Chief Among Sinners

by Lois K. Gibson

Mrs. Murphy went back to the stove. Terry stood up and looked at the kitchen clock. "I didn't realize it's almost 4:00, too late for any more picture taking."

  He opened the back door. "Kate, Dan, c'mon in. I have some church duties to attend to while you two have some soup."

  Kate looked up from inspecting one of the boxes. "Okay. We'll be right in. Let me put these back the way you had them so they don't get any more messed up."

  Coming in, Kate and Dan draped their coats on the back of their chairs and sat down at the table. Terry said, "Tomorrow is Tuesday, with Christmas closing in on me, but I'll make time so we can take another look." He moved toward the sacristy to start the evening's work.

  Kate picked up her camera and called to him. "Before you disappear into the church, Terry, come take a look at this. I'll show you my magical digital camera."

  She held the camera up so he could see a picture of the fishbowl. She moved it up, down, enlarged, and zoomed in all with a touch of a little button. "I can even play it through your TV."

  Terry took a step back, "Boy," he said. "That is incredible. I'm used to my point and shoot. I thought I had a state of the art camera, but I'm way behind the times. Show me more."

  Kate brought up a picture of the rabbit, saying that she thought she had good pictures of everything, even if they wouldn't be much help. She stood up and thanked Mrs. Murphy. "It's getting late. I want to get home to give Mom a hand with dinner. Not that she needs my help, but it's a daughter's duty. Don't you agree, Mrs. Murphy? I'll call and tell her we're on our way."

  Terry pointed to the phone on the wall. Kate pointed to her cell phone, already pushing buttons. She spoke with Louise while nodding her head, then closed her phone and smiled at Terry. "Get with it, Terry. Why the hell are you so stubborn about the twenty-first century? Is that a Catholic thing or a Terry O'Reilly thing?"

  "That's really something. I had no idea they could do all this. Can I hold it? I won't push anything, just get a closer look at the twenty-first century." Terry turned to Dan. "How about it Dan, do you ever get to use it?"

  "Are you kidding?" Dan answered. "Kate won't let me near it, and I don't blame her. I'd be sure to louse it up, if you believe the chief, like I do everything else." Dan lowered his eyes.

  Terry said, "Believe it or not, Dan, I have a father, too. 'Been there, done that,' as they say. After a while, I realized, as far as he's concerned, nothing I did would measure up. On the other hand, Ma'am is real proud, brags around the whole neighborhood about her son the priest and my brother, Sean. He's a social worker in Minneapolis. My father doesn't think much of either of us. Da is a saloon keeper. I still haven't figured out what he expected."

  Dan looked up at Terry. "It's strange, isn't it? Everybody thinks their problem is unique. I don't know if it's a relief to find out lots of people are in the same boat, or annoying because you never get any sympathy." He grinned at Terry and got up to leave.

  Kate took the camera from Terry's hands and said, "Mom sounded happy when I said we were Christmas shopping. Mom is so naive, never suspects anybody of anything. She is the gentlest, most caring person on earth and assumes everybody else is just like her."

  Kate put on her coat, wrapped her scarf around and around, almost up to her eyes. She asked, "What time do you want us back? I must say, even though there's no legal question that I'm aware of, I am intrigued with the challenge of your mystery."

  Terry smiled at her, "And right here in Oakton, too. Who would have thought." He checked the calendar on the wall next to the telephone. "How about 8:30? Is that too early? Mrs. Murphy will fix you a grand breakfast. Believe me, her breakfasts are worth getting up for."

  Mrs. Murphy spoke up. "Any requests or is juice, french toast, bacon, eggs, and coffee enough? Or I can make waffles."

  Kate laughed, "What, no soup?"

  Kate and Dan left soon after that. Terry didn't hear the conversation between brother and sister when they were outside, but he was pleased that they were committed enough to stay with it and try to help him work through this mess. Still, in the back of his mind, he worried about Chief Addams and what he would do if he found out Dan and Kate were involved.

  The priest knew Addams had ears all over town, knew everything that went on. Would he take it out on Kate and Dan, maybe even Louise, when he found out they were at the church, helping him?

