Special Forces Father - By Mallory Kane Page 0,43

of his interview swearing he didn’t remember anything after the shooting started. He acknowledged that the police had found gunshot residue on his hands and clothes and that a bullet from his gun had been removed from Paul Guillame’s left upper thigh. But according to Stamps, he didn’t even remember having the gun, although he did keep it in his glove compartment, since he never knew when he might be driving through rough neighborhoods. I like to visit the neighborhoods of all my constituents, he had told her. I feel it’s important for the people I represent to see me.

She’d thanked him for coming in, and when he was gone, she’d just stared at the bound notebook where she normally jotted her impressions when doing these types of interviews. She had no idea what to write down. It would be a bald-faced lie to say that Stamps appeared insane. Whether he had temporarily blacked out as he’d said he did once the shooting started, she couldn’t say for sure, but she knew she’d have a hard time maintaining her credibility with the District Attorney’s office if she found that he had definitely been temporarily insane when he’d shot Paul Guillame.

Then, Paul Guillame’s interview hadn’t gone any better. Guillame declared that Stamps had appeared glassy-eyed and confused when he’d taken the shot. “I could swear he wasn’t even looking at me,” Guillame had told her. He denied any recollection of Stamps yelling a discriminatory epithet at him at any time.

“You’d swear under oath that he wasn’t looking at you?” she’d asked.

“Well, maybe not under oath,” he’d prevaricated, “but he sure looked dazed and confused.”

Now, as Kate drove into her driveway, she was disappointed to see that Travis’s car was not there. She went inside and locked the door behind her, then set down the two grocery sacks she’d brought in with her. She’d decided to make Travis’s favorite, spaghetti, and a salad. He needed to put some meat back on his bones.

As she put the sauce on to cook and added basil, bay leaves, oregano, lots of garlic and olive oil, her eyes filled with tears. She and Travis had dreamed up this recipe in her dorm room in college, and cooked it in the microwave. She’d made it for Max and herself many times. Now as the sauce heated, the tangy smell nearly broke her heart.

* * *

PICKING UP THE SPOON, she stirred the sauce again and turned it down to low. Surely Travis wouldn’t be much longer getting home. She had already stored the Parmesan cheese and a half gallon of milk in the refrigerator, then pulled the remaining item—a package of Oreo cookies—out of the grocery bag. She was determined to make Travis eat as much as he could hold.

Her cell phone rang. She grabbed it out of her purse and answered it without looking, thinking it was Travis, letting her know when he’d be there.

“Dr. Chalmet.” It was that voice. Kate’s pulse hammered.

“Yes,” she said breathlessly as her mind raced. Why wasn’t Travis here? How much longer would he be? He’d promised to be back before dark but this time of the year, it didn’t get completely dark until after eight o’clock.

She held the phone pressed tightly against her ear, listening for Max’s voice in the background, but she didn’t hear him. “I want to talk to my son,” she said.

“Oh, Doc, are you going to start with that again?” the kidnapper said. “I thought I told you, I will decide when you can talk to your little boy. Not you. If you’d just shut up and listen, you might get more of what you want than if you persist in hounding me about talking to the kid. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Good. Now listen to me.”

She waited.

“Are you listening?” he snapped.

“Yes,” she said, suppressing the urge to say yes, sir sarcastically.

“Good. I’m a real good researcher, Doc. Real good. Do you want to know what I found out today?”

Kate’s teeth were still gritted, so tightly her temple was beginning to pound. “Yes, please,” she said.

The kidnapper laughed. It wasn’t a pleasant sound. “Okay then, since you’re being so polite.” He paused and took a deep breath. “I know who the kid’s daddy is.”

“What?” she said, startled. “What do you mean?” It was a stupid response, but right now her thoughts were spinning around in her head so fast it was making her dizzy. She couldn’t keep up with most of them, they were