275 Decision 3 (1/2)

(Third person perspective)

Mrs. Atkins had stepped into the office and took a seat. Dr. Moore sat behind the desk after closing the door. He began to explain his suspicions to her as Mr. Atkins was pulled up on speaker phone. To say she was shocked would be an understatement. She was overwhelmed.

”Have either of you reached out to Doug yet?” She asked.

Dr. Moore leaned back in his seat. ”I have. Last night after Wayne and Jake left, I made a courtesy call to Doug to give an update on Jake and then to inform him of my suspicions. As I've told Wayne before, this might not be his actual brother. A cousin or older neighbor boy are possible options too.”

”What did Doug say?”

”That he would look into it. He's going to check some hospital records and see if the mom is listed on any other birth certificates, and if there's a father listed for that child then maybe we'll have a potential match.”

Mrs. Atkins took in a deep breath of air, then slowly let it out. ”What would you want us to do on our trip then? I'm the one going with Zeke.”

Dr. Moore gave her a sympathetic look. ”You don't have to, if you're too busy or if you just don't want to. I was just going to suggest you stop by his old place of residence. Maybe you can peek into his old life and find a clue.”

”I thought Child Protective Services already did that?” Mr. Atkins asked over the phone.

”Oh, I'm sure they gathered or at least went through everything at that house. I've gotten a list of items but nothing had seen pertinent. They weren't very materialistic. Mostly because his mother had little to no money. Most looked to be spent on alcohol.” Dr. Moore looked at Mrs. Atkins in the eye. ”You know Jake on a more personal level than these strangers that were only looking for clues to who his father could be. Maybe you can ask around the neighborhood if anyone knew of another boy in the house? Maybe even stop by his elementary or middle school if you can?”

Mrs. Atkins nodded. ”I will. Can you or Doug send me the addresses? I'll have some free time while Zeke is with each school. I'd also like to see how Jake lived before moving up here.”

Dr. Moore replied in the affirmative. ”We'll make a list of potential stops. I'll send you an email tonight or tomorrow.” He paused. ”I want to remind you that this is all just speculation for now. Just because I feel this nagging suspicion doesn't mean it'll be true. There's always a chance that Jake is just an only child and for all we know his dad could be dead by now.” He let out a sigh. ”That's also something I think about when coming to terms that Doug still hasn't found any clues about his identity. There can only be two possibilities: he's dead or he doesn't want to be found.”

”Why wouldn't he want to be found?”

Dr. Moore shrugged. ”There could be many reasons from hiding from his ex and child support to him breaking the law. I just want you both to keep an open mind and try not to fixate on this too much.”

Mrs. Atkins nodded, wary of what was to come.