Silver's Bones (23 page)

“Cal Sheehan,” I said, extending my hand.

He shook my hand and said, “Oh, sure, you're the detective who questioned me about Silver Rae Dawson.”

I nodded.

He then moved to Shannon to shake her hands. “Shannon, nice to see you again. So, you think you may be pregnant?”

“We just got married,” I interjected.

Kline glanced back at me and said, “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Shannon said, “Anyway, I used two different over-the-counter tests and they were both positive. Plus, I have morning sickness.”

“The tests are pretty accurate. When did you go off the pill?”

“Um, end of May.”

He looked over her information, asked some of the same questions the nurse had, then proceeded to examine her from head to toe. He requested she put her feet in the stirrups. I was fascinated. I always wondered how this worked.

He picked up an instrument resembling our wine opener (without the cork­screw) and inserted it inside. By the look on her face, I'd say she didn't particularly enjoy it—plus the guy took his time. I wanted to ask if I could take a look but was certain Shannon would kick me in the head. He removed it, then inserted two fingers inside, then palpated her abdomen.
Why didn't I think of this job?

After the exam, he said, “You can dress. I'll come back in a few minutes to talk with you.”

When he shut the door she said, “He didn't say anything. Does he think something's wrong?”

“I wouldn't jump to conclusions.”

She dressed and sat in the chair next to me. I leaned over and kissed her. “Want to have a quickie?”

“Good God.”

“I take that as a no. Then how about some lunch after?” I asked.

“I'm not very hungry.”

Dr. Kline knocked on the door and entered.

“Why knock? It's not like you'd be shocked to see ladies naked, or anything.”

Shannon elbowed me.

He smiled. “It's something they taught us to do as interns.”

Kline sat down on the chair at the little desk and said, “Shannon, you're showing the classic signs of pregnancy: your cervix is darkened, and your uterus is enlarged. In fact, your uterus is larger than indicated by the timing of your last period, so I'm going to order an ultrasound today.”

“What could this mean? She's farther along than we thought?” I asked.

“Oh, my last period was slight, maybe I was already pregnant then.”

“We'll know when we see the pictures. I'm going to have you visit the lab, then go on down the hall to x-ray,” he said. “Cal, it might be a little while. You could grab a coffee at the cafeteria while you wait.”

I picked up a coffee then returned to the lobby. I sat near a matronly woman reading a magazine and a dad reading a book to two small children, both of whom were coughing. I changed seats. After forty-five minutes of Battleship and Solitaire, I was starting to get bored. Then Shannon walked out. Nice timing.

“Ready?” she asked.

“You're done?” I asked. “I thought we'd meet with the doctor again.”

“I already did.”

“Did you forget me on purpose?”

“I think you may have made Dr. Kline uncomfortable.”

“Why would that be?”

 

 

We walked to the elevator
without talking.
Something's wrong. Maybe she had
something else in there beside a baby. A tumor?

When the elevator doors shut, I asked. “What's going on?”

She turned and looked at me. “There are two.”

“Two?”

“We're having twins,” she said.

“Twins? Wow. When I knock you up, I knock you up.”

She handed me four small pictures of black shrimp.

“These are the Twinkies?”

“Twinkies?”

I shrugged. “Come two in a pack.”

She laughed.

“They look just like me, don't you think?” I asked.

“Yep.”

“Do we know the sex yet?”

“We won't know until sixteen weeks.”

“How far along are we?”

“According to the ultrasound, ten weeks.”

“Ten? Yowzer, that was too easy. So when do we tell people what a good producer I am?”

“I wanted to wait until I'm fourteen weeks, but I may tell my parents.”

“Gonna be hard to keep it a secret,” I said.

She put her hand on her belly. “I'm not showing yet, am I?”

“No, no. It's just that it's so cool. Wow, twins. Oh, boy.” I did an arm pump.

“The boys are going to be thrilled. So, do you think Adriana is pregnant too?” she asked.

I hiked up my shoulders.

“I kind of hope so,” she said.

“I bet it's not with
twins
,” I said.

“Do you think Troy is the father?”

“Jesus . . . Troy . . . a father?”

Twins. Holy shit kabob!

 

Chapter 27

I
insisted on stopping for sandwiches to celebrate the Twinkies before we went back to work. I ate mine, plus the half Shannon couldn't.

“I'm eating for three, now,” I said.

“Your ability to eat anything you want pisses me off.”

“Hey, hey, get up and run with me in the morning. Puke and carry on.”

“You better be kidding.”

“I am.” I patted her hand.

