Morningstar: Chapter 18: Reluctant Ally?

 

Chapter 18: Reluctant Ally?

 

          Despite abundant clouds of tension and fear in our home, we managed to make the best of it.  Stephanie really is a fabulous cook.  I wondered how anyone could be such a great cook and be so thin.  Maybe it’s because she gets everyone else to eat all her food, I reasoned.  Stephanie and my mom worked in the kitchen together, kicking everyone else out as they talked and even laughed a little.  They made the most incredible lasagna with; I don’t know how many different kinds of cheeses.  Plus, there was the garlic bread; but perhaps the best for me was the most delicious salad I think I’d ever tasted.  It was a spinach salad with just lightly warmed spinach, plus onions, sunflower seeds, mandarin oranges, bacon, hard boiled eggs, some other vegetables, and an unbelievable vinaigrette.  It was all just fabulous.  Maybe part of it was because we all needed some comfort food.

          I think T.J. enjoyed it so much he forgot all about the doll.  It was good fun and good conversation and we almost forgot what brought us all together that evening.  When we were getting ready for bed, I noticed Serge pull a pistol out of his bag and put in a drawer at one end of the couch he was sleeping in.  That one brief action reemphasized and underlined how serious all of this was, even more serious than I had previously felt.  Soon after, I noticed a high beam of light going around the house from a police car driving by.  That too was a stark reminder.  Both the gun and the light were a little freaky to me.

          Amanda and I didn’t talk much that night.  I think we both lay awake for a little while and then just drifted off to sleep; both of us waking up off and on from the bright spotlight of the police car.  I was sure Mrs. Pearson and Mr. Kendall would have a lot to talk about in the morning.

          By the time we were up, Stephanie had left for work, my mom and dad had already showered, and my dad was making breakfast.  T.J. was just coming down the stairs with the encouragement of my mom behind him.  I then noticed Serge was up and dressed too.  The drawer where he had placed the pistol was open and the gun was gone, causing me to wonder where it was now.

          With the exception of short cold showers for me and Amanda (I guess our water heater just wasn’t big enough for this many people) everything went both smoothly and quietly that morning.  There was some small talk and the requisite hugs and kisses; but other than having the extra people in the house, a police car drive by every twenty or thirty minutes, and Serge with a gun, it was pretty mundane.  When the resource officer arrived, we were ready to go, but not ready for school.  Not only had we been gone most of the week, and not only were we way behind; but we were being driven to school in the DARE car.  Amanda and I figured it would take about five minutes, for it to be all over school.

          As soon as we walked up to our lockers, which were just a couple feet apart, Bekah approached the two of us and said, “I’ve got to talk to both of you in private, let’s go in the bathroom.”

          “I don’t think so!” was my quick reaction.  I had no idea if this was one of her queen bee set ups or something more sinister; but I wasn’t following her any place that wasn’t in a crowd.  I could tell Amanda felt the same by the way she scrunched her eyes and pulled her face and shoulders back.  “We’re not following you any place alone.”

          “Listen, I just need to talk to you both in private. … I’m trying to help.  Seriously!”

          “We can talk right here, there’s no one close,” replied Amanda.

          ““First of all, this doesn’t change anything.  I hate both of you.”

          “Oh? … Really?” I responded with some sarcasm. 

          “Whatever!!  Look, you’re not making this any easier and if I didn’t have my reasons, I’d just walk away so just let me talk… Carl has a bad temper.  He’s never touched me but he used to beat my mom.  A while back when you,” Bekah was looking at me at this point, “came over and then went into my mom’s room. … After you left, Carl was so mad I thought he was going to smack both of us; but he didn’t.  He just grabbed that Indian thing on the dresser and left.  Well about a week and a half ago, this old guy, Cid, showed up and he started yelling at Carl and my mom.  I was in my bedroom, but I could hear him threatening both of them.  I have no idea why.  He said some things about crazy Charlie poking his nose where it didn’t belong, then left.  Two days ago, he was back yelling again, and I heard him mention both of you.  Carl left right after that and hasn’t been back.  Then yesterday, the police showed up.  They talked to my mom for a long time.  I know she told them about Cid and the two times he’d been at the house lately.  I heard her tell them Cid used to come around a long time ago; but she hadn’t seen him in years.

