Diana Anderson - Entering Southern Country 01 - Famous in a Small Town (18 page)

Cal watched him walk out of the room and head down the hallway. He took his hat off, headed toward his office, and closed the door behind him. He walked over to his desk and tossed his hat down. He eyed the paperback, and then sat down, and picked it up. After a moment of hesitation, he opened it where he’d left off and began to read.

48

Ted had called the sheriff’s department and had been told that Raven was home. He had been relieved to hear that and had decided to finish his work day. After seeing his last patient of the day, he left his office and headed home.

He pulled into the entrance of his driveway, but had to wait until several people moved out of his way. He rolled down his window.

Before he could ask anything, one of the reporters stuck a microphone in his face and asked, “Dr. Wallace? Can you tell us why Raven Sawyer was arrested last night?”

He eyed the man a moment, shoved the microphone away, and rolled up his window. He drove up to his house, got out, and hurried inside. He stood in the foyer a moment and tried to take in what had just happened.

He noticed that the dog didn’t come to greet him as usual. He walked into the den and glanced around the room. He headed for the kitchen to look out on the patio. He found Maggie sitting on a barstool and preparing a salad.

“Hello, Maggie,” he said and walked to the patio door. He looked out.

Callie was reclining on a chaise lounge with a tall drink in her hand.

“Hello,” Maggie replied.

“Is Raven in her room?” He looked back at Maggie.

Maggie shook her head. “No, sir. She’s gone.”

“Oh, when will she be back?”

Maggie shrugged her shoulders. “I doubt Miss Raven will be back.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Sir, you know I don’t like to get into y’all’s personal business.” She clenched her teeth and tore a hunk of lettuce apart. “I try to mind my own, and lately I can’t seem to do that privately.”

“Maggie, I’m asking you to please tell me where she went?”

Maggie tossed the lettuce in the bowl, picked up a dishtowel, and wiped her hands. “She didn’t say where she was going.”

“Why did she leave?”

Without saying a word, Maggie cut her eyes toward the patio and nodded her head in that direction.

He turned, opened the patio door, and stepped out. He walked over to where Callie was seated and stood beside her.

She sipped her drink through a long straw. She looked up at him and batted her eyelashes. “Why, Ted, when did you get home?”

“Where’s Raven?”

“Aren’t you going to give me a kiss hello?”

He put his hands on his hips and stared down at her. “I asked you a question.”

She looked away and shrugged. “Who knows where she went off to? I’m just glad that she took the dog with her. Why, she didn’t even tell her momma goodbye.” She poked out her bottom lip.

He turned on his heel and walked away.

“Where are you going?” she called out.

He didn’t respond but went back inside, through the house, and out the front door. He got back into his car and drove away.

49

Janie set a plate with a hamburger and French fries on it in front of Cal and then sat down in the booth across from him.

“I told you, Mom, I’m not hungry.” He slid the plate aside.

“Son, you’ve got to eat something.”

He shook his head. “I don’t have an appetite.”

“What’s going on? You come in here all down in the mouth and didn’t say a word of hello to anyone who’d greeted you. That’s not like you, Cal.”

“I just wanted to sit here, and drink a decent cup of coffee, and be left alone.”

“Well, if you really wanted to be left alone, you’d have gone on home instead of coming in here. Now tell me, what’s going on?”

He stared down into his coffee cup. His jaw muscles worked. “That book.”

“What book?”

He looked up at her. “The one you gave me to read.”

“Oh,
that
book. Did you read it?” She folded her arms on the table.

“Yeah.” He looked back down at his cup again.

“All of it?”

He nodded.

“What’d you think? Truth or fiction?” She leaned in closer to him.

“For the most part truth, but …”

“I know. The rest is kind of hard to swallow, huh?”

“You got that right.”

“Have you asked her if it’s all true?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know how to ask her that. I know the ending
isn’t
true.”

“The part where she gets killed and the killer hides her body?”

“Yeah, that part.”