  As brother and sister walked to the car Dan asked, "Well, sis, what do you think so far? Are those things ominous, or are they pranks? Is it all a joke? I'm baffled, but I'm worried too. If the last message is serious. We could be too late, but too late for what? Do you have a clue?"

  Kate shrugged and didn't answer.

  "Well!" Dan came back. "Answer me. Tell me the talented, unflappable, always right Kate Addams is intrigued, perplexed, amused, but say something. Please."

  Kate said, "I don't know what to say. You're way ahead of me." She confessed to Dan that when she saw Terry, the dead animals went out of her head. All she saw was the man who was the great love of her life. She said she used every bit of will power in her body to keep from planting a big juicy kiss on his luscious lips.

  She looked at Dan. "Aren't you going to congratulate me for keeping my cool? After all, that's the first we've seen each other in a few years."

  Dan said, "I wasn't talking about your love life, sis. What about the wee beasties?"

  Kate sobered. "Of course, the wee beasties. Let me put my wild dreams away and get serious for a minute. Obviously, we have to take that message seriously and assume whoever is in trouble is too scared to come out in the open and ask for help. I suspect it's a child who's been threatened. My hunch is a boy because of the mutilated animals, but then I think it's a girl because of the ribbons. And yes, I am perplexed, intrigued, stumped, and anything but amused."

  Dan said, "Let's go home, have dinner, watch some TV, and sleep on it. Remember, if the chief finds out we're in this, he'll blow a gasket. He isn't mellowing with age."

  Terry sat down in a pew at the back of the church. He hugged himself, and thought of Kate, what she looked like, how she kissed him on both cheeks. He wondered what would have happened if she kissed him on the lips instead of giving him that European two-cheek deal. Would he have had the strength to push her away?

  He sighed, "We'll never know."

  At that moment, he was content that she held his face in her hands, was nearby most of the afternoon, and he would be seeing her again early tomorrow morning.

  Seven

  They pulled up in front of the house as the chief's car was pulling into the driveway. Kate and Dan walked across the grass to greet their father. Kate skidded on the hoar frost covering the front lawn. Dan grabbed her, and the two of them almost went down together. They burst out laughing, righted themselves, and slid into the chief's car door as he was getting out.

  "What ho, kids! Hold on. Let's not go breaking our necks during your vacation. That would never do. Where were you, two?"

  Kate and Dan answered in unison, "Nice new car, Dad. Top of the line, isn't it? About time you junked the old one. We were Christmas shopping, of course."

  Kate saw the chief's brow wrinkle, his voice was skeptical, "Well it couldn't have been a very successful trip. I don't see you loaded down with packages."

  "You don't see anything because you're not supposed to, and we're not finished. We'll be back at it tomorrow, bright and early." Kate smiled, poked Dan and, belatedly, he smiled too.

  "Yeah," he said.

  Inside, Kate called out, "Hi, Mom, we're here and something smells awfully good."

  "I'm here, too," added the chief. Kate watched Louise come out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron, and ignoring her husband she said, "You two look cold enough to freeze salt water. Wash up. Dinner's at six." She looked at the chief, adding, "If that's okay with everybody."

  She asked, "Where have you two been? If I didn't know better, I'd say those are guilty looks on your faces. Fess up now." She hugged them both and smiled. "You
don't know how glad I am to have you both home at the same time, like a real family."

  Kate couldn't help smiling as Dan wrapped his mother in a hug. "You sly one," he said. "You know it's your cooking that always drags me back. We'll wash up and be ready at six. Unless of course, you'd like to break tradition and eat early. It smells too good to wait, and I'm starved."

  Kate watched Louise go back to the kitchen, and heard her tell the chief there was plenty of time to get out of his uniform. She watched her father hang his coat in the front hall closet, put his badge and gun on a lamp table in the front hall, and go upstairs.

  She sat next to Dan on the living room couch while he leafed through the daily newspaper, then the chief reappeared wearing slacks, a well-worn sweat shirt, socks, and slippers. Kate watched him pick up the mail and settle into his chair.

  Dan asked, "Are there any good movies in town, Dad?"

