sully.”

“Mr. Raines, this is Robert Carter returning your call. So you say you’re looking for my ex-wife.”

“Yes, I am, and call me Sully. My interest in your ex-wife is personal and very important to me. I only recently discovered that I was adopted, and according to paperwork I found at my parents’ house, I know for certain that your wife, Jane, was Jane Chapman, my birth mother. You’re her second ex-husband, and I’m having trouble finding new leads. By any chance, do you know where she went when you two divorced?”

“Well, well. You’re something I didn’t know about. As for where she went, all I know is what she said she was going to do. She was looking for a place to live to start a new life, and she wanted to do it in Georgia. She found a place called Blessings on a map and said that was the sign from God that she was looking for. I got one piece of mail from her about a week later. She’d found a key to my old trunk in her jewelry box and mailed it back to me. The return address was 104 Brigade Street, Blessings, Georgia, and I never heard from her again. I want you to know that our divorce was mostly my fault. Jane was a good woman, and I didn’t do right by her. I wish you success in your search. Sorry I wasn’t more help,” Carter said.

“No, this is perfect and I really appreciate it,” Sully said, and hung up, then sent Marilyn a quick text.

Last known destination for Jane was 104 Brigade St., Blessings, Georgia. See what you can do with that.

He got ready for bed, packed everything but what he was going to wear the next day, and fell asleep dreaming that, one way or another, Blessings would be the end of his search.

He overslept, woke up late, then had a tire going low that he had to get fixed before he could leave. Getting a flat fixed turned into buying a new tire, and finding the right size turned into an all-day search. By the time he found the tire, then got it mounted, the sun was going down. Frustrated by the day, and hungry, he went to eat dinner. The logical choice would have been to stay over another night, but after coming out of the restaurant, he made a knee-jerk decision, entered Tallahassee, Florida, in his GPS and left Mobile on I-10, heading east.