Home to Stay

  “Thanks again for last night,” he began. Just the sound of her voice lifted his spirits.

  “Thank you,” she said. “How’s Dylan this morning?”

  “We’ve had a...development.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  Sawyer explained about the locket.

  “Are you certain he didn’t find it somewhere? In your house? Under a bed perhaps?”

  Sawyer let out a strangled laugh. “I wish I could say he had. That would make a lot more sense.” Sawyer glanced over at Dylan, who was hugging Joey tightly while he watched Finding Nemo. He was rocking back and forth, which he hadn’t done for days now. “I called Detective Bigelow. He and a person from Victim Services are on their way. Is there any chance you could be here with us?” He hadn’t realized how much he wanted her to be there, until the words tumbled out of his mouth. “As a friend. Not in an official capacity,” he added, to avoid any misunderstanding.

  “Oh, Sawyer, yes, if I can, but I’m working today. I’ll ask Logan.”

  Sawyer dragged his fingers through his hair. “Sure. Let me know what he says.”

  After hanging up the phone, he joined Dylan on the floor in front of the television. He scooped him up onto his lap, and they watched Finding Nemo together until the doorbell rang.

  “Please play in your room for a while, okay?” Sawyer asked.

  “But the movie...”

  “We’ll finish it later. I promise.” He gave Dylan a nudge in the direction of his room and waited until he’d gone inside before he went to answer the door. He greeted Detective Bigelow, who introduced him to his colleague, Kim Langdon.

  “Kim is with Victim Services. As I mentioned, she specializes in childhood trauma.”

  “Ms. Langdon,” Sawyer said, shaking her hand.

  “Kim’s fine,” she said with a warm smile that went a long way to mollify him.

  “Thank you both for coming.” He led them into the living room. “Can I get you anything? A coffee? Water?” He wondered how he managed to be so hospitable, when all he could think about was that the nightmare they’d been living had gotten even worse.

  Bigelow glanced at Kim. “We’re fine, thanks.”

  “Where’s your son?” Kim asked, looking around.

  “Dylan’s in his room. I wanted to speak with you first. Dylan’s been under a lot of pressure.” Fleetingly, he thought of Shannon and hoped she’d be able to make it.

  Kim nodded. “That’s understandable, and it’s smart of you to talk to us first.”

  “Thank—” Sawyer cut himself off when the doorbell rang again. He started for the door, then stopped abruptly. “I invited Shannon Clemens to join us. That okay with you?”

  Bigelow’s eyes narrowed. “Officer Clemens?”

  “Yes. But not in an official capacity.”

  Bigelow frowned, and Sawyer could see he’d surprised him. “That’s your call.”

  “I’ll be right back.”

  Sawyer hurried to the door. Shannon was in uniform, Darwin at her side.

  “I thought Darwin could help keep Dylan distracted,” she said when she noticed him looking at the dog.

  “Thanks for that and for coming.” He wanted to touch his lips to hers, but he could feel Bigelow watching them.

  When she squeezed his hand, out of Bigelow’s line of sight, he sighed. “Thank you,” he repeated.

  Shannon took Darwin into Dylan’s bedroom, then joined Sawyer in the living room. She, Bigelow and Kim exchanged greetings.

  “Why don’t you run through what happened this morning?” Bigelow prompted Sawyer when they were all seated.

  Sawyer began to summarize what had happened. When his voice faltered, Shannon touched his knee.

  Bigelow be damned, Sawyer thought. He needed that contact and took her hand in his.

  “There’s no rush, Mr. Evans,” Kim assured him. “Take all the time you need.”

  “I don’t know what to make of it.” He sent Kim a weak smile, but had to rub his eyes to ease the sting. “I wanted to explain this to you before you talk to Dylan.” He briefly outlined what Dylan had told him about the locket. “Please be gentle with him.”

  “Understood,” Bigelow said.

  “We’re sorry to have to put him through this, after what he’s already endured.” Kim smiled encouragingly.

  Sawyer nodded. “I’ll go get Dylan.” He got up and walked out of the room.

  When had his life become such a mess? he wondered. So complicated.

  Dylan was sitting on the floor with a picture book in his hands, Darwin curled up beside him, the dog’s head on his lap.

  “There are a couple of people here who’d like to talk to you. Is that okay?”

  “Can Darwin come? And Joey?”

  “Sure.” Sawyer took Dylan’s hand and led him into the living room. The way Darwin followed his son, without being asked to, made Sawyer doubt he could’ve left the dog behind, even if he’d wanted to.

  Sawyer’s heart shattered again as he watched Dylan hold Joey tightly, doing his best to answer Kim’s questions. Bigelow again showed him pictures of his mother, but Dylan was firm in saying that she wasn’t the woman who’d given him the locket. When it began to sound a little too much like an interrogation, Shannon interrupted and Sawyer was immensely grateful to her.

  “May I ask him a few questions?” she asked Bigelow.

  Bigelow gestured for her to go ahead. She squatted in front of Dylan, stroked Joey and asked Dylan about the toy, about what he’d been doing in his room before he’d joined them. She gently eased into some of the questions Bigelow hadn’t yet asked. Dylan seemed more relaxed and Sawyer couldn’t help noticing that he kept one hand on Darwin. Probably a subconscious act, Sawyer mused, but it seemed to calm him.

