“I heard that your mom was a hard worker,” Jacob prompted. “Her boss said that she was really good at her job.”
When Jordan’s chest puffed up a little and he jutted out his chin, Jacob felt a small corner of his heart die. Fucking hell. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do with the tiny child, how he was supposed to navigate a ten-year-old’s psychology without permanently damaging him.
“Jordan,” Lola picked up for him, her voice calm and steady. Jordan glanced at her. “Do you remember anyone who would want to hurt your mom? Maybe she got into a fight with someone that she knew?”
Jordan shook his head ferociously. “My mom never fought with anyone. Everybody liked her.”
“Okay, that’s good.” Lola glanced at him and when he nodded, she asked, “What about friends? Did your mom have lots of friends?”
Jordan stared at the carpet for a full thirty seconds. “Some. She worked a lot because I don’t have a dad, but she would meet up with lots of girls every Saturday morning at the coffee shop by our apartment.”
“Did you like her friends?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Sorta, but I didn’t really know them all. My mom would buy me a hot chocolate and let me sit with Mr. McGuiness and his dog while they had ‘girl time’.”
“Who’s Mr. McGuiness?” Lola asked.
Jordan looked at her as if she were quite daft, and Jacob had to refrain from grinning when she shifted in her seat. One thing was certain, Jordan Holt was switched on for a ten-year-old. “He’s my mom’s friend from the coffee shop. I like his dog, Bob. He’s an American Bulldog.”
Jacob filed the information away for later and, placing a hand on Lola’s, asked. “Do you know the name of the coffee shop?”
“Bruno’s Bagels,” Jordan replied without hesitating.
“And what time did your mom meet the girls?” he asked, trying to keep his tone even. If this was the support group, Jordan Holt may have just given them their biggest clue yet.
“Nine. Every Saturday morning.” Jordan eyed him skeptically. “Why?”
Jacob felt his brow furrow and deliberately forced himself to meet Jordan’s eyes. “If I can talk to as many people as possible who knew her, I might be able to figure out who hurt your mom.”
“Her friends wouldn’t hurt her,” he said, shaking his head adamantly. “They were all girls. All they did was talk and cry, sometimes they’d hug each other right there in front of people.”
Jacob found it interesting that the boy had assumed that because all of his mom’s friends were girls, they wouldn’t hurt her. Well, he’s not far off. “I’ll go and talk to them next Saturday,” he said quietly. “See if they can help.” He’d also send Burns and Williams to Bruno’s Bagels first thing Monday, have them ask around. “Do you know any of your mom’s friends’ names?”
Jordan sent him a megawatt smile that made his chest hurt because he realized that just ten days earlier, Jordan Holt probably smiled his completely disarming smile a lot. “Yeah, my mom said they used to play this game. They’d all pick a character from a story, like playing pretend, you know? They’d pick the name of the girl that they wanted to be like.”
“That sounds fun,” Lola picked up the thread of the conversation. “I still think I’d be Arrietty.”
“What name did your mom pick?” Jacob asked.
Jordan scrunched his nose. “Hers was kinda lame.” He sniffled a little but said, “Raksha…because she was a momma wolf.”
Jacob consciously refrained from frowning. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.
“Like the momma wolf from ‘The Jungle Book’?” Lola asked, obviously sensing his confusion. When Jordan nodded, she added, “Do you remember the names that your mom’s friends used?”
“Not all of them, but there was one. I remember because she was nice to me. She was pretty, and she always said hi and stopped to pet Bob. She was Catwoman.”
“Selina Kyle?” Jacob asked.
Jordan grinned. “You like comics too?”
“Not a lot anymore, but I used to.”
The light in Jordan’s eyes faded just the smallest bit and Jacob had to bite back his frustration. You couldn’t lie this one time? Moron.
He noticed that Jordan twisted the book in his hands, even as his back stayed ramrod straight. Waves of anxiety poured off the child, making Jacob’s own heart tick as his palms started to sweat. He didn’t know what to do. A not-so-small part of him wanted to pull the kid into his chest and give him a goddamn hug, while the other part told him that he wouldn’t be helping.
Jordan didn’t have males in his life, and he knew that he’d probably just scare the boy more. “Thanks for the help, Jordan,” he managed lamely, trying his hardest to maintain eye contact with the kid.
When a single tear slipped over the boy’s lashes and trailed a path down his cheek, Lola rocked forward onto her knees and, without saying anything, wrapped him in a hug. The contact was all it took for Jordan Holt to crack and in seconds, huge, silent tears ran down his face unchecked. He scrunched his eyes closed and buried his head against Lola’s shoulder as choked sobs started spilling out of his small frame.
Jacob so badly wanted to reach forward and circle them both in his arms, but he was petrified by his own need to comfort them. So, instead, he stood and moved over to where Kimi stood, perched on the corner of her desk.
“Sorry,” he said, raking a hand through his hair. “I didn’t mean to…”
“Are you kidding?” she asked, her tone soft, calm. “This is the most he’s talked to anyone since we picked him up. Frankly, we might ask you two to come back if the on-call psych doesn’t make any progress in the next few weeks.”
He glanced down at her, his eyebrows raised, as he deliberately avoided looking at Lola and Jordan on the carpet. It made him feel too much, made him want to haul them both off to some small, safe town where nothing bad could touch them. “I don’t know how you do this every day.”
She shook her head. “Because if I didn’t, who would? I’m good at my job. I make a difference. Just like the LAPD. Which, by the way, sounds like a miserable job.”
He let out a long breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Touché.”
“I’ll let you know if he says anything else that might be useful.”
He nodded his thanks. “If Lola can handle it, we’ll try and come back for a social call once we catch this asshole.”
“Really?”
“Of course. We’ll do anything we can to help.”
“Sounds like you have it bad, lieutenant.” He glanced up at her and she held up a hand in a gesture of peace. “No judgment. I’d trade anything to look at someone the way you two look at each other.”
“It’s not like that,” he said instantly, feeling uncomfortable that Kimi had picked it up in under thirty minutes.
“Suuuure.”
She winked at him just as movement caught his eye. He turned to find Lola and Jordan standing on the blue carpet, the child’s small hand wrapped in hers, both of their cheeks tear-stained and red from crying.