All In The Family

by Roseanne Dowell

  Callie motioned Peters to stop the tape. “We’re working Aunt Ethel, not watching a movie. What can I do for you?” As if she didn’t know.

  “You can find your grandmother, that’s what you can do.”

  Before Callie could answer, Aunt Lottie came in, Charlie in tow. He held a stuffed dinosaur in his hand. Dinosaur, dragon, that’s it! She snapped her fingers. “He has a dragon tattooed on his wrist. I remember seeing it just before he knocked me down.”

  “Who has a dragon tattoo? Talk sense, Callie,” Aunt Lottie said.

  “My attacker. That guy.”

  “Never mind your attacker, what about your grandmother?” Aunt Ethel stepped forward. “Quit thinking about yourself.”

  “Now just a damn minute, you happen to be talking to the new chief. Show a little respect.” Jim stepped forward.

  “Humph, talking to my niece as if it was any of your business.” Ethel spun around.

  “Now you hold on here, little lady. You don’t come into the police station and talk to your niece or me like that. I know you’re worried about your mother. We all are! Don’t give you the right to talk to anyone like that.”

  Ethel took in a big breath, puffed herself out. Uh oh, Jim was in for it now. Didn’t matter that he was the ex chief, didn’t matter Gram was sweet on him, all that mattered was her mother was missing. Callie opened her mouth to say something, but the door banged open before she got a word out.

  Aunt Beatrice Lulu stomped in, yelling at the top of her lungs, “Callie Johnson, what the hell is going on around here? What do you mean not calling and telling me my mother’s missing? I got to hear it from the rumor mill?”

  “Excuse me. I was speaking.” Ethel turned her attention to Aunt Beatrice Lulu.

  “What are you doing with a picture of Alfred up there?” Aunt Beatrice Lulu pointed to the TV screen.

  “Alfred. Alfred what?” Callie turned her attention to her aunt. He could hold the answer to her grandmother’s disappearance.

  “Alfred Doefert. Don’t you pay attention to anything, Callie? I introduced you.”

  “Look up his address.” Callie directed her comment to Peters.

  “Okay, ladies, we have work to do and I promise to keep you all informed of any news. If we find Gram, you’ll be the first to know.” Callie put her hand on Ethel’s and Lottie’s back and ushered them to the door, pushing Aunt Beatrice Lulu along with them.

  “Here’s the address.” Peters held a piece of paper out to her. “I remember this jerk, he’s related to the guy we arrested with Sanders.”

  “The one who committed suicide?” Jim grabbed the address.

  “Yeah. Step brother or something. Jesus freak. Almost got thrown out of court for praying out loud during the trial.”

  “Crap!”

  Callie looked at Jim. “You think he’s the one who kidnapped Gram?”

  “I’m betting on it.”

  “Let’s go.” Callie turned and bumped into her aunt. Damn, she thought they all left. How much had she heard? “Go on home, Aunt Ethel. We’ll call as soon as we know something. Better yet, take Aunt Lottie and Aunt Bea and go to my mother’s. I’m sure she could use some reassurance about now.” Callie pushed her aunt out the door. “And don’t say anything to anyone.” Last thing they needed was it spread all over town before they even got to his house.

  Damn if they weren’t up to something. Her aunts stood huddled in the corner, their mouths going a mile a minute. Whatever it was, they’d darn well better stay out of her way. Charlie skipped in circles around them. Surely they wouldn’t do anything stupid with him along.

  “Come on, Callie.” Jim held the car door open.

  No time to worry about her aunts now. She got in the car. Jim revved the engine, threw it in gear, and peeled away from the curb.

  Fear tugged at Callie. What would they find?. What kind of guy was he? What shape would they find her grandmother in? Was she even still alive? Callie shuddered. The thought of finding her grandmother injured or worse, dead, terrified her.

  “I should have left you behind.” Jim reached over and touched Callie’s hand. “You’re much too close to this case.”

  Callie squeezed his hand. “And you’re not? Maybe neither of us should be here, but we both know wild horses couldn’t keep us away.”

  “True that.”

  The twenty-five mile drive seemed to take forever, even with the siren blaring. Finally, Jim pulled into the drive. Now what? How were they going to handle this? They couldn’t just go storming in there.

