“Monday always comes when it’s not
wanted,” Clisty moaned to Becca, as her cell phone balanced under her chin.
“I know. I know, but just think of some of the
reasons you would have to sleep all the time: recovery from the plague; really
advanced old age; you have narcolepsy and you fall asleep on the creepy guy
next to you on the bus; you died and were laid to rest last week; do I need to
go on?” Becca quipped.
“I wonder, if I died what would my Heavenly job be?”
she yawned. “I might be a cloud-comfort-tester. Then again, I’d probably chase
rebellious cherubs all over the golden streets, so I can interview them and ask
the age old question, “Why do you rebel?”
“Oh bother,” Becca laughed. “Maybe I’d have to direct
that bunch of kids with the wings.”
“Becca, that’s it. Kids! What is it that Pooky told
us? ‘Daddy said I could go to school but then Grandpa said no.’” Clisty raked
her hand through her hair and looked in the mirror. “Oh Becca, I look awful.
I’m glad that skype hasn’t come to the cell phone industry.”
“I told you to cover all the looking glasses in your
apartment in black fabric and not pull them down until at least, uh, two in the
afternoon. Before mid-afternoon, you’re only looking at the ghost of last night’s
past.”
“I’ll try to remember that.” Clisty started to pace
along the carpet runner beside her bed. “Let’s get back to Pooky. Becca, the
child may remember more than Faith does, especially if she was given a little
more freedom, like her two weeks in school.”
“You call the Sterlings and I get ready and meet you
there.” Becca suggested.
“Wait until I’ve had a chance to sit down with them.
I don’t want to run in there with lights and camera blazing.” We settled it. “I’ll call you after I talk to them.”
Clisty jumped out of her night clothes and into the
shower. I hope this works. While the
hot water peppered her body from the multiple jets, she started planning her
strategy. Later, dressed in her new black spring-weight suit she had bought
before the events of Friday had turned her world upside down, she hurried out
to her car.
•••••
“Good Morning, Clisty,” Roma said as she opened the front
door. “Come in.” She led the way through the living room. “Have you had your
coffee yet this morning?”
“Just one cup. I’m ready for my second one,” she
chuckled as she followed Roma into the kitchen.
“Let’s sit down here a minute.” Roma pointed to the
ladder-back chairs that sat around the kitchen table. “Toast?”
“No thanks, Roma.” She reached for the sugar and
stirred in a spoonful. “I was hoping to talk to Pooky this morning. What do you
think? Will she talk to me?”
“Faith has wanted Pooky to stay in the background,
out of the camera lights. I’m sure you can’t blame her.”
“Not at all,” Clisty agreed, and she did, but there
were other issues at play. “Since Pooky was out in the world more than Faith,
there may be someone who would recognize her. While they may be a friendly
neighbor, they could also be the evil ones who kept her all those years. We all
have to keep her safe.”
“That’s what I mean,” Roma agreed. “She is relaxing
more and letting Ralph and I get closer to her. Although, it’s harder for Pooky
to get near her grandpa. Literally. She talks to him now, but from a distance.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe we have Faith home. I can’t
believe a wonderful granddaughter came with her. I can’t believe that Faith was
held as a strange slave for eighteen years.”
“I know,” Clisty admitted. “She didn’t have to work
for them; she just ... filled some role I guess.”
“I think her job was to be the lady’s daughter, but The
Guardian couldn’t let go of his power as supreme ... what did she call him ...
Head Master?” The coffee was still hot so Clisty sipped carefully. “Of course,
I wouldn’t put Pooky on camera. Just talk.”
“I’ll have to ask Faith and she’s still sleeping.” Roma
picked up the coffee pot, and then put it back on the warming burner. “She
sleeps so much, Clisty.”
“That’s been her way of healing her mind and body, Roma.
She seems to have slept a lot over the
last eighteen years. If she were awake all day, she would realize how alone she
was ... for hours and hours. Those who are depressed, sleep a lot.”
“She did say she was allowed to read and she enjoyed
that. It was her way of having contact with the world around her. Not just
books, the lady let her read magazines when The Guardian wasn’t around.”
“Can you just imagine all the places Faith has been
within the pages of her books and magazines?” Clisty thought for a minute. “I
wonder how she could pronounce all the word. She was all alone in her room most
of the time.”
“She probably just put her own sounds and meaning to
the words. That’s what my father did.” Roma smiled the smile of happy memories.
“Grandpa Georgie was a self-made man. He read everything he could lay his hands
on. We sometimes had to figure out what he was talking about when he was trying
to explain something he had read because his pronunciation was so bad, but we
all admired his knowledge. Knowledge isn’t pronunciation, Clisty; it’s
investigation, inquisitiveness.”
“I like that, Roma.” She paused and thought about all
that Roma had said. “I want to investigate. I want to find out why that man
took Faith, where he took her and what her life was like. And ...” again she
paused to think if she was ready to tell anyone about her new career offer,
“I’ve been given a great opportunity.”
“Can you tell me about it, Clisty? Maybe you want to
talk about it?”
“It’s yes to both. But, there’s someone I need to
tell first.” She had made up her mind. She had to find Jake.
•••••
Office Jeremy Rhodes jumped to his feet when Clisty
walked into the police station later. “Miss Sinclair—“
“It’s Clisty, remember, Jeremy?” she said as she
smiled.
