Family Ties

Part 13

"Papa!" Skye squealed in delight, flying at Raymond like a ball of energy, as he entered his father's living room.

"Hey, Squirt." He scooped him up in his arms. "Looks like everything's under control here." Grinning, he walked with Skye to the basement where he knew his father would be, tinkering with his model train village.

"Hey, Dad." He stopped next to his father who was placing trees with a pair of tweezers, in great concentration. "Everything seems to be quiet here."

"Oh, you know." He murmured, straightening up to hug Raymond. "The bean's been fed and watered, homework done, and he wants to go to Damon this weekend."

Setting Skye down, he mentally flicked through his schedule, but nothing came up. It may be a good idea to spend time with the whole family. Skye would love it at least.

"Maybe we should go." He nodded, leaning to take a closer look at the model town in front of him.

"So, what do you want?" Jesse smiled at Raymond whose head jerked up.

"How did you know?" He asked in surprise.

"You always try to distract someone from what you're really asking them." He laughed. "It's something Damon must have taught you because I didn't."

"Okay, okay." He pacified his dad. "I need to find out about a missing person, but it's from a while back."

"So, use your contacts?" His father glanced at him before returning to placing shrubs on the terrain.

"It's not something that they'd be able to get for me. I'm looking for an officer who worked on a kidnapping case a while back." He rubbed his fingers across his forehead in confusion.

"And you want me to help you find them?" He gave a low laugh.

"Would you? That would be really great, thanks, Dad!" Raymond grinned, purposefully misunderstanding his father. "I'll leave the info in the kitchen."

Having a father who was a police officer had its uses. Growing up it was a pain in the ass and caused him no amount of misery. Not only because he could never get away with anything, but his father was always training him to pick at all the details and clues of his surroundings. That was a skill that got him out of a lot of trouble. 

Now, working for Damon, he was glad of all his father's nagging and training and hard-headed way of teaching. It certainly gave him a leg up on the other investigators.

"How is college going?" His father asked following him into the kitchen, while Skye ran off to the living room.

"Don't remind me." He grimaced. He'd always loved learning and had read up on every topic imaginable, but he'd never tried to get a college degree. Certainly not while working two full-time jobs and taking care of his son. "It will be over soon, at least." He sighed. After this, he was sticking to reading up on things, in his career, degrees didn't mean much.

"Will you take Skye on Friday evening? They have a social at work planned and I'm not sure 'till what time things will go on."

"Do you even have to ask?" His father grinned. "I'll bring him around on Sunday."

"Thanks, Dad! You're my hero." He leaned in to hug his father.

"Funny how I only get to be your hero when you want something."

--

Friday morning and Raymond was pouring in front of the information before him, a heavy scowl on his face. The more he read, the fewer things made sense. Having found the police report on the missing person he was investigating, he rushed to the office to read through it.