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I glare at the green hedge in front of the car. Oh, how wrong I was to come to this man. My hands knot as I grind out the words, “Inthiscase, it’s the truth.”
“Tell me how you know.”
The epic skepticism in his tone snaps me around. “You’re a cynic, you know that?”
“Probably the world’s worst, and let me tell you, I’ve come by it honestly. I am also a realist. Do you know how manyinnocentpeople I’ve cuffed in my day?” Here, his tone implies air quotes, which perhaps he would have made had he space to lift his arms.
“How many?” I raise my chin.
His expression in the silence is difficult to decipher.
“Well? Tell me.”
“I just did.”
“You didn’t say anything.”
“Bingo.”
Ugh. Walked into that one.
Is it fun to rattle a poor woman’s cage? I throw my arms up. “Why are you even here?”
The ensuing silence implies he doesn’t know either. Interesting. He seems the type with an answer for everything.
“You don’t need me, Hollie.” His tone comes close to gentle. “What you need is a good attorney.”
Like that’s going to happen. I stare at a crack on the dashboard “Maybe I need a private investigator.”
Gentleness flying the coop, he snorts like a huffy bull. “Don’t waste your money.”
No problem. P.I.s are expensive, too. I feel tears, though I’d sooner die than break down in front of this creep.
Prolonged silence draws my gaze. Instantly, he averts his, but not before I spy…warmth?
His sigh holds frustration. “Tell me again. How are you so certain your son isn’t lying to you?”
“You know what? Leave me alone.”
“No. Explain to me how you, unlike all the other mothers on the planet, have some magic superpower that tells you when your child is truthful.”
I whip around. “You don’t know him. He’s a good kid. We go to church. He’s active in the youth group. He—”Oh. John’s expression reflects my lameness back at me. I cover my face. “Okay. It isn’t all that. You see, he was always the most honest child, and when he told me something, I could take it to the bank. But last year, we had some problems.”
“What kind of problems?”
“I found out he’d been going to parties. Drinking and stuff. I was shocked. All those nights I thought he was at a friend’s house…”
Taking a peek, I see I’m losing ground rather than gaining.
I rush on. “At first, when I confronted him, he was angry, rebellious, Over time, he calmed down. We talked. He told me what was going on in his life, and here’s the thing: he had been lying to me then, and in retrospect, I can see it. For a while, I had missed the signs, the fact that things weren’t right in his world. Now, after everything, I know him better. I can see better. I…I know his tells, I guess you could say. He’s as blown away by all this as I am. Things were going so well, but then it’s like this bomb went off…” And the debris is still flying.
I’m rambling, aren’t I? John is watching, his thoughts immeasurable. Given what he’s shown me thus far, I can hardly imagine anything I’ve said has made an impact.
“You said it yourself. He’d be dumb as a box of rocks to have drugs in his car and readily consent to a search. Doesn’t that show he didn’t know they were there?”
Cool as a cucumber—because it isn’thiskid—John stretches his arm along the top of the door. “You’d be shocked at the things criminals do. Especially teens. They’re cocky and arrogant.”
I grind my teeth. “Jacob is not a criminal.”
