by Midge Bubany
I suppose there was a possibility it wasn’t. Now back to the priority case. We had two floral shops in town, and I drove to each and showed them photos I’d copied from drivers’ licenses. Wesley didn’t have one anymore, so I’d made a still from the old video. Close enough. But if he couldn’t leave the farm, how would he buy flowers?
Employees at neither shop recognized anyone in the photos as customers who bought bouquets with any regularity, if ever. I had the second shop make up an extra large pink-and-blue bouquet. I stopped and picked up a box of Twinkies, drove home, put the flowers in a vase and put it and the box on the counter where Shannon would see it as soon as she came home. I signed the card: Thank you for you know what.
Brit had left a note saying she’d taken the boys to a movie then to the playground in Birch County Park South. They’d be home close to dinnertime.
When I returned to the office I went through my messages. There was one from Janet Felton, the secretary of Prairie Falls High School. From my years on patrol, I’d had dealings with her because of the high school students who found themselves in a bit of trouble. I called her back.
“Janet, this is Cal Sheehan. You called the Sheriff’s Department?”
“Oh, hi. Yes, I did. I’ve been thinking so much about Silver Dawson, so I pulled her file, because there was something that always bothered me.”
“What was it?”
“When Mrs. Dawson got Silver’s report card, she called to say we’d made a mistake on the absences, that Silver had perfect attendance. We don’t make mistakes like that so I figured if her mother didn’t know about them, Silver was pulling a fast one and skipping school.”
“How many days are you talking about?”
“Give me a minute to pull the file . . . okay, here. She had three full days and two half days—all excused absences that semester. That means a parent called in for her, but obviously it hadn’t been her mother.”
“Hmm. She was up to something.”
“Yes. I think we have a copy of her school records in the file.”
“Can you check and see if Parker Gage or any girlfriends were absent on the same days?”
“We always crosscheck when absences occur. None of her crowd were gone any of those days.”
“Thanks, Janet. I’ll look into it.”
After I found Silver’s school records in the file, Troy entered carrying a deli salad.
“No McDonald’s?” I said.
“Can’t eat fatty food anymore,” he said. “So, I figure Shannon is pregnant, too.”
“Too? Is Adriana?”
“She doesn’t want anything said at this point.”
“Understood. Us too.”
He nodded, like I could trust him.
“Is it yours?” I asked.
He nodded and broke into a grin. “Yeah.”
“You’re pleased?”
“Sure.”
“Getting married?”
“Not while she’s pregnant.”
“Magna will be happy.”
“You think?”
I started laughing just thinking how old “Mugs” would take sophisticated Adriana being knocked up by a good ol’ boy.
“Something funny?”
“Just the irony of the situation. I have something new.” I told him what Janet had told me.
“She seeing someone else, beside Parker Gage?” he asked.
“Hold on. I had a thought.”
I redialed Janet’s number.
“Janet, were any staff members absent those days?”
“I don’t know, but I can check and get back to you.”
“I’d appreciate it.”
After I hung up I said to Troy. “She could have been seeing someone older, a teacher, maybe even a married man.”
“Wouldn’t it be a little obvious for a teacher and a student to be gone the same days?” he asked.
“Nah. I’ll see what Jenny Deitz says.”
I caught her at home, and asked if she knew why Silver had been absent those days.”
“Boy, I don’t remember anything about it.”
“Did Silver Rae have a crush on any teachers or older men?”
“Mr. Anderson? We all were in love with him.”
“First name?”
“Kevin. He’s still teaching. Why? You think he had something to do with Silver Rae’s death?”
“Just brainstorming. If you think of anything along these lines, call me.”
Next I called Silver’s sister, Ellie. She was working in the salon but said she had a few minutes to talk. I asked her about the absences and possible crushes.
“I’d forgotten about that. She called one night and asked me to call school and leave a message saying she was ill so she could go to her recheck after the miscarriage. She didn’t want Mom to know anything about it, so I did what she asked. But when she asked me again, I told her it would be the last time I would cover for her. My mom never found out, I guess, because she insisted the school made a mistake. Dad told her it wasn’t worth getting her undies in a bundle over so she dropped it.”
Wow. I’d get pistol-whipped if I said that to Shannon. “So you never told your parents about it?”
“No.”
“You may want to tell them before they hear it somewhere else.”
“They’ll be so hurt.”
I asked her again about any crushes, and she gave me the same teacher’s name. Then I asked if she could have been attracted to Dr. Kline.
“Gosh, he was cute too, but he was really serious, and I didn’t get the sense he was that kind of guy.”
I drove to the high school and parked in the lot. Janet smiled when I walked into the office.
“Hi, Cal.”
“Hi. Can I talk to Kevin Anderson?”
Janet explained the teachers didn’t start until the next week.
