“Jimmy Williams? Is that you? I swear I ain’t seen you since you arrested me last time.” Her voice was nasally by nature and slurred by alcohol.
“Hey, Christine. We need to talk to you a bit.”
“If this is about my nephew y’all shot down, I reckon I don’t know him good enough to talk about him. I only met him when he moved down here to Daddy’s.” She stepped down the steps to the yard leaving the door to the house opened.
Mike made his way to the open door and got as close as he could. With the door opened, a variety of smells and odors were coming from inside. It smelled like she had lots of cats.
“I wanted to ask you why he was down here, do you know?” She shook her head in the negative and took a long swallow from the beer bottle.
“How are you related to Lydia? I met her at your dad’s house.” Mike asked.
She looked at Mike a long moment. “I know you. You used to work at the hardware store when you were a pimply little kid.” She laughed. Mike didn’t. He didn’t remember being a pimply kid. He told himself she was probably drunk and was definitely a crackhead and not to listen to her opinions.
“She’s my daughter. What’s that to you?” She said, taking another drink.
“When you feel up to it, come into the station and talk to me, huh?” Williams said.
“Y’all leave my daughter out of this, she don’t know nothing. And I got nothing to say to the police.” She walked up the steps, went back inside and slammed the door.
Mike had visited three family members this morning. One was a special needs child, but the two adults who hadn’t seen each other in years, according to Toby, were both drunk before noon. What was the deal with this family? He wanted to know more.
When he said as much to the Lieutenant, Williams suggested they look for an address on Elizabeth Parks, the oldest daughter. First, he wanted to talk to George at the store and see if he would give any answers.
The hardware store was empty of customers when they arrived. Parks was seated on a bench outside the entrance door. He looked up then stood when he seen the two officers approaching. Williams took care of the small talk while Mike studied Parks’ facial expression. It seemed business as usual. When there was a break in pleasantries Mike spoke.
“Went by your house this morning. Met your granddaughter, Lydia. Seems like a nice girl.”
“She’s a might slow. Sweet kid, love her to pieces, but she ain’t very bright.” Parks said.
“Met with your son and Christine this morning, too. Seems they don’t know why your grandson was here either.”
“You been busy, huh?”
“Is Christine in some kind of trouble? She was already drinking before noon today.” Williams asked, shifting Parks attention from Mike to himself.
Parks walked inside the store forcing the two cops to follow. His demeanor seemed to change, and he wasn’t as friendly as he was, although Mike didn’t think you could qualify his simple responses as friendly. He was a gruff, rude man many did not like. Mike remembered his rudeness well while working for him.
“Do you have an address for Elizabeth? We’d like to talk to her, if we can.” Williams continued as he followed.
Parks stopped and turned to face them, “Elizabeth is in Lubbock somewhere. I don’t know what to tell you about Christine. She’s always been a handful. I got work to do.” He turned and walked to the back of the store leaving the two confused cops in his wake.
In the pickup Lieutenant Williams expressed his confusion at the whole situation out loud. They had a young man who had no business being in Colby, in Colby robbing a business. The young man’s dad made an exodus from Colby years ago and now within a year he had lost his wife and son. The aunts were out of the picture for the most part it seemed and there was a grandma they still needed to talk to. Williams giving voice to it didn’t improve the fog that hung over the situation any. Mike was determined to talk to someone in this family who would answer his questions.
9
When they got back to the station Lieutenant Williams instructed Mike to go to Lubbock in an effort to find Elizabeth Parks. He said he would call with an address when he found one. Mike wondered if his truck would make the two-hour drive to Lubbock but decided to try anyway.
He drove to Smith’s Market to fill up with gas. While paying at the pump he noticed they had replaced the plyboard that had covered the door window after the holdup with new glass. It had only been two days. He headed toward Lubbock.
Colby was as big of a city as Mike ever wanted to live in, and it was growing every year. Lubbock was absolutely nerve wracking for him to drive in. He hated the traffic and he always got lost when he went there. Going through Petersburg he would get nervous knowing that he was close. This time, though, he was in Lubbock before he realized it. He was passing the Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport when he finally focused on his driving. He had been lost in thought on the situation in Colby. His cellphone began to ring.
The phones call display showed it was the office. He answered and put it on speaker.