          I wouldn’t even be talking to the two of you; but my mom seems scared about something.  She took the day off and I’ve never seen her so nervous. 

          Then today, the two of you show up in the DARE car.  So, whatever’s going on, get it over with, and it’d better not hurt my mom.”  Bekah then walked off, calm and controlled like she hadn’t appeared upset just a minute before.  I remember I used to be able to control my emotions like that and admired others who could.  Not anymore, I didn’t want to be that cold anymore.  I wondered what was really going on inside Bekah.  She almost seemed scared for a few minutes there.

          “Class is about to start; but I think one or both of us should tell the resource officer about this.  What do you want to do?”

          “Oh, I don’t know Anna,… this is all too much.  Let’s just see who sees him and then meet back here after first hour and if neither of us have found him we’ll go to the office.”  Amanda sounded exasperated was obviously feeling overwhelmed and I didn’t blame her.

          “OK.  Good luck.”  We grabbed our things and went to class.  I was so far behind and had homework assignments piled up but didn’t see the resource officer.  When Amanda and I got back to our lockers…

          “Well, did you find him?” I asked.

          “Yeah, on the way to first hour.  I was late, but he gave me a note.  I told him everything about what Bekah said.  I think he’s going to talk to her.  She’ll probably be really mad now.”

          “That’s ok, she hates us anyway and we need to,… like she said,… get this over with.”

          The rest of the day went pretty much as expected.  Tons of homework, tests that had to be made up and millions of insufferable questions about what was going on with us and the police, from people we didn’t even know.  The only people we explained any of it to were Beth and D’Lisa.  Officer Rollins was waiting for us at the office after our last class.  Without saying much, he walked us out to his car amidst stares, pointed fingers, and whispers, then drove us home and walked us to the door.  Stephanie was the only one there.

          “Hi honey,” Stephanie spoke first to Amanda and gave her a hug, then hugged me and added; “Hi Amanda.”  Glad you girls are safe.  Anna, your dad went to pick T.J. up, said he’d be right back.  I’m making eggplant Parmesan. Dinner will be ready in about an hour.  Why don’t you two go start your homework.  I’m sure you’ve got plenty.”

          “Thanks, we do.”

          “Thanks mom.”

          We both walked into my room and started on our piles of homework.

          “Egg Plant?!”  I asked?

          “Don’t worry, if you’ve ever had eggplant and hated it, you’ll still love my mom’s egg plan Parmesan.  I guarantee!”

          “Ok, I’ll trust you.”

          One at a time, first my dad then my mom then Serge came in to check on us and ask how our day was.  Each one had to give us a big, long hug.  Then Jason called all panicky.  Amanda took the cordless into the den.  Every once in a while, I could hear her say; “I’m fine,” or “we’re ok,” and “it’ll be ok.”  After a while, she came back in and with a big sigh; “he can be as bad as my mom.”  That made me laugh.

          “Well, I’ve never heard you talk like that about Jason!”

          “No, I guess not,” Amanda sighed again and got back to her homework.

          After a while, Amanda broke the silence of our studies, just looking up in the air, saying; “You know what?  I miss just being… ‘what’s her name’.”

          I laughed and acknowledged; “Yeah, I know what you mean.  Right now, I feel more smothered than scared.”

          “Me too.”  We both let out another lite tension laugh and sighed. …

          Amanda was right about the eggplant.  It was incredible.  I wondered how it was possible.

          “This is incredible Stephanie.  I didn’t think anybody could make eggplant taste good.” Then, with a tinge of guilt I looked at my mom and added; “sorry mom.”

          My mom laughed and said, “that’s ok, it is a lot better than mine.””

          We told our parents a little more about the school, including our conversation with Bekah.  After dinner we cleaned up and went back to my room to study while my mom chatted with Stephanie and Serge in the living room.  My dad was helping T.J. with his homework, but said he’d be right down.  After a while I could hear his voice added to the conversation.

          Amanda and I were going through some of our history together when I heard the bell ring and then my dad talking with someone at the door.

