To no surprise his mother was waiting on the front porch for us, trying to hold herself from tears. I gave her a small smile, trying to give her some hope. My smile instantly fell as I almost plowed her cat with my car. Oops.
“Oh Jesus, Mr. Fluffy are you okay?” she exclaimed, rushing to the feline’s side.
“Sorry about that, ma’am.”
“I’m fine, getting about just as well as I can, considering the current conditions.”
“Yes, ma’am we understand your level of distraught right now, but regarding the issue, we have some questions for you.” Spencer said and with that, she led us inside. She directed us through the kitchen and to an open living room.
“Can I get you anything? Coffee, water, lemonade?”
“Water.”
“Coffee, black.”
The woman walked off and about three minutes later, she returned with two mugs and a clear glass. We each took our cup and sipped them.
“So, Mrs. Jones, can you tell us anything about the day of Tommy’s disappearance?”
“I remember,” She sniffled, “He had been telling me about how he had been wanting to go to the park all week. I told him I’d take him on Friday and when Friday came around, we were heading out the door to get in the car.”
“Is there any specifics about while Tommy was with you, from when you left the house?”
“I dropped my keys in the bush outside and Tommy was by the car playing with Mr. Fluffy. After we got to the park, I told Tommy to go play and I sat down with some of his friend’s moms. He came back after about five or six minutes and held up some weird rock he found. I laughed it off and told him that it was nice and he ran off, back under the play set.”
“How long was it before he came back?”
“That’s the thing, he didn’t. And after about twenty minutes, since I hadn’t seen him, I asked the other moms and they said no and then I started to look for him and he wasn’t anywhere so I called the police.”
“Any specifics about the weather, heat, temperature.”
“It was dry and hot and then when I first started looking for him, it got fairly cloudy and looked as if it were about to rain.”
“What were some typical activities you and Tommy took part in during the week?”
“Soccer practice, soccer game, church, grocery shopping. The usual.”
“Is there anyone you thought was a danger to Tommy, in any of these places?”
“He knew almost everyone at practice and the games, at church, and I of course told him not to talk to strangers.”
“Anyone, specifically an adult, who approached Tommy at church? Did he speak with anyone in particular the last time you attended?” I said as she made a concerned face as if she was thinking.
“He spoke with his friends from the neighborhood and one of the fathers of his friends.”
“What’s his name?”
“The child or the father?”
“Father.”
“Oh, Alexander Jacobs. And his son is Phillip Jacobs.”
“Thank you, ma’am. Have a nice day.” I said I shook her hand and she led us to the door.
“If you find Tommy,” she paused. “Make sure the first thing you tell him is that I never gave up.”
“I promise.” I said as I shut the door and got back in the car with Spencer. “I hope you realize it was hard for me to do that.”
“How so?”
“We live in a world built on promises, constructed by liars.”
We sat for another fifteen minutes, Reid giving directions, until we got to a soccer field. We walked inside and sat down with the soccer coach.
“Good afternoon, sir. I’m Agent Reid and this is Agent Brookes.”
“Hello. I heard you have some questions for me?”
“Yes, sir we were wondering if you know a boy on the team, Tommy Jones?”
“Yeah, I know Tommy. It’s a shame what’s happened.”
“Really it is. But do you know anything about him and his friend Phillip Jacobs?”
“Yeah, he and Tommy were best friends. They’d always hung out together.”
“Did you ever notice Phillip’s dad being inappropriate towards Tommy?”
“Not really. He treated Tommy like his own son. But I do remember one time after Tommy had a rough day, he put his hand on Tommy’s leg as if he was coming on to him but, you don’t think…”
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know, Phillip’s mom has been taking him to practice the last couple days.”
I got up from where I was sitting and jogged to the car, Reid in tow. I got in the car and dialed Ryan.
“Hey there, girly. What’s up?”
“Ryan, I need you to pull everything on an Alexander Jacobs.”
“In this area?”
“He was, the only thing is nobody’s seen him for a few days.”
“Here it is he’s Arizona raised, moved to California when he was 25 he was a preacher in his town.”
“What church?”
“Hold on.”
“Ryan, hurry it up.”
“Okay, Okay. It says here that he was a member of The Awaken Hope Baptist Church.”
“Thanks, Ryan. See you later.”
“Whatever, Emmy-boo.”
