“This way,” Officer Toby says. I grab Jake’s elbow and let him steer me to what I assume will be an investigation room. I remember Jake and I once made out in one of these rooms in Chicago. He’d pressed me against the two-way glass, and secretly, I’d hoped someone was watching from the other side. He’d told me all about what happened in these rooms; how inmates cleaned them, how often scare tactics were used or bullshit deals were made.

Now, it’s me sitting here—not some convict—being watched and judged.

How did I get here?

I ignore the question and focus on the mission at hand: find Jackson. Get my son back. Return this child to … wherever he came from. My hold tightens as I think of handing this baby over to whatever monster left him in the first place. I remember hearing those stories about mothers dumping their children in toilets, garbage cans, or leaving them on doorsteps. But whoever did this had an agenda. They took what wasn’t theirs to take.

“Rebecca, it’s nice to see you again. Though I wish it was under different circumstances,” Officer Toby hurriedly adds. His voice is tired. I wonder if I’ve taken him away from his own family or small children, but I know it comes with the job.

“Me too.” I clear my throat.

“Let’s start from the beginning,” Toby says. “See what we can figure out, okay?”

“Okay.” I answer the questions honestly, going back over the incident, the days leading up to the incident, all the way to this very moment. I have to confirm that Jess doesn’t believe me and that I don’t have anyone else close to me who can confirm this child isn’t Jackson … except maybe a few of the other moms I’m friends with, like Crystal or Beth.

“That’s fine. We’ll get their statements.”

“What can we do tonight?”

“I understand how nervous you must feel, Mrs. Gray, but there’s a protocol here. I’m under the chief’s strict orders, and as much as we’d like to believe you, we can’t just take your word for it. If we believed everyone who came in here, we’d be in all sorts of trouble.”

I look toward Jake to help—I can always sense where he is in the room, a magnetic charge that pulls me right to him.

“Listen, I’ve offered to extend my services here, maybe speed things along a bit. Can we speak privately?”

“Sure.”