Chapter 14
H e hated being confined this way, in a tiny room with nothing much more than a too-small bed and a couple of dreary windows. But he had to keep a low profile now more than ever.
At least he could be grateful the police hadn’t uncovered anything more about him. Beyond the incident with Dee, which could be easily explained away, they had nothing on him. He intended to keep it that way so he could start his new life, free of past mistakes.
He just had to figure out what to do about the kid, then he could move forward. He shifted on the crummy mattress, dreaming of the day when he would have a new place of his own with first-class bedsprings and a big-ass television. Not much longer and he would have everything he required—the money—to make his move. He simply needed to be patient.
If only patience didn’t involve confinement to a lone room when he wanted to be outside, on the move. Free.
And it was all Dee’s fault, damn her.
Yeah, he wanted a clean break. But he also craved revenge.
He wondered which urge would win.
The biting wind slapped Dee’s face as she walked with Jacob down the cement steps, stirring smaller memories of her son, how he needed his ears covered. Evan succumbed to infections so easily.
What a ridiculous thought when he really could be dead. The full import of the possibility hadn’t hit her. This wasn’t denial, damn it, because she refused to believe it was true in the first place.
She simply followed Jacob, numb, climbing into his truck. A few miles later—how many she wasn’t sure—she blinked through her fog enough to look around and realize…“Jacob, you turned the wrong way.”
His eyes stayed forward with unwavering focus. “No, I didn’t.”
“Where are we going?”
“To base.”
“Base? I know you’d planned that originally, but things have—” she swallowed hard “—things have changed given what the police found in the river.” Maybe he was taking her to the military doctor again. Perhaps he thought she’d totally lost it.
His hands stayed steady on the steering wheel as the truck charged ahead. “You told me you saw your ex drive off with your son.”
“But the skid marks…”
“There must be some other explanation,” he said with unshakable conviction.
Hope teased at her insides. “How can you be sure?”
He glanced in her direction, his strong jaw as set as his voice. “I heard it in your voice. You know what you saw.”
He believed her, even when she could barely believe in herself. The notion rocked her hard at a time when she already wasn’t feeling too steady. But if Jacob thought there was a chance Evan wasn’t in that river, she would grasp on to that possibility with both hands.
She wouldn’t give up on her child as long as there was any chance to find him. “Your friend Spike?”
“If I ask him to keep looking for information on your ex, he will search.”
Hope fanned stronger, hotter, burning away the fog of grief clouding her mind. “They’re even coming in on a weekend.”
“They’re already waiting. It’s not that I don’t trust the police. I just believe the more people we have working on this, the better.” He passed her his cell phone. “While we’re driving, you should check your voice mail on the phone at your new place and on your cell.”
She should have thought of that herself. Thank goodness Jacob covered all possibilities, even if this was a long shot. The police hadn’t tracked any calls from Blane’s cell. Still, she might find something else and right now any tiny lead felt vital to her sanity and to her son’s safety.
Phone gripped in her hand, she started punching in the access code she now remembered. How wonderful to have such a basic part of her life back.
And most wonderful of all, Jacob believed her.
He hadn’t given up. He’d navigated the necessary official channels, and now they would strike out on their own. After so long of depending only on herself, this felt surreal. Wonderful. Almost too much.
Too easily she could grow accustomed to this sort of support, then how would she survive on her own again?