“So, let me get this straight. He escaped from his foster home and you were hiding him out in your place and then someone came and took him?” The investigator sounded as if she were about to hang up on Tommy.
She’d called the police department and asked to talk to someone in investigations. A smart-mouthed female detective, who obviously woke up on the wrong side of the bed, had picked up.
“I wasn’t hiding him. He wanted to stay with me. I was planning on taking him back to Mexico tomorrow. We were going to drive down and find his village and give him back to his family.”
“Find his village? You mean you didn’t know where it was, but you were just going to cross the border and start looking for it.”
The officer’s sarcasm was ticking Tommy off. Her temper flared.
“Let me talk to Detective Kelly,” Tommy said in a steely voice. “He knows what’s going on.”
After being put on hold, Kelly came on. He wasn’t much more understanding. In fact, he was furious.
“Nice of you to finally reach out. Now that it’s too late and the kid is gone.” Silence. He pressed on, his tone softening. “So, you’re reporting a kidnapping of a kid you sort of kidnapped?”
“Come on, Kelly, you know I didn’t kidnap Rafael. I explained what happened. Can you help me?”
The detective was quiet for a few seconds before answering. “I’ll see what I can do. Do you have a picture of the kid you can email over?”
Tommy got excited. He was going to help. “Yes, I have one right here.”
“Okay, I’ll see what I can do, but don’t expect much. Maybe his dad came up from Mexico to take him back home.”
“But he wouldn’t have just left. Not without saying goodbye. And he wouldn’t have left his wooden whale.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Tommy paused, debating whether to tell the detective what she thought. Her gut instinct told her to trust him. “I think it was that guy – the rich guy who supposedly adopted him. I think he came and took him back.”
“The so-called ‘Big Boss’ the kid talked about? That’s a dead-end if I ever heard one. I mean, what do we know about that mystery guy again? Let’s see: He’s rich. He lives by a lake. Doesn’t really narrow it down now, does it.”
This cop was a total smart ass. Tommy rolled her eyes even though he couldn’t see her. Then she remembered.
“Dewey”
“Huh?”
“Rafael said he heard someone call that guy Dewey. That can’t be a very common name.”
The detective was silent for a few seconds.
“You there still?” Tommy asked.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m here. Any reason you didn’t give us this guy’s name before?”
“Why is it my job? You interviewed him. Didn’t he tell you that before you kicked him out on his ass to social services?”
How dare he blame her. Tommy seethed with anger.
“Listen, I got to go.”
Without another word, he hung up.