With sudden hope, Mary followed Camila out of of the house, crossed the street, then went a few houses down. It had a similar structure, just a different color.
Camila walked up to the front door and simply opened it and walked in. She glanced back at Mary. "Wait here. I'll see if he's awake. If he's napping, then I'll have to suggest you come at a different time."
Mary was about to reply with an affirmative, but they heard a creaky voice holler out, "I'm not sleeping! Maldición! I'm coming!" In just a couple of minutes, an older male version of Camila appeared beside her, with a cane in hand. He knocked the cane on his granddaughter's leg. "You trying to scare away my guest?"
Camila waved at Mary. "Abuelo, this is Mary Atkins. You knew the boy that lived at my house before me, right? She's taking care of him now."
The old man leaned on his cane, looking Mary up and down. "You do look more stable than the other woman."
"Other woman? You mean his mom?" Mary asked.
"Mom?" He snorted. "What mom? That woman barely provided a roof over his head with the governments help. She didn't feed or clothe him. He'd walk to school with bruises so bad that he looked like a blue and green alien. I just knew she would kill him."
Mary looked torn like she wanted to cry. "Jake isn't dead. He's okay now. We've even enrolled him in high school."
The old man's face eased at her sincere worry. "Come. Let's sit." He shuffled over to a recliner and plopped down. "Cami, bring us some tea."
Camila moved to the kitchen and started to do what her grandfather asked.
Mary closed the door behind her and sat on the sofa across from the old man. "Thank you for seeing me. I just wanted to know what you knew about Jake and his mother."
"The boy was a quiet one." The old man mused, setting his cane down beside his chair. "I never heard him speak. Not to me. Not to anyone on the street. Most of what I know comes from that woman's shouting and gossip from the neighbors."
"Shouting?"
"Maldición. The woman could curse up a storm. This is a small community and we're packed in like sardines. No yelling could go undetected around here." The old man sighed. "We knew that woman was crazy and out of her mind, but what could we do. We watched on as the boy seemed to get smaller instead of bigger."
Mary frowned and tried to control her anger. "Why didn't you call the police? Why didn't anyone on the block call the police?"
The old man just shook his head. "Do you see where we live?"
Camila brought in the tea, serving her grandfather first, then Mary. "The police are too busy busting gangs and solving murders and robberies. As for a woman who beats her son? They would just call it character building. As long as he had a roof over his head and clothes on his back, there wasn't much they can do besides send a notice to child services."
"His life was endangered though!" Mary raised her voice, losing her cool.
Camila sat on the other side of the sofa. "In the projects, there are a lot of lives at risk. Honestly, what happened was probably for the best." Mary's jaw dropped, thinking that this young lady must have something against her foster son. "He survives, got away from his mother, and moved out of this hell hole."
"How could you say that?? He almost died!" Mary was clearly upset and not okay with them speaking ill of Jake. It's like they were trying to curse him.
"Listen to Cami." The grandfather drank his tea before setting it down. "Once you live in poverty, it's hard to escape poverty. Look at us. I worked for sixty years and had to live paycheck to paycheck. Even now with social security, I'm living paycheck to paycheck. My granddaughter working almost seventy hours a week with two jobs just to live in this crappy neighborhood. She's been taking classes at the local community college but that also requires more money and time. Do you think that boy will have the same struggles now that he's with you?"
Mary froze. She wouldn't let him be worked to death like that, for poor living conditions. Even after he ages out of the system, she would hope to help him get into a good college and even help him with loans if she had to. She hung her head. "My apologies. It's just...you don't know how he was after the incident. So close to death. After meeting him, and getting to know him, it's hard to think of his suffering."
"I could only imagine." The elder sighed. "We heard bits and pieces from the news and knew she was arrested."
Mary nodded. "Last I heard, her public defender is thinking of having her plead insane to get off with a lighter sentence."
"I wouldn't be surprised if that worked. She was never right in the head. All they have to do is ask around here, and everyone will let them know she was crazy. Day one of her moving in, she had let the little boy just sit in the yard until someone came to the door to remind her in the evening. What kind of woman would leave her child out at such a young age? The kind that would want him to be kidnapped of course!" The old man got agitated.