“Well, if the other is true, it’s nothing to be ashamed about. You’re only accountable for what you know, not what you don’t know.” She studied him a moment. “Cal?”

He looked up at her.

“She has the sorriest mother that ever lived, and you know it. Now, the day Agnes, I mean Raven, left here … what … six years ago? She knew then. The book says so. I’d imagine how she felt then, is how you’re feeling right now.” She thought a moment. “And she’s probably feeling it all over again being back here. I mean, why’d she come back? She should have let the dead bury the dead.”

“She had to come back. She probably felt that if she didn’t go on pretending that Virgil was her real father someone might get suspicious and find out. When she arrived, she probably thought that she would have a quick funeral for him and then get the heck out of town before anyone ever knew she had even been here.” He glanced around the diner. A few heads were turning and looking their way every now and then. “And now, it’s like a nuclear bomb went off around here. Won’t be long and the fallout will have spread around the entire globe. No wonder she was so upset after she was released from jail and reporters were there waiting to ask her questions.”

“Jail? Reporters?”

He looked back at her. “Yeah, I arrested her last night.”

One eyebrow shot up. “What for?”

“I told her I didn’t want her to leave town after the funeral, but she’d said that she was going to anyway.” He looked down at the table.

“You can’t do that … can you?”

“Under the circumstances I can, but I can’t tell you why.”

“Is this sheriff business or Cal business?”

“Both. Nobody would have ever known that this book was a true story if she’d never come back here. Nobody even knew that she was the author until a local put two and two together and leaked it to the news media. Most folks around here probably wouldn’t have recognized her picture if it had been on the back cover. She’s changed a lot.”

“Do you think that this, along with being thrown in jail, will ruin her?”

“I doubt it. Folks these days love this kind of stuff. If anything, they’ll want even more.”

“What about you? What will this do to you and your future?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Depends on how the voters feel at the next election.”

He downed the rest of his coffee, slid out of the booth, leaned over, and kissed her on her cheek. “I’ll probably see you tomorrow.”

He reached for his hat on the table. She latched onto his hand and looked up at him.

“Are you going be okay?”

He looked down at her. His mouth formed a fake smile. With a slight shrug of his shoulders, he pulled his hand back, and walked away. He stepped out onto the sidewalk and flinched at the flash of lightning and the immediate clap of thunder. Large drops of rain began to pelt him and the pavement. He hurried to his squad car and got inside.

50

Crickets chirped in the wake of the storm as she walked down the sidewalk. She adjusted the hood on her sweatshirt jacket that was drenched. Lightning flashed in the east and a low rumble echoed off the duplexes. The stars peeked through the clouds. Steam rose on the hot sidewalk and the street. The corner streetlights reflected off the hot, wet pavement.

The area was quiet. Not a light shone through any of the windows of the duplexes. She kept a steady pace as she walked but watched for any form of movement. She’d left on her mission at three o’clock that morning. She wasn’t afraid of storms or the dark, but felt comfort in them. No one saw you in the dark, and no one cared for you if you were in a storm. She had learned at a young age to take care of herself. She put no trust in anyone, let alone a man.

She cut across a small, front yard and went around the side between two duplexes. Her pace slowed as she stepped into the shadows. She paused and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. When she could see well enough, she walked on around to the back.

The air-conditioner unit cycled on. She made her way to the small patio and stopped. She reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a penlight. She clicked it on and scanned the patio. The light shone on a rectangular planter. The plant had long been neglected and was dead and brittle. She turned off the penlight, knelt down, and shoveled with her fingers in the potting soil. Satisfied that the hole was deep and wide enough, she reached into her jacket pocket, took out a cloth wrapped package, and placed it inside the hole. She took handfuls of soil and covered it. She stood up, brushed her hands together, and walked back in the direction from where she’d come.

She rounded the corner of the duplex and walked out of the shadows. She stopped and stepped back into the darkness when she saw headlights of a car. A police cruiser went by and headed down the street. She peered around the edge of the house and watched it make a left on the next street and then disappear behind some more duplexes.

