You Can Run...

by Carlene Thompson

  “Oh! I’m sorry.” Diana felt flustered, as if she’d really been leading a whole group of tourists. She had to put this morning’s interview with Detective Silver out of her mind. “I’m afraid being with the two of you is so overwhelming, I just don’t know where to start.”

  “She has stage fright,” Willow said sagely to Tyler. “That’s when you get scared and can’t talk in front of people. Clarice told me all about it. She said it happened to her in a church play when she was a little girl. That must have been a long time ago.”

  Tyler grinned. “Yes, well, let’s not remind her of exactly how long ago it was.” He looked understandingly at Diana, as if he knew what preoccupied her thoughts. “Perhaps you might begin by telling us the history of this place, ma’am.”

  “As you wish,” Diana said brightly. “You probably know that the founder of our city was Collis P. Huntington. He bought the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad and laid the railroad from Richmond, Virginia, to the Ohio River. Huntington became a transfer point between the riverboats and the railway lines.”

  Willow pulled her hands free and clapped. “That was good, Diana! What’s it mean?”

  Both Tyler and Diana burst into laughter. “It means the train brought much more business to the city and many people came here and Huntington got lots bigger and more important. The importance of the railroad to this city is demonstrated by”—she waved her hand grandly—“the renovated railway station, an authentic locomotive, as well as a renovated Pullman Car.”

  The three of them toured the attractions, Willow asking politely why people would want to drag along in a train when they could fly in a jet and go way up in the clouds. Finally, they visited Huntington’s first bank, built in 1873. Diana told Willow that Jesse James supposedly had robbed the bank in 1875. This brought on a barrage of questions for Tyler about Jesse James, the James Gang, and if Tyler had ever chased them.

  At one o’clock, Tyler announced he might keel over from heat and starvation. They let Willow choose the restaurant—The Boston Beanery Restaurant and Tavern—and walked into the cool, antique ambience. They bypassed the long bar and went into the subdued second room. Diana had always favored the thick dark-green carpet, the brick walls, and especially the tin-plated, embossed panels on the ceiling. She ordered a large salad with grilled chicken while Tyler and Willow ordered cheeseburgers. “I warn you,” Diana said. “Those aren’t regular-sized cheeseburgers.” Both assured her they could eat every bite.

  “What was the name of the policeman who talked to you?” Willow finally asked.

  “I gave my statement to a lady detective named Miriam Silver.”

  “A lady detective,” Willow said in awe. “Was she nice?”

  “Very. And smart. She told me she has children.”

  “Wow. They let you be a detective when you have kids?”

  “I hope so,” Tyler said, giving Diana a look full of meaning. “I’m a detective and I want to have kids some day.”

  “You have me.” Willow’s voice sounded half statement, half plea.

  “Well, of course, but you’re not considered my daughter, honey. Some people would say you’re my niece.”

  Willow looked down, her smile flagging. “People will say I’m the Bad Man’s kid and make me go with him. I know it.”

  Willow’s lower lip trembled. Tyler looked at Diana helplessly. Diana could think of nothing both comforting and true to say, so she decided to pursue the subject. “Willow, who taught you to call Jeffrey Cavanaugh the Bad Man?”

  “Mommy.”

  “Oh. Did she show you a picture of him?”

  “Yeah. Just one picture but a lot of times. She said I should never go anywhere with him, but if someone made me go with him, I shouldn’t talk to him because he’s so bad. She said I should be afraid of him.”

  “Willow, did the man in the picture ever hurt you?” Diana asked. “Did he ever hit you or smack you or do things to you that you didn’t like?”

  Willow looked confused. “Things like what?”

  “Oh, touch you or . . .” Diana was surprised by her embarrassment. “Did he just make you uncomfortable?”

  “Diana,” Tyler said in an almost-warning voice while Willow scrunched up her face in deep thought.

  Finally Willow said, “I don’t think he did anything. I don’t remember.”

  “Did he hit your mommy?”

  “Well . . . maybe he did, but I don’t remember about that, either. How come you’re askin’ me all these questions?”

