Title: Mute Witness
Author: Rick R. Reed
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: November 9, 2020
Length: 97900
Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQIA+, established couple, men with children, family drama, contemporary, crime
Add to Goodreads
Synopsis
Sean and Austin have the perfect life. Their new relationship is only made more joyous by weekend visits from Sean’s eight-year-old son, Jason.
And then their perfect world shatters.
Jason is missing.
When the boy turns up days later, he has been abused and has lost the power to speak. Small town minds turn to the boy’s gay father and his lover as the likely culprits. Sean and Austin struggle to maintain their relationship amid the innuendo and the threat that Sean will lose the son he loves. Meanwhile, the real villain is close to home, intent on ensuring the boy’s muteness is permanent.
Mute Witness
Rick R. Reed © 2020
All Rights Reserved
Portrait of a Bigot
One of the most reprehensible characters in Mute Witness is Estelle Berry, grandmother to the young boy who’s abducted and abused at the start of the book. The excerpt below is typical of her mindset—and how her feelings are really nothing more than fear-based hate. Rest assured, thinking like Estelle’s does not emerge victorious in Mute Witness.
—-
Shelley hurried to quiet the ringing of the phone, hoping it was Sean who was calling. It seemed only his voice would be acceptable.
But it wasn’t Sean.
“Honey? How are you?”
It was Mom. The woman didn’t possess the sensitivity to appreciate Jason’s small steps, so there was really nothing to tell her. She tried to keep the annoyance out of her voice. “Hi, Mom. Everything’s still status quo. Jason is holding his own.” The words were becoming practiced. She could say them without thinking.
“Well, dear, it’ll take time. By this time next week, I bet you’ll be telling me some good news.”
“God, I hope so.” Shelley glanced out the window, wondered where Paul was.
“Listen, honey, I was calling for a reason.”
Shelley closed her eyes, already not liking the serious tone of her mother’s voice. She knew the woman only wanted to help, but—
“What is it, Mom?”
“Well, I was wondering about Sean.”
“What about him?”
“Are you leaving him alone with Jason?”
Shelley shrugged. “Sure, when he comes over, I give him some time with Jason. Is there something wrong with that?”
“Don’t you think there is?”
Although she knew very well what her mother was getting at, she said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Her mother snapped, “I think you do,” then softened her tone. “Well, you know, Sean’s a, um, homosexual. You know.”
Shelley could practically hear her mother squirming on the other end. She knew how hard it must have been for the woman to pronounce the word “homosexual.” Throughout her divorce, Shelley had listened to her mom’s railings against Sean, the quoting of biblical scripture against men lying with men and, most hurtfully, her urgings to deny Sean any kind of visitation based on the fact that he was, um, homosexual. Used in Estelle’s arguments were the fears that such men could not be trusted around little boys, and how Sean had deliberately duped her when he married her. After all, Estelle had asked her, hadn’t there been men in his life before she came along? Shelley herself had told her mother that. He was just using her when he married her.
“I just think, with his… desires… he might not be so safe around the boy.”
“I think I can judge that.”
“No, Shelley, I don’t think you can. You’re in a fragile state of mind. And God only knows why, but you’ve always given that man the benefit of the doubt.”
“Sean loves Jason. He’s his father.”
“I know that! But doesn’t it ever cross your mind that it might have been him? After all, Jason was—oh, I can’t bring myself to say it. But that’s what men like Sean like.”
Shelley sighed, groping on the counter for her cigarettes. She lit one and sucked in hard on the smoke. She felt a perverse desire to shock her mother. “Sean likes to fuck other men, Mother. Not little boys.”
The statement got the gasp Shelley was after. “Oh, Shelley. I hardly think we need to use such language.”
“And I hardly think we need to be having this discussion. Sean would never do anything to hurt Jason.”
“Leaving him wasn’t hurting him?”
“No, I mean….” Shelley stopped herself, flustered.
“And even if it wasn’t Sean, how do you know you can trust his… friend? What’s his name?”
“Austin.” Shelley conjured up an image of the blond young man, handsome, broad shouldered, with the kind of blue eyes that once would have made Shelley stop and stare. Her competition. The one who had stolen Sean away. Except that wasn’t true. When she and Sean split up, there was no one in the picture. Austin had come along after the final divorce papers had been signed; after, in fact, she had started seeing Paul.
“How do you know it wasn’t him?”
“I just do.” Shelley wanted to slam the phone down, but she could never do that. Estelle was, after all, her mother.
“I think your certainty is blinding you to the danger of those two men. I think they, or one of them, probably are responsible. And you should at least consider that. Even if they’re not responsible, I think you should at least consider it. Think about your child, honey.”
Shelley suddenly felt trapped, as if the weight of this whole tragedy had suddenly come down on her shoulders. She knew Sean would never do such a thing to his son, and Austin… well, that just wasn’t what homosexuals were about, was it? Wasn’t there a word for men who liked children? Pedophiles. Homosexuals were not pedophiles.
“I think it would at least be wise to keep the two of them away from Jason, at least until we find out who is responsible.”
“Mom, I can’t do that.”
Estelle’s voice became shrill. “You mean you won’t. How can you call yourself a caring mother?”
“That’s enough.”
“No, I’m afraid it isn’t. Maybe you’re right. Maybe there’s a good chance you’re right. But you have to admit there’s a chance that my fears aren’t groundless. And a good mother wouldn’t let even the tiniest chance slip by her. If they did have something to do with it, God knows what their presence might be doing to that boy. Maybe even preventing him from getting well. If they did have something to do with what happened to Jason, then seeing them might just send him back. Every time.”
Shelley lowered her head, feeling the tears gathering, the lump forming in her throat. She was sick of crying. She replaced the phone in its cradle, cutting off her mother’s voice.
Purchase
NineStar Press | Books2Read Universal Link
Amazon
Real Men. True Love.
Rick R. Reed is an award-winning and bestselling author of more than fifty works of published fiction. He is a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Entertainment Weekly has described his work as “heartrending and sensitive.” Lambda Literary has called him: “A writer that doesn’t disappoint…” Find him at www.rickrreedreality.blogspot.com. Rick lives in Palm Springs, CA, with his husband, Bruce, and their fierce Chihuahua/Shiba Inu mix, Kodi.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
