Kate recited the events at St. Timothy's, the sequence of packages, and that Father Terry and Rabbi Gordon couldn't figure out what it was all about. She took Louise right up to Sunday, the night after Christmas, when the package was Lucy.
She told her Terry and Herb went to the chief for help, she confessed that she and Dan went through the police files to check for any reports of abuse. Kate reminded Louise about a baby being born every twelve years; first Maggie at twelve, then Sally at twelve, and now Lucy.
"You know, Mom, I just found out that someone has been subsidizing the Clark family for the past twenty-four years, ever since the hit and run killed Joe Clark."
Louise looked at Kate and said, "Yes, and I know who."
Kate felt her eyes almost pop out of her head. "Good God, you know more than I ever imagined. Have you told anybody your suspicions?"
"It's not a suspicion, Kate." Kate watched Louise look into the bottom of her cup. She hesitated. When she spoke, it was so quiet that Kate had to ask her to say it again. "We, your father and I, have been subsidizing the Clark family for twenty-four years." Louise slumped against the back of the booth.
"Well, how come?" was all Kate asked. "What prompted you and the chief to be so generous? That's not like him at all." Kate blithely went on, "Well? How was the money delivered? In person every week, once a month, deposited in a bank account or did you and Dad just pay some of their bills?"
Kate was startled to hear her mother say, "You still don't get it, Kate." She saw her mother's face twist in pain with tears on her cheeks. "Your father delivered it in cash every week in a white envelope."
Fifteen
Tuesday morning, after tending to some parish duties, Terry walked into the kitchen in time to see Herb Gordon get a welcoming hug from Mrs. Murphy. She pointed to a chair and told the rabbi to sit down and have some coffee and a warm cinnamon bun. Terry watched a big smile spread across Mrs. Murphy's face when the rabbi, with his mouth full, smurshed out that her cinnamon bun was the best he ever ate. He saw Mrs. Murphy blush, a rare thing. "G'wan with ya now, Rabbi. You're such a flatterer. It's very nice, but I can't stand around and tiddle. I've got chores."
Terry sat down and said, "Hey, Herb, get serious. I haven't heard anything since last night. Anything new with Lucy?"
Herb assured him, "She's okay, better than okay. However, I just spoke to Louise. She told me a peculiar story about the chief when he was at the house this morning, and then again when he was at the clinic. I worry about her, Terry. The chief seems to be getting more bully-boy."
"Are you worried about Lucy, or about Louise?"
"According to Louise, Lucy is doing very well. We'll have to ask Joe Gold about the baby."
"But," Terry went on, "Does the baby have a name? Will there be a baptism?"
"Geez, you are up-tight, Terry. Questions, questions—"
"Of course I've got lots of questions. Remember, my friend, I've had this bizarre business going on since Halloween. I won't have any peace until we answer the dozens of questions that tap dance in my head, all day and all night."
"I have questions, too," Herb said. "I've given this a lot of thought, Terry, and here's what I've come up with. The person who left those presents for you has to be Sally Clark. You know it, too. We have to talk to her, and the quicker the better. It's too bad Agnes is dead. We'll never know what she knew. Was her death an accident, like the chief insisted, or was it murder, like Maggie keeps saying? And what does it have to do with Lucy?"
Terry said, "You're right. Sally probably has the answer to our back steps mystery, and lots of other questions hanging out there." He looked at his watch. "It's nine o'clock, so she's probably down the street at the hardware store. She works for Ed Brown part time."
"Okay," Herb said. "Let's go get her."
Terry hesitated. "You mean descend on her, just like that?"
Terry was reluctant, but Herb was confident that if they were reasonable, she would be too, and they wouldn't have to drag her kicking and screaming down the street.
They left Herb's car parked in front of Millie's across the street and two blocks down from Ed Brown's Hardware. They walked through the mist of the cold, gray winter morning. In front of the hardware store window, the soft glow of lights fell across the icy sidewalk and dispelled some of the chill Terry felt deep in his bones.
They heard the tinkle of the old fashioned bell when they opened the door and stepped inside. Ed greeted them with a big smile. "Happy New Year. How can I help you, Father Terry?"
