A Texas Family

“I’ll make a deal with you.” She stopped him. “If you help me find my child, I will not file charges against your father. Years ago I would have loved nothing better than to hurt him severely, but now, as I said, I just want some peace.”

“Jena... May I call you that now?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I was testy about that yesterday.”

“Well, this is an emotional situation.” He ran his hands over his face, telling himself it was best to stay out of this mess. But his heart wasn’t listening. “Okay,” he found himself saying. “I’ll give it my best shot, but we have to set some ground rules. First, I’m in charge, and you will follow my instructions to the letter.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ll be responsible for everything we do.”

“Okay, I get that.”

“Good. And we will be civil to each other and respect each other’s feelings.”

“Okay.”

“And when I say it’s a dead end, we quit.”

She lifted her chin with renewed determination. “I don’t know if I can agree to that.”

He stared at the stubborn glint in her eyes, knowing how hard this was for her, and it surprised him that he sensed her feelings so well. “You have to accept we may not find anything.”

“I’m sorry, but I’ll never be able to do that.”

He admired her honesty. “As they say, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

Scooting forward in her chair, she asked, “Can we start now?”

The file box was still on the floor. He reached down and pulled out the file on the case. As he slid it across the desk, she moved her chair forward. For the next thirty minutes they read through the papers several times and nothing jumped out at them.