“Yes, Ma’am ... Clisty. I’m sorry Ma’am. I watch you
on the news every evening and it just seems like I’m talking to a celebrity.”
“If I ever become a celebrity, I will be forced to
resign. I wouldn’t be able to stand to look at myself in the mirror. Come to think
of it, someone told me a mirror shouldn’t be looked into before noon anyway.”
“I think I understand that rule.” He winked and
rubbed his chin. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Is Jake in?” She looked around the room of desks and
chairs, all lined up, yet working together.
“Did I hear my name?” Jake asked as he came out of a
separate office. “Hi, Babe.” His smiled was large and matched the fire in his
eyes. “What brings you down here?”
“I have to talk to you,” she said as she walked over
to him, took his elbow and directed him back into his private office. She could feel all the eyes in the department
follow them. Even with the door closed, the glass in the window and in the door
made her feel like she was in an aquarium. She laughed to herself. “Men do like
their aquariums.”
“Is there something wrong?” he asked. His brow
furrowed with concern or curiosity, Clisty wasn’t sure which.
“So many things, Jake.” She fumbled with the oversized
gray buttons on her red coat. Finally, Jake took her hands and placed them at
her sides. He drew so close she could hear his breathing. As her coat fell from
her shoulders, she could hear a collective sigh from beyond the windows, while
Jake placed the coat on a chair. The room was full of unspoken words, but
Clisty knew there were words that she had to say. She didn’t know why her hands
were shaking but she had to get through all the connected pieces of her life.
“Jake,” she pointed toward the desk, “you sit there and I’ll sit here.” While
she sat on one of the facing chairs, she barely perched on the edge. Jake
leaned back on the desk and waited, his arms folded across this chest.
“First, it occurred to me that Pooky has lived in the
same house, the same neighborhood, the same town as Faith has lived since she was
born nine years ago. Maybe she can remember something, names, streets, even
what town they lived in.”
Jake leaned in closer with the new possibilities.
“Will Pooky talk if I’m in the room with you?”
“I think that will be okay. You were with us when we first
met her and she was comfortable with you then.” She looked down at her
fingernails; then she hid them in her pockets. “The other thing is ... I have
been given the go-ahead to chase this story as far as it goes. That will
probably mean, at least, leaving the state, probably going to Illinois. Can you
...” she hesitated. She didn’t want Jake to think she was being forward. “Do
you think your department will let you go with us: Becca and Clint and me?”
Jake’s eyes brightened; the corners of his mouth turned
up into a boyish smile. “You’re asking me to go to Illinois with you?”
“Jake, now, cut it out,” she blushed. “I’m asking if
the Police Department wants to send someone with us as we gather information
about an unsolved kidnapping.” In her embarrassment, she stood up and focused
her eyes on the budding spring day beyond the window.
“Oh,” he drew out, “if that’s what you’re asking,
then yeah, they will probable send me.” Jake reached out, turned her around so
he could see her, and wrapped his arms around her. “That’s great. I’m glad the
station is letting you pursue the story.” He leaned back and looked into her
eyes.
She wondered if he saw the rest of the story. “It’s
not just the station, Jake. It’s the network. They’re talking about putting it
on the national news, like a spot on their Tuesday night news magazine.”
“Clisty, that is great! It could really advance your
career,” he glanced at the other windows that formed the glass wall to the
outer office. “A kiss right now would be
most appropriate, but perhaps all the eyes ...”
Clisty placed her hands on both sides of Jake’s face,
pulled him close and kissed him with genuine tenderness. Looking at him, she
added, “I agree, most appropriate ... and a little inappropriate. At least no
one can accuse me of work place harassment. I don’t work here.” She pressed her
forehead into Jake’s chest. “But ... maybe not the best timing ... or perhaps
it is.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but ... I
think, I’m willing to listen.” He lifted her hands and kissed them tenderly.
“The kiss may have been an effort to soften you up
before my last point,” she admitted. “My career may have already been boosted.”
She turned and looked out the window again. “If the story goes well, the
network is offering me a spot on their National, New York based, News Magazine.
They’ll call it, Stories from the Heartland. They want to offer positive
stories of victory over adversity from real people who live and work in the
middle of the country, away from Broadway and Rodeo Drive.”
“Babe, that’s wonderful.” He threw his head back and
exhaled from his toes. “Wait,” he stopped and jerked his eyes to attention.
“You just said, New York based.”
“That’s right. The program is a network show, based
in New York.” She turned to face him. “But, we can ...”
“Thank goodness, for a minute I didn’t know if there
would be a, we can, anything in there.”
•••••
“We are continuing our expanded story of the
suspected bank robber and his hostage,” Clisty updated the viewers that evening
on the eleven o’clock news.
Dan Drummond faced the camera. “Melvin Dean Fargo,
who was apprehended by police following last Friday’s stand-off, is charged
with Criminal Confinement. His hostage? The woman believed to be the witness in
Friday’s bank robbery.” They did not re-run the news clip from the ATM.
Clisty continued in confidence as her back
straightened even more. “The network wants this newscaster to investigate Mr.
Fargo, even beyond any involvement he may or may not have in the robbery of the
bank. Our investigation goes far beyond those questions. It is our promise, to
pursue this case until we answer all questions. And, that is the News at
Eleven.
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