  She noticed the chief didn't look up as he grumbled an answer. "You know I've never been a movie goer, but your mother, now, she's got the movie bug. Lately, when I ask her where she's been, it's the movies. Loves 'em, like any mindless, dumb broad."

  Kate watched her father take a switch blade from his pocket and slit open every envelope. He glanced through a few letters, slipped some in his pocket, and put some back in the envelopes. He yelled, "Hey, Louise, there's a letter from your cousins in St. Louis. Do you want to read it?"

  Louise came out of the kitchen and held out her hand to take the letter, stuffed it in a pocket and went back to the kitchen. It looked to Kate like Louise knew he already read it.

  Seeing this mute exchange between her parents, Kate wondered, 'What the hell is going on? I don't remember it being like this. Was it like this seven years ago, and I never noticed, or is this something new between them?'

  Her thoughts were interrupted by Louise calling from the kitchen, "It's almost six, and if your father doesn't object, that the hands on the clock aren't exactly straight up, dinner is ready."

  She watched her father struggle out of his deep, leather club chair. He cleared his throat, and yelled, "It's okay, Louise, just this once since the kids are home and they're hungry."

  They went in, and sat in their usual places at the dining room table.

  Louise said, "I broke the rules of no liquor in the house because Kate brought two bottles of fine red wine. It will be perfect with the roast beef, and it gives me a chance to use my nice wine glasses, so drink up, but carefully."

  Kate saw Louise give her husband a piercing look. She remembered that the chief had been dry before she went away to school.

  Dan was already grabbing the platter closest to him, "Geez, Mom, you've outdone yourself. But I say that every day I've been home."

  Before he could get a forkful of food to his mouth, Louise held up her hand. "Whoa there, Dan. I recall that when we are all home, we usually have a blessing before stuffing ourselves. I think we'll ask Kate to do the honors tonight."

  Sitting at the dinner table, Kate realized she was home, not watching a celluloid family in a dark theatre or a flat picture on TV She snapped herself back into the scene smiled at her mother, bowed her head, and offered a prayer. "Thank you, God, for the food we are about to eat, and bless Dad for being able to buy it and Mom for her very talented cooking. Amen."

  The platters went around the table from one to the other, and as she and Dan filled their plates, they bantered back and forth.

  Scott Addams broke the mood. "Well, Louise, wha ja do you do all day, besides cook?" He stopped eating, looked at his wife, "I reckon this meal is because the kids are home, so I guess you didn't have time to go to another movie."

  Kate heard the sneer in his voice but kept her head down. She knew Dan was trying to catch her eye, but eye contact was the last thing she wanted. But she did want to find out what was going on with her parents.

  She ate and listened to her mother answer defensively, "No, I didn't go to a movie. If you must know, the sewing group is rushing to finish quilts for the women's shelter. The need is desperate for those broken families. They won't have much of a Christmas and we're trying to make up for it." Louise sighed, and went back to eating her dinner.

  The chief drained his third glass of wine, harrumphed, and , "You and your good deeds. If those women weren't so damned stubborn, they wouldn't be in that stupid shelter. I know their husbands, and there's not a bad guy in the bunch. It's just easier to live in a shelter than take care of their 'old-man' and run the house."

  He leaned back in his chair, and his words slurred, "Where's that other bottle of wine, Louise? You said Kate brought two. I'm not much of a wine drinker, but this stuff is good."

  Kate was surprised to hear Dan brave a response. "Forget the wine, Dad. Getting back to the subject—"

  "What the hell subject are you ranting about? Where's the wine?" He looked at Dan. "I want it now. Is that the subject, or was there something else on your little mind?"

  Dan pushed back from the table and stood up. "You sound medieval. For God's sakes, I'll get the wine."

  He went to the kitchen and returned with the bottle of wine. He plopped it down so hard that it splashed out of the bottle and splattered the chief's sweatshirt and the tablecloth.

  The chief stood up and grabbed Dan's collar. "You clean that up, you slob, I mean now!"

  Kate started to speak, but Louise spoke first. "Stop ranting, Scott. Sit down and relax. It's only a little wine. It will come out in the wash. Let's enjoy the rest of the meal in peace, please."

