Chapter 16 #2
I tried not to let her question offend me, but I dreaded telling her what I’d have to next.
“We are. We’ve been married just over six months.
” I let her piece together what that meant.
Yes, we’d gotten married after we found out about Gray, but that didn’t change anything.
Ben and I were happy, or so I’d thought.
We loved Gray more than anything, I knew.
That baby was the best thing to ever happen to me.
To us. “But things have been fine. We argue over little things, of course, but nothing major.”
“Do you have any recent pictures of Ben and Gray? And I’ll need to know what they were wearing last.”
“Of course,” I said, rushing across the room and lifting the photo frame from the end table with myself and Ben.
I could hardly look down at the photo without bursting into tears.
Then I walked toward the pile of papers still on the counter from our hospital stay, searching for Gray’s hospital photos.
I pulled one from the folder and carried them back to the officer, tracing a finger over his tiny features.
Come back to me, sweet boy. “Here you go.”
She looked them over carefully. “Thank you for these. It’s okay that we keep them?”
“Of course.” Just bring me my son back.
She passed them to McGuire. “And can you tell me what they were wearing when you last saw them?”
“Right,” I said, remembering she’d already asked me that.
I tried to picture Gray, the last time I’d seen him, without crying.
It was nearly impossible. “Um, well…I believe Ben was wearing khaki shorts and a light blue T-shirt. Gray was dressed in a white onesie and blue jeans.” I breathed slowly, trying to make sure she could understand me through the sobs.
She was gracious, letting me cry as much as I needed, while still moving the interview along.
“And that was this morning, correct? What time did you leave for work?”
I chewed my lip, sniffling and wiping my eyes.
I needed to tell her everything, which included that I’d half-lied to the person I spoke to on the phone about the last time I saw them.
“Actually, I didn’t go into work today. The last time I saw them was around noon.
I’m sorry…I should’ve been honest about that right away.
I don’t know why I lied. I just didn’t want it to be…
I don’t know, I didn’t want it to make me look bad. ”
“So you were home at noon with them?” she asked, not missing a beat, though McGuire was scribbling furiously.
“No, I…” Just spit it out, Palmer. Gray is missing. We don’t have time for this. “I followed my husband to a woman’s house this morning. A woman I believe he may be cheating on me with.”
Finally, I’d gotten a reaction from her. Her eyes opened wider, lips thinning. “You…you believe your husband has been having an affair?”
I just needed to explain it all. I didn’t care anymore.
I just wanted Gray home and safe. “I don’t know for sure.
I came home early from work on Monday, and he was gone, which struck me as odd.
So, I followed him the next morning, and he met with a woman at a restaurant down the street from us.
I had a feeling he was going to do it again today, and so I followed him to her house.
He took Gray with him there.” I wasn’t going to mention that I’d already followed the woman to her house.
I was doing enough damage, based on the skeptical look she was giving me.
“They were there until around noon and then, when he left, I did, too. But when I got home, he wasn’t here. ”
“Why didn’t you mention this before?” she asked, the warmth gone from her tone. I’d messed up. Big time.
“I wasn’t intentionally leaving it out, but it’s embarrassing. Right now, though, what I care about is finding Gray. It’s all I care about. Making sure he’s safe. Making sure they’re both safe. Please just find him,” I sobbed.
“Well, the best way to do that is for you to tell us the truth. From the beginning. We can’t do our jobs if we don’t have all the information. Do you understand?”
I nodded, grabbing a new tissue from the coffee table and dabbing my eyes. “Of course. I’m sorry.”
“Okay, so did Ben know you were suspicious about the alleged affair?”
“I don’t think so. I never brought it up to him, and he never mentioned it.
I was careful not to be seen when I did follow him.
I was…cheated on by my ex, and he managed to lie to me every time and keep me stringing along.
I wanted to see it for my own eyes rather than asking Ben and allowing him the space to lie to me.
I have enough experience to know if they are caught in a lie, they’ll just find new ways to hide it. ”
Her expression changed ever so slightly, less of a wrinkle on her forehead, less judgment in her eyes. A muscle from her jaw relaxed. She’d been cheated on before, I thought. Or knew someone who had. In this day and age, who didn’t?
“Do you know the woman he met with?”
“Not personally, no. But I found her online. Her name’s Katie and she’s a food blogger from Crestview.”
“And do you know her last name? You said you know her address?”
“I know where she lives, but I don’t have an address. I can give you directions or…take you there. I don’t know her last name, though. Her profile didn’t have it.”
“Can you show me her profile?”
I nodded, lifting my phone from the coffee table. My vision was blurry with tears, but it didn’t take me long to pull her up. I turned the phone around and Kessler looked it over, passing it to McGuire, who wrote something down. She handed the phone back to me.
“Thank you. If you can give us whatever information you have on her, directions to her house, that sort of thing, that’ll give us a good head start. And you said Ben doesn’t have any friends? What about his family? Could he have gone to stay with them?”
“His parents are divorced, and they haven’t spoken in years. There was some big falling out. Ben doesn’t like to talk about it. I’ve never even met them.”
The muscle in her jaw tightened again. “Do you know where they’re located?”
“I know they live out of state, and I know their names, but I don’t have much else on them.” I scoffed, realizing how pathetic I must sound. “Ben never even told me which state they live in.”
She looked at her partner, and I could see it all over their faces.
They thought I was crazy, that Ben was leaving me, that I’d made a mistake, that I was wasting their time.
I sucked in a sharp breath. “I just want my son back. Please just…please help me. Even if Ben’s leaving me, I just want to see my son. I need to know he’s safe.”
She nodded, cocking her head to the side.
“We’re going to put a few calls in, okay?
Check with area hospitals, check police reports, check in with this Katie, check in with his old employer, see if we can track down his parents.
In the meantime, I want you to sit tight, okay?
I know you’ll want to help, to go out and look for them, but the best thing you can do is just be here when he gets back.
” If. “If he does, or if you hear from him, you’re going to have to call me, okay?
Keep in touch with me, and I’ll do the same. ”
I nodded. “Of course. Will you…I mean, will you put out an Amber Alert for Gray? I get them on my phone sometimes for other…missing children.” The words hurt to say. The thought of seeing Gray’s picture on one hurt even more. Please, no. Please be safe. Please come home.
“One step at a time,” she said, pulling out a notepad of her own for the first time. “Right now, we don’t even know that they’re missing, just that they haven’t come home. Gray hasn’t legally been kidnapped if he’s with his father, even if you didn’t give him permission to take him.”
“But I’m his mother,” I cried, panic settling further down in my stomach. “Don’t I have a say in where he is? He can’t just…he can’t just take him, can he?”
She was solemn, refusing to answer. “We’re going to focus on finding them with every resource we have, but we have no reason to believe Ben would be a threat to your son, do we?”
“Ben would never hurt Gray,” I said quickly. “He loves him.” But maybe not me. “We have to find him…”
“That’s great news, Palmer. Great. That means we are just trying to find out where they ended up.
Why they left. We’ll start digging into his past, his bank records, everything.
It’s hard for people to go missing for too long these days, okay?
” The warm smile was back. “I know this is scary, but I promise you we’re doing everything we can to bring that baby home to you. ”
I felt cool tears lining my eyes as I nodded.
That was all I wanted. All I cared about.
I needed Gray to be safe. I needed him to be home.
I needed my baby back with me. I should’ve followed them closer.
Should’ve spoken up sooner. If I had, I wouldn’t have lost my son. If I had, things would be so different.