When I got back to the office, Tamika was sitting at the extra desk with paperwork spread out before her. She'd placed her family picture and a vase of flowers on the desk making it her space. The flowers reminded me to ask her what she'd learned about the bouquets she was supposed to check on.

“Nothing,” she said. “I haven't had time, and Crosby said he's busy with Patrice's stuff today,”

“Make time.”

“Before or after I finish checking out all the hotels and resorts in the county for Victoria?”

“Oh, yeah, finish that first.”

“Just so you know—I'm working as fast as I can. I want to nail Snow White's evil ass to the wall as much as you do . . . if it's her who's doing all these nasty things to Adriana, that is.”

“There's that,” I said.

I suppose there was a possibility it wasn't. Now back to the
priority
case. We had two floral shops in town, and I drove to each and showed them photos I'd copied from drivers' licenses. Wesley didn't have one anymore, so I'd made a still from the old video. Close enough. But if he couldn't leave the farm, how would he buy flowers?

Employees at neither shop recognized anyone in the photos as customers who bought bouquets with any regularity, if ever. I had the second shop make up an extra large pink-and-blue bouquet. I stopped and picked up a box of Twinkies, drove home, put the flowers in a vase and put it and the box on the counter where Shannon would see it as soon as she came home. I signed the card:
Thank you for you know what.

Brit had left a note saying she'd taken the boys to a movie then to the playground in Birch County Park South. They'd be home close to dinnertime.

When I returned to the office I went through my messages. There was one from Janet Felton, the secretary of Prairie Falls High School. From my years on patrol, I'd had dealings with her because of the high school students who found themselves in a bit of trouble. I called her back.

“Janet, this is Cal Sheehan. You called the Sheriff's Department?”

“Oh, hi. Yes, I did. I've been thinking so much about Silver Dawson, so I pulled her file, because there was something that always bothered me.”

“What was it?”

“When Mrs. Dawson got Silver's report card, she called to say we'd made a mistake on the absences, that Silver had perfect attendance. We don't make mistakes like that so I figured if her mother didn't know about them, Silver was pulling a fast one and skipping school.”

“How many days are you talking about?”

“Give me a minute to pull the file . . . okay, here. She had three full days and two half days—all excused absences that semester. That means a parent called in for her, but obviously it hadn't been her mother.”

“Hmm. She was up to something.”

“Yes. I think we have a copy of her school records in the file.”

“Can you check and see if Parker Gage or any girlfriends were absent on the same days?”

“We always crosscheck when absences occur. None of her crowd were gone any of those days.”

“Thanks, Janet. I'll look into it.”

After I found Silver's school records in the file, Troy entered carrying a deli salad.

“No McDonald's?” I said.

“Can't eat fatty food anymore,” he said. “So, I figure Shannon is pregnant, too.”

“Too? Is Adriana?”

“She doesn't want anything said at this point.”

“Understood. Us too.”

He nodded, like I could trust him.

“Is it yours?” I asked.

He nodded and broke into a grin. “Yeah.”

“You're pleased?”

“Sure.”

“Getting married?”

“Not while she's pregnant.”

“Magna will be happy.”

“You think?”

I started laughing just thinking how old “Mugs” would take sophisticated Adriana being knocked up by a good ol' boy.

“Something funny?”

“Just the irony of the situation. I have something new.” I told him what Janet had told me.

“She seeing someone else, beside Parker Gage?” he asked.

“Hold on. I had a thought.”

I redialed Janet's number.

“Janet, were any staff members absent those days?”

“I don't know, but I can check and get back to you.”

“I'd appreciate it.”

After I hung up I said to Troy. “She could have been seeing someone older, a teacher, maybe even a married man.”

“Wouldn't it be a little obvious for a teacher and a student to be gone the same days?” he asked.

“Nah. I'll see what Jenny Deitz says.”

I caught her at home, and asked if she knew why Silver had been absent those days.”

“Boy, I don't remember anything about it.”

“Did Silver Rae have a crush on any teachers or older men?”

“Mr. Anderson? We all were in love with him.”

“First name?”

“Kevin. He's still teaching. Why? You think he had something to do with Silver Rae's death?”

“Just brainstorming. If you think of anything along these lines, call me.”

Next I called Silver's sister, Ellie. She was working in the salon but said she had a few minutes to talk. I asked her about the absences and possible crushes.

“I'd forgotten about that. She called one night and asked me to call school and leave a message saying she was ill so she could go to her recheck after the miscarriage. She didn't want Mom to know anything about it, so I did what she asked. But when she asked me again, I told her it would be the last time I would cover for her. My mom never found out, I guess, because she insisted the school made a mistake. Dad told her it wasn't worth getting her undies in a bundle over so she dropped it.”

