The P.I. Contest. C.J. Carmichael
EXPRESSION ON JAY’S face was priceless. Kate hoped she was going to see a lot of that look in the weeks to come, though she had to admit she was impressed at how fast he’d been coming out of the gate.
Rebecca invited Jay to sit down and offered him a cup of coffee. He noticed the pitcher of filtered water and glasses on the table and declined.
“Water’s fine by me.”
“Let’s get started then,” Rebecca said. “My shift at the hospital starts at three. I’m a nurse,” she explained in an aside to Jay, having already told Kate earlier.
“We were just talking about Rebecca’s reaction when her daughter asked to meet her,” Kate said, easing Rebecca back on topic. “It must have been the most shocking phone call of your life.”
“It was a surprise. A wonderful surprise. I’d always hoped that one day my daughter would contact me. And it was amazing to finally meet her. Pretty, isn’t she? Sweet, too.” Rebecca smiled, a little proud, a little regretful. “Frankly, I’d hoped she would get in touch sooner. But I’m glad she was so happy with her adoptive parents that she didn’t feel the need to.”
“Were you worried about your husband’s reaction to meeting her?” Kate asked.
“Not at all. John knows the whole story. I met him in October, about a month after I got pregnant, though I didn’t realize I was carrying a baby at the time. When I finally clued in to the fact that I hadn’t had a period in a while, I was up-front with him. I was terrified. Didn’t have a clue what to do. I knew my parents would be furious if I told them.”
“So you didn’t?” Kate asked.
“No. John gallantly offered to marry me on the spot—but I felt we were too young. Still he helped me get through the rest of the school year, and his family put me up for the holidays. Then, after the baby was born, they organized the adoption. My parents never had a clue.”
“John sounds like an amazing guy,” Jay said.
“Oh, he is, but no one’s perfect, right? He made his share of mistakes as a teenager. My wild and crazy phase lasted all of one month. Getting pregnant at eighteen tends to make you grow up fast.”
“I imagine it does. And now your daughter is married and planning to have children of her own,” Jay said. “Must be hard to believe.”
“You’re not kidding. I understand her husband wanting to know about Hannah’s father. And I’m willing to help any way I can. But after all these years, I’m not sure it will be possible.”
“You never talked to any of those guys once you realized you were pregnant?” Kate asked.
“I wasn’t planning to keep the baby, so I didn’t see the point. It wasn’t like I had a relationship with any of them.” Her face pinkened. “I must admit I’m a little embarrassed, now, that I slept with three different guys in one month—more like one week, to be honest. But I was caught up with the excitement of being on my own for the first time in my life. Frosh week was so exciting. There were so many parties, with drinking and…well, you know.”
Kate nodded sympathetically. She wasn’t inclined to judge the other woman poorly for her behavior. In fact, she admired Rebecca for having the gumption to return to school and earn her degree after the baby. Clearly she was a hardworking, responsible wife and mother now. And she was willing to do whatever she could to help Hannah.
Kate pulled out the photocopied pages from the college yearbook and placed them in front of Rebecca. “Hannah told us that these are the three men who might be her father. I’d like to confirm that with you, and also ask if you can remember anything else about them?”
“I’m sorry. I told Hannah everything I know.”
“The smallest detail might be helpful,” Jay said. “Since you were all new to college and each other, the guys might have mentioned where they were from?”
Kate looked up sharply. He’d taken her general question and redirected it to something specific. For a guy with no training, he had smart instincts.
“Oh. Funny you should say that.” Rebecca took a closer look at the photograph of James Morgan. “I remember Jimmy talking about his family’s lake resort. I’m pretty sure he said it was somewhere in Upper New York State. Once he’d finished his business degree he was planning to go back and run it.”
“That’s exactly the sort of detail we’re looking for,” Jay encouraged. “Can you possibly recall the name of the lake?”
She wrinkled her forehead. “I’m sorry. It was so long ago.”
“That’s okay. This is a great help.” Kate jotted down the details in the fresh notepad she’d started for this case. Too bad Jay had learned the exact same information that she had. But she would find that lake before he did. She was determined that she would.
She and Jay quizzed Rebecca about the other two men, hoping to unlock more forgotten tidbits of information, but Hannah’s birth mother couldn’t come up with anything else helpful.
“I already told Hannah that Gary was on the football team. He was a big guy, like you,” she said, glancing at Jay. “I can’t think of anything else unique about him. As for Oliver, he was very quiet. We didn’t talk much at all.” She laughed a little self-consciously. “I’m sorry I can’t be more help. These were obviously one-night hookups.”
Kate passed her a card with her name and number. “That’s fine. We appreciate your time. Please call if you remember anything else. No matter how trivial.”
Jay looked flummoxed, and she hid a smile. He could hardly pass his own number on to Rebecca now and ask her to call him, as well. Rebecca would assume Kate would pass along any information to Jay. Which, of course, she would definitely not do.
As they made their way to the front door, Rebecca chattering about her kids and apologizing for the mess, Jay brushed by Kate and whispered, “Very clever.”
His breath was warm, and she shivered as his arm touched hers. She was a tall woman, but he was much taller, and his broad, football-player shoulders were solid muscle.
Out on the street, a cab was waiting.
“Want to share?” Jay offered. “I assume you’re heading back to the office?”
“I took the subway here and was planning to go back the same way.” She hesitated, for some reason reluctant to be in close quarters, alone—the driver didn’t count—with this guy. But wasn’t that foolish? The more she knew about Jay, the more likely she could find his weakness.
“But since you’re already paying the fare…” She climbed into the back and he joined her.
As he gave the address to the driver, then settled back into his seat, it struck her how surreal their situation was. In one day this man had gone from being a total stranger to her rival in one of the strangest competitions she had ever been a part of.
Who was Jay Savage? Suddenly she was curious. What were his interests? What was his background? Was there a woman in his life?
He struck her as the sort of man who would have lots of women hanging around. Or was that just an unfair stereotype of an attractive, unmarried pilot? Or her own sour grapes after Conner’s betrayal?
He caught her eye. “It was quite a surprise to find you at Rebecca Trotter’s.”
She couldn’t help smiling. That had been a sweet moment, all right. “I plan to keep surprising you. Maybe you should just quit now.”
His laugh was low and sensual. “I don’t think so. Technically I got to Rebecca Trotter first.”
“About that. Rebecca said you called her last night. But according to the rules, our investigation wasn’t supposed to start until this morning.”
“I didn’t think arranging an interview counted