“I agree with that.” Braden smiled for the first time since joining them. “But I have to tell you, just to be fair, that I don’t buy this Matt being a kidnapper stuff for a second.”
“Mark had a habit of biting the right corner of his lower lip.” Tabitha spoke directly to Braden. “Have you ever seen Matt do that?”
Johnny watched her, impressed that she was homing in on viable facts to compel a warrant. And, again, he felt a bit...bothered that he hadn’t already known that. Was he her partner or not?
“I haven’t,” Braden said.
Johnny ordered a pitcher of beer for the table.
He couldn’t speak for the rest of them, but he needed a drink.
Chapter Nine
“I swear to you, I will check that child carefully, every day.” Mallory’s tone held the kind of bone-deep promise that women gave to women. They stood together on the passenger side of Johnny’s small SUV outside the pub. The guys were behind the car, also involved in conversation.
They’d had dinner together with frustratingly little conversation about Tabitha’s quest. She’d made small talk while her whole purpose for being there lay like the proverbial elephant on the table between them.
“I can only imagine how horribly, impossibly hard this has to be...” Mallory took her hand. Squeezed it.
Uncomfortable with the contact, and yet strengthened and warmed by it, too, Tabitha nodded. Not trusting herself to speak, she tried to smile. To find the emotional boundaries that allowed her to get through some of life’s most difficult moments.
“I’ll make sure I have personal time with him every day,” Mallory continued. “I’ll be on the lookout for any changes in behavior, for anything he might say that could give cause for concern. I’ll do my best to see that he seems as happy and well-adjusted as always.”
“Does he really talk in full sentences?” The question was so hard for Tabitha to ask. All the things she’d missed—not knowing about her own son’s growth, his progress...and needing to know so desperately.
“He does.” Mallory nodded. “And quite confidently, as well.”
Tabitha felt the tears overcoming her, and Mallory must have noticed as she gave her hand another squeeze. “I don’t remember his weight and height exactly, but he’s pretty much average size. All our parents have to provide proof of inoculations and regular medical exams.”
The medical records... Tabitha’s heart jolted and then slowed. They’d be under the assumed name, of course.
“Jackson was a little small for his age at six months,” she said aloud. “But he was average at the next two visits...” The last two Tabitha had had with him.
It sounded as though the guys were wrapping up. Tabitha had to know, had to ask Mallory... “So, you really think Jason is Jackson? You believe me?”
The woman’s expression never faltered. “I believe there’s a possibility,” Mallory said softly, her tone and her gaze overflowing with compassion. “It won’t hurt Jason to have me watching over him, even if he’s not Jackson. And I won’t be giving you any information that could put me in legal jeopardy,” she added, referring back to the only real conversation they’d had about Tabitha’s quest once dinner was ordered. Johnny had provided a rundown on things
Mallory and Braden should and shouldn’t do.
Tabitha wanted more. Needed more. Hoped for more. But it was more than she’d had that morning. A thousand times more. “Thank you.”
Johnny was almost at his car door, while Braden waited for Mallory.
Johnny and Tabitha would be heading back to Mission Viejo the next day—Tabitha was on the weekend shift again, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Her task now was to compile a list of everything she could remember about Jackson and Mark—mannerisms, word choices, likes and dislikes. Anything that might lead them to something significant that Mark and Matt had in common, even if it was just so many similarities that they’d be hard to explain as mere coincidence.
“I’ll see you Monday night, then,” Tabitha said, giving Mallory’s hand one last squeeze before turning toward her door. The two couples had agreed to meet for dinner again the first night Tabitha and Johnny were back in town.
“Tabitha?” Mallory called her back.
Tabitha turned.
“Jason has blue eyes,” she said, her voice, even her lips, trembling. And then, before Tabitha could so much as thank her for offering renewed hope, Mallory was gone.
* * *
On the drive back to the hotel, Johnny waited for Tabitha to say something...anything. Even “They seemed like a nice couple” would’ve been good.
His mind spun with all the things he wanted from her—conversations he wanted to have. What had she thought about the fact that the Harrises were divorced but still appeared to be friends? Was it because, like him and Tabitha, they were close without any of the messy stuff getting in the way?