  “I just wondered why your mommy thinks that man is bad.”

  “What about how he acted in the park?” Willow asked defensively. “He was gonna hit you. Besides, Mommy knows when people are bad. She wouldn’t tell me he was bad if he wasn’t.”

  Their glasses of iced tea arrived, breaking the tension of the moment. Tyler made a great production of asking Willow if her tea was sweet enough, cold enough, and if she had enough lemon, while he kept flashing mildly critical glances at Diana. She wished she hadn’t asked Willow about her father, but she’d done so without thought, or so it seemed. Maybe she’d been thinking about the questions ever since she’d left Detective Silver.

  2

  “As your tour guide, may I present Marshall University,” Diana announced. “Willow, this is where Uncle Simon taught, where I went to college, and where your mommy took classes last year. The university was first a college founded in 1837 and named for Chief Justice John Marshall. You are standing in front of its first building, known as Old Main. If you will kindly pose, I would like to take a picture of you.”

  Willow, always a willing subject, gave Diana a demure pose in front of the three-story building with its two gothic-inspired towers and the bust of John Marshall. She then insisted that Diana take another shot that “makes me look like I go to school here like you and Mommy did.” This required Willow to carry a steno notebook that Diana found in the depths of her tote bag, and wear a look of frowning concentration as she climbed the steps to the building’s entrance. Diana didn’t have the heart to tell her that administrative offices now filled Old Main rather than classrooms.

  “You’re quite the actress,” Tyler said after the photo shoot. “You looked just like a teenage girl going in to take a very hard test.”

  “Thank you,” Willow answered modestly. “I just copied how Mommy looked whenever she was gonna have a test. She always worried.”

  “And she always did well.” Diana smiled. “I wish she could have come here full-time instead of just taking one class a semester.”

  “But then she wouldn’t have worked for Uncle Simon and I woulda never got to meet him and you and Romeo and Christabel. That would have been a tragedy,” Willow pronounced solemnly.

  Diana smiled. “It would certainly have been a tragedy for the four of us if we hadn’t met you and your Mommy.” Diana felt the damnable tears rising in her eyes again and said, “Let’s go explore some more of the campus.”

  An oddly luminous aqua sky stretched clear and low beyond them, and Diana couldn’t resist taking more pictures than she’d intended. She did not ignore Willow and Tyler, though. She caught both of them in front of the graceful Drinko library. She told them that because of the prominence of glass used in its architecture, at night the building glowed with light from top to bottom.

  Tyler suggested they go to the student center that Penny had described to him. Willow agreed, saying that her mother had promised to show it to her when Penny went back to school. Tyler and Diana exchanged looks, Diana swallowing hard knowing that Penny would not be starting school in two weeks. When they entered, Willow’s eyes widened as they traveled around the large central lounge. Diana told her the center also contained a cafeteria and three dining rooms.

  A few students were already visiting the bookstore in the student center, and Willow suddenly turned shy when a beautiful young student with long black hair and torn jeans said, “Oh, my, what a pretty little girl! You two must be proud of her!”


  Tyler merely said, “We sure are,” but both Willow and Diana blushed, Willow seeming to realize for the first time that she was only five, not eighteen, and Diana suddenly aware that they did look like a family.

  Diana hurried them down to the basement to see the pool tables—where Tyler challenged Diana to a game she unfortunately didn’t play—the table tennis tables, the lounge, and the large-screen television. The tables weren’t in use, but Diana knew that would change in a couple of weeks.

  When they emerged from the campus side of the student center, Willow pointed to the large copper-patina fountain. “How come they put a fountain there?” she asked.

  “This is the Memorial Student Center Plaza,” Diana answered. “They built the entire student center to commemorate the football team who died in a plane crash in November 1970.”

  “The whole football team?” Willow gasped.

  “Yes. Along with coaches and supporters of the team and the crew. The crash killed all seventy-five people aboard the plane.”