51

Callie walked from her parked car, across the cemetery lawn, and stood beside Ted. “Why did you leave me to drive myself this morning?”

“I didn’t leave you this morning. I left you last night.” He said as he looked around the small gathering and tried to find Raven.

“It’s so freakin’ sultry out here.” Callie held a single red rose in one hand and with the other she fanned herself with a memorial pamphlet. She wore a black, tight fitted, short dress, and matching stilettos. “I wish there was some concrete to stand on out here. My heels keep sinking into the ground.” She looked down at her feet.

Ted spotted Raven walking toward the green canopy that covered the two gravesites. He walked around the guests and toward her. She saw him and waited for him.

“Raven, I’ve been so worried about you. Are you okay?” he said as he stopped in front of her. He lowered his gaze to her cracked and swollen bottom lip that make-up couldn’t hide.

She looked up at him. “I’m fine.”

“I wished you’d have called me and let me know where you were.”

“I’m okay, really. I needed time alone anyway.” She saw her mother approaching and stiffened her back.

“Why, Agnes, look at you.” Callie looked her over. “Why on earth would you wear blue to a funeral?”

“Because I wanted to. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Raven turned to walk away, but Callie grabbed her arm.

“Wait! I’m sitting with you. I can’t stand here any longer in these shoes. I don’t know what I was thinking. Oh, yes I do. A normal person would have a normal funeral for their father in an air-conditioned building. What’s with the graveside services anyway?”

Raven yanked her arm away. She walked around to the front row of seats and sat down. Ted followed her. She patted the chair next to her.

“Are you sure?’ he asked.

“Sit.” She smiled at him.

He sat down beside her.

Callie hurried around to sit on the other side of him. She laid the rose in her lap, dug out a tissue from her purse, and fanned herself with the pamphlet again. “I don’t think I can stand this heat much longer. How long is this thing supposed to last?”

Soon the pastor stepped up and asked all the family and friends to be seated. Five minutes into the memorial service, Callie began sniffling. Her shoulders shook, and she blotted the tissue under her eyes.

When it was over, Callie stood and laid the red rose on Virgil’s coffin. She turned and looked at Ted and then Raven. “You know, I should have bought two roses so what’s-her-name could have one too.” She shook her head as she eyed the other coffin. “I kind of feel bad about that.” She shrugged. “Oh well.” She eyed Ted. “Can we go now? I’m about to pass out from this heat.” She fanned herself again.

Raven looked at Ted. “Thanks for coming. I’ve got to get back to Gabriel.”

“Where is he anyway?” Ted asked.

Callie listened to the exchange. Raven looked at Callie and then back to Ted.

“He’s safe. I’m going to take him to Mrs. Rayburn in the morning.”

“You’re leaving Cypress tomorrow?” he asked.

“I catch my flight at ten in the morning.”

“I’m going to miss you, Raven. Maybe I can get to New York one day for a visit.”

“I’d like that very much.”

“What about me?” Callie asked as she looked from Ted to Raven.

“What?” Raven asked.

“You heard me. What about me? Maybe I’d like to go to New York City. I’ve never been there.”

“After today, you’ll never see me or hear from me again,” Raven said. “But New York City is a big place. Chances of running into each other there are slim to none, so knock yourself out.”

“Why? I’m your mother.” Callie tossed the pamphlet down on the ground, stomped her foot, and almost lost her balance when her heel sunk deep into the soft turf. She grabbed Ted’s arm.

“You’ve kicked me out of your house twice in my lifetime and have the nerve to ask me why?”

Ted jerked his head toward Callie and pulled his arm free from her grip.

“I was just upset at the time,” Callie said. “Besides, you’re too old for a spanking and timeout, don’t you think?”

“So backhanding me across my face and kicking me out is your way of punishment? Just like old times, huh? I guess at any age of my life I was too old for timeout or a spanking.”

Callie rolled her eyes. “I suppose you’re going to pout about it now?”

“You backhanded Raven?” Ted glared at Callie.