Then the meeting began. The informal get-together. With no bad people in the room.
‘Dr Cross, thank you for taking the time to come here,’ Gilda Haranzo said and threw a cordial smile my way.
‘Why wouldn’t I come?’ I asked.
She nodded and smiled again. ‘We all want this problem to be settled amicably. You’ve been an excellent caregiver and no one disputes that.’
‘I’m his father, Ms Haranzo,’ I corrected.
‘Of course. But Christine is able to take care of the boy now, and she is the mother. She’s also a primary school principal in Seattle.’
I could feel my face and neck flushing. ‘She left Alex with me.’
Christine spoke up. ‘That isn’t fair, Alex. I told you that you could take him for now. Our arrangement was always meant to be temporary.’
Ms Haranzo asked, ‘Dr Cross, isn’t it true that your eighty-two-year-old grandmother takes care of the child most of the time?’
‘We all do,’ I said. ‘And besides, Nana wasn’t too old when Christine left to go to Seattle. She’s extremely capable and I don’t think you’d ever want Nana on the witness stand.’
The lawyer continued. ‘Your work takes you away from home frequently, doesn’t it?’
I nodded. ‘Occasionally, it does. But Alex is always well cared for. He’s a happy, healthy, bright child, smiles all the time. And he’s loved. He’s the center of our household.’
Ms Haranzo waited for me to finish, then she started in again. Suddenly, I felt as if I were on trial here. ‘Your work, Dr Cross. It’s dangerous. Your family has been put in grave danger before. Also, you’ve had intimate relationships with women since Ms Johnson left. Isn’t that so?’
I sighed. Then I slowly rose from the leather chair. ‘I’m sorry, but this meeting is over. Excuse me. I have to get out of here.’ But at the door, I turned back to Christine. ‘This is wrong.’
Chapter Seventy-One
I had to get out of there and put my mind somewhere else for a while. I returned to the Hoover Building and no one seemed to have missed me. I couldn’t help thinking that some of these agents squirreled away in the home office had no idea how crimes were solved in the real world. They almost seemed to believe that you fed data into computers and eventually it spit out a killer. It happens on the street! Get out of this windowless ‘crisis’ room with all the bad air. Work the sidewalks! I wanted to shout.
But I didn’t say a word. I sat at a computer and read the latest on the Russian mob. I didn’t see any promising connections. Plus, I couldn’t really concentrate after my meeting at Christine’s lawyers’. Eventually, I packed up my things and left the Hoover Building.
Nobody seemed to notice me leave. And then I wondered – is that such a bad thing?
When I got home, Nana was waiting at the front door. I was just walking up the steps when she opened the door and came outside. ‘You watch little Alex, Damon. We’ll be back in a while,’ she called through the screen.
Nana limped down the front stairs and I followed her. ‘Where are we going?’ I asked.
‘We’re going for a drive,’ she said. ‘You and I have some things to talk about.’
Oh shit.
I got back in the old Porsche and started it up. Nana flopped down in the passenger seat.
‘Drive,’ she said.
‘Yes, Miss Daisy.’
‘Don’t give me any of your lip either, or your sorry attempts at wit.’
‘Yes ma’am.’
‘That’s a good example of your lip.’
‘I know it is, ma’am.’
I decided to head out west toward the Shenandoah Mountains, a pretty ride and one of Nana’s favorites. For the first part of the drive, we were both fairly quiet, unusual for the two of us.
‘What happened at the lawyers’?’ Nana finally asked as I turned on to Route 66.
I gave her the long version, probably because I needed to vent. She listened very quietly, then she did something unusual for her. Nana actually cursed. ‘The hell with Christine Johnson. She’s wrong about this!’
‘I can’t completely blame Christine,’ I said. As much as I didn’t want to, I could see her side of things.
‘Well, I do. She left that sweet little baby and went to Seattle. She didn’t have to go that far away. Her decision. Now she has to live with it.’
I glanced over at Nana. Her face was screwed tight. ‘I don’t know if that would be considered an enlightened point of view these days.’
Nana waved away what I’d said. ‘I don’t think these days are all that enlightened. You know I believe in womens’ right, mothers’ rights, all of that, but I also believe you have to be held responsible for your actions. Christine walked away from that little boy for all this time. She walked away from her responsibility.’
‘You through?’ I asked.
Nana had her arms folded tightly across her chest. ‘I am. And it felt good, real good. You ought to try it sometime. Vent, Alex. Lose control. Let it out.’
I finally had to laugh. ‘I had the radio blasting all the way home from work, and I was yelling half the time. I’m more upset than you are, Nana.’
For once – and I don’t ever remember this happening before – she actually let me have the last word.
Chapter Seventy-Two
Jamilla called that night around eleven o’clock – eight o’clock her time. I hadn’t spoken to her for a few days, and to be truthful, now wasn’t the best time. Christine’s visit to D.C. and then the meeting with her lawyer had me tense and messed-up. Shook. I tried not to show it, but that was wrong too.
‘You never write, you never call,’ Jamilla said and laughed in her usual loose and engaging way. ‘Don’t tell me you’re already wrapped up in a case for the Bureau? You are, aren’t you?’
‘A big, nasty one, yeah. I’m sort of in and out of it,’ I told Jam, then quickly explained what was happening, and what wasn’t, at the Hoover Building, including my mixed emotions about being with the Bureau – all the stuff in my life that didn’t really matter right now.
‘You’re the new guy on the block,’ she said. ‘Give it some time.’
‘I’m trying to be patient. It’s just that I’m not used to this wasted motion, the wasted resources.’
I heard her laugh. ‘That, and you’re used to being the center of attention, don’t you think? You’ve been a star, Alex.’
I smiled. ‘You’re right, you’re right. That’s part of it.’
‘You saw the Bureau from the other side of the fence. You knew what you were getting yourself into. Didn’t you know?’
‘I guess I should have, sure. But I listened to a lot of promises that were made when I signed up.’
Jamilla sighed. ‘I know, I’m not being very sympathetic, empathetic, whatever. One of my faults.’
‘No, it’s me.’
‘Yeah,’ she laughed again. ‘It is. I never heard you so down and out. Let’s see what we can do to bring you up.’
We talked about the case she was working on, then Jamilla asked about each of the kids. She was interested as always. But I was in a sour mood, and I couldn’t shake it. I wondered if she could tell, and then I got my answer.
‘Well,’ Jam said, ‘I just wanted to see how you were. Call if you have any news. I’m always here for you. I miss you, Alex.’