  “Follow my lead.” Jim got out of the car. “He’s going to be surprised to see us, especially you. At least he should be.”

  Callie followed him to the door, glancing in the window as they passed. Nice house, yard well kept, vegetable garden off to the side. Was this really the guy who attacked her? If not, why was he in the alley? And he’d have seen her attacker. If that was the case, why didn’t he come forward?

  Jim rang the bell. Didn’t take long for Alfred to open the door. He looked tired, like he hadn’t slept in days. Dark circles under his eyes. Hair mussed like he just got out of bed. “Alfred, we need to ask you a couple a questions.”

  “What about?” Alfred glanced at Callie and looked away quickly.

  “Can we come in?” Already Jim was in the door, backing Alfred up.

  Callie followed him inside. Not bad, bit outdated. Typical 50s bungalow. Long living room, open to the dining room. Carpeting needed replaced. Furniture not much newer. Best to let Jim handle the questions.

  “Where were you the evening of Thursday, June 2nd?”

  Alfred grinned the evilest grin Callie’d ever seen in her life. Gutteral mumblings came from his mouth. Stuff she could barely understand. Sounded like, “how the hell do I know where I was, that was two weeks ago.”

  “We have it on good authority you were in the alley behind the police station attacking Chief Johnson.”

  Alfred crossed his arms over his chest, looked at Jim, barely glanced at Callie, and laughed. “Good authority, huh? Who? Her? I heard she got knocked out, didn’t see no one and couldn’t identify her attacker. Why you gonna believe her now?”

  Callie couldn’t stand silent a moment longer. “Maybe because of the tattoo on your hand. That’s the one identifying mark I remember from my attacker just before he knocked me down.”

  “Yeah, so you say.” Alfred looked at the tattoo on his hand. “Could be you remember it from when your aunt introduced us.”

  Before Callie had a chance to answer, the door flew open. Ethel stormed in first, knocking over a lamp. Lottie followed, stepped on the shade and crushed it. Aunt Beatrice Lulu lagged behind out of breath. Thank goodness because no telling what she might have broke.

  “Where’s our mother?” Ethel stomped around the lamp, not bothering to pick it up.

  “And don’t try to tell us she’s not here.” Lottie, not to be left out, stomped right behind her and kicked the shade out of the way.

  “That’s right!” Aunt Beatrice Lulu huffed and puffed but finally got the words out. “This here’s her scarf and we found it right next to your car.”

  Before anyone had a chance to say anything else, pounding on the floor beneath their feet stopped them. Alfred looked like a deer caught in headlights. Callie looked at Jim.

  Aunt Ethel responded first. “What the hell was that?”

  Again the banging came. “The basement. Jim, cuff him,” Callie said as she headed toward what she hoped was the basement door. She pulled it open and flew down the steps. The noise came from the front of the house, louder now. Damn, the door had a lock on it. She looked around. An altar sat in one corner, pictures of Alfred’s half brother, she assumed, hanging on the wall. Six rows of candles and incense burned in front of a crucifix.

  Nothing she could use there. Across the room looked like a workbench. Pounding footsteps on the basement stairs, along with her aunt’s voices all talking at the same time. Callie spotted a hammer, grabbed it, a
nd smashed the lock. Didn’t take long to break it.

  She swung the door open to see her grandmother crouched in a corner. “Mama!” Lottie ran to her mother followed by Ethel.

  Aunt Beatrice Lulu stood next to Callie. “Thank you.” She wiped a tear and leaned against Callie.

  Poor thing could hardly breathe. Her aunt definitely needed to lose some weight. Callie gave the aunts a couple minutes then moved in. “Okay, for starters I told you three to go home.” Not that she could be mad at them. If her aunts had listened they might never have seen the scarf. Might never have known Gram was here. If they hadn’t been stomping around upstairs, Gram might not have pounded on the ceiling.

  “Are you okay?” Callie helped her grandmother to stand.

  “I’m fine. Scared as heck, but physically fine. Thank God you heard me. When I heard Ethel’s voice, I couldn’t believe it. How did you find me?”

  “We didn’t,” Ethel said. “Callie and the chief did. We just followed them.”

