Sawyer heard Ford make a choking sound, and he stiffened before replying. “I’m sorry, but my brother has just been kidnapped, and we are not about to let him out of our sight. I think whatever you have to say can be in front of a two-year-old.” After everything his little family had been through, he was not about to leave one of them to a stranger. Fuck that.
As he finished, a woman came into the office and introduced herself. “I’m Officer Jenny Scott. Your boy will be in great hands, I promise you.”
Sawyer’s heart did a little flutter when she called Callum their boy, and he felt like a proud papa, even though he was just the brother. But that was not about to distract him from protecting his own.
“Thank you, Officer Scott, I really appreciate it, but I was just informing Officer Werling that Callum will be joining us.” Looking over at Officer Werling, he stood straighter and held his gaze. “Are we going to have a problem?”
Officer Werling was silent for a moment, then nodded to the other officer. “Thank’s Jenny, but Mr. Lancaster is right.”
Jenny smiled and squeezed Callum’s arm gently before walking back out of the room.
“Have a seat,” Officer Werling directed them.
Both Ford and Sawyer took a seat, and immediately held each other's hands, Ford having sat Callum in his lap.
“I interrogated Cynthia Mathis,” he started. “A colleague of mine interrogated Larry Banks and we combined our notes. This will help to clarify some missing links you may have.” He looked up from the notebook he had in front of him at them. “First off… Do you have any questions?”
Sawyer looked over at Ford who was the first one to ask a question.
“How do those two know each other?” That was a question definitely in need of an answer. “Cynthia is the children’s biological mother, and Mr. Banks is someone that used to work for us. She was supposed to have been back in New York. We didn’t even meet Cynthia until after Mr. Banks was fired. So… what happened?”
“Well, that’s easy enough to explain,” he said. “I know that I don’t have all of the information, as we’re communicating with two different counties, but here’s what I can tell you. Larry came to your house and attacked you. Is that correct?”
He pointed to Ford who slowly nodded as he pulled Callum’s hand away from the jar of pens on the edge of the desk.
“On that day,” he continued, “It seems Cynthia was watching the entire scene. She got his bail money together and then went and got him released from jail. After that, they teamed together and came up with this kidnap scheme. He says she came up with the plan and promised him half of whatever money she could squeeze from you if he would help her.” He looked up at them “I personally don’t think it was about Callum and wanting him. Looks to me like it was always about the money.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Sawyer muttered. God, he was so lucky to have his mother when his father bailed.
“Apparently they had been watching your mother’s house and followed her until they saw their chance.”
Ford’s eyes widened. “Wow.”
Officer Werling nodded. “Doesn’t seem like they hurt the boy. Our local doctor came in and checked him out and said he’s healthy and happy. I’m sure you were worried about that.”
“Thank you.” Sawyer released the white-knuckled grip he had on the arm of the chair. “I’m going to assume they’ll be charged.”
The officer nodded. “They’ll be collected and formally charged in Amber Falls. They’ll be charged with kidnapping and assault charges, along with destruction of property. Also, apparently, they stole from a convenience store, so there will be shoplifting added to that too.”
“Off the record, I will say that they’ll be in jail for a while and will have a hefty fine applied as well.” Officer Werling sat back in his chair.
“Thank God!” The weight that had been pressing down on Sawyer lifted since the first time Larry attacked Ford and Cynthia invaded their home.
Officer Werling looked between the two of them. “Any more questions?”
“Just one” Sawyer looked towards the door, where Callum was, “When can we get out of here and take Callum home.”
“In just a minute.” The corners of his mouth quirked up. “I’m sure you’re dying to get him home and put all of this behind you.”
Sawyer looked over at Ford who had tears in his eyes. “That’s the best news ever.” They both couldn’t wait to get him home and pick the kids up from Ford's parents. Sawyer wasn’t looking forward to explaining to Savie and Gav exactly what would be happening to their mother, but he had to. Honesty was the best policy, even though it would surely crush them. God, it would break their hearts and give them an even worse opinion of their mother.
There was a part of him that had hoped that Cynthia could get her act together and at least be in the kids’ lives even though she had lost her visitation rights.
“I think that’s all for now.” Officer Werling got to his feet and so did they.
When they opened the door, Callum put his hands out toward Sawyer, wanting to be held by him. Sawyer walked over scooped him up into his arms.
“Thank you, Officer Werling. You have no idea how grateful we are. Thank you so much for the quick resolution.” Ford said on Sawyer’s behalf.
Officer Werling smiled and said his good-byes, telling them to call if they had any more questions, and then went back to his office.
“Let’s go home.” Sawyer kissed Callum’s cheek, then reached out and took Ford’s hand, and as a family, they left the station. He was ready to go home.