Wow. I'd get pistol-whipped if I said that to Shannon.
“So you never told your parents about it?”

“No.”

“You may want to tell them before they hear it somewhere else.”

“They'll be so hurt.”

I asked her again about any crushes, and she gave me the same teacher's name. Then I asked if she could have been attracted to Dr. Kline.

“Gosh, he was cute too, but he was really serious, and I didn't get the sense he was that kind of guy.”

I drove to the high school and parked in the lot. Janet smiled when I walked into the office.

“Hi, Cal.”

“Hi. Can I talk to Kevin Anderson?”

Janet explained the teachers didn't start until the next week.

“Oh, right. Can I get his home address?”

She pulled out a thin spiral directory with
Staff
written on it. She paged through and found Anderson's information, wrote it on a Post-it and handed it to me.

“I'm not supposed to give out information on staff, so
shh
.”

I left my card with my contact information and said, “Would you be able to put out an email asking staff to contact me if they have any information for me?”

“Certainly.”

 

 

I called Anderson
from my
car. He was home so I drove over to the newer development on the east side of the river, where he lived. He was shooting baskets in his driveway when I pulled up. For a short guy, he could dunk the ball with ease. He wore baggy, navy blue athletic shorts and a red St. John's T-shirt. Close up, he still had one of those boy-band faces.

Anderson asked me into his home and I followed him through the garage and directly into the kitchen, which reminded me of my Grandma Sylvia's with the odd plum-colored walls and the floral valances.

“I see you running,” he said. “We do the same loop.”

“How many miles?” I asked.

“Five, you?”

“Three to five, depending on the day.”

He offered me a sport drink and we sat at his kitchen table. I went through my spiel and turned on my iPad.

“I understand you were Silver Rae Dawson's teacher?”

He frowned and nodded. “She was in my social class the first year I taught. What a terrible deal that was.”

“What was she like?”

“Nice kid. She pulled an A in my class.”

“Did you have a special relationship with her?”

“Special? I don't know what you mean.”

“Did you notice she had a crush on you?”

“What?” He looked thoughtful then shook his head. “Not really. I tried to be there for all the kids—someone they could talk to.”

“Did she seek you out—to talk to you?”

“There was a group of three or four girls who'd come by my room after class to chat. She was one of them.”

“Did she seem in any way troubled?”

He shook his head. “No, she seemed like she had it all together—a happy, well-balanced kid. But now that I think about it, she didn't come in with the other girls as much toward spring.”

“Are you a married man?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Were you married when you came to Prairie Falls?”

“No, single. I married Kit two years later. She was an elementary teacher. Why?”

“Just trying to get as much information as we can about her life. So, sounds like you didn't know Silver Rae well.”

“Not any better than any of my students. I try to maintain some distance. I mean, I'm there for them if they need me, but that's it. You have to be careful. You tap that stuff you'd lose your job, end up in jail. You know what I mean?”

“Yes, I sure do.”

“Hey, you ever want to shoot hoops, a group of us get together in the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school.”

“I'll keep it in mind.”

 

 

When I returned
to the
office, Troy was at his computer. He leaned back in his chair and tucked a pencil behind his ear.

“Poor Adriana. That car of hers is a mess. It's going to cost thousands to fix,” he said.

“She told me a while ago her ex wants the car back. She should hire a car transport company and tell them to park it in his driveway.”

Troy laughed. “Excellent.”

“I've been looking into some unexcused absences of Silver's. Why was a conscientious girl skipping school?”

“Sex. That's why I skipped.”

“But Parker wasn't absent at the same time and everyone keeps saying how in love they were . . . wait, I just had a thought.”

I pulled my phone to call Janet Felton.

“Janet, Cal Sheehan. I'm sorry to bother you again, but I have a quick question.”

“No problem. What can I help you with?”

“When you crosschecked absences with Silver's, did you check Laurel Wolfson?”

“Was Laurel a friend of Silver's?”

“Yes.”

“Golly, I wasn't aware of that. I'm sorry. Let me get back to you.”

While I waited for her call, I became engrossed in paperwork. I went home at eight o'clock, ate a limp BLT and fell asleep in front of the television like an old married man. When I woke, I was alone and cold. The television was flickering and for a second I thought I was still single. I didn't like it. I fumbled my way through the dark house and up to bed, where I crawled in next to Shannon and spooned her. Then I remembered Janet Felton hadn't returned my call.