Authors: Etienne
I heard the phone ringing in the kitchen and dashed up the rest of the stairs and across the room just in time.
“George,” a voice said, “Martha Plott here.”
“Hi, Martha, what’s up?”
“I have something you need. Robbie’s kindergarten records were just handed to me.”
“How long will you be in your office?”
“Another hour or two.”
“I’ll be right there. Give me the address.”
“You’ll be right where?” Mike asked when I hung up.
“Martha’s office. She just got hold of Robbie’s kindergarten records.”
“Let’s go. We can do the Wally World thing while we’re in town.”
We secured the house and headed down the mountain in the truck, and half an hour later I was standing in Martha’s office.
“You didn’t waste any time,” she said.
“This is important, so we hurried.”
“We?”
“Mike and Robbie are in the truck, waiting.”
“There’s not a lot in these printouts,” she said, “but such as they are, they’re yours.”
She handed me a small bundle of printouts, and I said, “How did you get them?”
“That program was shut down after school ended in December, and I’ve been trying for months to track down the people who ran it. Robbie’s not the only child whose records are needed by others.”
I skimmed the documents. “Well, this is more than we had before,” I said, “and there’s a couple of vital pieces of information here.”
“What’s that?”
“His social security number, some standard test results, and his record of immunizations.”
“I expect his new school will be interested in the test results.”
“No doubt. He’s pretty smart, can count to one hundred, and knows his alphabet. He can also read a bit, and we purchased some phonics CDs and have been working with him on that.”
“Good. Going into a new school, it’s hard to know what to expect, so the better prepared he is, the better he’ll do.”
“Thanks again, Martha, for everything. I expect we’ll see you guys in October, if not before.”
“We’ll look forward to it, George.”
I got in the truck and said to Mike, who was driving, “Next stop, Wally World.”
We found what we needed at Walmart and went back to the cabin. I left Mike and Robbie there and took the truck back to Robbie’s former home. In no time, I had padlocks in place and “No Trespassing” signs on the front of the house and at the entrance to the driveway.
On the way back to the cabin, I stopped by Lucinda’s house and gave her a set of keys to the new locks. At the cabin, I found my two guys on the deck lying in the hammock. The grill had a fire going in it, but it wasn’t quite ready for cooking.
“Steak or chicken?” I said.
“We had a pretty big lunch, so chicken breasts should be more than enough.”
“I’ll go get the rest of it started.”
“Go for it. Robbie and I are quite comfortable.”
Before I started work in the kitchen, I retrieved the camera, went back to the deck, and took several photos of them in the hammock.
We spent a quiet evening at the cabin and a very quiet Saturday enjoying our last day of vacation. We took Robbie to see his grandmother after lunch on Saturday, and he spent half an hour with her. We considered, and then decided against, taking him to the cemetery to visit his mother’s grave, as we weren’t at all certain of his reaction.
T
HE
burglar, dressed in black as usual, waited in the shrubbery by the garage. It was nearly nine, and he knew that his intended victim would be backing out of the garage anytime now. He had more than a passing acquaintance with the man and his habits, having spent two weeks as a guest in the house in the recent past.
He heard the whine of the garage door motor and watched the door slide up and out of sight. A late-model Lincoln Town Car backed quickly out of the garage and down the driveway, not waiting for the garage door to close. With precise timing, the burglar did a quick roll and tuck under the door before it touched down on the concrete. The Town Car was already out of sight.
He went straight to and through the kitchen door and looked at the alarm panel. He was in luck—at least half the time the owner of the house didn’t bother to set the alarm, and tonight was one of those times. The guy usually stayed at the bar a couple of hours. Add to that the half hour travel time each way, and he had at least three hours to pick and choose the valuables he was after.
In the living room, where the valuable porcelain collection was on display, he began to carefully wrap the fragile pieces in towels he had removed from the owner’s bathroom. He had just finished stuffing one canvas bag full of goodies when he heard the unmistakable sound of the garage door being opened. Shit, the old fart had come home unexpectedly. He grabbed a heavy brass bookend from a shelf and hurried to the kitchen, where he stationed himself behind the door leading to the garage.
