Until I Find You - Rea Frey Page 0,103
Evelyn.”
The name clicks. “Rose Watson. Oliver’s mother?”
“Yes.”
So Paul’s sister had given birth. Not Crystal. Oliver wasn’t even her baby. “How did Crystal end up with Oliver?”
The chief exhales, remnants of tobacco on his breath. “After Paul died, Evelyn bounced from place to place. She was broke. Worked odd jobs. She gave birth in Chicago, but a month into it, she decided to leave Oliver on Crystal’s doorstep.”
The admission slaps me in the face. “She left Oliver on Crystal’s doorstep?” A sickening sixth sense traverses my skin like a spider.
“Then she disappeared. Literally. Became a ghost. She met some guy, went to Mexico. Died in a boating accident. Drowning.”
I shake my head. “But I don’t understand. Did Crystal try to locate Evelyn?”
“She did, at least according to her statement. No dice. Evelyn didn’t want to be found. I think Crystal was afraid if she went to DCFS with Oliver, they’d put him in the system. Or give him back to Evelyn if they located her. Same fear as you.”
“So what? She decided to keep the baby a secret until she realized he was colicky and then made the swap? That doesn’t make sense.”
“It’s an odd case, to be sure.” He clears his throat again and waits for more questions.
“But where does DCFS come in?” I ask. “Why were they listed on Oliver’s electronic medical records?”
“Evelyn talked about giving the baby up for adoption. She had no help, no family other than Paul, who’d just died. Paul and Evelyn’s parents died when they were young, which is why Paul was so protective over her. A damned cursed family, if I’ve ever seen one,” he mutters under his breath. “As far as the baby and Evelyn, DCFS is sometimes brought in with underage cases.”
“Underage?”
“Evelyn was only seventeen.”
I close my eyes and shake my head. “Seventeen? Jesus.” I ransack my brain for clues of a baby in Crystal’s life, but there are none. “Crystal never mentioned a baby. Not once.” I think of Savi. “There’s no way a ten-year-old could hide something like that. They’re natural truth tellers.”
“I think Crystal was worried about the legal ramifications of having a baby she had not reported. The longer she went, the more fearful she got. She made it very clear to Savi not to tell anyone, or she could get in big trouble. Savi just wanted to make her mother happy. You know how literal kids are.”
“What about Pam?”
“The contract.”
Right. The contract. The new information percolates in my brain but doesn’t answer the big question: “But why did she swap Jackson?”
The chief sighs once again, and I imagine him ripping off tiny spectacles from bloodshot eyes. “That we don’t know. Oliver is extremely colicky, so that’s one possibility. Maybe Oliver reminds Crystal of Paul. Maybe she never wanted to be a mom again. Who knows?” His weight shifts. He groans and sits in the chair opposite mine. “Could she have been jealous of you or your baby? Did she ever say anything about how good Jackson was, insist on holding him? Things like that?”
Chills barb my skin. “She doesn’t like babies. She had severe postpartum after Savi was born. Hardly had anything to do with her the first year. She definitely didn’t take any interest in Jackson.” Something still doesn’t add up. Unless Crystal is the best actress in the world, then I totally misjudged her and our friendship. Jackson lets out a tiny cry and I snuggle and rock him. “What happens now?”
“We’re going to continue to question Crystal. This isn’t a standard case, but of course there will be consequences once you press charges.”
Press charges. Instantly, I’m shuttled back to the man who hit and killed Chris. I didn’t press charges then. Should I now? “But what about Oliver? And Savi?”
He sniffs and straightens a file on the desk. “They’ll be awarded to the state temporarily.”
Something buzzes in my head. “No.” I grasp the edge of the table as my world tilts. “Absolutely not. Savi just lost her father. She can’t lose her mother too.”
“It’s the law.” He chews over his words. “And if the mother’s unstable, then they’ll be better off.”
“No.” I say it again, firmly. I hold my baby—a baby who is unharmed, a baby who is back in my arms, safe and sound. This is what I was after. Jackson back home. Not revenge to right some wrong I can’t possibly understand. “I’m not going to press charges.”
Three heads snap in my direction. “Rebecca,” Jake urges.
I lift my hand to stop