“Heavens, no, and thank God,” she said. “He was at school. The Blackwells had him enrolled at a school in Decatur for children with special needs. His parents were incredibly dedicated to helping him. They spent a lot of time and money finding the right resources to help him adjust to normal life.”
“What’s the name of the school?”
“Morningside.”
“Did Arnold maintain William’s attendance there once he’d been granted guardianship?”
“He was supposed to. The disability money wasn’t enough to cover the school’s cost, but even if it was, I knew Arnold had no intention of using the money for its intended purpose. I’m telling you, if there wasn’t a monthly payday attached, I doubt the guy would even have showed up here when we called about William in the first place.”
“So can you tell us any place William liked to frequent? Somewhere he’d hide if he were scared? Anything at all you think might be useful.”
“You’ve already searched the last known address?”
“The apartment here in Cobb is a dead end,” Roselita said. “We came up empty, and we still know nothing about this kid or where he’d be likely to go.”
“He would be wherever he was told to be,” Richland said. She sounded much more alert and concerned now despite her lack of sleep.
“You said he followed a routine. If one fell through, would he try to fall back into another? Meaning, could he have gone back to the school?”
“No. It doesn’t work like that, and if he’d turned up at Morningside, they would’ve contacted us the minute he showed up.”
“Could you possibly reach out to them anyway? We could use all their information as well.”
“I’ve already done that. There is a problem with the phone lines over there this morning, but all the contact information on Morningside that I have is in that file already. We don’t have a lot of dealings with places like that. William was a special case.”
Roselita took the file from Dane and flipped through it until she found a card clipped to some type of invoice from the school. “This it?” She held up the card.
“Yes. That’s all I’ve got.”
She handed the file back to Dane. “Anywhere else, then? Somewhere off the grid that Arnold might’ve mentioned during one of his visits to this office? It doesn’t matter how far-fetched. Anything he may have told you could help.”
“Agent Velasquez, I just filled out the paperwork. Arnold was a scumbag. I never talked to the man at length about anything if I didn’t have to. If something stuck out, I’d tell you. Believe me.”
Dane pieced through the file in his lap. He didn’t look up when he spoke. “When William was released to his brother’s care, was it a requirement for him to keep your office in the loop? To check in with you?”
“We encourage it, but no, it isn’t a requirement. It is with foster families, but not with blood relatives.”
“So he didn’t?”
“Not officially, but I made a few unofficial visits to their apartment on my own time. I told you, I liked the kid, so I kept hoping I’d find a reason to take him out of his brother’s care. I never did. I eventually stopped.”
“And that’s the only contact you’ve had with either of them since?”
“Yes. When a child is placed with a blood relative, even one as messed up as Arnold Blackwell, the rules are far more lenient. We are basically at the mercy of the law. If someone calls us to report abuse or neglect, then we can act, but generally, this office views having a member of his immediate family take him in as a win. What happens after that is out of our hands. I had no choice but to let it go.”
The big man in the sweater-vest who Richland had called Hank returned to the cubicle with her coffee and set it on her desk.
Roselita looked up at the man. “How about you? Did you know this William Blackwell kid?”
Hank leaned his hip onto Richland’s desk. “Yeah, I know William. He’s a good kid. I hated letting him leave with that loser brother of his. I knew this would happen. I knew it.”
“But you let it happen anyway.”
Hank straightened back up and glared down at Roselita. Agent Velasquez sat completely at ease. “Why don’t you go find him instead of judging the people that work in this office. We did our job, darlin’. Maybe you should do yours.”
“Maybe if you’d have done your job right, we wouldn’t even be here. And if you call me darling again, I’ll kneecap your black ass.”
Hank looked both appalled and aroused. “Who do you think you are, coming in here, talking to me like that. I could report you.”
“Oh,” Roselita said, sitting up slightly in her seat. “You get to be sexist, but I can’t be racist. Why don’t you go fetch me a cup of coffee, too.”
“All right, all right,” Dane said, putting his hands up. “That’s enough. I apologize, Mrs. Richland. My partner hasn’t had much sleep, either. I’m sure you understand that.”
Clem glared at Roselita, who glared right back as if the woman behind the desk were a fresh log of dog shit that a stray had just laid on the carpet, before turning her stare back on Hank. Everyone just sat in awkward silence while Roselita and Hank sized each other up. Dane finally spoke, putting an end to it. “Is there anything else you can tell us about the boy, Clem?”
“No. I think we’re done here.”
Dane looked up at the big black man. “How about you, Hank? Anything you remember about him? No matter how insignificant.”
It took Hank a few beats to answer but he did speak. “He likes to read,” he said, keeping his stare directed at Roselita. “When he was in our care, he was always reading something—anything from comic books to medical textbooks. Whatever he could find lying around. He’s like a sponge when it comes to soaking up information. And he really likes birds, too. Talked about them all the time. He could tell you the mating habits of a brown thrasher down to the sounds they make. He’d get excited talking about it, too. I learned a lot from that kid. I really hope he’s okay.”
“We’re going to find him, Hank. Thank you for the insight. Anything else?”
Hank shook his head. Richland thought about it for a moment longer before shaking her head as well. “That’s really all I know, other than he detests chocolate.”
“Really?”
Hank finally stopped eyeballing Roselita. “Yeah, that’s true,” he said. “The day I brought William in, I tried to give him some M&M’s and he practically threw them back at me.”
“Maybe it wasn’t the chocolate he detested.”
“Wow.” Richland glared at Roselita. “Where did you find her, Agent Kirby?”
Hank took a step toward the door and Roselita unbuttoned her suit jacket. Her gun didn’t show, but the tanned leather of her shoulder holster did. It was enough to remind the big man who he was talking to. “You damn Feds. You think you know everything.”
“Relax, Hank,” Dane said. “We’re all on the same side here.” Dane gave his partner a hard stare. “Agent Velasquez and I are on our way out anyway.”