Cicada Spring

by Christian Galacar

  “Here’s the thing. I hope you know I’m only doing my job. I know you can respect that.”

  “Of course. Now what is it? The anticipation is killing me. Someone didn’t die, did they?”

  “No. No, not exactly,” Gaines said. “But this girl, Kara Price—something happened to her on Saturday after she left here.”

  “What do you mean?” Harry asked. He was starting to feel comfortable now. He was slipping into the skin of the lie, wearing it, becoming it.

  “Well, she showed up at home after work pretty roughed up,” Gaines said, pausing. Then: “She said she was attacked… by you. Raped.”

  Harry looked down, smiling and shaking his head. He laughed nervously. “What? I mean, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh. But you’re joking, right? This is a joke, Calvin. Tell me you’re kidding.”

  Gaines didn’t crack a smile, but Harry hadn’t expected him to. “I’m afraid not. This girl is for real. She’s claiming you did it. Her face is banged up real good, too. And Julie Bowen down at Dr. Hornsby’s office examined her and confirmed that she’s more than likely experienced, well, you know, some sort of sexual assault.”

  There was a pause between the two men.

  Harry’s face fell serious. “Jesus, Calvin, she’s lying. Don’t tell me you’re even considering it. Don’t be a sucker. You don’t think I could do something like that, do you? For Christ’s sake, I’m a happily married man, not a pervert.”

  Harry fought the urge to soften for Gaines, to pander to him; that wouldn’t be typical behavior for him. The point here was to seem normal. Be himself, like nothing was off or different or amiss. Harry may have been a man of the people, but there was also a raw edginess to him that he wore on his sleeve, and anyone who knew him respected him for it. To hide that side of him now would seem suspicious.

  Gaines held up a hand defensively. “I know, give me some credit here. I’m not jumping to any conclusions. I didn’t say I believed anything. If I did, this conversation we’re having would be down at the station. But you know how this works, I have to follow every lead, and since there’s only the one—her accusation—I didn’t have a choice. I had to come talk to you.”

  “Okay, so let’s hear it then. What’s her story?” Harry said. “What bullshit is she feeding you guys? I’d like to know what she’s saying I did to her.”

  “She hasn’t said much. She was real shaken up when I talked to her.” Gaines looked at his notepad again. “But the gist of it is that you offered her a ride home from work and instead took her to Baker’s Pond and had your way with her in the back of your car, after roughing her up some.”

  Harry threw up his hands. “I guess that’s what happened then,” he said snidely. “If she says so, then it must be true. So what now? Where do we go from here? Are you going to haul me in? Ruin the career I’ve spent almost a decade building, all because of some screwed-up girl’s bullshit story?”

  “Look, I’m not going to do that and you know it. We’ve known each other almost fifteen years, petty politics aside. I’m not going to arrest you, because there is no evidence other than her claims, but if there was, this would be going down differently. I know her father wants me to bring you in, but what’s the point? You’re not going anywhere, and like you said, I’m not going to destroy your career based on accusations alone, that would just be irresponsible and reckless. But you need to give me something, a reason she might have it out for you.”

  “Hell, I don’t know. You have a teenage daughter, you know how irrational they can be. Maybe she just wants attention. Your guess is as good as mine.”

  “No argument there. But you didn’t see this girl. This isn’t just some act… not all of it, anyway. Someone worked her over good.”

  “I don’t know what you want me to say. I don’t know anything. Did you come down here looking for a confession?”

  “No. I came down here looking for your side of the story.”

  “My side of the story? I have no side. Last time I saw that girl was when I left the office, and she seemed completely fine. There’s my story, beginning to end.”

  “So you didn’t offer her a ride?” Gaines asked.

  “No, I didn’t offer her a ride. They were still working when I left.”

  “What time did you leave?”

  “I don’t know exactly. Maybe around four or so.”

  Gaines scribbled something down in his notepad. “And what’d you do then?”

