“I’ll do that, thanks, Mom. Good-bye.”
Evie ended the call and stood in her bedroom looking at the phone for a moment before walking back out to the hearth room.
Lane was still sitting in her recliner reading and she looked up and smiled as Evie approached. “So, what’s going on with Phillip?”
Evie sat on the sofa adjacent to Lane, “He called to say that he and Ralphie are getting married between Christmas and New Year’s Day. He wondered if the kids would go to the wedding.”
Lane put her e-reader down, “And he wanted you to act as go between again? Surely he knows he needs to talk with them himself.”
“That’s almost exactly what I told him. I hope you don’t mind, I did suggest he call and talk to you. I think that he needs to know that Jamie isn’t his son. I didn’t feel it was my place to break the news.”
“I guess it’s a good thing that the child support payments were settled long before I found out I was pregnant. At least we won’t have to discuss refunding child support payments.” Not that $150.00 per month, total not per child, really amounts to much anyway. Lane thought. “Yes, I should be the one to tell him about Jamie.”
Evie smiled, “And, I didn’t tell him you were married, or pregnant. Of course, with the video of Jess going viral last month, he may already know. I told him to wait until after the weekend to call you because of Jamie’s football game tonight.”
Lane nodded, “I’ll call him. He has my cell phone number, but he has the landline number for Parker House. If he calls while Paul and Joey are there, and they answer the phone, who knows what conclusions he might jump to.”
Chapter 24
Before they left the house, the only thing Ben had told Jamie was that they needed to go to the KCMO substation to talk to Detective Duncan. While Jamie didn’t seem concerned, Ben thought it might be best if Jamie had some idea of what to expect.
“Tanner called from the station. The police may have figured out what happened to both Justin and Coach Ferguson. They want you to look at some photos to see if you recognize anyone. I’ll be with you the whole time; it’s nothing to worry about.”
Jamie nodded, “So they have a suspect in mind?”
“It would appear that way, but we’ll know for sure once we get there.”
The substation where they were meeting Detective Duncan was less than a 20-minute drive from their house, so there wasn’t much time to talk.
Duncan met them at the door.
“Thanks for coming by on short notice.”
The look on Detective Duncan’s face didn’t seem to match the words he was saying. He didn’t really look pleased to see them, and Ben wondered why.
Detective Duncan led Jamie and Ben to an interview room. The three men sat at the table, Ben and Jamie on one side, Detective Duncan on the other. Duncan put a photo lineup on the table and pushed the six-pack, a small file holding the photos of six people, toward Jamie.
“Do you recognize any of the people in these photos?” He asked.
Ben glanced at the six-pack and looked at Detective Duncan, “Maybe you could put some context around the question for us, Detective.”
Duncan fixed a cool stare at Ben. “Based on traffic cams and the sign in log at the school, these people may have been in the vicinity of the incidents that occurred at the school on Monday and/or Tuesday.”
Duncan turned his gaze toward Jamie, “I want to know if you saw any of these people in or around the parking lot on Monday or at the school on Tuesday.”
Ben looked at Jamie, “Take your time, Jamie.”
Jamie picked up the photo six-pack that Detective Duncan had pushed to him. He hoped his face didn’t give away what he was thinking. He immediately recognized the older sister of his teammate Lucas Evans. Last year, he’d had a huge crush on Hannah Evans. And, isn’t that Mrs. Evans in the bottom left corner?
He nudged Ben and laid the photo six-pack on the table. “Dad?”
Ben looked at the Detective. “Can you give us a minute?”
Detective Duncan, who had thus far been less than friendly, became openly hostile. “Sure, counselor, sure.” He looked at Jamie, “If you know something, you have an obligation to tell me.”
Ben looked back at the detective. “We’re aware, Detective. May I remind you that Jamie isn’t just my son, he’s my client, and we’d like a few minutes. No one’s keeping anything from you.”
The detective let out an exasperated breath. “I’ll just be outside.”
Jamie waited for the door to close before turning to his father and pointing to one of the photos in the six-pack, “That’s Hannah Evans. She’s Lucas Evans’ older sister.” He pointed to another photo, “And that’s Lucas’ mom.”
Ben looked at the photos as Jamie was pointing. The six-pack was four women and two men, and Ben recognized one of the men as Lucas Evans Sr.
“Dad, does this mean the police think Lucas’ family is involved?”
“Bambino, you can’t worry about that. You just need to concentrate on putting yourself back at the scene and remember everything you can.”
Jamie closed his eyes, trying to put himself back in the parking lot on Monday evening. It was dusk when he’d found Justin in his car Monday night. The student parking lot had been empty except for his truck and Justin’s SUV. He mentally scanned the parking lot and the exit.
His eyes almost popped open, “There was a car leaving the parking lot when I found Justin. I don’t know who it was or what kind of car it was, but I know it wasn’t Hannah Evans. Hannah drives a baby blue Beetle. A Beetle has distinctive tail lights.”
“That’s still good information, Bambino, let’s get the detective back in here. You can tell him what you know and we can get back home.”
Ben stood and rapped on the door letting Detective Duncan know he could come back in.
“Detective Duncan, I recognize two of the people in the photos because I know them. He pointed to the women he knew. They’re the sister and mother of one of my teammates. But, I didn’t see either of them on Monday or Tuesday. I do remember that there was a car leaving the parking lot on Monday. I don’t know the make or model, but it was a dark car maybe black or dark gray. It was a car, not a cross over or SUV. I didn’t get the license number and I don’t know that I’d be able to recognize it again if I saw it. That’s everything I can remember.”
The detective picked up the photo six-pack. He reached into his pocket and took out a business card, which he extended toward Ben. He looked at Jamie. “Call if you remember anything else.”
Ben reached into his own inside breast pocket and exchanged cards with the detective.
“What time do you leave for the game?” The detective asked as he looked at Ben’s card.
“The bus leaves at 2:30, we have to be at school at 2:00.” Jamie told him.
Ben looked from Jamie to the detective. “Tanner will be following the bus. The family is flying over and we’ll leave the house around 5:00. Call me or Tanner if anything comes up.”
Jamie looked at his father. Tanner is going to follow the bus, when will this nightmare be over?
Father and son walked out of the police substation and got into the Escalade. Jamie turned toward his father. “How much longer do I have to be treated like some helpless little kid? God, what are the guys going to think about Mr. Tanner following me around?”
Jamie was upset and with good reason. Over the last few days, he’d had a lot to process, but he should consider himself lucky that Ben was allowing him to ride the bus with the rest of the team. Earlier, Ben had seriously been considering calling the assistant coach and telling him Jamie would be flying to St. Louis with the family.