Jarrod and Cal pulled up to the Staunton estate once again, ringing the buzzer at the front gates.
“Yes?” Came the female voice through the intercom.
“Detectives Harmon and Rylan from the New Haven Police Department. We need to see Mrs. Staunton.”
“I’m sorry, she’s not available.”
“She needs to make herself available. Now.” Jarrod practically growled into the little box. “Tell her it’s about her son. We believe William Tyvek might have him.” He wasn’t above scaring the crap out of the woman to get results at this point.
Tyvek had proven he was dangerous. There was no telling what he might do if he did have Warrick and Sara. They’d been to both their residences and gotten no answer at either.
“Just a moment.”
“You have to be shitting me,” Cal grumbled.
Seconds later, they heard the mechanical sound of the gate clicking and the wrought iron swung open to let Jarrod pull up the drive.
He was surprised to see Warrick’s mother waiting for them in the front entranceway. He’d been expecting to have to go through the formalities she seemed to favor of being shown to a room so she could make her entrance.
“Gentlemen,” she said with a nod and turned to walk into the sitting room to her left.
Jarrod didn’t waste time after following her in.
“We believe Tyvek has Warrick Staunton and his girlfriend.”
“His girlfriend?” She seemed taken aback and Jarrod guessed Warrick didn’t share much with his mother. He couldn’t picture them having weekly phone calls or anything.
“Sara Blackburn.”
She raised her brows but didn’t comment on Sara or her relationship to Warrick. “I’m not sure how I can help. As I told you before, I don’t know anything about Tyvek’s whereabouts.”
“And I think you were holding back on us.” Jarrod wasn’t going to pussyfoot around.
“We’ve been doing this a long time, ma’am,” Cal said. “We know when we’re not getting the full story.”
“Nothing I can tell you will help,” she snapped.
“Let us decide that. Tell us what you were holding back on last time we talked.”
She shocked the hell out of Jarrod when she actually looked embarrassed. “It has nothing to do with what’s going on. It’s in the past.”
Realization dawned. “You were having an affair with William Tyvek, weren’t you?”
Anna Staunton sniffed as though the idea were distasteful or maybe it was just that talking about it was distasteful. “No. It ended years ago. William was a widower and my husband and I had,” she paused, “certain agreements.” A little shrug of her shoulders explained the rest.
“When was this?”
“Years ago. When Warrick was in high school.”
Jarrod frowned as he thought back to what Carrie had told him about Warrick and Vicki. “Warrick was dating Vicki in high school, wasn’t he?”
She raised her chin. “Yes.”
Jarrod could see the look of shock on Cal’s face and had a feeling he wasn’t hiding his opinion much better. But he didn’t care. “Did Warrick know?”
“No. We were discreet.”
“You need to tell us now if you know anything about where Tyvek might be hiding. We know the Balls were hiding him, but they’ve been arrested and we raided the apartment they’d put him in.” Jarrod had already had uniforms check the building in case Tyvek had taken Warrick and Sara back there. He hadn’t and there’d been no sign he’d been back.
Her eyes went wide at the news. They’d kept the arrest of the Balls quiet and this confirmed it hadn’t gotten out. If it had, she’d have known. He watched as she seemed to deflate a little. The woman didn’t strike him as someone who had a lot of empathy for others but apparently, there was something there.
“I’m sorry, detectives. I really don’t know how to help you. I’m not in contact with Tyvek. I don’t have the slightest idea where he is or where he would take them.”
Her voice shook in the smallest hint of her concern for her son, and unfortunately, Jarrod had a feeling she was telling the truth this time. They’d hit another dead end.