  Whatever else happened or didn’t between him and Shannon, Sawyer knew he’d be eternally grateful to her for what she was doing, guiding his son through something no child should have to endure—a police interview.

  When Sawyer recognized the signs of weariness—the sucking of his thumb and the rocking—he brought the questioning to a halt.

  “Dylan, would you show me your room and where Joey sleeps when he’s not with you?” Shannon asked.

  Sawyer appreciated that she was giving him time alone with the detective. “What do you think this means?” Sawyer asked, after they’d left.

  “I don’t want to speculate, but it does provide a new angle to pursue.”

  “You think this has something to do with Jeannette?”

  “As I said, I’m not going to speculate,” Bigelow responded, as he and Kim both got to their feet. “Thank you for making us aware of this. I’ll be in touch.”

  Sawyer walked them out, and leaned heavily against the door after he closed it.

  How did Jeannette’s locket enter into all of this? How did Jeannette?

  He wanted to ask Shannon what she thought, but that would have to wait. He couldn’t do it in front of Dylan and he wasn’t prepared to ask him to stay in his room again today.

  Sawyer tried to gather his frayed emotions as he walked to Dylan’s room. He saw Shannon sitting cross-legged on the floor with Dylan in her lap and her arms snugly around his little boy. Dylan held one of his picture books, and she traced the words on the page with a fingertip as she read to him.

  Thoughts of Jeannette faded from his mind for the first time since he’d seen the locket, as his heart did a slow steady roll and fell hard.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  AS SHANNON DROVE back to the division, her mind kept returning to the question of whether Jeannette Evans could’ve had anything to do with her son’s abduction. Shannon had been painfully aware that the investigation had stalled until Dylan had walked into his father’s kitchen that morning with his mot
her’s locket in his hand, presenting a fresh lead.

  One of the avenues now being pursued was the possibility that Sawyer’s wife was alive. Shannon knew that family members were always among the first to be considered in child-abduction cases. If Dylan’s mother was alive, she could be behind the abduction. The SDPD with the aid of the FBI were actively looking into Jeannette Evans’s disappearance again.

  How did someone deal with the disappearance of a spouse—and one as deeply loved as Jeannette had obviously been? What if, over time, you reconciled yourself to her having died—and then suddenly the possibility arose that she might not be dead after all?

  And if that wasn’t enough, to be forced to deal with the even more devastating prospect that the woman he’d loved, the mother of his child, might be responsible for the abduction of their son?

  Unfathomable. Shannon had seen the effect on Sawyer, seen that it was tearing him apart. She wondered how he managed to stay sane.

  And if his wife was alive, where did that leave Shannon as far as her blossoming relationship with Sawyer went? The second that thought occurred to her, shame—quick and sharp—sliced through her. How could she be so selfish as to think of herself at a time like this?

  She ruthlessly kept her mind from straying there again for the remainder of the trip.

  She had a busy day, but managed to sit in on another briefing.

  SDPD and the FBI had again questioned Juanita Sanchez, but she had no answers. She hadn’t given the locket to Dylan, nor had she been aware of its existence.

  Although Dylan had claimed that it wasn’t his mother who’d given him the locket, they considered it inconclusive, since the pictures Sawyer had of Jeannette were three years old. She could easily have changed her appearance—at a minimum, her hair color and style.

  When Shannon had finally found a minute to sit down, she booted up her computer in the hope of catching up on some reports. Waiting for it to start, she closed her eyes and thought over the events of the day.

  “Hey, everything okay, Shannon?” Rick Vasquez asked.

  Her eyes flew open. “What? Why?”

  “You made a sound like our dogs would if they came up against something they didn’t like.”

  “Sorry,” she murmured.

  Rick rose from his desk, all imposing six-feet-three-inches of him. “Let’s have a chat.” He jerked his head toward the conference room. Without waiting for a reply, he strode off.

  Shannon felt a mild sense of unease. She indulged it for a moment by holding her head in her hands before getting up to follow him.

  “Water?” he asked as he went over to the cooler and ran some into a paper cup.

  She tried to clear her suddenly dry, scratchy throat. “Yes, please.” Accepting the cup he’d filled for her, she took a drink.

  “Sit down.” She sank into the chair and took another sip of water.

  Rick sat next to her. “You really have a thing for Evans, don’t you?”

  She eyed the cup in her hand. Honesty was always best, as far as she was concerned. “Yeah,” she murmured. When Rick didn’t say anything further, she lifted her eyes to meet his.

  “Look, being a cop isn’t easy. Relationships aren’t easy. You combine the two, that just makes it all that much harder.”

  When she could only stare at him, he continued. “The job almost came between me and Madison. You know the story?”

  She thought back to the time at The Runway, when Madison had shared it with her. “Yes.”

  “We had our challenges. But what you’re facing with Evans? That’s a whole lot more convoluted than what Madison and I had to contend with. I don’t want to discourage you, but...” He waited until she made eye contact again. “I’ve been a cop a lot longer than you. I know you’ve had some hard knocks in your life, but think about what Evans is going through. What his boy is experiencing.” Rick’s lips formed a hard, straight line, and his eyes darkened to near black.