Terry said, "Happy New Year to you, Ed. Meet my friend and colleague, Rabbi Gordon. Sorry I don't need anything, right now. We're looking for Sally Clark."
Terry was uncomfortable when Ed stared at the rabbi, looked him up and down, and sneered. "So you're the yid I keep hearing about."
Terry quickly said, "That's uncalled for, Ed. Rabbi Gordon is a distinguished scholar, a leader of his congregation, and a real asset to the people of Oakton."
Ed said, "I ain't no Jew lover, and I can't imagine why he'd want Sally. She's like me about Jews, but I'll call her for you, Father O'Reilly." He called out to Sally that somebody wanted to see her.
Terry watched Sally emerge from the back room, buttoning a smock over her blouse. She walked to the front of the store and asked, "So, wadda ya want?"
The priest introduced himself and Rabbi Gordon. He told her that they wanted to treat her to breakfast at Millie's and talk to her for a few minutes about Lucy.
Sally frowned at Terry. "I don't know you. I have nothing to say. And besides, Ed can't spare me right now."
Terry saw her look at Ed with, 'Help me,' in her eyes. Ed didn't get it. He looked around the empty store and said, "There's no after Christmas rush. Go on with Father Terry, Sally. He's one of the good guys." Ed pushed her toward the door and then stopped. 'Wait a minute." He walked away and quickly returned to hand Sally her coat.
"Here you go kiddo. Make these guys buy you the most expensive breakfast on the menu and I'll hold off the crowds until you get back." He chuckled and opened the door for her.
Terry and Herb each took an arm and guided Sally across the street to Millie's and into their usual booth. Terry nodded to Herb to sit across from her while he sat alongside her, effectively trapping Sally in her seat.
Before they had their coats off, Millie was there pouring coffee in their cups and placing menus in their hands. Terry looked around, pleased to see the diner empty. The breakfast crowd was gone, and it was still too early for the lunch bunch.
Millie left with their order, and Terry started speaking in a soft voice. "We want to say how sorry we are about Lucy. How is she doing?"
He saw Sally bristle. "Don't bullshit me. I know how you men operate. You lie all the time to get your way. I know you've been at the clinic in cahoots with that Jew doctor. You forget I'm a nurse. Nothing happens in the clinic that I don't know about. Mary fills me in. So cut the crap and tell me what's on your mind."
Terry said, "Yes, we've been at the clinic, very concerned about your little girl. Lucy is yours, isn't she Sally?"
"Is that what this is all about? Me being Lucy's mother? Well, I am, and yes, I was twelve when Lucy was born, just like my mother, Maggie. So, what's that your business?"
Terry said, "There are one or two other questions, Sally, okay? After all, it isn't as if you did anything wrong or have anything to hide."
Sally ducked her head. "What could I have to hide? Some creep knocked up Lucy. I didn't have anything to do with it."
"We never thought you did," Herb said. "Our questions concern what happened at St. Timothy's."
She looked first at one man and then the other. The priest was sitting so close she had to lean back to look him in the eye. "Ask your questions so I can tell you I don't know anything."
Terry said, "Well, I guess I should be the one to ask, because these strange things started on Halloween on the back steps behind St. Timothy's."
The priest related the whole s
aga; his cemetery visits on Sunday evenings, his surprise package each week, starting with the dead fish, and ending with the baby doll, tied with red ribbons, and the alarming messages 'HELP ME' and 'WHY DON'T YOU HELP ME.'
All the time he was talking, he kept his eyes on Sally, who was trying not to look at either man.
When the priest finished, he explained that he knew someone was in trouble but couldn't figure out who it was, so he solicited help from Rabbi Gordon, Pastor Schultz, and even talked to Chief Addams.
There was a moment of silence, then a great sob escaped Sally's lips and she dropped her head down on the table, her hands over her ears. She gasped for breath, and her body writhed as if in pain. "You couldn't have! How could you do that?"
Behind the lunch counter, Millie's head came up, and her eyes seemed to be asking, "What's going on?" Terry beckoned, "Please, Millie, bring a pitcher of cold water, some glasses, and a small towel. Thanks."
