“Tell me about the man in the alley.”
“He had short brown hair. Like a military haircut. He wore sunglasses so I couldn’t see the color of his eyes. He had a big bulbous nose. He stood about a foot taller than me.” She rested her hands on the table. Picturing him made her queasy.
“Good. What about facial hair? Did he have a beard or mustache?” Detective Jacobs was writing down her answers.
She shook her head.
“Could you give an estimate on his weight? Was he slender or husky?”
She studied Reid, comparing the two. “He was smaller than Reid but not much. Lankier.”
Reid raised an eyebrow.
She wanted to slide down in her chair and hide. She hadn’t meant to insinuate he was fat. He was by no means overweight. He was perfect. That thought shocked her.
Reid didn’t say anything.
“Do you think you’d recognize him if you saw him again?” Detective Jacobs interrupted her thoughts.
“Definitely.” She nodded for emphasis.
“Good.” Detective Jacobs scribbled again. “Now, tell me how you know Joe Lockhart.”
She could feel Reid watching her, soaking in the details. She didn’t want her past indiscretions laid out in front of a complete stranger. It was bad enough she was telling the police. She’d asked God for forgiveness and knew she had been forgiven. But that didn’t mean baring her mistakes for all to see was easy. Not to mention, how would it affect JJ if he found out?
He didn’t know his biological father and hadn’t really asked many questions about him. She couldn’t imagine how it would feel to know that his dad hadn’t wanted him. She could certainly empathize with him. After all, her mother had practically disowned her. But she’d had years with her mother before it happened. Would knowing she’d been unwanted from the beginning make the pain worse? That was one reason she made sure JJ knew he had a Father in heaven who loved him.
“He’s JJ’s father.”
Reid’s face didn’t change when she told Detective Jacobs that JJ was Joe’s son. No surprise or disgust. Relief washed over her. She couldn’t pinpoint why it mattered what Reid thought, but it did. She was sure he had questions, though. But right now, the detective had plenty of his own about her personal life.
“When was the last time you spoke with him?”
“The day I told him I was pregnant.” Her throat burned as she fought back the memory.
“No phone calls, emails, or letters in all these years?” Detective Jacobs bounced his pen on his legal pad.
“Nothing. Just a monthly deposit into a bank account. His way of support, I guess. Or hush money.”
“Okay. We may need to revisit that later. Do you have any idea why he would show up now?”
She shook her head.
“Do you know why anyone would want to kidnap you and your son?”
“No.” Nausea began to churn. “I live a quiet life. Go to work and go home. Spend time with JJ and his activities.”
“No enemies? Make anyone angry recently—a customer perhaps?”
She shook her head again.
“What about JJ?”
Her mouth fell open. “He’s a child. He doesn’t have any enemies.”
“Trust me—I know it sounds crazy, but we have to check every angle. People do dangerous things for unknown reasons. Is there anyone who would want to hurt him? Any fellow parents or teachers at his school he or you have had problems with?”
“None that I can think of. He has lots of friends, rarely gets into trouble, and makes good grades.”