“Hey, I can’t find anything on an Elizabeth Parks except an old address on one hundred and tenth street. I’ll text you the number.” Williams voice was scratchy and distant on the speaker phone. The line went dead. The Lieutenant was not one for saying goodbye, when he was done, he was done. The text chime went off with the address. Mike pulled over to the side of the interstate and entered it into the phones GPS. Twenty minutes in current traffic.
He made his way through the traffic congestion and road work that seemed to always be happening on the loop to the exit for the proper street looking for the address as the GPS told him he had arrived. He didn’t think he had. The two-story house he pulled in front of at the curb was nice and very large. He didn’t know what he expected but after talking with the other siblings today, but it wasn’t this. The yard was manicured with a yard sign advertising the lawn service in the front. The front walk was nicely decorated with flowers running the length to the steps that led to a big front door.
He rang the doorbell and waited as he listened to it chime inside the house. He wasn’t expecting the woman who opened the door either.
“Yes?” she said. She was late thirties and very attractive. She was dressed very casual in jeans and a pullover shirt, but she still had an air of sophistication about her. Mike caught the scent of what he assumed was expensive perfume and it smelled nice.
“Mike Collins, Colby Police Department. Are you Elizabeth Parks?” When she answered yes, he continued, “I’m investigating your nephew’s activities and was wondering if you could help?”
“Which nephew?” Mike was surprised. He wasn’t aware there was more than the one. She invited him inside. As he crossed the thresh hold, he realized this was the first Parks’ family house he had been in.
He told her about the events of the last two days, leaving out the part of him shooting her nephew. When he was finished Elizabeth shook her head.
“I had no idea. I moved here about twenty years ago and haven’t been back to Colby much. I didn’t know Toby had any kids.”
This conversation was going just like the other ones with the family members. Mike wanted to know why all of George Parks children were so distant from their parents.
“What is it you do here, Ma’am? I visited your sister and brother earlier today. You seem to be better off than they are.”
She gave him a shrug and smiled. “I married well, and divorced better, I guess you could say.” She explained her husband was in life insurance and he made a fortune in the stock market. Then he cheated with his secretary and as part of the divorce settlement, since they had no children, he agreed to pay Elizabeth a monthly stipend for the rest of her life. Mike was wondering exactly how much that stipend was to afford this house.
When asked about her family back in Colby she didn’t volunteer much as she claimed not to know too much about them anymore.
“In my experience when someone tri
es to rob a store, they are usually looking for drug money. Your brother and sister were both drinking before noon today, and your niece that, I’m assuming lives with your dad, is there because Christine can’t take care of her, is that right?”
Elizabeth’s attitude seemed to change a little and only for a second. Her face had a concerned, scared look to it, then disappeared. It was so brief Mike was unsure if it was ever there. “I can assure you none of the Parks’ kids are on drugs, except Christine, so I hear. No matter what though, I can’t help you.” She said. She led him to the front door as she was talking and opened it. Mike took the hint and said his goodbyes and left.
Getting in his pickup and starting the engine he looked one more time at the house before pulling away. What a strange family George and Pam Parks had raised. None were very open about talking about their family. Whatever deep seated problems that were lurking under the surface it was going to take more than he could do to get answers.
Feeling at odds with everything that was happening he decided to drive the two hours south to Abilene to visit his sister, Colleen. The last time they seen each other was over the past holidays and he missed her. He called from the road to tell her he was coming down.
As he pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, he was reminded that it sat in a not very good part of the city. The hospital had its own private security company that kept watch over the visitors and the staff. He was thankful they were there to look after everybody, especially his sister.
The hospital was a large institution. He called his sister to meet in front of the building. He sat and waited. Colleen walked out in her white lab coat over her black scrubs, a stethoscope slung over her neck. She smiled as they hugged each other. Some stray brown hair had fallen from her ponytail she pushed it back behind her ear.
“What are you doing dropping in out of the blue?” She asked, leading him into the building.
“I missed you. Had to go to Lubbock on business, thought I’d drop down here. Bad time?”
“I’m on break and I’m hungry.” She said, as they got in the elevator as she pushed the button for the cafeteria.
As the elevator lowered to the floor Colleen looked at her brother and said, “Now, tell me the truth. What’s wrong?”
“I killed a man Sunday night.”
“Oh, my God! How?”
