Indemnity: Book Two: Covenant of Trust Series (6 page)

Chuck leaned back in his chair and took a long, slow breath.
Lord, that was quick. Thanks.
“The thing is, if I fight for my son, I’ll be fighting against my wife.”

“
I kinda gathered that after yesterday, but Bobbi’ll get a handle on this real soon. I have no doubts. Listen, I won’t keep you. You’re probably headed to work.”

“
Actually, I’m already at the office.”

“
Mercy, it’s not even eight o’clock yet!”

“
Yeah, I’ve got a busy day.”

“
Even more reason to let you go. We’ll keep praying.”

“
Thanks.” Glen understood. With the pastor on his side, he could bring Gavin over, and then Bobbi would let go of her misgivings.

With renewed purpose, he finished reading his emails, and then signed the stack of papers Christine left for him. Finally, his desk was clean and after a quick message to Christine to hold all his calls, his schedule was clear.

He pulled his pen from his shirt pocket, grabbed a notebook and slid his chair over to his bookshelves. Yanking out several huge volumes that he hoped held the information he needed, he rolled his chair back over to his desk and began his research.

By noon, he’d buried his desk in a mountain of opened law books, but he had a plan, a list of what he needed to file with whom. His stomach growled so he pushed back from his desk, stood and stretched. He slipped back to the staff room and grabbed a Diet Coke and a bag of chips from the vending machines.

“
Mr. Molinsky!” Christine called to him before he could sneak back in his office. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“
Not really. Thanks anyway.”

“
That’s not much of a lunch,” she said, pointing to his chips. “Do you want me to order something for you?”

Chuck shook his head. “I’m fine, I promise. I just have a lot to do.”

“
I know,” she said with a teasing smile. “You’ve worn your glasses all morning.”

Chuck pointed at her in a good-natured reprimand and ducked back in his office. He tossed the chips on his desk, and then rolled his shirtsleeves up. First order of business - get Jack’s official birth certificate for reference. He crammed another handful of chips in his mouth, wiped the excess salt on his pants, and then typed Jack’s name in the county’s public record search engine.

Nothing.

There was no record of Jack’s birth in the whole state of Missouri.
Anything to make this more complicated.
He ran searches in Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Arkansas with no luck. “This is ridiculous,” Chuck muttered, as he started searching states increasingly farther away.

Finally, in Hampden County, Massachusetts, he found a record, but not a birth certificate. Teresa Reynolds filed a petition to change her son’s name from Jackson Charles Reynolds to Jackson Charles Ravenna.

While waiting for a copy of the record to print, Chuck scribbled in his notebook.
Who is Teresa Reynolds? Jack - Adopted?

“
Where is Hampden County, anyway?” Chuck ran another quick search. Springfield. What was the connection to Springfield?

He held his pen between his teeth while he typed Jackson Charles Reynolds and hit “search.” A birth record with a matching birth date from Hamilton County, Ohio topped the list. Hamilton County meant Cincinnati. The mother listed was Teresa Reynolds, and the father was Kelly Reynolds, deceased.

“
What is going on?” Chuck whispered.

Chuck switched back to Hampden County public records and searched for Teresa Reynolds. There was a legal name change petition from twenty-one years ago. Eighteen-year-old Teresa Kathleen Reynolds filed to change her name to Tracy K. Ravenna.

That answered one question - Teresa was Tracy. Who, then, was Kelly Reynolds? Had Tracy been married? Chuck punched in Kelly Reynolds’ Social Security number from Jack’s birth certificate and got a match for a death certificate in Baltimore, but it had been filed twenty-eight years ago. Tracy would’ve been eleven then.

He leaned back in his chair, and tried to sort all this out. Glancing back at Kelly Reynolds’ death certificate, he suddenly sat bolt upright. Kelly Reynolds was a woman.

“
Now it’s getting weird,” Chuck mumbled.

Another search pulled up a marriage certificate in Baltimore for Kelly Hickman and Edward Reynolds. They were the right age to be Tracy’s parents. If Tracy was listing her long dead mother as the father of her baby then maybe she was the unstable type after all. He couldn’t believe that. Tracy was calculating, even conniving, but she wasn’t crazy.

Chuck got out of public records, and did general internet searches on Kelly Hickman, Kelly Reynolds and Edward Reynolds. He clicked the link for the first match, and pulled up an archived newspaper article from
The Baltimore Sun
.

Parole denied for Catonsville man

Thank God he was sitting down. Eyewitness to the crime. Tracy watched her father beat her mother to death. She must have been terrified. It made sense, perfect sense, for her to change her name as soon as she was an adult. Who could blame her for leaving the nightmare behind?

But why on earth would she use her given name to file Jack’s birth certificate? Jack’s fraudulent birth certificate, that is. Why would she go to such extremes to hide the fact that he was Jack’s father?

Just then, his phone rang. “It’s after six o’clock, Chuck. What’s going on?”

He could hear the fear in Bobbi’s voice. He hadn’t been late coming home since they reconciled. Now Tracy resurfaced, and he hadn’t talked to his wife all day.