  Harry rubbed his chin. “Went to Harrigan’s, grabbed a six-pack, went home and sat on my porch for a bit, then did some yard work and took a trip to the dump.”

  “Anyone see you?” Gaines said.

  Eddie Corbett came to mind, but Harry decided to leave him out of this. Eddie would keep his mouth shut about their meeting. He didn’t need to involve him in this in any way. Not yet, at least. Only if his back were to the wall would he call on him.

  Harry shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe. People could’ve seen me. I’m sure if you ask Gary Trask down at Harrigan’s, he’ll tell you I was there.” Harry paused a moment. “And I didn’t see anyone else at the dump when I went, it was kind of late, but I know you’ll find a bag of old campaign signs on the edge of the garbage pile. That’s what I brought down there. You won’t be able to miss it. I had to tie it shut with a blue rubber band because I ran out of plastic twist-ties.”

  There was truth in these statements. Not in its entirety, but enough that if Gaines checked, he would find the answers Harry wanted him to. The best way to tell a lie, Harry knew, was to weave it with what was true. Anchor it to those shiny, authentic pieces. Sure, there were still gaps in his timeline, but Harry relied on the truths he did tell to smooth them over, like road tar patching the cracks in the asphalt of a weathered road. It was all cosmetic, only there to pass inspection from the state. Any real scrutiny would require further repair.

  “But for the most part you were alone? No one to verify?” Gaines asked.

  Harry scoffed. “Yes I was alone. That a crime?”

  “No. I’m only asking questions. The more I know the better.”

  “Yeah, well they’re questions I shouldn’t have to answer in the first place.” Harry leaned back, folding his arms.

  Gaines continued writing in his pad, ignoring the mayor’s remark. “What about your wife? Was she home?”

  “No. As my good fortune would have it, she was up in Nashua at her sister’s. Good timing, eh?” Harry said sarcastically. “If I’d known I was going to need an alibi, I would’ve told her not to go.”

  Once again, the sheriff ignored him and continued jotting down notes.

  “Let me ask you something,” Harry said. “What do you think? Do you think what this girl is saying is true? It seems to me there will be two camps to fall into on this matter, and I want to know where you’ll be setting up shop.”

  Gaines stopped writing, but his eyes stayed down on his pad. After a moment, he flipped it closed and looked up. “I think you understand why I can’t answer that.”

  Harry interlaced his fingers on the desk. “Yes, I know. You’re the sheriff, you’re in charge of this investigation, you can’t go around town saying you feel one way or the other, need to be impartial. Look, I get it more than you know. Half the decisions I make in my job are the same thing. I have to let the people think they’re the ones calling the shots, that their opinions and efforts are what bring around the change they want. But you and I both know that isn’t the case. You and I both know there are a handful of people in this town who make the wind blow. It isn’t anything against the rest, it’s just that nothing would ever get done if we left it up to them to decide what they want. So yes, I understand what it is to seem unbiased on an issue. But right now, I’m asking you to step outside with me, take politics, take that badge and this office, this title of mayor, and forget about them. Man to man, what do you think? I need to hear it for my own peace of mind. Could you do that for me, Calvin? Could you do it as a friend?”


  Harry laughed inside when he heard the word ‘friend’ slide through his lips. He knew he’d never been a friend to Calvin Gaines, but he wasn’t sure the man sitting across from him knew that. Behind closed doors, Harry had done everything he could to discourage the out-of-towner-turned-sheriff without letting him know he was doing so. Things like the requests for new air conditioners, more deputies, new cruisers, and new service weapons when the old ones started jamming—they were all denied due to “budgetary constraints.” It was never Harry’s fault. It was the damn budget’s. The money just wasn’t there. Sorry, pal.

  Only it really was there. Harry just never liked the idea of someone who hadn’t grown up in Heartsridge taking on the role of head lawman in town. He wanted someone he could control, someone who would bend to his will, and that man was not Calvin Gaines.

