It seemed with Alecis' intervention allowed them access. Jesse couldn't help but look to the lavender haired woman with surprise. It seemed she could force her hand when need be, and he could admire that fact. Jesse had no qualms with sitting down. He pulled a seat out from the dining room table and took a seat, and it seemed the aunt followed his carefree nature. It seemed a suitable setting for their interrogation. Jesse turned back to Alecis and gestured for her to take the seat beside him if she so chose. But rather than wait for her to make a move, he opted to make the jump and begin the interrogation process. He figured the angle that he and Alecis would take was the good cop/bad cop route, so he fell right into the whole good cop spiel.

"Tell us, do you have any kids of your own? I'm sure the idea of any of them going missing would be absolutely heartbreaking, don't you think?"

As he glanced around, he did notice some things out of the ordinary, like the way a crudely drawn dinosaur in crayon sat on the fridge with a magnet. Likely a gift or perhaps something else? The aunt didn't seem to reply to his attempt to pry and get her guard down. Nonetheless, he took another glance at the photo, and then at the aunt, and gave a chuckle not so much out of amusement, but more so one out of surprise.

"Oh? He's got red hair like you. Does that run on you and your sister's side of the family? Because I saw his mother was naturally blonde."

Perhaps that thoughtless comment at the end was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Because not long after he said it, the aunt snapped at him. 'That's not even his mother!' Jesse blinked in surprise. That was a rather bold claim. And besides, why did she seem so confident in her answer? Perhaps the son was from a previous partnership that his father had. But given how the woman whom they originally thought the mother was seemed to show negativity towards the idea of her sister -- the aunt -- it almost felt like it ran just a little deeper than that. He looked to Alecis for some guidance. Perhaps it was time for her to push the bad cop tactic.

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ALECIS SAMPERIO

"Wait just a tick," he interjected.

They weren't quite done with their work there. Just why did the woman have the young man in the first place? More importantly, why did she dare to keep him in her home? Surely there were smarter places to hide a kidnapped victim. It wasn't right of them to simply leave the situation as is. With the way the child showed no harm, it seemed he went willingly. But how was it so that they managed to gather a famous pokeathalon athlete without the athlete himself knowing that his absence didn't bode well for his career? Then again, he was just a young thing, so maybe he didn't understand the weight of his public image just yet.

"Why keep him here? Surely your husband would have known and reported you."

She quickly retorted that her husband was away for business in the Sinnoh region. That much explained why there weren't any alerts to the child's whereabouts before. It wasn't long before their suspect disappeared to go gather the young boy's things. Jesse approached the kid and ruffled his hair a bit, then looked to Alecis with an eased smile. He wasn't much of a detective, but he knew stressors when he saw them. His work allowed him to get in tune with people and their emotions. Even more so, their gossip. Word on the street was that the boy before him was a product of infidelity. But that wasn't what led him to his shot in the dark.

"Did you notice how uninterested the woman we thought his mother was had been acting? It just showed she didn't care where the boy went, and that doesn't seem very motherly to me. The father was the one who seemed most worried. I didn't even piece together this guy could be the aunt's kid until just a few seconds ago."

He gave a shrug of his shoulders and then looked up to the aunt whom had returned. Rather than continue on with Alecis' bad cop stance, he followed with his own suggestion. Hopefully rather than pull a stunt like this again, the aunt would likely consider her stance. It was obvious she wasn't in the act for the money, rather she just wanted to spend time with her nephew, who actually turned out to be her biological son. Jesse couldn't fault her for that. In fact, he kind of sympathized with her.

"You know, if you want to see the kid more often, you could file for visitation. You didn't have to go to these extremes."

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ALECIS SAMPERIO

It seemed they had no further reason to stay, so Jesse gave a nod to excuse the three of them. He made sure to gather the boy's things so they could give them off to the parents -- it seemed amusing to see Alecis simply toddle about with the young athlete. But the sooner they could get him home, the better. Jesse dug his keys from his pocket and unlocked his car. He placed the boy's belongings on one side of the backseat and watched as the kid hopped into the other, unoccupied spot.

"Make sure to buckle yourself in, we're hoping to get you back to your parents in a stable condition," he only partially joked.

Once everyone was present and accounted for, Jesse made the tedious drive back to the young athlete's home. Every once and a while, he glanced at the rear view mirror to see the kid just kicking his feet and enjoying the lollipop he had, almost like he had no care in the world. How blissfully ignorant, Jesse felt a twinge of pity for the kid. But at least this wasn't a traumatic end to the case. He didn't really have much to say, so the drive remained unfortunately quiet on his behalf other than brief 'mhm's and 'huh's to things Alecis mentioned -- not that he was disinterested, merely that he was focused on driving.

"Think you know what you want to put down in the report?" he asked as they finally reached the home.

While they had another incident on their hands with this, they could just sweep it under the rug so they didn't have to waste more time than they did on the matter. It's not like they were under any legal obligation to tell anyone the kid was technically kidnapped. Did Jesse really care? Given the boy was still intact and showed no signs of harm, he couldn't have cared less.

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ALECIS SAMPERIO

He supposed Alecis was right. It would likely be a waste of time to really do much further. But this was a situation he could only assume would repeat itself. It was something that didn't sit right with him, and he felt the 'mother' had more to do with it than she let on. They found the kid though and that's all they were tasked with. The blonde exhaled a sharp breath to show he was a little annoyed with the ordeal, but he knew there was nothing more they could do. Instead he loosened his grip on the steering wheel a bit and glanced over to Alecis again.

"There's just something about it that doesn't sit right with me, but you make a point. We're just wasting our time and risking getting too involved. I guess I just know how this is all gonna pan out in the end: the kid's seemingly happy home just breaks apart and it sucks to see it, Cici."

It was rare when he called her by any nicknames, perhaps that was his way of showing his sincerity in the matter. Jesse took a breath in and turned his attention forward again. Maybe she had a point, maybe they were both just tired and he was being emotional over nothing. Rather than dwell on it any longer, he did the proper thing and just drove off. He hoped they didn't have to get wrapped up in this shit again in the near future.

[thread end]

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ALECIS SAMPERIO