“
I was working, and lost track of time. I’ll show you what I found out when I get home.”

“
But you cancelled all your appointments today.”

She’d never checked up on him.

“
Honey, I haven’t left my office all day. I cancelled everything because I didn’t want to be interrupted, and I didn’t want anybody to catch a glimpse of what I was working on. I’m sorry.”

“
You think I’m overreacting.”

“
No, you’re not. I’m leaving right now. I’ll see you in a few minutes. I love
you
, Bobbi.”

“
I love you, too,” she said quietly.

Of all the nights to stay too late.
He stuffed the papers in a folder and dropped them in his briefcase, and then he shut the computer down. He grabbed his notebook and planner, and caught sight of a note he’d made. “And I forgot to call Brad.”

He quickly dialed and locked his desk while it rang. “Hey Brad, can you run by the house this evening?”

“
It’s Friday.”

“
You have a date or something?”

“
Not exactly, but I kinda had plans.”

“
Please, you need to come by after Joel gets home at eight or so.”

“
What happened? You never get Joel and me together except when you have bad news.”

“
Yeah, well ... she’s back.”

“
She? Oh ... I’ll be there.”

Bobbi reached around Shannon and slid the pizza box on the table. The five-year-old opened the box, and breathed in deeply. “How much longer is he going to be?” she moaned. “I’m gonna starve!”

“
He’s on his way. I just got off the phone with him.” She set plates on the table, and yanked the silverware drawer open.

Shannon watched her carefully with a tilt of her head that was a mirror image of Bobbi. “Mommy?”

“
What, baby?”

“
Am I in trouble?”

“
Of course not. Why would you think that?”

“
Your eyes and your mouth are little and squished up. That’s trouble.”

“
You’re not in trouble. Want a piece of pizza?”

“
Now?”

“
Sure.” Bobbi pulled a slice away, pinching off the stringy cheese, and laid it on a plate. “So you won’t starve.”

“
Daddy’s in trouble,” Shannon said, pulling the plate closer.

“
Daddy?”

“
There’s only three people in this house. If it’s not me, it’s him.” Shannon took a big bite, chewing to get the cheese in her mouth.

“
Shannon, Shannon,” Bobbi said softly.

Suddenly Shannon’s eyes grew wide. “The door!” she exclaimed, her excitement muffled by the mouthful of pizza. “He’s home!”

“
Chew!” Bobbi cautioned as Shannon darted around the kitchen table.

“
Daaaadddddyyyy!” She hit Chuck at a dead run and wrapped her arms around him. He took a step backward to keep his balance, and then scooped the little girl up in his arms. “Daddy! You’re late! Mommy and I ate all the pizza and she said you’d have to eat peanut butter and jelly!”

“
Not again,” he whined. He kissed her, and then set her back on the floor with a pat. “Hey, you said you ate all the pizza.” He squinted in pretend aggravation.

Shannon’s dark eyes danced as she broke into a wide grin. “Gotcha!” she giggled. Chuck gave her ponytail a twist, and then lifted her into her chair.

He stepped past the table, but Bobbi pulled away before he had a chance to kiss her. “Do you want tea?” she asked, without making eye contact.

“
Tea’s fine.”

Bobbi set the drinks on the table, and took her seat. Cast out the bondwoman and her son. That was still the answer, regardless of what Chuck was about to hit her with. Get rid of Tracy, and get rid of her son.

“
Did you have a good day, Daddy?” Shannon asked as she twisted in her seat.

“
I was very busy. I didn’t even eat lunch.” Chuck eased into his seat, still trying to catch her eyes. Apparently, he expected bonus points for his suffering.

“
Ask me what I did!”

“
So what did you and Mommy do today?”

“
We checked on my teacher! I got Mrs. Brubaker, and listen, I can spell it. B-R-U-B-A-K-E-R.”

“
Wow,” Chuck said. “I don’t think I could have spelled that.”

“
Then we went shopping. I got shoes, and a backpack, and a lunchbox, and what else, Mommy?”

“
That was all the big stuff,” Bobbi answered, straightening her knife and fork. “Why don’t you say grace, sweetie?”

Bobbi reached for Shannon’s hand and bowed her head as Chuck took her other hand. As soon as she felt the weak squeeze, she knew she’d hurt his feelings. He’d worked on this thing with Tracy all day long and no doubt formulated a watertight plan. He expected her to be his primary cheerleader, falling in step with him as he marched forward into battle. How quickly he forgot that he promised to protect her first and foremost.

“
Dear God, thank You for our food, for Mommy and Daddy and for Jellybean coming home tonight. Amen.”

“
Brad’s coming tonight, too,” Chuck said, reaching for a slice of pizza.

“
Really, really?”

“
Really, really,” Chuck answered.

“
Yes!” Shannon said, taking a huge bite from her pizza.

“
Don’t take such big bites, sweetie,” Bobbi chided.

“
But you said he’d be here after dinner,” Shannon protested through a mouthful of pizza.

“
He’ll get here when he gets here. It’ll probably be closer to bedtime, so you may as well slow down.”