“Did you ask why she thinks she is Seri’s mother?”
“No…” The Siren began to avoid his gaze.
“You panicked, didn’t you?’
“She started crying!” Killian gasped in horror. “There were no thoughts once the tears came!”
He rolled his eyes and said, “Give me the phone.”
The man held it out. Cyrus grabbed it and took the call off hold. “Hello, Ma’am, this is Director Cyrus Grimm of the North American CEB Headquarters. May I ask why you think Seri North is your son?”
“I…I know it’s him. I know. If you see me, you’ll know too. Please, I just want to meet him… Maybe I could send a picture…” She sobbed. “Please… My child was kidnapped thirty-seven years ago. I’ve been looking for so long. Please.”
He put the call on speakerphone and eyed Killian, nodding towards his computer. “What is your full name?”
“Avery Lowen… My maiden name was Avery Gray. I live in Lowville, Oregon,” she said, before quickly rattling off her full address.
Killian spun and typed away. A few seconds later, her full information popped up…but no picture… Which was an issue with these settlements. So many never got an ID Passbook.
Text popped up on Killian’s third screen.Cyrus, her name checks out as the name of the woman who reported her child missing thirty-seven years ago.
But what if she isn’t who she said she was?
“You said you can send a picture,” he drawled.
“Yes. I think…I’m using the library’s phone, but it has a camera. If you give me a number to send it to, I can…”
Killian rattled off a number.
“Okay, I’ll do it right now,” she promised.
A second later, there was a ding. Killian pulled up the message on his computer.
As the image popped up, Cyrus stared for but a moment before saying, “Can you come here?”
“Y-yes. YES!” Avery gasped. “I can come. It may take me some time, but I’ll come. I will!”
“I can’t promise you’ll meet Seri right away, or at all. I’ll need to tell him about this first…and he may choose not to meet you.”
“I’ll come. If there is a chance, I’ll come.”
Cyrus cleared his throat. “Do you need help getting here?”
Avery hesitated again before softly saying, “I may need help leaving.”
He frowned. It was an odd way to respond to that question. He thought over who he knew in that area. “I’ll send someone to pick you up. His name is Bennie Roche. He's a police officer, so you’ll be safe with him. From there, he will either bring you here himself, or arrange transportation for you.”
“Thank you… Thank you.” She sobbed a few more times before hanging up.
“Well…if she’s not his mother, she certainly is related to him.”
Cyrus eyed the picture again. “Has to be… The question is…can she be trusted?”
“Funnily enough, I determined that Seri was taken from the settlement in Oregon right before the call. Let’s look first at what we can easily see, and then we can dig.”
The man scrolled, reading her information. Killian made a slightly distressed sound, and Cyrus wrapped his arms around the man’s shoulder. “She never stopped looking for him.” Killian sniffled in a rare show of emotion. “Seri thought that no one cared.”
The Siren cleared his throat and sniffed again. “It looks like she’s lived in the Byri Nymph Settlement all her life… I hate to say it, Cyrus, but I looked this place up. I sort of hoped that this wasn’t where Seri came from, once I narrowed it down to three. I found horror stories all over the internet from those who left. Strict gender roles, spousal abuse being buried and ignored. They don’t let their members leave. Those who do are said to not be allowed to return.”
