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ON A WEDNESDAYin mid-May Jem received a call fro him that while Levi’s file would remain open for a required period, she had written a report clearing Jem of any suspicion If there was any other report of concern, or hospital activity, that could change, she warned But she’d found no evidence that Levi was being abused and saw no reason to continue an active investigation

She did suggest that he and his ex-wife consider going back to counseling to e her emotions so that she could be around her son more often

And she gave no indication who’d called her to make the mistaken report in the first place It had to have been the hospital A protocol thing due to the number of visits

Before she’d hung up, Lacey had told hi to know him and his family

He wished he could say the same about her

Yetover the next couple of weeks, he thought of herhow relieved he was to have her out of his life

As he grilled hot dogs for his son, he wondered what Lacey did when she was off work Was she close to her twin? Did she have a big faether and perfect and never at risk of having so you’d worked so hard to build?

Not that hesorry for himself

Of course, it didn’t help that Tressa was in needy mode with an out-of-control job situation

Or that his parents, ere solidly settled in Georgia, where Je to be in LA soht it would be nice if he offered her a place to stay It didn’t matter to them that Santa Raquel was an hour north of the city

Or that Je had never been close

Fa to them As evidenced by the fact that both his randparents lived within five miles of his mom and dad They all went to the same church, the one Jem had been raised in

He supposed fa to him, too, in spite of the fact that he hadn’t been able to wait to get out of Georgia and, as soon as he’d graduated high school, had packed up for the college as far froet and still be in eather

He called his sister and invited her to stay with hi in her ear while JoAnne was in town His sister made him nervous

Fa to hi to spend four hours out on the golf course one Friday toward the end of May