by C. Ruth Daly
I slumped over and tried to get my breath. My heart was racing and I didn’t think it would return to its normal beat. My eyes were cast downward as I heard someone call my name.
“Hey, Donna!”
I looked up and there was Gil Rolf in his pickup. The bed of the truck was loaded with bags of feed for their livestock. The sound of his voice startled me and I jumped.
“What’s the matter?” Gil yelled through the window of the driver’s seat.
I couldn’t move. Not only had Ned Hollis scared me, but I still wasn’t sure where Gil Rolf was coming from.
Gil cut the engine of the truck and got out. He walked toward me with a smile on his face. He was no longer menacing. After all, Gil was free to go about town now. His life was absolved of any connection with the murder. Meanwhile, though, his friend Brian Reynolds sat in jail awaiting trial.
“What’s going on Donna? I just talked to Irish and she said that you just had your head stuck in the refrigerator.”
I struggled to get my breathing under control. Gil was being nice to me, which made me feel even weirder. It was like he was acting like my big brother. Gil Rolf had seen a lot of Irish lately and I was beginning to wonder just what kind of a relationship they had going. Anyway, I was scared and desperate, so I muttered a single name.
“Hollis.” I said between gasps of unregulated breaths. “Hollis.”
“What?” Gil’s thoughtful and brotherly tone of voice vanished in the air.
“What are you trying to tell me?” His tone was stern and deliberate. Then he bent over and with one arm pulled me up off the wall.
“Let’s go.” he commanded. “We need to talk.”
I wished that I had stayed home with my head stuck in the refrigerator. I was wondering how Gil had gotten into town so quickly. It had been maybe twenty minutes since he had talked to Irish.
As Gil half-lifted and half pushed me into the passenger’s seat of his truck, I asked him. “Hey Gil. How did you get in town so fast? Weren’t you just talking to Irish?”
“Yeah. I was.” He said as the truck pulled away from the curb. Suddenly I felt more at ease. Gil had a smile on his face.
“I called your sister from the grain elevator. So what’s going on? You look really scared.”
“You know that night when you snuck into Ned Hollis’s house? Well that was a month ago and I kinda’ forgot about it. I was just walking over to Ethel Becker’s house, you know, she’s Glynda Myer’s grandma. Anyway, right by Mrs. Becker’s house was Ned Hollis. I first smelled cigarette smoke and then he popped out from behind this hedge. He said that I got something that’s his and he wants it. I really didn’t know what he was talking about. Then he said Brennan has it. You know Rita Brennan?”
Gil nodded and listened. We were headed north out of town now.
“Where we going, Gil?”
“We’re just driving, Donna. Don’t worry about it. What else did Hollis say?”
“He said that he wanted it back and he said he would give me money for it.
Then he put one arm up and then started to put up another one and that’s when I pushed him away and ran. He told me to stay away from him. He said to stay away from Rita Brennan, too.”
Gil nodded, shook his head and then sighed. “Donna. Can I confide in you? You already seem to know a lot about what I know anyway.”
I looked at Gil. It was funny, but five months earlier I had thought that Gil Rolf was the guy I’d be running from—not some man in nice clothes and wing-tipped shoes like Ned Hollis.
Gil continued. “I heard about Rita Brennan. Were you there?”
“Yeah. It was me, Glynda, and her grandma, Mrs. Becker. Rita looked really bad.”
“Okay, Donna. This is the deal.” Gil sighed and went on.
“Brian Reynolds told me Linda Miles dumped him at Hollis’s New Year’s Eve party. Me and Irish left soon after Linda split with Brian, but we were there when Brian was getting plastered alone while Linda took off somewhere in the Hollis house. Brian got so drunk after she told him that he barely remembers getting in his car. Gil continued down the country road and over Two Forks Bridge. He took a left toward the German Baptist Church.
“I need to get home, Gil. I’ll get in trouble.” I was getting worried now. I wished that he hadn’t driven me so far out in the country.