  Gaines looked toward the door again and then back to Harry. “I think the fact that you’re not in handcuffs tells you where I stand. Let’s leave it at that. And that’s between you and I. If I hear that you’ve repeated that to anyone, we will be having a different sort of conversation. You understand me?”

  “Of course,” Harry said, flashing Gaines his palms. “You have my word. So what now?”

  “Well, if I knew that, my job would be a lot easier,” Gaines said.

  “Can I offer my opinion?”

  “Please do.”

  “Well, this Kara, she’s, what, about fifteen or sixteen? Is that right?”

  “Fifteen. A freshman in high school,” Gaines said.

  “A freshman, exactly,” Harry said. “Girls at that age will do anything to impress older boys. Sometimes they flirt, and sometimes they tease, and sometimes boys get the wrong idea about what’s going on. Their wires get tangled and what’s being put out there is being received all wrong, in mixed messages. You get what I mean? You remember high school, don’t you? How the younger girls acted toward you, especially if you played sports?”

  “Yes, I recall.”

  “So didn’t you ever have some I-wanna-impress-the-quarterback girl tease you to no end, lead you on, parked somewhere on a dark road, thinking you were about to score, only to have her turn cold and say take me home?” Harry smiled.

  Gaines turned a thin shade of red. “Maybe a few times, but I always respected their wishes.”

  “Of course you did. I know the kind of guy you are, just the same way you know I’m not the kind of guy who could ever do what this girl’s saying I did. But what I’m getting at is that there are plenty of boys who think they’re invincible. I can think of more than a few in this town—in high school right now—who wouldn’t be so morally bound, if faced with same situation. They might not take hearing no so kindly as someone like you or me. You get what I mean?”

  Gaines shifted in his chair. “Yeah, I get what you’re saying. It was the first thing I thought of when I found out what had happened. But still, why wouldn’t she just say that if it’s what happened?”

  Harry laughed. “You sure you have a daughter? High school is one giant popularity contest, just like politics. If she made a claim like that against a popular boy, she’d be an outcast, not a victim. No one would ever want to talk to her again. And some girls would think that was worse than rape. Hate to say it, but it’s true.”

  “I see what you’re saying, but why you?” Gaines said. “Why point the finger at you?”

  “Hell I don’t know the answer to that any more than you do. Convenience, maybe. She had to blame somebody. If she’s banged up like you say, she needed some kind of story. She spent all day in my office, maybe I was just the name at the tip of her tongue. But like I said, I don’t know.”

  “I guess, but I’m not sure. That seems like a stretch.”

  “Really?” Harry said. “More far-fetched than me, the person who’s spent his entire career making this town a better place, the person with a wife, the mayor of Heartsridge, the person with the biggest spotlight on him, raping a fifteen-year-old high school girl that works in my office? That’s the believable scenario here? There’s been a dozen other high school girls worked in my office on internships and not once was there a complaint of any kind. So just out of nowhere I’m going to start assaulting these women—let me correct that—these kids?”

  Gaines put his hands up. “I know, I know. I’d be lying if I said hadn’t thought the same. But do me a favor and tell me about Saturday. What type of interaction did you have with her?”

  Harry rested his chin on his fist, tapping the side of his cheek with his index finger. “Let’s see. I was in around nine. I spent most of the day in my office signing off on vendor licenses, calling a few local businesses to get sponsorships for the festival. I believe Kara came in at around ten. I met her briefly when I went to lunch. Introduced myself, like I do to all the interns. She was working with Brenda, filing old requisition forms and taking calls most of the time, from what I could tell. Like I said, she seemed like a nice girl. I left around four, and she and Brenda were still working, you can ask her on your way out. Then I went home, spread some bark mulch, took a trip to the dump. That’s about it.”

  “Can anyone corroborate that?”