“Oh, right. Can I get his home address?”
She pulled out a thin spiral directory with Staff written on it. She paged through and found Anderson’s information, wrote it on a Post-it and handed it to me.
“I’m not supposed to give out information on staff, so shh.”
I left my card with my contact information and said, “Would you be able to put out an email asking staff to contact me if they have any information for me?”
“Certainly.”
I called Anderson from my car. He was home so I drove over to the newer development on the east side of the river, where he lived. He was shooting baskets in his driveway when I pulled up. For a short guy, he could dunk the ball with ease. He wore baggy, navy blue athletic shorts and a red St. John’s T-shirt. Close up, he still had one of those boy-band faces.
Anderson asked me into his home and I followed him through the garage and directly into the kitchen, which reminded me of my Grandma Sylvia’s with the odd plum-colored walls and the floral valances.
“I see you running,” he said. “We do the same loop.”
“How many miles?” I asked.
“Five, you?”
“Three to five, depending on the day.”
He offered me a sport drink and we sat at his kitchen table. I went through my spiel and turned on my iPad.
“I understand you were Silver Rae Dawson’s teacher?”
He frowned and nodded. “She was in my social class the first year I taught. What a terrible deal that was.”
“What was she like?”
“Nice kid. She pulled an A in my class.”
“Did you have a special relationship with her?”
“Special? I don’t know what you mean.”
“Did you notice she had a crush on you?”
“What?” He looked thoughtful then sho
ok his head. “Not really. I tried to be there for all the kids—someone they could talk to.”
“Did she seek you out—to talk to you?”
“There was a group of three or four girls who’d come by my room after class to chat. She was one of them.”
“Did she seem in any way troubled?”
He shook his head. “No, she seemed like she had it all together—a happy, well-balanced kid. But now that I think about it, she didn’t come in with the other girls as much toward spring.”
“Are you a married man?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Were you married when you came to Prairie Falls?”
“No, single. I married Kit two years later. She was an elementary teacher. Why?”
“Just trying to get as much information as we can about her life. So, sounds like you didn’t know Silver Rae well.”
“Not any better than any of my students. I try to maintain some distance. I mean, I’m there for them if they need me, but that’s it. You have to be careful. You tap that stuff you’d lose your job, end up in jail. You know what I mean?”
“Yes, I sure do.”
“Hey, you ever want to shoot hoops, a group of us get together in the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
When I returned to the office, Troy was at his computer. He leaned back in his chair and tucked a pencil behind his ear.
“Poor Adriana. That car of hers is a mess. It’s going to cost thousands to fix,” he said.
“She told me a while ago her ex wants the car back. She should hire a car transport company and tell them to park it in his driveway.”
Troy laughed. “Excellent.”
“I’ve been looking into some unexcused absences of Silver’s. Why was a conscientious girl skipping school?”
“Sex. That’s why I skipped.”
“But Parker wasn’t absent at the same time and everyone keeps saying how in love they were . . . wait, I just had a thought.”
I pulled my phone to call Janet Felton.
“Janet, Cal Sheehan. I’m sorry to bother you again, but I have a quick question.”
“No problem. What can I help you with?”
“When you crosschecked absences with Silver’s, did you check Laurel Wolfson?”
“Was Laurel a friend of Silver’s?”
“Yes.”
“Golly, I wasn’t aware of that. I’m sorry. Let me get back to you.”
While I waited for her call, I became engrossed in paperwork. I went home at eight o’clock, ate a limp BLT and fell asleep in front of the television like an old married man. When I woke, I was alone and cold. The television was flickering and for a second I thought I was still single. I didn’t like it. I fumbled my way through the dark house and up to bed, where I crawled in next to Shannon and spooned her. Then I remembered Janet Felton hadn’t returned my call.
Chapter 28
August 24
Friday morning it was drizzling, so I took Bullet on a short walk. Since everyone was still dead to the world, I took the opportunity to work out in the department gym. I’d finished my shower and was standing in my shorts when Troy burst into the locker room.
“Red drawers?” he asked.
“So sweet of you notice,” I said, and winked.
“What? Jesus Christ, Sheehan. Anyway, the Dawsons are here demanding to see us.”
I looked at the clock—7:46. “Ellie must’ve told them about the miscarriage.”
“They look upset,” he said. “I had them shown to the Blue Room. Hurry up.”
Troy waited outside the gym for me. Ha, my comment got to him. As we made our way to the Blue Room, so called because it was painted blue, he said, “What are you going to tell them?”
“The truth.”
It was then I realized he was uncomfortable disclosing information to families.
Franny and Ray Dawson were seated at the table. The stark room had no taping capability and served mainly as place to counsel or speak with families. After we shook hands, we took seats across from the couple.