  “You followed them?” Jess sat on the small chair.

  “Well yeah, once we heard you might be here. What else could we do?” Ethel rubbed her mother’s back.

  “Yeah, you know what they say, we have three choices in life, give up, give in or give it our all,” Lottie joined in. “And damn if we were going to give up or give in.”

  “Yeah, don't they say actions speak louder than words?” Aunt Beatrice Lulu nudged Ethel out of the way and took the spot next to her mother.

  “Right! All for one and one for all!” Lottie piped in.

  “Okay, ladies, give Gram a break.” Callie held out her hand. “You ready to give your statement?”

  “Ready as I’ll ever be.” Jess took Callie’s hand. “Is Jim here?”

  “Yeah, he’s upstairs waiting for Peters to take Alfred into custody.”

  Callie led Jess out of the coal bin and upstairs. Hopefully by now Peters had taken Alfred. Her grandmother didn’t need to see him yet. Jim had given orders to take Alfred to the hospital, have him checked out mentally. Something was definitely wrong with that guy.

  ***

  Back at the station, Jess requested Callie allow her aunts and her mother in the interrogation room. They may as well hear this, too. “No need for me to have to repeat it a dozen times.” Jim sat on the chair next to her, holding her hand.

  “Okay, Gram,” Callie said, “start from the beginning and tell us what happened.”

  Jim clenched her hand tighter. Jess squeezed his hand and smiled. “From the beginning. Boy that seems so long ago.”

  Callie pushed play on the recorder. “Anytime you’re ready.”

  “I came home and everything looked normal. Just like I left it. I went inside, turned up the air because it was stuffy with everything closed up all day. I cleaned out my cooler and basket, put everything away and decided to turn in early.” Jess took a breath. Now came the hard part.

  “You’re doing fine, take your time,” Callie said.

  “I remembered a bill I needed to pay and went into the office. Just as I turned on the light, someone grabbed me from behind, covered my mouth, and told me to do what he said and I wouldn’t get hurt. I didn’t know who it was, couldn’t see him. He flipped off the light and led me outside, all the while holding one hand over my mouth and the other twisting my arm behind my back.” Jess rubbed her wrist remembering the pain.

  “He shoved me into his car, tied my hands and used duct tape to bind my feet and cover my mouth.”

  “That’s an abomination!” Aunt Beatrice Lulu interrupted.

  “Shh.” Callie threw her aunt a look. “Where was his car parked?”

  “In the alley, behind the bushes. Next thing I knew I was in the basement. I never saw him again until this morning. He kept chanting some kind of prayer, and he had the most evil grin. Scared the beejebers out of me.”

  Jess finished her story. “They say you never know what you have until you lose it.”

  “There’s that ‘they say’ again. Who the hell are ‘they’ anyway?” Ethel asked.

  “Whoever ‘they’ are it couldn’t have been closer to the truth. I know you girls were pretty scared you’d lost your mama. But not half as scared as I was. I thought I’d lost it all.” Especially a chance at happiness with Jim. Jess squeezed his hand again.

  Jim put his arm around Jess and pulled her close. “Woman, you have no idea how scared I was. Enough of this beating around the bush, taking things slow. We’re too old for that. Say you’ll marry me.”

  “That’s one of the things I realized. You’re right. We’re not getting any younger. Yes, I’ll marry you and the sooner the better.” Looked like she’d be retiring before Alfred went on trial. No need to recuse herself this time. Nope, she had a life to live. Fun to be had, and damn if she wasn’t going to enjoy every last minute of it.

  Callie jumped up and hugged them both. “Looks like this town’s going to lose a chief and a judge.”

  ***

  Callie sighed. What a day. Thank God everything turned out well with her grandmother. What she’d give to have a relationship like Gram had with Gramp and now with Jim. Jim told her Alfred admitted to being off his meds. They were keeping him for observation. Her cell phone rang.

  The caller’s ID made her smile. “William, I was just thinking about you.”

  “Good thoughts, I hope.”

  “Very good thoughts.”

  “Are we still on for Wednesday?”

  “Yeah, but I was thinking, are you doing anything this evening?” Callie crossed her fingers. She’d never asked a guy out before.

