“I already know she was blackmailing men, Darla. The men in those photos. I found money hidden at her house on Morrison. A lot of money.”

Darla appeared genuinely shocked. “Eleanor told me she only did it once or twice when she was younger. To help pay the rent and buy food. Said it was better than turning tricks on street corners. I had no idea she was still involved with that kind of stuff.”

“The money she was waiting for? Could it have been more blackmail cash?”

“I don’t think so.” Darla frowned. “What she did with those men, it was small time. I wouldn’t even call it blackmail. Seems too big a word to me. She was scamming guys for a few extra bucks—that’s all. To be honest, the life she’d had, I didn’t really blame her.

“You know she grew up in a children’s home? Don’t get me wrong; she always said they treated her well there, especially the woman who ran the place, Miss Angeline. Closest thing Eleanor ever had to a mother. But she wanted a better life for herself as an adult than what she’d had as a kid. The way she was speaking, this money she was waiting for, it was going to set her up for life.”

“Uh-huh,” Jessica said. “So how exactly is Eleanor’s death your fault? You said yourself you weren’t even there.”

Darla lowered her eyes, stared into the coffee cup. “Robbie was working a shift when I got to Ace’s that night. I told him everything. All about Eleanor’s plans to leave town and take Alicia with her. He was always a real quiet guy, a deep thinker I used to call him, so there was no screaming and shouting. But I could tell he was real mad. That kind of scary rage that bubbles just beneath the surface. I’d never seen him like that before. The next day, Eleanor is dead, and Alicia is gone—and so is Robbie.”

“You really believe he killed her?”

Darla nodded. “Yes, I do. I think he snapped. Then he took Alicia so he could fool himself, and everyone else, that she was his kid.”

Jessica swallowed hard. Even though she already knew what Darla’s answer would be, she had to ask the question. “You really don’t think there’s any chance he was my real father?”

Darla picked up the wallet from the table and looked at the photo again. Then she handed it back to Jessica. “Eleanor always said he wasn’t. I don’t see any reason why she would have lied to me. I’m sorry, but this man isn’t your father. He’s a murderer.”

Jessica touched a finger gently to Tony’s face behind the cheap plastic. “I can’t believe it.”

Darla asked, “Where is he now?”

“He’s dead.”