Hearts of Grey

by Earl E. Gobel

  “I wasn’t playing. I was testing it. There is a difference you know,” he told her.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. If you were playing, you would have gotten a hug too, is that it?” she said as she started laughing again.

  “You go ahead and laugh. Your turn is coming. You just wait. You’ll see,” he told her with a very devilish grin across his face. “You’ll see.”

  Well, later on that afternoon, as Katie, Mike, Melissa, and Rick sat around the table, Katie unspun the tale that had them holding their guts and rolling on the floor. And with precision timing, as always Grady walked into the room. Everyone tried to hide their laughter. None of them did a very good job.

  “Oh, so I see my sweet innocent daughter just couldn’t wait to tell ya all,” he said as he threw Katie a somewhat dirty look.

  “You scared an old lady into fainting?” Mike asked him.

  “Three times he made her faint mind you, not just once—three times in under ten minutes,” Katie added.

  “And you kissed her on the lips? God, Grady, if you wanted a kiss that bad, I would have kissed ya,” Melissa said as she continued laughing.

  “You guys go ahead and laugh now ’cause your turn is coming. Ya all might want to be a little more like Rick here. You hasn’t said anything,” he told them.

  “Yeah, but he doesn’t know you like we do, not yet anyways,” Melissa added.

  “All right, guys, it isn’t all that funny seriously. But I do have to ask you one serious question, Grady. If I may?” Rick asked.

  “Now, see there’s a man with manners. Go ahead, Rick, what’s your question?” Grady asked.

  “When is it?” he asked.

  “When is what? See? If you ask a serious question, you’ll get a serious answer,” he told them as he turned to look at Rick.

  “Your second date? You’ve already kissed her on the first one,” he asked. Everyone started laughing again.

  “Ya all can go to hell,” Grady told them as he left the room.

  “Daddy, don’t leave. We’re just getting started,” Katie yelled to him, but he didn’t answer back.

  “Party pooper!” yelled Melissa.

  “Yeah, come on, Grady, we’re just teasin’ ya!” Rick yelled to him. He got no response either.

  “I wish that I could have been there to see that. It’s damn near funnier than you and your damn sex-in-a-hoop-skirt story,” Melissa told Katie.

  Mike just looked at Katie. “You told her what we were doing?” he asked.

  “Well, it’s not like we could have been doing much of anything else. Or trying too at least,” she told him.

  “Yeah, well, now everyone knows for certain,” Mike answered.

  “Are you implying that I go around repeating rumors?” Melissa asked in a very firm tone.

  “Nope, nothing was said about you repeating rumors. I just said that you’re not very good at keeping secrets, that’s all,” he answered.

  “Oh really?” she asked.

  “All right, you two, enough is enough already. Besides, it really doesn’t matter much anyways. We have no secrets between us four anyways. Right?” Katie asked.

  Everyone at the table agreed with Katie.

  “She’s right. After everything that we’ve been through in the past few weeks, it makes for a special sort of bond, doesn’t it?” Melissa asked them.

  “Yeah, I guess so, but there’s certain things that happens between a guy and his girl that just isn’t anyone else’s business. That’s all,” Mike told them.

  “Okay fine. For those so-called personal things, as you call them, those are off-limits then. Okay? And I’m sorry for telling your sister about our little barn escapade, okay?” Katie asked.

  “Great. So now what do we talk about?” he asked.

  “Well, we could talk about you and Katie in the movie house or how that cop caught you necking on the sidewalk,” Melissa replied.

  “Katie?” he said in a very loud and stern voice.

  “What? Okay the rule applies to those too. Gee, I can’t brag about nothing,” she told him with a smile.

  “Bragging is one thing, but hell, you go into details,” he told her.

  “You should be glad she didn’t have a camera,” Melissa added.

  “Really, we would be on the cover of Look Magazine or somewhere like that,” Mike responded.

  Grady walked back into the room. He just stood there staring off into space. He had a look of total devastation across his face.

  “Daddy, what is it?” Katie asked.