  William laughed. “I was just wondering the same thing about you.”

  “Good, pick up a bottle of wine. I make the most delicious spaghetti. You do like spaghetti don’t you?”

  “Love it. Half hour?”

  “Half hour.” Callie hung up and floated to her bedroom. Something told her this was going to be a very good night.

  ***

  If Callie’s mouth got any drier, she swore she’d swallow her tongue. Not to mention her stomach had surely turned inside out. How was she ever going to eat dinner? Her heart beat so quickly, if she didn’t have a heart attack, it’d be a miracle. At least then she wouldn’t have to worry about eating. Agreeing to this dinner was a mistake. Maybe she should turn around, go home, plead illness. In all the years she dated, she’d never had to meet anyone’s parents. She’d grown up with them. In college, she’d never dated anyone long enough to entertain the thought. Okay, she was being silly, but darn, this scared the daylights out of her. Surely something would happen to embarrass her. It didn’t help that she hadn’t slept all night. Bags under her eyes would attest to that.

  Berry ran to greet her when she pulled up in front of William’s. Callie breathed a sigh of relief. Berry would help to diffuse an uncomfortable situation.

  “Miss Callie, Miss Callie, you came!” Berry jumped up and down almost stepping on the little boy who sat on the sidewalk.

  “Of course I came. I promised.” Callie handed Berry a gift bag. It had only seemed right to come bearing gifts. Wine for dinner and a hair bow for Berry. An unusual gift for a tomboy, but Callie had a feeling neither William nor his father thought to give the child girly or frilly things.

  “For me?” Berry took the bag. “Can I open it now?”

  “Let’s wait until we get inside.”

  “Logan, you have to go home now. We have company.” Berry took Callie’s hand. “Paw Paw can’t wait to meet you.”

  Berry pulled Callie into the house. “Uncle William, Paw Paw, Miss Callie’s here.”

  William hurried out to meet Callie and kissed her hello. Heat burned Callie’s cheeks. Darn, she hated when that happened. And why did William have to kiss her in front of Berry and his father?

  “Dad,” William said, “this is Callie Johnson, Chief Callie Johnson to be exact. Callie, my father, Bill Kane.”

  Callie gave William the wine and reached her hand out to Mr.Kane. “Nic
e to meet you, Mr. Kane.”

  Bill Kane shook Callie’s hand. “The pleasures mine and it’s Bill, please. Come in sit down. Can I get you something to drink?”

  Callie followed him into the living room. “No, I’m fine. Thank you.”

  Berry jumped around. “Can I open my present now? Please?”

  “Sure.” Callie sat next to William.

  Berry tore open the package. “Ohhhh, it’s beautiful!” She ran from the room and came back a moment later with a hairbrush. “Will you fix my hair and put it in for me, please?”

  “Sure. Come here.” Callie brushed Berry’s unruly curls into some semblance of order. Not an easy task. The child had the curliest hair she’d ever seen. Definitely needed conditioner or tangle free spray.

  “I hate to interrupt,” Bill said, “but dinner is ready. Callie can finish your hair after dinner, Berry.”

  Berry crossed her arms and pouted. “But I want to wear the bow now.”

  “Berry,” William warned. “Your grandfather said after dinner.”

  Understanding Berry’s wish to wear the hair bow, Callie inserted it quickly on the side of her hair. “There. I’ll fix it better after dinner, okay?”

  Berry ran to the mirror, touched the hair bow and smiled. “Thank you, Miss Callie. I love it. It’s the best gift I ever got.”

  William put his arm around Callie and led her to the dining room table. “You scored points,” he whispered.

  Callie smiled. What could she say? The child needed a woman’s touch. Nothing wrong with being a tomboy, but she’d bet her last dollar the child didn’t even own a dress. Although someone thought to get her a doll.

  “So you were raised here in Smytheville?” Bill asked after grace.

  “Yes, I was. I left to attend the police academy and couldn’t wait to get back.” Finally her nerves were beginning to settle down.

  “Are you going to marry Uncle William?” Berry held her fork mid air and pointed it at Callie.

  Callie almost choked on her salad.

  “Berry!” William sat upright in his chair. “Mind your manners.”