Love Inspired Suspense June 2015 #1 by Margaret Daley, Katy Lee Page A

she were good friends, and she never indicated any problems between them to me. If nothing jumped out with the current cases, I was going to work back from there. Littleton’s case was badly handled by his court-appointed attorney. The more I dug into the evidence, the more I’d come to believe, like Michael, that he was innocent.”
    Uncle Preston’s stern expression relaxed, and slowly his features transformed into a pleasant look. “You never said anything to me about that or sought my help,” he said to Selena, as though surprised by that fact.
    She released Nicholas’s grasp and straightened in her chair, her gaze fixed on her uncle. “You’d made it clear you didn’t really consider me a member of your family, but Erin accepted me from the beginning.”
    His eyes, so like Erin’s, flared. “I deserved that.” He blew out a long breath. “Not knowing if my daughter is alive or not has made me take a good hard look at myself. I’ve been pushing the police to discover the truth, even hired my investigators, but you went out and did something yourself. I haven’t been the father I should have been...or the uncle to you.”
    Selena dug her teeth into her lower lip to keep her jaw from dropping.
    â€œI’ve been reconsidering how I treated you the last couple of months, so when you called me to ask for a meeting, I rearranged my schedule to see you right away. I could have asked you for any news you had about Erin over the phone. I knew I couldn’t put off telling you how I felt, and I wasn’t going to do that by phone. My stubbornness has kept me from forgiving your mother, and she is dead. I could never condone her lifestyle, but she was my only sibling. I should have been better than what I was.”
    Selena blinked the tears away. She wouldn’t cry in front of her uncle or Nicholas. She’d learned when she was young to hide her real emotions. “I didn’t condone my mother’s lifestyle, either. I left home as soon as I could. I couldn’t help her if she wouldn’t help herself.” She stared at her uneaten sandwich. This conversation had thrown her past front and center. Foremost, she regretted that there was nothing she could have done to help her mother and now it was too late.
    â€œI’m sorry. You should have felt you could come to me. I cut you off as though you were your mother, and now I have a daughter running away from the authorities when all your mother did was make a social spectacle of herself.”
    Nicholas cleared his throat, drawing their attention to him. “Should I leave?”
    She said, “No,” immediately, with Uncle Preston’s two seconds behind hers.
    Her uncle checked his watch, flashing her a smile. “Let’s eat. They serve good food here.” He cut into his halibut. “And if I can help either one of you in this Littleton case or anything else that can prove my daughter innocent, I will.”
    As Selena took her first bite of her crab-cake sandwich, she couldn’t believe how well this conversation had gone. She’d prayed to the Lord to help her concerning her uncle, and she’d finally received an answer.
Maybe You
are
listening to me
.
Thank You, God
.
    * * *
    Nicholas escorted Selena back to the White House after their luncheon with Senator Eagleton. “Do you think he’s telling the truth? Do you think he’s had contact with Erin in any way?”
    Selena tossed her purse on the desk in her office then swung around toward Nicholas. “We don’t, as you heard, have a close relationship, but I think he is telling the truth. Erin wouldn’t put her father at risk. She was always conscious of his political career. Before all this happened, there had been talk of him running for president. Now I doubt he will.” She propped herself against her desk and grasped its edge. “What did Tabitha Miller have to say when