  Grady just stood there. Tears were flowing down his cheek as he turned to look at his daughter.

  “Daddy? What’s wrong?” she asked as she got up and walked over to her dad. “Come on over here and sit down. You don’t look very well. What’s wrong?” she asked as he helped him into a chair at the table.

  Suddenly the telephone rang.

  “Michael would you get that please?” she asked.

  “Sure,” he said as he got up and went to answer it.

  “Daddy, what’s wrong? Come on, we don’t keep secrets, you and I. Whatever bothers you bothers me, remember?” Katie told him.

  Mike came back into the room. “That was Paul King. He’s on his way over,” he told her.

  “Paul King? You called him didn’t you? What did he tell you? Daddy, answer me,” she demanded.

  “I can’t . . . tell ya,” Grady said in a very low and weak voice.

  “You were right, weren’t you?” she asked him. Grady turned away from her. He didn’t want her to read the hurt in his face.

  “Katie, would you please tell us what this is all about?” Melissa asked her.

  Katie turned and looked at her friends. They were all eager to help, but they didn’t know what this was all about.

  “Okay, it was May 17, 1945, just another normal Friday evening in Mobile, Alabama. Daddy had a few errands to run, so I tagged along with him just like I always did. We weren’t gone more than an hour, but when we returned home, we found our house fully engulfed in flames. The fire brigade did everything that they could do to save it, but they couldn’t. We lost everything. Especially my mom in that terrible fire that night,” she told them.

  “Oh my world, that’s terrible!” Rick told her.

  “I knew that your mom had died, but I never thought about how,” Mike said as he reached out and took Katie’ s hand.

  “We’re really sorry, Katie, but how does that tie into Paul King?” Melissa asked.

  “Last night, daddy had a dream. And in that dream, he saw the date of Jack’s murder. May 10, 1945. Daddy told me that there was a connection between the two. I told him he was just looking for someone to blame it on. After all, we have always thought that it was just an accident. Anyways, I told Daddy to call Jack King and see if he could confirm that date. I mean, Barnes was singing, right? Maybe he would fill in the gaps,” she told them.

  “And from the look on your daddy’s face, I’d say that he confirmed the dates?” Michael asked.

  “I think he might have confirmed more than just the date of Jack’s murder. Ain’t that right, Daddy?” she asked as she threw her arms around his neck.

  “Well, I guess if Mr. King is coming, I guess I should go put on some coffee then. That man does like his coffee,” Melissa said as she headed for the kitchen.

  “Thanks, Mel, he’ll appreciate that for sure,” Katie told her as she got up from the table. Her attention returned to her daddy. “I’ve never seen him this way before. It’s scaring me. Daddy, please talk to me. Please, Daddy, please,” she said pleading to her daddy. But Grady just sat there, staring off into empty space.

  “Katie, I don’t mean to alarm you, but maybe you should call a doctor. I think your dad might need one,” Rick suggested to her.

  Katie looked over at him. “Yes, I agree, but let’s wait for Mr. King, then we’ll call.” Katie replied.

  “Yeah, he’ll know what to do,” Rick answered.

  A Ten-Year-Old Mystery
>
  So for the next forty-five minutes, they all paced back and forth. Grady however didn’t improve much, but he hadn’t gotten any worse either, and that was a good thing.

  Katie had heard the car pull up and was standing in the open, doorway waiting to greet Mr. King. There was another person with him, a lady. A very tall and slender lady at that, Katie noted.

  “Mr. King, you have to help Daddy. Something just isn’t right. Just look at him staring off into space like he is,” Katie told him.

  “We’ll help him, Katie, just relax. I brought this lady friend of mine for him,” Mr. King explained. “She’s a doctor,” he added.

  “Great, you brought a doctor with you,” she turned to face the doctor. “Can you help him?” she asked.

  “Well, Paul, or I should say Mr. King, here told me what happened. And frankly, there’s not that much I can do. We’ll give him a sedative to help him sleep, but it’s up to him more or less as to his recovery,” she explained.

