Suspicions by Christine Kersey

said, tugging Stacey’s
arm.
    “Just a minute, honey.” Stacey knelt in front
of Robby. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
    He told her what he saw.
    Shocked her son had been a witness to Kyle’s
abduction, Stacey felt the blood drain from her face. “Can you tell
me what the car looked like?”
    Screwing up his face in concentration, he
said, “I think it was brown and it looked kinda old.” He looked to
her for approval
    “Good, Robby. What else can you remember? Did
it have four doors like ours or was it smaller?”
    “It was smaller than our car.” His face lit
up. “I remember! On the back part? You know, the trunk?” She
nodded. “Well, on the lid part of the trunk it was all red. Like it
didn't really go to that car.” He stood taller, somehow proud he
had remembered that detail.
    “Are you sure it was a brown car with a red
trunk?”
    He nodded, smiling. “Yes, Mom. 'Cause I
thought it looked so funny to have two different colors on one
car.”
    She barely got out a whisper. “Good job,
honey. We'd better get you guys to class.”
    He tilted his head. “Are you okay, Mom?”
    “I’m fine. Now let’s get you to school before
the bell rings.”
    Walking home, she thought back many years and
recalled climbing into a little brown car to go out on a date. It
was almost brand new then. Jason had been so proud of his car and
so upset when they had come back from their hike to find that a
huge branch had fallen off the tall redwood tree, right onto the
trunk.
    He couldn't afford to have it replaced with a
new one so he had gone to a junkyard to find a replacement for the
damaged trunk lid. The only problem was, it didn't match the rest
of the car and he didn't have enough money left to buy a can of
brown paint. After a while he had gotten used to the different
colors and even after he could afford to buy paint he chose not to
because of all the good memories associated with that car, just the
way it was.
    Stacey had finally made him get rid of it
several years before. At least he had told her he had gotten rid of
it.
    “What a strange coincidence,” she murmured as
she entered her home.
    Preparing to go over to Amanda’s house to
report this important piece of information, she wondered if it was
possible that Jason’s old car had been used in Kyle’s
kidnapping.
    How bizarre, she thought, that someone we
know would have her child kidnapped using a car we once owned.
    Then, with unexpected clarity, she recalled
the conversation from the night before. She heard Jason say, “I
knew they had at least one million. But two! Wow! I never guessed
they had that much money.”
    Halfway to the front door, she stopped. Why
would he have been guessing how much money the Stone's had? They
had never talked about the Stone's financial worth before. How long
had he been thinking about it? And why did the amount the
kidnappers had asked for match the amount Jason thought the Stone's
had?
    And why, she wondered, wouldn't he let the
police talk to Robby last night? Did he know about Robby's
observations? Or was he really just concerned for Robby's
well-being? And he said he'd been running an errand on the very
afternoon of the kidnapping.
    Then, a comment Jason had made a few weeks
before crept into her memory. Once again, they had been discussing
their growing pile of bills and Jason had said almost to himself,
“There must be something I can do to get my hands on a large amount
of cash. Something quick and easy.” When she had asked him what he
meant, he’d shaken his head and said, “Nothing. Nevermind.”
    Could Jason be involved? She wondered. She
shook her head and said out loud, “Let’s just look at this
rationally, Stacey.” He told me he sold that car to the dealership
where he works. Someone probably bought it and this is all just a
horrible coincidence.
    Or, she thought, as a cold finger of fear
danced up her spine, he could have stored it on the back lot. He
had seemed reluctant to get rid of that