CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Later that day, after they had driven for hours around town searching for any clues, or any signs of Reecie Webster, they went back to Janita’s house.
She and Hawk ended up at her small kitchen table eating a sandwich while Von, who had already eaten, was asleep on the sofa.
Hawk looked at the young man and then he looked at Janita.
And in that moment, he felt responsible for both of them.
And it wasn’t as scary a feeling as it had been before Janita’s liberty was in danger.
They needed him. That was a fact. And as he watched her eat, and watched Von sleep, he realized that he needed them maybe even more.
But Janita had something on her mind and Hawk could sense it. “What is it?” he asked her as he sipped from his cup of coffee.
Janita decided to be direct. “Why didn’t you wake me up before you left this morning?”
Hawk exhaled. He decided to come clean. “I needed time to think.”
“About what? Your mother?”
Certainly she was a part of it. “Yes.”
He expected her to go further, but she didn’t. He suspected she knew he was thinking about them even more.
And that brought Janita to her next question. “You don’t seem as worried about your mother as your father and your siblings do. Why is that?”
Hawk was about to take another sip, but instead he sat his cup down and leaned back. “My mother . . . how do I say this? She always has schemes in her head.”
“Schemes?”
“She always think more than one way. She plots. She plans.”
Janita was confused. “Are you saying that you think she had something to do with her own kidnapping?”
He hesitated. “Yes. That’s what I’m saying.”
Janita was shocked. “But why would she do something like that?”
“I think the fact that one of my father’s out-of-wedlock children will be the first in the family to get married, rather than one of the children of the married wife, did a number on her.
I think it’s crystalized for her the depths of my father’s betrayal and the fact that she hasn’t gotten over it like she pretends she has. ”
“I never thought she got over it,” said Janita.
This interested Hawk. “You know about my father’s infidelities too?”
She nodded. “I’ve heard about it for years.”
“What were people saying?”
“They were excusing it. They were saying boys will be boys and that your mother should have realized it. It was as if they were blaming her for not being enough for him.”
Hawk’s heart dropped. “You think my mother knew about those rumors?”
“She had to have known. She’s connected to the black community here in Brackenridge more than anybody else in your family. I’m certain she knew.”
It was more devastating for his mother than he had thought. “Damn,” he said.
“But you know what kind of gets to me?”
“What?”
“Chief Donnally said your mother never had security before.”
“That’s not entirely true. She had a trained driver.”
“But he said it was your father who wanted to get her a full-fledged bodyguard.”
Hawk nodded. “That’s right.”
Janita looked at him. “Why all of a sudden?”
Hawk thought about it. Then he shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea.”
“That’s what I’m wrestling with. Why all of a sudden he felt she needed a bodyguard when she didn’t before? Did something happen?”
Hawk’s phone began to ring. “Nothing that I know of,” he said. He couldn’t think of anything. “But I’m purposely out of the family loop,” he added. Von woke up when he heard that phone ringing.
Seated down on the table, Hawk turned it face up and looked at the Caller ID. “It’s my brother Matty,” he said as he answered. “Any news?” he asked him.
“Come home. We heard from the kidnappers.”
As soon as Matty said those words, Hawk jumped up. “What’s their demand?” he asked, which caused Von to sit up and Janita to look up at Hawk.
“They said they will be calling back within the hour to tell us their demand,” he said.
That sounded crazy to Hawk, or exactly something his mother might do. But he didn’t trip. Any news was better than no news. “I’m on my way,” he said and ended the call.
“Let’s go,” he said to Janita and Von, and he didn’t have to say it twice. They were right on his heels.