Beside the Hollow Oak: A Savannah Sleuth Mystery by Veronica Mixon

Author:Veronica Mixon [Mixon, Veronica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sapelo Publishing
Published: 2025-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

THE HESITATION

Truth doesn’t always hide in silence—sometimes it hides in the pauses before the answer.

I followed Graham from the kitchen onto the porch. He slid into a rocker chair. “JP, do you mind if I put you on speaker? I’m outside and it’s easier hands-free.”

“Sure,” JP’s voice came across as steady but cautious.

“I keep thinking back to what you told me the other day,” Graham said, leaning back. “About how learning about Walker’s birth and you being the father blindsided you. Just to be clear—you didn’t know about Theresa being pregnant before the kidnapping?”

He’d softened the question just enough to sound like concern, not accusation. Classic Graham.

“That’s right,” JP said.

“See, the reason I ask—” Graham let the pause stretch, his tone easy. “We heard there were rumors once she started showing. Talk around school was that you two might’ve hooked up over Thanksgiving break, and then she turned up pregnant. Typical high school rumors. Did you ever hear anything like that?”

Silence on the line—just long enough to make my pen hover.

“No,” JP said finally. “I never heard that.”

“Never?” Graham pressed, still casual.

“No,” JP repeated, his voice firmer now. “Not from her, not from anybody.”

Graham raised a brow in my direction. He’d caught the hesitation, too but he kept his voice easy. “All right. Just thought I’d ask. What about when you came home on break? Did you see her then?”

Another pause. “No. I told you that I never saw her again.”

“Okay. But what about just in passing, like if she were walking around town, or in the grocery, or something like that.”

I noted the pause–– too long again.

“No. I never ran into her again.”

“You’re sure?” Graham asked.

“Positive,” JP said, though the word landed heavy, as if it cost him something. “I was busy with classes, work, basketball—everything. I didn’t have time to chase a high school girl I hardly knew. We were practically strangers.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say strangers, exactly. Not in the biblical sense anyway,” Graham said. “But I’m curious, if you had known Theresa was pregnant, what would you have done?”

“What difference does that make?” JP shot back. “I didn’t know.”

The line went quiet. After a few seconds, JP cleared his throat. “Look, I’ve got to go.”

The call disconnected. Graham slid his phone in his pocket. “Well, that was interesting.”

“Interesting’s one word for it,” I murmured.

Graham rubbed his forehead. “Men rarely admit to suspicions that could tie them to this kind of responsibility on the first pass. If he got wind that she was pregnant, I don’t think he’d say so now.”

“He hesitated,” I said. “For a minute, I wondered if he would admit seeing Theresa or hearing the rumor, and at least wondering if the baby was his. His hesitation tells me more than his denial.”

We walked back into the kitchen.

Wren and Maragret looked up. “Get anything interesting?”

“Nothing definite,” I said. “We need to make a list of JP Sammons’ friends—back in Chattanooga, and also from college. If he confided in anyone, I doubt it was his mother or his pastor.

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