“Okay. But I need to talk to you some more.” There was a measure of trust in his voice.
“Hollis was a professional photographer. He used to take pictures of all these models.”
I was kind of surprised. I didn’t know where Gil was going with this, but I hung on to every word.
“Uh huh.” I nodded my head and looked at him.
Gil continued. When I was at Hollis’s house I had to go to the bathroom. The downstairs was full so I went upstairs. The guest bathroom was full. I really had to piss so I went into Hollis’s bedroom to use the master bath.”
I thought that Gil Rolf was telling me that he had some kind of bladder problem. “Did you have an accident, Gil?” I felt the need to be empathetic.
He sounded exasperated. “No! I just had to piss real bad. You know—it’s not polite to enter the master bedroom without asking the host. Ya see, Hollis had these pictures of models... of these knock out women plastered all over his bathroom. He’s a really good photographer. Most of ‘em weren’t wearing hardly any clothes.”
I looked at Gil then back at the road. Still I wasn’t sure what he was trying to tell me.
“I decided to get curious after I was done in the bathroom, I snooped around his bedroom a little. I know that’s not so cool, but I did it anyway. He has a walk-in closet full of all kinds of photography equipment and he’s turned it into a little dark room. I flipped on the red light and Hollis had pictures of Linda Miles hanging up to dry.”
“How’d he take her picture so fast and develop it while the party was going on? Especially with all those people around?” I was really interested but was getting lost in his story.
Gil sighed again. “Donna.” He spoke to me like I was an idiot. “Donna. Linda Miles had the red and orange leaves of the trees along the river behind her in those pictures. Donna. It was fall, not wintertime when those pictures were taken.”
“Okay. So Ned Hollis took pictures of Linda when it was fall. So what? I don’t get how that could make any difference.”
Gil was exasperated. “You’re the same age as my kid brother, aren’t you?” He shook his head and rolled his tongue from cheek to cheek. His pock marked cheek poked out like the surface of the moon then back in again.
Very slowly and very gently, Gil went on to explain. “Donna. The pictures were taken weeks before. Linda Miles had already known Ned Hollis. She didn’t just meet him the night of her murder.”
I turned to Gil. “I was at the drugstore before Christmas and Linda talked to Mr. Hollis like she knew him, but Mr. Smith knew him too—I bet he was always in getting his medicine.”
“You see Linda wasn’t all the way dressed in those pictures, Donna. Linda had already been with Ned Hollis before the party. Now Hollis is going out with that teacher, Rita Brennan and look what happened to her. It’s just lucky for her that you guys were around when he punched her. Who knows what would have happened next. Anyhow, I got the film that night, you know, when we had that fun drive through the country.”
He looked at me and grinned. I felt a special attachment at that point to Gil Rolf and I smiled back.
“I’ve developed the film myself. I was finally able to get out of town and get everything I needed—all the chemicals. The film is all of Linda. And they’re all taken along the river with the fall trees in the background.”
We sat in silence for a while with only the sound of the tires on the pavement breaking our trance.
“So ya see, Donna. Ned Hollis already knew Linda Miles before the night of the murder. I told Brian about it the night that Linda was murdered. I took the back way and drove him home. We just didn’t know tha
t Linda was laying dead in a ditch close by us. Hollis must have ditched her body near Brian’s farm. Me and Brian also had to check on some business that we had cultivating. But the frost and the deer had already taken care of it. But that’s another story. Not anything for you to know about.”
I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but I had heard of some people growing marijuana at the edge of cornfields by wood lots so that it couldn’t be spotted from an overhead plane or helicopter.
“Yup. I hope Brian told his lawyer about Linda already knowing Hollis. We’ll just see how far it goes. I’m telling you though, you and your friends need to stay clear of Ned Hollis.”
Then he hesitated. “Donna. You need to watch the police in this town too. It looks like...like there’s some corruption. You know. There’s some crooked people on the force.” Gil Rolf had told it all.