  “Can you explain that more in plain old English?” Katie asked her.

  “Sure. When a person, such as your father, receives trauma like really bad news in your father’s case, they shut themselves down, so to speak. Nothing goes in. Nothing goes out. It’s his body’s way of protecting itself you see,” she explained.

  “So is he going to get better? I mean, he isn’t going to be like this forever, is he?” Katie asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

  “Unfortunately, you can never tell. We’ll leave him here tonight, but if he doesn’t snap out of it on his own, we may be forced into submitting him into a hospital so he can get the help that he’ll need,” she told her as she glanced over at Grady.

  “I see, so it’s more or less all up to him then,” Katie said in a tone that didn’t sound so promising.

  “Relax, dear, I’ve seen people like your father simply wake up the next day and never realize that was a problem at all. Your father might do that too, but then again, he might not. Time will tell,” she told her.

  Katie turned to face Mr. King.

  “Just what did you tell him?” she asked.

  “Katie, it was a total accident, I swear. Here, sit down, and I’ll explain what was said in the conversation. Okay?” he asked as he pointed to a chair. Katie slowly sat down facing him. As he sat down, Melissa slid a cup of coffee in front of him. He took one look at the coffee and then looked up at Melissa. “Thank you, my dear, you’re a real lifesaver.”

  Melissa just smiled and sat down next to Rick and waited.

  “You’re aware that I knew Jack personally as fellow agents?” he asked Katie.

  “I got that impression. Okay, so?” Katie asked.

  “When your dad called today, the first thing that he told me was all about the dreams that he had the night before. I really had no idea as to what he was digging for. All he asked me was if I knew the exact date that Barnes had shot Jack. And since I already knew firsthand the exact date, I told him,” he explained.

  “May 10, 1945, right?” Katie asked.

  “As far as we can tell, yes. That’s the date that Barnes told us late last night. Just about the same time your dad was having the dreams that he told us about. Amazingly, he wasn’t being interviewed or anything. It was like something told him to tell us at that time and place. So then your dad asked me if he had admitted to anything else around that time period, anything tied to Jack.

  “Well, like I said earlier, Jack and I were really good friends. So much in fact that I spent a lot of my free time over at his house.

  “Anyways, when your dad had asked about any other thing that Barnes had confessed to, I mentioned that he had confessed to following Jack home one night. He also said that he then relayed the information to the Klan, who on the night of May 17 attacked and set fire to Jack’s home in Mobile, Alabama. And for the very first time, I realized that Jack never lived in Mobile, and I told your dad that. His reply was, ‘No, but we did.’

  “And this sickening feeling came over me as I realized what had happened that night so long ago. Katie, please forgive me. I never meant to hurt your dad. It was truly the worst mistake of my life,” he told her.

  Katie had pretty much the same look on her face as Grady had on his, but she was able to shake it off. She wanted to cry. She really did, but she couldn’t.

  “Did he say why they torched the house? I mean, I know that they believed that it was Jack’s house, but why destroy it?” she asked.

  “From what I can get from Barnes, Jack had told him that he had evidence against them. And that’s what they were out to destroy, not the house itself and surely not your mom,” he told her.

  Katie just stared off into space, searching for something. “Well, I guess Daddy was right after all. There was a connection. Ya know what? I want to cry, but I have this sense of closure deep down inside of me. I know what happened the why of it and even the who, but I just can’t bring myself to cry. Imagine that, me, Ms. Crybaby herself, unable to shed a tear,” Katie told them.

  “Well, maybe later after all of this sinks in. But I do have some other news that might just cheer you up,” he told her.

  “Yeah, and what’s that?” she asked.

  “Barnes and his buddies will be charged under federal law for the murder of your mother. And I promise you this on a stack of Bibles, he will not escape the death penalty for this one. I give you my word on it,” he told her.

  “I appreciate that. I really do. But killing him won’t bring my mother back. And as far as I’m concerned, Barnes can burn in hell for all of eternity, and I wouldn’t shed a tear for him either,” she told him.

