“You want a ticket to escape where you came from. Cool. I get it. But this isn’t about you or me, Mike. It’s about that baby. She needs us to figure this out. If I’m her dad, then she belongs with me.” It feels freeing to say it because I mean it. I really do.
“Even if it means giving up everything? Because, bro, if you don’t get ahead of this shit, you’ll always be known as the guy who took a baby to make a name.”
I could try to turn this mess on Marli, but that doesn’t solve Fia’s issue. If she’s really stolen, which I have no reason to believe she is, then her parents are going nuts looking for her. If she’s mine, then she belongs with me—which is another set of problems.
“Yes, even if I have to give up everything. It’s like that old saying—”
“If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, shoot it because it’s an idiot?”
I was going to say, You don’t know what you have until you’ve lost it. “You’re about as funny as a crushed kneecap or pulled hamstring, Mike. I gotta go. I’ll be at the police station if you decide to grow a pair and change your mind.”
I end the call, feeling like I’ve been punched in the gut, run through a woodchipper, and fed a toxic burrito. I don’t know if I want to throw up, scream, or shit myself from nerves. This whole situation is bringing up garbage from my childhood I’ve buried deep: worrying about the police taking us away and wondering how I was going to take care of Flip if they didn’t.
I got through that. I’ll get through this, too.
I restart my truck and head to the police station.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“And can you describe this woman who left the infant in your care?” Detective Stratter asks, sitting across the table from me in a small interview room. He’s a bald husky man who got under my skin the moment I walked into the station, asking where the hell Fia was. So far, he hasn’t said anything, and now I feel like I’m under arrest. Maybe the locked door and scowl on his sun-damaged face has something to do with it.
“Do you know the child’s date of birth? Location of birth? The mother’s full name?” he asks.
“No. But like I said, I only met Marli one time in Houston.”
“And she tracked you down after eleven months?”
“Yes.” Why does he insist on going over this again? I already told him my story.
“And you weren’t home when this woman dropped off the baby.”
“No,” I reply. “I was downstairs with my neighbor Nina. My roommate Mike was home. Marli, the mother, just showed up, said the baby was mine and that she’d be back in a week. She left a note talking about reconciling with her husband. That was it.”
“Do you have this note?”
“It’s in the diaper bag, which I left with Fia at Green Babies. It has some instructions, too, so I like to keep it with me.”
He nods, glaring with suspicion. “Uh-huh.”
“If you don’t believe me, have someone check.”
“We will. Just like we checked with your roommate, Mike. He says he never saw this Marli woman. He claims you came home with a baby and said it was yours.”
Asshole. “He’s lying. He doesn’t want to get dragged into this. Bad PR is a death sentence for guys like us.”
“Just like good PR can help your career?” Stratter probes.
Crap. This guy already drank Dannie’s Kool-Aid. I don’t know how to defend myself against someone who’s already made up their mind. “There are plenty of other ways to get PR that don’t involve baby nabbing. And, by the way, did you ever consider the sheer practicality of a stunt like that? It would require a single man, who has college classes, football, an internship, and a brother to worry about, to also find time to care for a baby. Makes no sense.”
“Tell me more about your brother.”
I frown. “What do you want to know?”
“Let’s not be coy, Mr. Norland. We’ve all seen the ESPN spotlight. Flip has been in and out of trouble for years. Those legal expenses must be piling up. And now public donations are pouring in.”
Now I see where this is going. He thinks I did this for money. “I did not steal that baby. I was only trying to take care of her until her mom comes back. That’s it.”
“What did you plan to do with all the donations after she left?”
“Give it to her! I would never take the money for myself. That’s why I went to Green Babies. The owner offered a spokesperson deal. I planned to use the money from that opportunity to help my brother. I won’t touch the donations unless it’s directly to help Fia.”