  Rick wasn’t telling her anything that hadn’t been on her mind. Incessantly.

  “He and his wife didn’t split up,” he went on. “She disappeared. Whatever the cause, it wasn’t a joint decision to end the marriage. He had no say in it. From what I’ve heard, he loved her, and deeply.”

  Shannon felt a tightness in her chest. “That’s correct. Since they were in high school.”

  Rick nodded. “Having presumed her dead doesn’t mean the love died. If anything, it might have taken on a new dimension. Now...the possibility of her being alive’s been raised. We’ll never know what that feels like.”

  She nodded mutely.

  “And the kid? That’s another layer of complexity.”

  Rick fell silent while she absorbed everything he’d said. To hear someone else put into words so clearly and succinctly what had been preying on her mind really drove it home for Shannon.

  Just when she’d started to believe there could be something between her and Sawyer...and Dylan. Because she had to admit she’d fallen for the boy, too.

  She’d wondered if she could compete with the ghost of his dead wife, but now...if Jeannette was alive? What chance did she have? She wanted to resent Rick for what he’d said, but she couldn’t. He was speaking the truth, as a friend and in her best interests.

  Slowly, she nodded again.

  Rick got up and touched her shoulder. “Tread carefully, Shannon, but know we’re all here for you. Not just us, but Madison, Ariana and Jessica, too. Evans had an exceptional reputation as a DA. I got to work with him on the Donna Thompson case. He strikes me as a decent guy, a good father—but man, what he’s going through has got to mess with a guy’s head.”

  Shannon swallowed hard against the constriction that had spread from her heart to her throat.

  “Madison likes you a lot, and she’s a great listener. Don’t hesitate to call her.”

  He patted her shoulder and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

  She rested her elbows on the table and lowered her forehead to her hands.

  What had she gotten herself into?

  She was in love with Sawyer, whether she liked it or not.

  * * *

  SAWYER REALIZED THAT the discovery of Jeannette’s locket meant that the investigation into Dylan’s abduction was focused on the possibility of Jeannette’s being alive and somehow responsible. If the police hadn’t been able to find her when she first disappeared, what were the odds of finding her now?

  He couldn’t recall what the stats were on that.

  There was one thing he couldn’t comprehend, and he knew it was a sticking point for the cops, too. If it was Jeannette, why had she taken three years to go after Dylan? But the same question had been asked when they’d considered the people Sawyer had sent to jail as an assistant DA. There was no getting around it.

  None of it made sense.

  Was it possible that Jeannette was alive? If so, why hadn’t she once tried to contact him? Would she really have tried to abduct Dylan?

  Sawyer had been planning to go back to work on Monday. With this most recent development, he’d advised the dean that he’d need another week, at least.

  He couldn’t imagine going through the motions at work.

  And something else he couldn’t envision right now was a relationship with Shannon.

  He’d developed feelings for her. When he’d initially realized that, it had come as a shock. This was the first time since Jeannette’s disappearance that he’d met a woman with whom his emotions had become engaged. When he’d gotten used to the idea, it had made him feel hopeful about the future.

  He’d been falling in love with Shannon, but he couldn’t pursue that now, no matter how much he wanted to.

  He needed answers about Jeannette first.

  Answers he hadn’t gotten three yea
rs ago.

  How could Jeannette—a woman he thought he’d known as well as he’d known himself—have betrayed him like that? Leaving him, then letting him grieve for her, believing she was dead, only to learn she might be alive and might have abducted their son?

  If she was capable of that sort of deceit, how could he trust another woman again?

  Shannon wasn’t Jeannette. But still...

  Sawyer was horrified to discover that a part of him wished Jeannette had died, rather than committing the act of treachery they thought she might have.

  And what kind of person did that make him?

  He’d have to curtail his relationship with Shannon, at least until he could work out the answers to those impossible questions.

  And if he did sort things out, and Shannon would no longer have him?

  The sense of loss that gripped him was another surprise.

  Yet, he couldn’t see a way around it. Not in the short term, anyway.

  He was married. He could’ve petitioned for a divorce. His parents and Meg had urged him to do it. They had the best of intentions; they wanted him to be open to love coming into his life again. Even the possibility of a new mother for Dylan.

  Sawyer had refused to do it.

  Even if he had? If Jeannette was alive, the legalities wouldn’t have mattered to him. In his heart, he’d still be married. Sawyer picked up the phone to call Shannon but put it down again.

  He couldn’t have a coherent conversation with her just now. Besides, he owed it to her to tell her in person.

  He texted her and asked if she’d meet him for coffee after her shift. When she responded and said she’d come straight over after work, he’d quickly replied to suggest they meet at Starbucks on East Harbor. Her message back was a curt, Okay, after I take Darwin home. He assumed she realized this was not a date. Next, he called Meg and asked if she’d watch Dylan for him.

  Sawyer left as soon as Meg arrived. He’d made it clear he wasn’t in the mood for small talk. He’d have to tell her and his parents about this latest development. But not yet...