W
E
WERE
on the road by seven Sunday morning, which put us in our driveway a little before four. I was surprised to see the twins’ car in the driveway, as I’d figured they would be at work. They heard the door opening and came down the hall to greet us.
“Hi, Robbie,” Zeb said.
“How are you doing?” Zeke said.
“Hi,” Robbie said.
“We’ve got your room all cleaned up for you,” Zeb said.
“Have you guys already moved into the Forbes Street house?” I said.
“Yep,” Zeke said.
“You mean you’ve already rounded up furniture and everything?”
“Yes, Sir. With four of us pitching in, it didn’t take that long or cost that much for each of us. Actually, Josh and Norm already had bedroom furniture, and we got the rest of it at thrift stores.”
“I guess we’d better draft a rental agreement, then.”
“Make it for one year,” Zeke said. “That’s what we’ve agreed to.”
“Okay,” Mike said, “now that we’ve got that settled, let’s get the truck unloaded.”
Zeb led Thor to the backyard, and Zeke carried Robbie’s belongings to his room while Mike and I carried in the ice chest that contained the perishable items from the cabin’s refrigerator.
Zeb came back from the yard, and I said, “Why don’t you take Robbie out to the backyard to play with Thor and then come back so we can talk.”
“Sure. Come on, Robbie, the backyard is great, and Thor loves to run around in it.”
He took Robbie by the hand and led him to the back door, returning a few minutes later. “Okay, guys,” I said, “let’s have the full story.”
“There’s no story. We really like Norm and Josh, and we think we’re ready to settle down.”
“Have you told your mother?”
“We talked to her today after lunch.”
“And?”
“She seemed to be okay with it. Wants to come visit us and check out Norm and Josh.”
We walked out into the backyard to see what was going on. Thor was running around in circles, and Robbie was chasing him. “I guess Thor has a new favorite playmate,” Zeb said.
“Yep,” Mike said. “That’s for sure.”
“Did he really see his father kill his mother?” Zeke said.
“Unfortunately,” I said. “He doesn’t like to talk about it, and he still has nightmares once in a while. It’s going to be a while before he gets over everything that’s happened to him.”
I noticed Frances coming across her backyard toward the fence, so I walked over to talk to her. “Glad you guys got home okay,” she said. “Who’s the little boy?”
“As of Friday, he’s ours,” I said.
“Yours?”
I told her the whole story and said, “Let me call him over to meet you.”
“Robbie,” I called, “come over here for a minute.”
He ran over to me and looked up at Frances.
“This is Mrs. Tumblin. She lives in the house next door. Mrs. Tumblin, this is Robbie,” I said.
“Nice to meet you, Robbie,” she said. “I’d shake hands with you, but this fence is a little too high for that. I hope your new daddies will let me take care of you sometime.”
He ran back to play with Thor and the twins, and she said, “You will let me babysit, won’t you?”
“Of course, but not for free. We’ll pay you whatever the going rate is.”
“Starting when?”
“Well,” I said, “Mike and I both have to work tomorrow, although he could take Robbie with him to his office.”
“Don’t even think about it. What are you going to do about school?”
“We’re going to try to get him into St. Mark’s, if they’re not full.”
“That’s expensive.”
“Yeah, I looked at their Web site, and it’s pretty expensive.”
“On the other hand,” she said, “he’ll get the best education around.”
“That’s true, and we’re committed to making that happen.”
“I’ll talk to you and Mike later about specifics for tomorrow and the rest of the week.”
“Thanks,” I said. “We appreciate it.”
We took Robbie inside the house and showed him where everything was. He seemed to like his room and dug Andy out of his bag and put him on the pillow.
“Have you guys eaten?” I said to the twins.
“Not yet,” Zeb said. “We were sort of waiting to see what you wanted to do.”
“Why don’t we go over to The Loop? I’ve kind of got a yen for a grilled chicken sandwich as only they can do it.”
“Sure,” Zeb said. “We’ll meet you there. Can we bring Josh and Norm?”
“Sure.”