  “Like I already told you, Allison was in Nashua. But I’m sure Gary down at Harrigan’s will tell you I stopped in sometime after four to grab beer. And then there’s the bag I dropped off at the dump. Other than that, I didn’t see anyone that day, no. I’m not saying they didn’t see me, but I didn’t see them, you know?” Harry leaned forward across his desk, as if to tell Gaines a secret. “Between you and me, I don’t get many days to myself, and I imagine you don’t either, so I guess you could say I was enjoying the solitude of bachelorhood for the brief time I had it. That’s not against the law, is it? Can’t a man reminisce a bit about a time before wives and careers and just sip on some suds on his own, do some yard-work, nothing but him and his thoughts? ’Cause I tell you, if I have to come to grips with the idea that those days are completely behind me, I might just have to retire now.” Harry fell back in his seat and smiled.

  Gaines did too. “Believe me, you don’t have to tell me. I can’t remember the last time I got to do that.”

  “From what I gather, probably too long ago. It’s important for a man to do that from time to time. Call it a tune up. It reminds him who he is and what’s important. People like you and me, Calvin, we’re not made of stone and steel like most people think. We’re something closer to wood—hard wood. Oak, like this desk.” Harry knocked on the slab in front of him. “And after a while, life sands down our edges, rounds us, forms us to its will. It’s our job to know when it’s time to reform our boundaries, re-sharpen our edges. You catch my drift? That’s what time alone does—it allows us to recapture our original design. And that’s important.”

  Gaines nodded. “I can’t say I’ve ever thought about it that way.”

  “Most don’t,” Harry said. “But just remember, these jobs we do, they can change us. It’s an everyday battle to stay true to who we are. We measure ourselves by how sharp we keep our edges. And a man’s ability to measure himself is important.”

  “That’s real poetic, but that doesn’t help me any right now.”

  “It isn’t poetry, it’s the truth. Don’t forget that.”

  “I’ll try not to,” Gaines said.

  Harry could sense the conversation reaching its natural dénouement. He was in the homestretch. “So look, I know you’re going to have to poke around about this, that’s your job, I understand, and I’m sure it won’t be long until word of these accusations spread around town. If you fart at breakfast, everyone knows about it by lunch. I only ask that you try to be discreet about it, for now. I’m sure Allison is going to love this, and I’d like to be the one to tell her.”

  “I can respect that. What was said in here is between us,” Gaines said.

  “Okay, good. “ Harry rested on his elbows, hands together, massaging his palm with his thumb. “Also, and I’m just getting your opinion, do you think maybe
it would be good if I talked to Kara or her parents? Try and straighten this out on my own? Maybe seeing me will remind this girl I’m a person who she’s hurting, not just some grownup she barely knows.”

  “I don’t think so. That PR smile of yours isn’t fixing anything that easy this time. The girl’s in a real bad way right now, and her parents aren’t exactly on your side. I would just leave it alone and let me handle this. I’ll sort everything out, but I don’t think either one of us is making any new friends or earning any votes.” Gaines looked down at his lap for a moment and picked at the knee of his pants.

  Harry clutched the arms of his chair and sat up straight. “I’m afraid you might be right about that. I wish it didn’t have to be that way.”

  “Me too,” Gaines said, looking back at Harry.

  “One more thing.” Harry held up a finger. “When you figure out this girl is lying—and I know you will, you were elected sheriff for good reason—I want you to take it easy on her. By the sound of it, you’re right, she’s been through something terrible and might be a little mixed up. I think she’s just making a mistake right now, and that is no reason she should have to pay for it the rest of her life.”

  “That’s real kind of you, Harry. I can’t say I’d be so forgiving.”

  “Of course, I understand,” Harry said, and flashed a toothy grin. This one was for himself, congratulations for another victory. “Just feel free to ask me for anything you need to move this along.”

  Gaines picked up his hat, turning it in his fingers, and then placed it back atop his head. “I think that’s all for now. I hope I didn’t ruin your day.”

  “Just doing your job.” Harry stuck out his hand. “Feel free to talk to Brenda on your way out if you have any questions for her. But I’m sure she’ll tell you what I already did.”