  “I can understand that,” he said as he looked over at the doctor as she attended to Grady. Katie’s eyes followed his stare. The doctor was talking to him.

  “Doctor? Is he going to be okay?” she asked her.

  “Come over here, and ask him yourself,” she replied back.

  Katie slowly made her way over to Grady’s side.

  “Just talk to him really slow and softly,” the doctor told her.

  Katie leaned over and looked him in the eyes. “Daddy, can you hear me? It’s me Katie,” she said in a very soft voice.

  His eyes moved up to see her. “Katie darling,” he slowly answered.

  “It’s okay. I’m right here. You had me worried,” she told him.

  “They killed her, Katie. Why?” he asked as he grabbed her and pulled her into him as he started crying with his head against her chest. Katie tried to comfort him, but she soon started crying too.

  Paul King looked over at the doctor.

  “Whatever you gave him, well, I would say that it’s working,” he told her.

  “I guess so, but I haven’t given him anything yet. That’s Grady doing it all on his own. You’re right. He is one tough cookie,” she told him.

  “So he’s going to be okay then?” Melissa asked her.

  “Oh, it may take a little time, but I think he’ll come out of this a better man. At least he knows the truth about what happened. That’s maybe the best medicine in the world,” the doctor answered.

  “No, I beg to differ with you. The love that those two have for each other, now that’s some powerful medicine,” Mr. King told her as he pointed toward Katie and Grady hugging each other.

  “Okay, I stand corrected. That is some powerful medicine indeed.”

  Mr. King looked over at Melissa. “Any chance of getting another cup of this great tastin’coffee?” he asked her.

  “For you, the pot is always hot and full,” Melissa said as she reached over and picked up his cup. “Excuse me, miss, I didn’t catch your name,” she asked the doctor.

  “I’m sorry, my name is Mary, Mary King,” she answered back.

  “King? You two are married?” Melissa asked.

  Paul and Mary just looked at each other and chuckled a bit.

  “Heavens no! Paul is my brother,” Mary explained.

  “Really? Wow, your parents must be awfully proud.
I mean, their kids turned out so well, one being a Secret Service agent and the other one is a doctor,” Melissa told her.

  “Well, thank you for the compliment. But we do have another brother. He’s a mechanical brain surgeon,” Mary told her.

  “A mechanical brain surgeon? What in the tar nation is that?” Melissa asked.

  Mary laughed a little bit. “He works on cars,” she answered.

  “So he’s a mechanic?” Melissa asked.

  “Yeah, but never call him that. He prefers the mechanical brain surgeon title. But he’s one hell of a mechanic,” Mary explained.

  “Okay, I just never heard of a mechanic being called that before, is all. Anyways I was going to ask you if you wanted a cup of coffee,” Melissa told her.

  “Yes, dear, that would be nice. Thank you,” she answered.

  Melissa went off to the kitchen to get fresh two fresh cups of coffee.

  Katie and Grady were both doing a lot better now. They were talking in their normal voices again. Grady glanced over and saw Mr. King and his lady friend sitting at the table.

  “Paul, I’m sorry, but when did you get here? I just talked to you on the phone not five minutes ago,” Grady told him.

  Paul and Mary slowly explained what had taken place. Grady was surprised to find out that it had actually been an hour and a half.

  “Wow! Really that long, huh?” He looked over at his daughter. “I guess I must have scared the hell out of you. I’m so sorry, dear,” he told her as he hugged her again.

  “It’s okay, Daddy. You’re back with us, and that’s all that matters now,” Katie told him.

  Paul looked over at Grady. “So are you going to be okay with what you found out?” he asked. “I mean, at least you know the truth now.”

  “It’s not that I know who did it. It comes down to who didn’t do it,” Grady answered him.

  “What do you mean who didn’t?” Katie asked him.

  “Well, I have a confession to make to you, Katie. Every day since that terrible night, I thought that I was somehow responsible for what happened,” he told her.

  “You? Why did you think that you were responsible for the fire?” she asked.