“You’d have to ask him.”

D.D. cocked her head to the side. “You’re lying to me, Jason. And you know how I know?”

He refused to answer.

“You look down and to the left. When people are trying to remember something, they look up and to the left. When they’re avoiding the truth, however, they look down and to the left. Interesting bit of trivia they teach us in detective school.”

“And it took you how many weeks to graduate?”

Her lips curved in that little half-smile again. “The way Officer Hawkes understood it,” the sergeant continued, “Maxwell Black has some opinions regarding his granddaughter. Including that you’re not her real father.”

Jason didn’t answer. He wanted to. He wanted to scream that of course Ree was his daughter, would always be his daughter, could never be anything but his daughter, but the good sergeant had not asked a question, and the first rule of interrogation was never answer questions you didn’t have to.

“When was Ree born?” D.D. pressed.

“On the date listed on her birth certificate,” he said crisply. “Which I’m sure you’ve already read.”

She smiled at him again. “June twentieth, two thousand and four, I believe.”

He said nothing.

“And the day you first met Sandy?”

“Spring two thousand and three.” He made sure he looked her in the eye and absolutely, positively didn’t look down.

D.D. arched that skeptical brow again. “Sandy would’ve been only seventeen.”

“Never said the old man didn’t have reason to hate me.”

“So why does Maxwell believe you’re not Ree’s father?”

“You’d have to ask him.”

“Humor me. Obviously you know him better than I do.”

“Can’t say that I know him at all. Sandy and I didn’t exactly have a meet-the-parents courtship.”

“You never met Sandy’s father before today?”

“Only in passing.”

She studied him. “What about your family?”

“Don’t have any.”

“You’re the product of immaculate conception?”

“Miracles happen every day.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “All right, Sandy’s father, then. Grandpa Black. You took his daughter from him,” she stated. “Moved to a godforsaken Yankee state and then never notified him when his granddaughter was born.”

Jason shrugged.

“I think Judge Black has good reason to be angry with both you and Sandy. Maybe that’s why he returned now. His daughter’s gone, and his son-in-law is the prime suspect. One family’s tragedy is another man’s opportunity.”

“I will not grant him access to Ree.”

“Got a restraining order?”

“I will not grant him access to Ree.”

“What if he demands a paternity test?”

“Can’t. You read the birth certificate.”

“You’re listed as the father, ergo he has no probable cause. The Howard K. Stern defense.”

Another shrug.

D.D. smiled at him. “As I recall, the other guy won that argument.”