Seen

11.

"No, that's not true. It can't be. My crew and I already did all the work and research. It's Jay McFlore." Officer Kape (question cop) denied the new guys theory, ignoring me in the back.

Don't get me wrong, I was relieved he was ignoring me.

The question cop's protest filled me with relief as well but I could tell he just refused to be proven wrong.

"No, sir." The new guy kept at his case. "It's actually this boy's father." He pointed through the crowd and over the desk to me.

"See? These pictures are evidence." He walked through the group and set the pictures down on the desk.

Everyone on the other side of the desk gathered around the laminated images.

Jake put his arm around me and led me up to the desk. I took a look at them.

It was true, the pictures of Jay's wounded face and deep cuts patched up and animated compared to a picture of my dad, looked a little bit too much like my real father.

No matter how believable these images were, the cop wouldn't back down the fact that he was right.

"It's impossible that the man is his father. He's been dead for over three years. We've covered all this. I've gotten all this information from the kid." He argued.

Then the shocking truth leaked out of the new man's mouth and I felt as though my insides exploded.

He hesitated before saying anything.

"The other crew and I have been searching around with your gathered information too and we've found that Brian Sheak is still alive but faked his own death and when the news began to spread just slightly, he changed his own life. His look, name, even his family life."

Boom!

My heart just went up in flames.

I was actually convinced for a second that I had killed my father but then I began thinking of the logic problems.

I had seen Jay's face before I'd killed him.

He's chased us around multiple times before. Also, how did this crew and the cop get Jay's face and then this guy comes barging in saying there's some resemblance between Jay and my dad and he's automatically right?

I was done. This is so stupid!

"I didn't kill my dad! I know the difference between Jay and my own father! I'm his son, I should know. I know the difference between someone who's trying to kill you, and someone who's just trying to have a father-to-son conversation! So knock off your stupid goose chase! It's Jay!" I blurted.

There was a short spell of quiet until the question cop piped up with, "He's right. I mean a little boy knows what his dad looks like, even if they haven't seen them in awhile. We can't hold that against him."

"Yes, you make a good point but are you absolutely positive that you can say this man is Jay?" He was looking at me when he asked this.

"Yes, I'm absolutely positive." I answered. "I saw Jay's face before it happened. I'd only closed my eyes after the first strike with the stick. It was him. No doubt."

He nodded slowly, accepting defeat.

I gave a crooked smile. "So it's over?"

"Sorry, kid. But, no it isn't over just yet. You have no one now? We gotta figure out your living environment now and there's still more legal terms needing discussed. That's not your concern though. Don't worry, we'll figure it out."

It had just struck me right then that we we're now legal orphans.

Why would I be relieved?

With that, I took Jake's arm, jumped over the desk as he did the same, and pushed through the crowd.

We ran through the doors and out of the building.