We settled down on the deck at The Loop and enjoyed our sandwiches. Robbie was fascinated by everything in sight, especially the St. Johns River, which could be seen from the deck—he’d never seen a body of water larger than Lake Junaluska. The twins and their new boyfriends seemed very relaxed with us and with each other, and Robbie seemed especially fascinated by Josh.
“I’ve never met a blind person before,” Robbie said.
“Well,” Josh said, “you have now, and I hope we can be friends.”
Robbie proceeded to pepper Josh with questions about what it was like to be blind, which Josh answered with incredible patience. We finished our meal, and the guys said goodbye and headed for Forbes Street. Back at our house, we settled down in the den.
Frances came over after Robbie was asleep, and we worked out a suitable arrangement for babysitting from now until school started. At bedtime, Mike and I walked down the hall and looked in on Robbie. He was sound asleep in his new bed, one arm wrapped tightly around Andy the panda.
“What are we going to do about the Y tomorrow morning?” I said once we were in bed.
“You go work out in the morning,” he said. “I’ll pass until tomorrow, but since you’re going to be there, why don’t you check with the staff? I think they have some sort of child care thing going, but I don’t know whether it’s for all day or for while you’re working out or both.”
“Okay, and I’ll call the school tomorrow morning and inquire about class availability.”
“What if they’re booked up?”
“There are two or three other Episcopal schools in town, and any of them would be head and shoulders above the public schools, not to mention the so-called “Christian” schools, most of which are largely fundamentalist in nature.”
“Okay, I can live with that.”
The next morning I went to the Y by myself and on to work, leaving Mike to deal with things at the house. I learned at the Y that their “KidZone” program included babysitting while members worked out, and their hours began as soon as the Y opened.
My desk, as expected, was overflowing with paperwork, so I got a cup of coffee and dug in. I took a midmorning break to call Episcopal Day School and was pleased to learn that they had two openings in September. I committed to one of them immediately, subject to their approval of our application, and called Mike to tell him the good news.
When my three lieutenants filed into my office for the Monday staff meeting, I told them that I had an announcement to make of a personal nature and that I would do so when the meeting was over. Clever me—they were just curious enough that the meeting lasted an hour less than it might otherwise have. Most of the meeting was devoted to the series of burglaries involving older gay men and their frustration with the lack of progress on the cases.
When we were finished, Janet said, “Okay, boss, what’s this personal announcement thing? You’re not taking early retirement, are you?”
I laughed and said, “Hardly that. As a matter of fact, I’ve just made a commitment that will definitely preclude early retirement.”
“Don’t screw with our heads, Captain,” David said. “Out with it.”
“Okay,” I said. “It began when Thor started acting funny as soon as we got to the cabin on Saturday two weeks ago.”
I took them through the whole story, right up to the somewhat contentious adoption hearing. “And that’s the announcement,” I said.
“Holy shit,” David said, “that’s one hell of an announcement.”
“When do we get to meet Robbie?” Janet said.
“In good time. The kid has been through a lot, what with seeing his mother killed and having his life turned upside down. He still has an occasional nightmare, and we’re trying very hard not to overwhelm him with too much new stuff at a time.”
“Why don’t you have Mike bring him by the office one afternoon near quitting time?” Gregg said. “That way you can show him off.”
“We can do that.”
“Have you got a picture?” Janet said.
“I’ll send you an e-mail of one I took on the deck of the cabin showing Mike and Robbie in the double hammock.”
They left, I got back to work, and by five o’clock I had made a barely noticeable dent in the paperwork, but I decided to go home anyway. Robbie ran to greet me at the door and gave me a big hug.
“Hi, there, big boy,” I said. “Did you have a good time today?”
“Yes, Sir. Mrs. Tumblin is a nice lady, and she made me hot dogs for lunch.”
“Cool. Come tell me all about it while I change clothes.”
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9 •
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FOLLOWED
me into the bedroom and kept up a running commentary of his day while I put on shorts and a T-shirt. In the kitchen I found Mike at the stove busily fixing dinner, so I gave him a quick kiss and sat down at the kitchen table.