  Tyler shook his head. “From the time I was old enough to get interested in football, I read about that crash. As I remember, the plane coming in for a landing hit some treetops about a mile away from the airport. They were so close to being safe.”

  “Did you know anybody on the plane?” Willow asked Diana.

  “No. It happened before I was born. Uncle Simon knew a few people, though. My grandmother told me he was very sad when it happened.”

  “You see the points at the top of the fountain?” Diana asked Willow. Willow nodded. “Each of the points represents a life lost on the plane.”

  “Oh, my,” Willow said mournfully.

  “After they built the student center and installed the fountain, they constructed the amphitheater and laid bricks instead of concrete, for the floor of the plaza. I think it’s a beautiful memorial,” Diana said.

  Willow turned to Diana. “Will you take a picture of Tyler and me in front of the fountain?”

  Diana smiled. “I would be most pleased to oblige.”

  “Does oblige mean ‘yes’?” Willow asked. Diana nodded. “Great. Then Tyler and me will have a picture of us at Marshall to give to Mommy when she gets well.”

  In their first shots by the fountain, both Willow and Tyler looked almost woebegone. Diana stopped snapping pictures and said, “It’s all right to smile, you two. A picture of you both smiling in front of the fountain would be much nicer.”

  At first both their smiles and postures looked stiff. When Diana once again called for some joy to match the dancing, glittering water behind them, Tyler lifted Willow up to his shoulder and the pose seemed to do the trick. Diana managed to get several shots of the two looking cheerful, and one shot of them looking downright ecstatic.

  “That last one was a winner,” she told them. “In the first ones you both looked like your faces would crack if you smiled.”

  “We professional models have to get in the mood, Diana,” Tyler told her haughtily. “We can’t just turn the charisma on and off like a light switch. We’re a temperamental bunch.”

  “That’s why I usually do landscapes, smart alec.”

  The whole time they’d been touring the campus, Diana had been on the lookout for Glen. She knew that the police had not found his medical ID bracelet until this morning, and she didn’t think that would warrant more than a questioning from them. She hadn’t given Nan’s confession to Detective Silver until nearly three hours ago. Would the police act on that immediately? After all, it was just Nan’s word against Glen’s. Still, Diana didn’t want to run into him on campus. Autumn classes hadn’t started yet but they would in two weeks, and by this time, professors who’d chosen not to teach summer classes often began readying their offices and class materials for the next semester.

  Professors such as Glen, who was fanatically organized. Many people admired his stringent order, but Diana had always thought it resulted from his lack of self-confidence. If he didn’t have everything planned to the last degree, he was lost. Glen could not speak or act extemporaneously. He lived by routines, schedules, habits, and almost fanatical preparation.

  Thinking of Glen gave Diana a sudden, uncanny desire to return home. She didn’t want to scare Willow, though. In a light voice, she said, “I don’t know about you two, but I’m getting a little tired.”

  “Oh, my God!” Tyler burst out. “Your head! Your hip! You’re supposed to be resting and I’ve dragged you all over the city. Doctor Evans would kill me.”

  Diana laughed. “I’d hardly say we’ve been all over the city and I don’t believe Doctor. Evans would kill anybody. I’ve really enjoyed today. I needed to get out in the fresh air and have some fun, and so did Willow. But I think I have reached my limit. Do you mind if we go home now, Willow?”

  “Oh, no. You need your rest, dear,” she said, sounding remarkably like Clarice. “We can come back and see the rest of Marshall next week. Does your head hurt real bad?”

  “Not yet, but my hip hurts some. And so do my feet.” She held out a high-heeled foot. “I told you what this kind of shoe will do to you!”

  They were all laughing when someone shouted, “Diana? Diana Sheridan?”

  Diana looked up. A colleague of Glen’s strode across the plaza toward them. She desperately tried to come up with his name but the best she could do was Frederick. He stopped in front of them, looking at Diana inquiringly.

  “Uh, yes, I’m Diana Sheridan. Frederick, isn’t it?”