  The chief harrumphed, sat down, filled his wine glass, and downed half of it in one gulp. Kate tried to signal Dan to stop talking, but he wasn't going to shut up.

  Picking up where he left off before the ruckus over the wine, Dan said, "Every day in Minneapolis, we see women who have been victimized, brutalized, threatened, and I know it happens here, too. Just because you know the men in Oakton doesn't mean you know how they act behind closed doors. Do you really believe a woman should just 'take it'?"

  They watched Scott get red in the face. "Boy, this isn't Minneapolis. People here are decent, law-abiding citizens. Some wives complain over every little thing. A guy gets drunk, a little rambunctious, and the next thing you know she's calling me to come protect her."

  He paused to stuff a forkful of food in his mouth, chewed loudly, and washed it down with another gulp of wine. He went on, his tone mellowing. "Why there are women in Oakton who've been deserted by their husbands, whose husbands died in accidents, and they bring up their little girls and never complain."

  "That may be so," Dan answered back, "but that doesn't mean there aren't women who fit the other category. But I can see we never will agree on this, so let's drop it."

  Now Kate flared. "Drop it? What do you mean drop it? Dad, I can't believe I heard you right. Are you saying that women shouldn't call the police if they or their children are in danger from a husband, or any man threatening their family?"

  "No." The chief gathered himself for his answer "What I'm saying is just because a guy gets a little drunk, and yells, and struts around, and gets macho, doesn't mean he's going to hurt anybody. I've seen these guys when they're feeling their oats. It's just a lot of boast and brag. When they sober up they're meek as lambs and don't remember a thing. If the wife got out of the way, the guy could sleep it off and everything would be okay." He snorted, took another gulp of wine, and went on eating.

  Kate couldn't let it drop. "Mom, you know these women in the shelter. What do you think?" Kate waited. Her Mother chewed some food and took a drink of water. "Hey, Mom, it's okay. You're allowed to have an opinion. Tell us, what's it like over there?"

  The only sound at the table was the chief, chewing with his mouth open, and from Louise, no sound at all. Kate could see she was holding her breath.

  Louise had a sip of wine, wiped her mouth, and spoke slowly, "Actually your father has never set foot in the shelter. He does answer desperate calls to the station but, when he gets to the house, the women tell me
, he doesn't ask them what happened. He takes the man out to the porch, and when he brings him back inside, sometimes the guy has a black eye or a bloody nose. He makes them say they didn't mean it and they promise not to do it again. He pat's them on the back, gets in his car, and leaves. Not one of them ever spent a night in your father's jail.

  "The wife knows enough to shut up. If the guy comes at her again, she grabs the children, and runs to a neighbor's house. If he finds her, we see her the next day at the supermarket, wearing dark glasses to hide the black eye and long sleeves to hide other bruises. The women rush past me without speaking. They know who my husband is."

  As if on cue, Kate watched Scott Addams burst forth like a whale breaching a calm sea. "You weak, sob-sister," he bellowed. "You never could understand these situations. If these women had a brain in their heads, they would know how to handle their husbands. They would give them sex when they wanted it. They'd stay home, and take care of the kiddies instead of gallivanting off to do-good for somebody, anybody."

  The three of them watched the chief's face get redder and redder as he drained the last of the wine from his glass.

  Louise jumped up from her seat, "Get hold of yourself, Scott. You're not used to so much wine. You'll give yourself a heart attack!"

  "Oh shut up, Louise. You don't know any more about heart attacks than you do about men." Scott stood up and, zig zagging a little, marched out of the dining room. He grabbed his coat and continued out the front door, slamming it so hard the house shook; two glasses tipped over on the table, and the door to the china cabinet swung open all by itself.

  Kate looked at Dan, neither having the heart to look at their mother. Dinner was pretty much over. They took their plates into the kitchen, and came back to clear away the rest.

  "Please," Louise's voice was very quiet, "don't do anything else. I'll clear it away when I'm ready. Right now, I'd like to be alone."

  "But Mom," Dan said, his eyes wide, "we're not about to leave you alone after what just happened."

  Kate was surprised by Louise's reaction when she asked, "Exactly what do you two think happened?"