of cash around. You buy a one-way ticket with cash leaving today, that
might be a red flag for the airline. Right now, the less attention,
the better. What is it, by the way? Your other name?”
“Suzanne Blake.”
“Nice name.”
“Suzanne was my mother’s name.”
“Was? Passed on?”
“Both my parents. My mother when I was eleven. My dad six years
later. No brothers or sisters. I was a seventeen-year-old orphan.”
“That must’ve been tough.”
Faith didn’t say anything for a long moment. Talking about her past
was always hard, so she rarely did so. And she really didn’t know this
man. Still, there was something about Lee Adams that was comforting,
solid. “I really loved my mother,” she began. “She was a good woman,
and long-suffering, because of my dad. He was a good person too, but
one of those souls who always have an angle, a way to make a quick buck
with these crazy ideas. And when his plan blew up, and it always did,
we’d have to pack up and move on.”
“Why was that?”
“Because other people always lost money with my dad’s grand schemes
too. And they were understandably upset about it. We moved four times
before my mother died. Five more times after that. We prayed for my
dad every day, my mom and I. Right before she died, she told me to take
care of him, and me all of eleven.”
Lee shook his head. “I can’t even relate to that. My parents have
lived in the same house for fifty years. How did you manage to keep it
together after your mother died?”
The words somehow came easier for Faith now. “It wasn’t as tough as
you’d think. Mom loved my dad, hated how he lived, his schemes, all
the moving. But he wasn’t going to change, so they weren’t the
happiest couple to live with. There were times I really thought she
was going to kill him. When she died, it sort of became my dad and me
against the world. He’d dress me up in the one nice outfit I had and
show me off to all his prospective partners. I guess people would
think, how can this guy be so bad, what with his little girl right
there and all? When I got to be sixteen I’d even help him pitch his
deals. I grew up fast. I guess that’s where I got my motor mouth and
my backbone. I learned to think on my feet.”
“Quite an alternative education,” Lee commented. “But I can see how it
would serve you well as a lobbyist.”
Her eyes grew moist. “On the way to every meeting, he’d say, “This one
is the one, Faith, darling. I can feel it right here,” and he’d put
his hand over his heart. “It’s all for you, baby girl. Daddy loves
his Faith.” And I believed him every single damn time.”
“Sounds like he really ended up hurting you,” Lee said quietly.
Faith shook her head stubbornly. “It wasn’t like he was trying to rip
people off. We’re not talking Ponzi schemes or anything. He sincerely
believed his ideas would work. But they never did and we’d move on.
And it wasn’t like we ever made any money. God, we slept in our car
enough times. How many times do I remember my dad strolling into the
back door of restaurants and walking out a little later with dinner he
had talked them into giving him. We’d sit in the backseat and eat.
He’d stare at the sky, pointing out the constellations to me. He never
even finished high school, but he knew all about the stars. Said he’d
been chasing enough of them his whole life. We’d just sit there far
into the night, and my dad would tell me things would get better. Just
down the road.”
“Sounds like a man who could talk his way into anywhere. Probably
would’ve made a good
PI.”
Faith smiled as she thought back. “I’d walk into a bank with him, and
within five minutes he’d know everybody by name, drinking coffee,
talking with the bank manager like he’d known him his whole life. And