Mr. Dawson said, “Ellie told us you have new information about Silver Rae and we didn’t want to wait for you to contact us. We need to know now, not tomorrow, not next week, or whenever you get around to it.”
Whoa. “Actually, I suggested she tell you, but obviously she didn’t,” I said.
“No,” Mrs. Dawson said. “She said it should come from you, Deputy Sheehan.”
Ellie threw the hot potato to me. Troy was giving me the go ahead look.
“Mr. and Mrs. Dawson, in the course of the investigation we learned information about Silver we believe you may not know, and it could become public at some point.”
“Okay, now you’re scaring me,” Franny said.
I forged ahead. “Silver was treated for a miscarriage on August 22, 1996.”
The Dawsons looked as shell-shocked as I’ve ever seen anyone look.
I continued. “It sounds like she was given a date rape drug at a party out at Odegards’ cabin on Round Lake on July 4, 1996. It’s our understanding she became pregnant from this encounter and ended up miscarrying. At the time, she told the doctor and Ellie—”
“Ellie knew?” Franny asked.
“Yes. Anyway, Silver had no recollection of the afternoon but later discovered her panties on backwards, stained with semen and blood. A boy in attendance was said to have given her a white pill, which we believe to be Rohypnol—which would explain her lack of memory,” I said.
Mrs. Dawson stared at me blankly, like I was making it all up. She shook her head.
“No, I don’t believe it. She would have told me.”
Ray turned toward his wife and said, “You don’t want to believe it, Franny. We have to come to terms with the fact she wasn’t perfect.”
“But she was raped,” I said.
“She was probably drinking. And here I thought you were going to tell us who killed her,” she said.
“We’re getting closer,” Troy said.
“Do you have the suspects narrowed down at least?” Mr. Dawson asked.
“Yes,” Troy blurted.
“Are you looking at Parker Gage?” he asked.
“It’s not Parker,” Franny said.
“At this point we won’t comment on our suspects,” I said.
“In other words, you don’t know who killed our girl,” she said.
“Not for sure,” I said.
“But you know who gave her the drug?” Ray asked.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“It may not even be related,” Troy said.
“Was it Parker?” Franny asked.
“No, he wasn’t at the party,” I said.
“Someone has to know something! Beat it out of ’em!” Ray said.
“Sometimes we’d like to but that’s not how we do business,” I said.
“Who all knew about this miscarriage?” Franny asked.
“I’m not sure. I learned it from the doctor who treated her.”
“Was he with the Riverside Clinic?” Franny asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“Then the Gages knew. That’s why they didn’t like her,” she said.
“There’s also something puzzling. Silver missed a few days of school you didn’t seem to know about. The secretary said you thought it was a mistake, but she’s sure it wasn’t.”
“Silver wouldn’t skip school. She was an excellent—”
“Franny, stop it! Quit arguing and listen to what they have to say.” Ray said.
We were all silent for a short time.
I said, “We can’t quite figure where she would’ve gone on thos
e days. Can you?”
They shook their heads.
“Where do you think she went, Franny?” Ray asked.
“She rode the school bus every day. I know that.”
“Is there anyone she could have been meeting secretly? A boy or man she had a crush on?” Troy asked.
“But Parker . . .” Franny said.
“Forget Parker. They think it was someone other than him, right?” Ray said.
“Right,” I said.
“I can’t think of anyone. I’m at a loss,” she said, looking dumbfounded.
“Think about it, and if something or someone comes to mind, call us,” I said.
“Why didn’t she come to us if she had problems?” Franny said.
“Because you went on and on about how terrible it was Laurel got pregnant,” Ray said.
Franny shot Ray an angry look. “Me? What about you? You forbid Silver even to see her. I imagine she kept that from us, too.”
“Silver was a good friend to Laurel when no one else would be,” I said. “You should be proud of her. You raised a caring daughter who accepted people even though it wasn’t popular. You should know everyone says wonderful things about Silver.”
The Dawsons looked at me, pain in their faces, tears in their eyes.
“I know this is hard stuff to hear, but better from us than the media,” I said.
“Yes, we know,” Franny said. “And thank you. You’re right. She did accept everyone.”
“Are you any closer?” Ray asked.
“Yes, and we won’t give up,” I said.
“Thank you. And we’ll let you men get to the business of finding our daughter’s murderer,” Ray said.
We all rose from our chairs. I showed them out. When I returned to the office, Troy said, “Adriana says she has great respect for you, that you always do the right thing. It wasn’t easy telling the Dawsons about their daughter, but you said exactly what they needed to hear. We need to get this motherfucker.”
“Yes,” I said, finding his compliments weird.
When we got back up to the office, Troy handed me a bag. “Do you like peanut butter cookies? My mom brought them when I was in the hospital.”
“Mmm,” I said. “One of my favorites.” I pulled one out and took a bite.