“Hey Gil. How many crooked people? There’s only three or four cops in town.” Gil sighed again. We were back in town at this point and had crossed the railroad tracks going back to my house.
“I don’t know, Donna. But watch Moore.”
“Officer Moore? But he comes and speaks at school sometimes. He lectures us about not using drugs.”
The truck stopped in front of my house. Gil looked at me and made me swear that I wouldn’t divulge any information he had given me. I couldn’t even tell LBJ and Glynda.
“Okay, Gil. I promise.” I smiled and he gave me a pat on the back.
“See ya later Donna.”
I was out of the truck and Gil was soon around the corner and out of sight. I looked around to make sure no one saw me. Evening was approaching and the slice of cheese I had after school hadn’t stuck with me. Knowing supper would be on soon I headed into the house. Mom was in the kitchen peeling potatoes over the sink and Anna was at the kitchen table doing homework. The two were talking about what everybody in Burgenton was talking about.
“Hi, Mom. Sorry I’m late. I was over at Ethel Becker’s house for awhile.”
“Oh I tell ya. Mrs. Randall told me about that girl who’s renting from Ethel Becker. People are saying she’s a fallen down drunk and she fell down in her kitchen and whacked her face on the stove. I don’t know what this world coming to, but to think she’s a kindergarten teacher. I guess she’s recuperating at her parents’ house and they’re going to make sure she dries out.”
I was surprised how the Burgenton rumor mill took a twist from the seed Ethel Becker planted.
“Mom...I heard Mr. Hollis hit her. Isn’t that true? I mean, I was there on Easter when it happened. Just ask Mrs. Becker!”
“No, Donna. Mrs. Becker, you know, she’s not as young as she used to be and she gets things mixed up. Young Mr. Hollis didn’t hit Rita Brennan. Why Rita had a little too much to drink and fell in her kitchen. You weren’t in the kitchen when it happened, were you? That poor child...I hope she can turn her life around.” Mom clicked her tongue and whipped the peeler around the potato.
“I need to run over to Glynda’s house. I uh, got her math book by mistake. I’ll be right back.” I was anxious and desperate to find out what was going on.
Had Ned Hollis cornered Mrs. Becker like he had tried to corner me? Or did Ned Hollis pay off Ethel Becker to keep quiet. I doubted Mrs. Becker had taken money from that jerk, but I had to find out what was going on.
“Don’t be long. Supper’s on soon,” Mom hollered as I pushed open the front screen door.
I sprinted the blocks to Glynda’s house flying past Mr. Roberts’s to hear the sound of his baby wailing through the windows and to wave a quick hello to Mrs. Cruz bent over in her garden.
Rodney was out in front digging a stick in a bare patch in the lawn.
“Rodney, where’s Glynda?”
He smiled at me to show me one more lost teeth. “Gynda at Gwa’ma’s house. Mommy went too. I want to go too, but they say, “Nooo. Wodney stay home.” Rodney pouted and dug the stick further into the dirt.
“Sorry, Rodney. I’m going to your grandma’s house and I’ll let them know that you want them to come home.”
Rodney didn’t look up, but still poked that stick in the ground. “Ah wight.” he said.
And I turned and ran the way that I came. I waved again to Mrs. Cruz, heard the Roberts’ baby still crying, and then darted past the corner of my house. I finally landed on the step of Ethel Becker’s front porch. I knocked three times and Glynda came to the door. She looked solemn and pale.
“Hi, Donna. Come on in.”
Her face showed no expression. I took her by the arm. “Glynda, what’s going on? My mom said people are saying Rita Brennan is a drunk and that she fell and bruised up her face by herself. No one is saying anything about Hollis doing it.”
I was scared. It was like Glynda was in the Twilight Zone and I was the only one out in reality trying to avoid the Twilight Zone.
Glynda turned and looked at me. There was a hollow expression in her eyes.