"Wait-the day she moved in?" Mary asked. "She didn't always live here?
"No, no." The old man waved his hands. He closed his eyes trying to pull an old memory out of the cobwebs of his brain. "She moved in ten years ago? Eleven? Twelve? The boy was young. Just a toddler."
"So there was no man in the picture? Or perhaps another son?" She sat on the edge. "Did anyone visit them throughout the years?"
"Just them." He replied confidently. "It's been awhile, but I remember that it was just them two. She hardly left the house unless it was a trip to the liquor store."
Mary was quiet for a second, trying to think of any other questions she could ask. "Would you happen to know where they lived before?"
"Impossible. We never outright spoke to them. Mostly just gossip around the neighbors." He tilted his head, thinking. "I can ask a few of the busybodies that stick their noses in everyone's business. Usually they would have a little more background. Leave your number with Cami." He leaned back into the recliner. "If you don't mind, all this excitement has worn me out. Cami will walk you out."
"Thank you sir!" Mary said, graciously. She stood up and followed Camila out to the front porch, sparing one last glance at the old man, who already started to nap.
"Grandfather is getting old. He needs plenty of rest." Camila explained as she closed the front door to give him quiet. She walked Mary to the street before exchanging phone numbers. "We'll call if we can find out anything, but no promises. If we receive any info, it also might not be reliable."
"That's okay. I'm just-" Looking for someone who might not even exist. "I'm just looking for more information on his father. Child services haven't been able to locate him."
Camila looked down the street in the distance. "Single-parent families aren't uncommon around here. My grandfather raised me by himself as well. I don't remember the family that use to live in my home, sorry."
"Oh, that's alright. Your grandfather already shared more than I knew before. Finding out that he and his mother lived somewhere else as well really helped." Mary smiled. "This can be consider a lead. I'll be in town for the week, visiting other places he's been like his elementary and middle schools."
Camila nodded. "I hope you find what you're looking for." She turned and went back into her grandfather's house without a goodbye. Maybe she felt some regret about not being saved as a child and having to grow up in such a shady neighborhood. Wouldn't it have been nice if she was raised by a woman like Mary too?
Mary slowly walked back to her rental car with thoughts of her own. Find what you're looking for...to her, the words sounded ominous. Did she really want to find Jake's family? Wasn't she enough for him? She pulled out her cell phone and made a call.
Wayne picked up on the first ring. "How'd it go?"
Mary let out a sigh. "Okay. I met with the new home owner, who happened to have a grandfather across the street. He shed some light of Jake's life at home and it was depressing. I'm upset and angry and want to just scream at this woman called his mom."
Wayne chuckled at his wife's frustration. "Don't push yourself. Finding them may not even be a good idea. We've talked about this last night. Jake staying with us sounds like a good idea. He seems to like it here. We like him. It's a good fit."
"But...his father's rights..."
"He gave up his rights when he left. It's not like we have to adopt Jake for him to stay with us. Things are fine as it is."
"Right." Mary sounded better. "He hasn't expressed any interest in finding his father either. Finding him could really upset Jake."
"Mary, you're just there to poke around and find out if he had an older brother or cousin, or some kind of friend or neighbor that was like a brother. Did you see any like that?"
"Not in this neighborhood." She looked around and grimaced. "It's not really a friendly looking place. Besides, the people I spoke with today told me that no one ever went over. At all. That woman had only left for alcohol runs."
"No biggie. Maybe when you visit the school, you'll find something like an older boy taking care of him during recess and lunch. It could be that simple."
"That's true, I guess. I'll be busy with Zeke tomorrow, so I'll have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday to make another trip out here."
"Good. Go back to the hotel and relax. Decompress. Everything is going to be alright."
"You're right." She started up her car. "Make sure those boys at home study hard. I better not see one C on their progress reports. In fact, after breaking the rules of the house, they better get nothing but A's on their midterms too."
"My thoughts exactly." Wayne laughed. "Love you, dear. Drive safe. Call or text when you get back to the hotel."
Mary smiled. "I will. Love you too."