Chapter 17 - The Door Opens
Jake was not allowed to run to the building.
He waited behind a patrol car until officers brought Ben out.
The boy had a small cut on his palm and dirt on both knees.
That was the blood.
Nothing worse.
Jake’s legs nearly gave out.
Ben saw him.
For one second, both of them froze exactly as they had outside the prison.
Then Ben ran.
Jake dropped to his knees.
This time there was no clear plastic bag in his hand. No gate behind him. No black truck pulling to the curb.
Just his son.
“You came,” Ben cried.
Jake held the back of his head.
“I will keep coming.”
“Uncle Todd said you’d get tired.”
“I might get tired. I won’t quit.”
Ben pulled back.
“Are they taking him to jail?”
Jake looked over Ben’s shoulder.
Todd was being led out in handcuffs.
For a moment, Todd looked at them.
There was no anger left in his face.
Only defeat.
Jake could have said something cruel.
He wanted to.
Instead he looked away.
Ben whispered, “Is he bad?”
Jake chose his words carefully.
“He did bad things. Serious things. But people are more than one word.”
“Like you?”
Jake swallowed.
“Like me.”
At the hospital, a nurse cleaned Ben’s hand and gave him apple juice.
Dana sat with them while the doctor checked him.
“The child is physically fine,” the doctor said.
Jake exhaled.
Dana smiled, but only a little.
“There’s still a legal process.”
Jake nodded. “I know.”
“We need a safe placement tonight. Your halfway house doesn’t allow children overnight.”
Ben’s face fell.
Jake felt his own heart crack, but he did not argue.
“Where does he go?”
“Rachel named Denise Cole. We found her.”
“Does Ben know her?”
“Mom’s friend Denise?” Ben asked. “She makes cinnamon pancakes.”
Dana smiled. “That Denise.”
Jake touched his son’s hair.
“It’s one night at a time, buddy.”
Ben stared at him.
“Promise?”
Jake hesitated.
Then he shook his head.
“No more giant promises.”
Ben looked confused.
Jake held out his pinky.
“I promise tomorrow. I’ll show up tomorrow. Then the day after that, I’ll promise that day.”
Ben hooked his pinky around Jake’s.
“Okay.”
Dana’s phone rang.
She listened, then looked at Jake.
“The prosecutor found something else in Todd’s records.”
Jake tensed.
“What now?”
“A life insurance check in Ben’s name.”
“How much?”
Dana’s expression hardened.
May you like
“One hundred eighty thousand dollars.”
“And it’s gone.”