          “GIRLS, DECTIVE JONES IS HERE AND NEEDS TO TALK TO US,” my dad yelled from the living room.

          With elevated apprehension, we all sat down in the living room with Detective Jones.  Detective Jones sat in one of the chairs at the end of the pair of couches and each family sat together on one of the couches.

          “I’ve got a lot of news for you.  First, you can all relax and go back to normal.”  There was a huge collective sigh in the room. 

          “So… what’s changed?” asked my mom.

          “Well Cid Haskim has been picked up and charged for both the tree spiking and the murder of Charlie Blackwell.  We had enough to charge him for the murder; but honestly don’t know if we can get a conviction.  We have plenty for the tree spiking and a few other things he’s wanted for both here in Utah and a couple other states, including a potential charge in the death of a mill worker in another state.  Right now, I don’t know if they’ll push for extradition or not, but he’ll be arraigned on some federal charges too.  He’s probably out of your hair for the rest of his life.”

          “What about Carl Stuki?  Do you have him in custody?” asked Stephanie.

          “Well, not exactly. … He’s in a morgue up in Idaho.”  There was a kind of collective gasp in the room as everyone either sat up straighter or sunk further into the couches.  “His breaks went out as he was headed towards St. Charles up by Bear Lake.  Pretty bad wreck. … So, you don’t have to worry about him anymore either.  He had that whirlwind thing that Charlie Blackeagle carved with him, in the front seat.  We’ll gather some more evidence, but this may help to close the case on Bobby Sekaquaptewa too.  It all fits together.”

          “Do you have any idea what kind of bail will be set?” asked my dad.

          ““The prosecutor is asking for one million dollars and is pretty sure the judge will grant it.  The defense attorney will argue that it’s excessive; but this judge does tend to set bail pretty high on these things.  I don’t think you’ll have to worry too much about him bonding out,” explained detective Jones.

          “Does Sue Munson know?” I asked.

          “Sergeant McKay’s at her house talking to her right now.  It doesn’t look like she knew about any of Carl’s illegal activities… Well, you always hate to see someone get killed; but for your sake, I hope your lives can get back to normal.”

          All four of our parents stood up, thanked detective Jones, and shook his hand.  I think Amanda and I were both still in shock.  We thanked him, but just sat there for a while.  After the detective left, our parents came and again sat down with us.

          “Are you two ok?  Do you want to talk about this now or would you rather wait a while,” asked my mom.

          “Oh, I guess I’m pretty shook up still.  Could we talk about it in the morning?” I asked.

          “Sure, that would be fine.  How about you Amanda?” continued my mom.

          “I think I’d rather wait till tomorrow too;” responded Amanda.

          “Amanda, there’s no reason for us to stay here tonight.  Do you want to stay until Sunday like we planned, or do you want to come home with us?” asked Serge.

          “I think I’d rather stay here if that’s ok, but if the two of you want to come back in the morning, we can all talk if you want.  I kind of feel bad for Bekah, but I’m not sure what to do about it.  She pretty much hates us.”

          “We’ll be back in the morning,” added Stephanie then looking at my parents, “would about 9 be ok.”

          “Perfect;” acknowledged my mom.

          Life kind of got back to normal that night except we were emotionally wasted.  Even T.J. could feel the distress and was super tired, and cranky.  My parents got him to bed and went to bed early themselves.  Amanda called Jason and told him what happened.

          “So how was that?” I asked.

          “Much better.”

          We studied a little more, we talked a little and speculated, wondering how much and what the police knew that they hadn’t told us.  We were both in bed before 10, and then up at about 8 for breakfast.  Stephanie and Serge were over at, right about 9 and we all talked about what had happened, including Bekah and Sue.  Amanda and I were both concerned about Bekah but didn’t want to attend another funeral and didn’t think we’d be very welcome.  Both our parents said we’d talk some more individually; but even though I wasn’t very excited about it, being able to talk through everything was kind of a relief.   I was again interested in discovering what happened to the Lings but didn’t want to talk with our parents about it.  After all, this part of the investigation was simply academic detective work.  All the danger had passed.