“Donna. Maybe we were wrong about what happened with Rita. After all, we don’t know Rita. I mean Mr. Hollis is from Burgenton—basically. We just met Rita. She’s not from around here. I mean we weren’t in the kitchen and neither was Grandma. When Grandma was tidying up Rita’s apartment she found a few bottles of vodka hidden in different places. Okay? Rita had one in the flour canister and one in her bathroom closet.”
Glynda looked down and slowly shook her head. “I don’t know what’s going on, Donna. But Grandma is really down on Rita now. I guess the school board is canceling her teaching contract and she’s not even going to finish the school year.”
Glynda looked at me. She was about to cry.
“Should I talk to your Grandma, Glynda?”
“No, Donna. It won’t do no good. She’s really mad right now... and she seems kinda scared. I guess Rita is coming back this weekend to get her stuff and move out.”
Glynda seemed defeated. She no longer had the giggling enthusiasm as before. Glynda Myer for the first time since I’d met her was quiet and serious. Glynda had been frightened by something or someone and I knew just who that someone was.
THIRTEEN
Saturday morning arrived and I awoke with the sun on my face. It was 9:30 and later than I had wanted to get up. I had planned to get over to Rita Brennan’s place to see how she was doing and to say goodbye to my new, and soon to be old friend. I grabbed my glasses, pulled on my jeans, a sweatshirt, and ran downstairs. Mom and Dad were sitting at the kitchen table drinking cups of coffee and eating day old donuts Dad had brought home from the store the night before. I grabbed a powdered one and headed out the back door yelling that I would be back in a half-hour. Quickly I rounded the corner to Rita Brennan’s apartment. A four-door station wagon was parked in front. The car had its rear tailgate open with the door out to the street. A short balding man was loading boxes into the back of the wagon. Rita was just coming out of the front door with another box when I called out to her.
“Hey, Rita!” I yelled, trying to sound nonchalant as if it were just another day in Burgenton.
Rita turned and looked at me. The short, bald man looked up and stared at me as if I were an apparition.
Rita turned to the short, bald man holding the box. “Dad, I want you to meet my friend, Donna.”
And she smiled a wide toothy smile at me that pushed up her now black eye with some hints of yellow peeking through.
“Hello, Donna.” Rita’s dad was grim. Despite her smile, he seemed to not be able to manage one.
“Thanks, for coming to see me off, Donna.” Rita was serious and spoke with sincerity. “I didn’t think anyone would come and see me off. Mrs. Becker is keeping to herself. I haven’t seen much of her this morning. And I was hoping Glynda would stop by, but I haven’t seen her, either. Dad and I have about an hour of loading to go before I am clear and free of Burgenton.”
She smiled again, but this time it looked like it took all of her energy to do it. Rita looked over her shoulder at Ned Hollis’s house then ba
ck at me.
“I don’t believe I will be seeing Mr. Hollis again.” She brought her hand to her eye. “He did leave me with quite a memento, though.” Rita spoke with defeat in her voice. “But I guess that people in Burgenton are saying otherwise. You know I lost my job. Well, I was asked to resign and given severance pay at least to cover me through the next month. Hopefully I can find a job in Indiana, but if not, I do have an interview in North Dakota next month. If nothing works out here within the next month, then I’m off to North Dakota!”
Rita’s dad shook his head as he continued to load more boxes in the car.
“Dayton, North Dakota would be a nice change from Burgenton, but I don’t know if I want to exchange one small town for another. I’ll just wait and see what the world has to offer me. It has to be better than what I had here. That is...except for you, Donna. I do appreciate your friendship and for, uh—looking out for me.”
Rita took my hand and gave it a pat. I smiled back at her.
“Rita, I’m...I’m sorry. This town’s become so weird. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m...sorry. Will I see you again?”
I asked the question knowing in fact that North Dakota was a long way from Burgenton, Indiana and I doubted I would ever see her again. Tears came to my eyes.