Terry patted Sally's shoulder. He saw the rabbi reach across the table to pat her head . After a few minutes, the sobs quieted and her body stopped shaking. A damp towel on the back of her neck seemed to calm her. She raised her head and they saw, tears streaming down her face.
Terry handed her a napkin to wipe her eyes. She gasped for breath and opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Terry said, softly, "It's all right, Sally. We're here to help you. What can we do?"
Sally moved her head from side to side in a way to say, "No."
Terry asked, "Do you want to just sit here quietly for a few minutes?"
She nodded.
When Terry handed her a glass of water, Sally sipped a little and put it down. Then she closed her eyes and laid her head back against the brown leather booth.
She rested like that for a long time. Terry and Herb shared concerned looks, and they were glad to see her eyes flutter open. She sat up, took a long drink of water, and looked at Herb, then at Terry. Her face had a deer in the headlights look, but Terry had her trapped in the booth. She couldn't run away.
The priest spoke softly, "Sally, whatever it is, we're here to help. Let me assure you, as clergymen we are bound by confidentiality. You could talk to either of us and nothing you say will be repeated to another living soul. My seal of the confessional—and Herb's oaths—is unbreakable, even in a booth at Millie's.
He waited for a sign that Sally understood.
She nodded. "Yes, I get it. And yes, I need to talk to somebody, get his off my chest at last. I've held this in for so long. And now with what Lucy is going through, it's tearing my insides out. Maybe if I hadn't been such a coward, this monster wouldn't have gotten to her."
Seeing Millie hovering close by, Terry asked her for a large carafe of coffee, some cheese and crackers, and privacy, adding that they would be there for a while. He thanked Millie when she reminded them that the place would start to fill up about 11:30.
Once Millie left, Sally started hesitantly, "I have to start with what happened to me. I imagine much the same happened to my mother, but I don't know her story. I only know my story, and some of Lucy's. We have lots of unspoken rules about keeping closed mouths that nobody breaks. I'm breaking them now, because of Lucy."
The two men watched Sally pour herself a cup of coffee, add sugar and milk, and stir slowly. It wasn't stalling. It was figuring how to say what she had to say.
"I guess it started when I was six or seven because I remember I had started school. Mother and Grandmother both worked. I got home around 2:30 to an empty house until they came home a little after five. I had strict instructions to stay in the house or on the porch and not wander off. I was a good girl and usually did what I was told.
"When Grandmother got home, she always asked if anyone came to the house. After it started, I always lied and shook my head. Grandmother yelled a lot, but she never hit me. If she caught me lying, I was locked in a closet with no supper. She was very strict about lying.
"One afternoon, I was sitting on the porch, playing with my doll, when the doctor came to the house—"
Herb interrupted, "Excuse me Sally, but how did you know he was a doctor?"
"He wore a white coat, had a stethoscope, a cap covering his hair, and a face mask, like on TV He said hello and that my mother told him I would be home, and he was there to examine me. Then he walked up on the porch, very friendly, and said we should go inside.
"I led him into the living room, but he took my hand and led me into the kitchen. He seemed to know his way around the house, so I wasn't afraid. When he told me to get undressed, I did. He lifted me onto the kitchen table, put his stethoscope in his ear, and listened to me all over, then ran his hands around my body, put a thermometer in my mouth, told me to spread my legs. He felt around in my vagina. I remember I told him, "Don't hurt me," but he didn't seem to hear me."
Terry listened with the rabbi, transfixed by the horror story unfolding for them in Millie's Luncheonette and Diner.
Because of where her family lived, in semi isolation from the rest of the town, Terry wasn't surprised when Sally said she was twelve and didn't know much about sex around the time the 'doctor' began to abuse her. She said she had never seen a man naked, didn't remember ever seeing Maggie or Agnes naked.
Sally's story went on from one terrible act to another against this poor, defenseless little girl. It was the same story including the habit the man had about tossing an envelope on a small table in the living room.
When she reached that part, Sally paused, drank some coffee, and looked at the two men with a blank expression. Terry knew his face was flushed, his mouth open and at a loss from the story Sally told them. He closed his mouth and looked at Herb. He saw the rabbi's face was wet with tears. Neither man spoke.