  “Can’t believe you remembered. I wasn’t sure at first it was you when I saw you with a little girl and this great strapping man by your side instead of Glen.” Frederick was short, round, jowly. “You are still dating Glen, aren’t you, Diana?”

  “Well—”

  “Sure you are. He told me you were going to some shindig at the country club over the weekend. I’m a bit shaken about . . . well, have you seen Glen today?”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “Talked to him on the phone?”

  “No. Is something wrong?”

  Frederick’s expression went from carefully bland to distressed. “Is it all right to talk in front of the little girl?” Without waiting for an answer, Frederick ploughed on. “The history department had a faculty meeting scheduled for one o’clock. Glen didn’t show up. In the five years he’s been here, this is a first. He didn’t even call in an excuse.”

  “Maybe he forgot the meeting,” Tyler said.

  Frederick looked at him as if he were an intruder. “And you are?”

  “Tyler Raines. Good friend of Glen’s.”

  Willow looked up at Tyler in surprise, but Frederick didn’t notice. “Oh. He’s never mentioned you.” Frederick dismissed Tyler with a flick of his gaze. “Anyway, Diana, when Glen didn’t show up at the meeting, the head of the department asked one of us to check his office. Glen can get caught up in all of his filing and note-making and—well, you know Glen. I went and knocked on the door. No answer and the door was unlocked. Naturally, I opened it and—”

  All three of them leaned toward the round man. “And what?” Tyler finally demanded.

  “The office has been trashed. Not just messed up. Trashed.”

  “Good heavens!” Diana exclaimed. “Did vandals damage other offices?”

  “No. At least not in our department. We all checked. Just Glen’s office!” Frederick shook his head. “The cushion on his desk chair had been slashed, someone had carved on the desk, and every book had been tossed from the bookcases. That photo you gave him of the cable-suspension bridge downtown with the sunset behind it was covered with ink. Ink was splattered everywhere. Ink! Who uses jars of ink these days?”

  “How could someone have gotten in?” Diana asked, shocked. “He keeps the office locked.”

  “That’s just one of the odd things about this. The lock wasn’t broken. Someone had a key. And the damage must have been done in the night otherwise the secretary would have heard. We tried calling Glen to tell him about the office but we o
nly got the answering machine.”

  “Have you called the police?” Tyler asked.

  “Of course.” Frederick’s tone indicated Tyler must be an imbecile. “I was just going back to the building to see if they’ve come, yet.”

  “Maybe it would be best to stay out of their way,” Tyler said.

  Frederick ignored him. “Oh, Diana, there was one more thing. Well, really two.” He paused, making everyone wait in suspense once again. “Pictures of two girls were flung all over the place. One had light-brown hair, not so pretty—I think she’s a student. The other had short dark hair and she was a real looker. Oh, sorry Diana,” he said absently. “They were Polaroid shots, but there must have been at least twenty pictures of each girl—different poses.”

  “You handled the pictures,” Tyler said with disdain. “Didn’t you think you might be destroying evidence?”

  “There’s more than enough evidence in that office to satisfy the police,” Frederick returned, offended. “And finally, Diana, if you can believe it, handwriting had been spray-painted in red on the wall. It said, ‘They destroyed my life.’ ”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  1

  Diana expected a barrage of questions from Willow after Frederick’s badly timed description of the damage inflicted on Glen’s office. Of course, they would not have wanted Willow to hear about it, but he hadn’t given Diana a chance to say she’d rather talk to him alone. Frederick was so full of the news he’d simply told everything he knew, as unstoppable as a tidal wave. And what bothered Diana most was that he’d seemed more gleeful than upset.

  After hearing about Glen’s office and the inability of anyone to reach him, they’d headed back for the car. Diana wished she’d started complaining about pain ten minutes earlier and they’d completely missed Frederick, but she couldn’t change what had happened. She could only deal with its aftermath.

  She looked back at Willow, sitting quietly in the backseat with her seat belt fastened around her. Her earlier joy had vanished. Her face had turned tight and pale. She looked down at a blue-and-white crystal stretch bracelet that Diana had bought for her, turning it slowly on her small wrist.