After an awkward silence, Terry said, "Don't stop, Sally. We need to hear it all. The more we know, the easier it will be for us to help you and your family. Besides, Sally, Millie warned us that this place will start filling up. You won't want to be telling your story with lots of people around."
Sally gasped, "No, no, no," insisting that the family must never know she talked to them. She said the man would kill her in a minute if he knew she talked. She said she believed Maggie, who kept saying that he killed her grandmother.
Terry saw that Sally was almost hysterical when she whispered, frantically, "Please, please!"
"All right, all right, Sally." Terry tried to calm her. "Remember, I told you that whatever you tell us stops right here."
She looked at Terry, then nodded. Sally took a napkin, blew her nose, and sat back, a little more at ease. "I don't think I have to go into any more sordid details of what that monster, so-called doctor, did to me. I will tell you, though, that as I got older, he did more things and made me do things I didn't want to do.
"He sure knew what he wanted and how he wanted it. I shudder when I think that those same things have been going on with Lucy. She is even more unaware than I was at the same age. You know she's a little retarded, although now I guess they call it something else."
Terry saw a pained expression pass across Sally's face. When she paused he thought she might be reluctant to go on telling them what really happened. She might think they never heard such horrible things or might not want to want to hear it.
Terry said, "Remember what we said, Sally. We have heard things you would never believe. After many years in the confessional, I am appalled at what cruelty people inflict on each other. We are here for you, so you can let go of this pain you've held on to for so long. You don't have to hold back."
Sally cleared her throat and went on. "When I was eleven, he stopped pretending he was a doctor. I already suspected that he was one of our town's policemen. I saw him at school a couple times, probably casing the place for victims. Then one day he showed up at the house in his police uniform."
Terry noticed Herb shift on the edge of his seat and avoid making eye contact with him. He had gotten more and more uncomfortable as Sally told her story, and now Terry suspected why. 'So this was th
e secret he's been keeping from me. Now I know why the Clark family is so scared. Who is there to arrest a policeman?'
Sally continued, "About that time, it became obvious that I was pregnant. It seemed to turn him on, and he couldn't keep his hands off my body. It was as if he wanted to penetrate every orifice, feel the baby growing inside of me. It hurt so much, it's a miracle I didn't miscarry. But no, I went all the way, and Lucy was the result. Grandmother Agnes and Mother took me to St. Louis near the end, and they let everyone think Lucy was Maggie's baby. Everybody knew she was a fallen woman, the Clark family tramp.
"I didn't go back to school or find a job until it was time for Lucy to start school. I couldn't leave the baby with anybody, so he timed his visits so Lucy was napping when he came by. I don't think she ever saw him. Once Lucy was born, he started using condoms, but he didn't like it. He told me that often enough while he was slapping me around to make sure I held the right position.
"He constantly swore me to secrecy, threatening, that if I even hinted at what he was doing, he would spread our name as vicious liars and whores. And who would people believe, a respected and admired Oakton policeman, or the vicious, disgusting Clark family?"
Sally stopped talking. Again the tears and great gasping sobs started, and they overtook her ability to speak clearly.
Rabbi Gordon leaned across the table. "Sally, what is it? What did you remember?"
Terry patted her shoulder, and Sally responded to his comforting gesture, sagging against him. He sensed that she was struggling with some horrible thoughts.
After a few minutes, Sally sat up and tried to speak. "It's just... it's just... I know these same things happened to Lucy. My poor baby! The man has got to be killed or thrown in jail for the rest of his cursed life. There must be other children in town who suffered at his hands. It can't be just us.!
Very quietly, Terry said, "Sally, Rabbi Gordon and I swear that we will not stop until we do something about this man. We must find out if anyone else was victimized by this monster."
Sally blew her nose and wiped her eyes. "I can't bear to think of Lucy having to endure that torture. I didn't realize until I found out she was pregnant. I thought he stopped bothering me because he had some other kid in town. I didn't know it was my own Lucy, because I didn't see the envelope on the living room table."
Chief Among Sinners Page 17