Mike told the story to Colleen who was the only person in the world he trusted one hundred percent. By the time he finished they were at the entrance to the cafeteria standing off to the side. Colleen gave her younger brother another hug, tighter this time. Mike cried briefly on her shoulder.
When he recovered, he looked at her and said, “I’m going to have to talk to a shrink at some point before I go back to work on shift.”
“It will be a good thing to talk to someone.”
“That’s why I’m here with you.”
“I’m a medical doctor, if you want a flu shot or a prescription for an illness, I can help. To fix your thinking that’s way beyond my field.” He smiled.
They went into the cafeteria and ate a quick bite as she had to get back on the floor to see patients. He thanked her as he was leaving the lobby promising to visit again when things settled down. She told him to call their parents, who were currently in Colorado working in the oil field.
Getting in his pickup he looked once more at the hospital now fully lit up in the approaching darkness. He always felt better after talking to Colleen. He couldn’t wait to get back home though. It was a long drive back to Colby.
As he walked into his apartment a few minutes past eleven o’clock at night, it felt like it had been a week since he left, but it was barely fourteen hours. He pulled off his boots stretching his feet before deciding to take a shower. The water was as hot as he could stand it as he felt he needed to wash the day off him. After visiting two drunks, a special needs kid, an ornery old man, and a debutant wannabe, he felt he would never be clean. The visit to his sister was the only bright spot of the day.
His thoughts drifted back to the Parks. The Parks’ family was a strange group, not that there was a shortage of strange families in Colby, but the Parks’ were just different. They seemed to not like outsiders asking questions. Any time someone talked to any of them it ended in frustration and confusion for the one doing the questioning.
The ringing cellphone interrupted his thoughts. He dried off and put on clean gym shorts then looked at the caller ID on the cellphone. It was Captain Morgan. If it was important, he will call back he thought lying the phone down. As soon as he did it rang again. He answered and heard Morgan ask if he could drop by.
Ten minutes later Morgan was at the door. Mike let him in, and he started asking questions before the door closed. Mike filled him in on his trip to Lubbock telling him that Elizabeth seemed to have her life in order unlike the other siblings. She was not very forthcoming on information claiming she knew nothing. He did not think she could help figure things out in Colby.
Morgan had been busy too. The analysis on James Parks’ cellphone came back, Ranger Murphy delivered a copy to the Chief that evening. The phone had a lot of texts between James Parks and Lydia and a lot of texts between James and Christine. The texts were not retrievable as they had been erased, but you could see where texts had been sent and the numbers they were sent to. Nothing new there, except Christine acted like she did not know James Parks that well this morning. As was to be expected for someone James Parks age, there were very few actual calls it was mostly texts.
The men spoke for a little longer then Morgan left, he seemed disappointed that Mikes’ trip to Lubbock did not produce more results. Mike was upset about that also. He decided he had to get some sleep and would start fresh in the morning.
10
The next morning Mike was heading out the door before daylight. After a sleepless night he was wanting to get an early start on the day. After noon the Grand Jury would convene, and he wanted to have this task done before then, even though he would not be part of the proceedings as the accused since Ranger Murphy, as the investigating officer, would present the case to the Grand Jury. He got in his pickup heading out of town toward Christine Parks’ house.
During the night he decided he would go back to talk to Christine and try to plumb more information from her about her nephew. She had lied about how long she had known James Parks when he and Williams spoke with her yesterday morning. He wanted to know why. She told them she first met the nephew when he moved to Colby, but Parks’ phone showed texts between the two of them for months, though the messages were erased on Parks’ phone, he was willing to bet Christine still had her messages.
He pulled into the long drive to Christine’s house a little after seven. The sun was up now and shining brightly on the new morning. He was hoping he could catch her still asleep and maybe get her to give more information than she had when she was drinking yesterday.
Mike parked and got out of the pickup, waiting for the dogs from yesterday to come out of their hiding hole and start barking. No sign of the dogs. It was already hot this early in the morning, the humidity that was clinging to the air was a promise of the heat that was to come when the sun would be in full force. He knocked on the white metal door of the trailer house.
After several attempts he could hear someone walking around inside. Finally, the door opened. Christine Parks was dressed in the same shorts and tank top as yesterday, though she was bare foot now, and she had that sleep look. Mike was glad he had interrupted her sleep.
“Miss Parks, Officer Collins, Colby PD. Can you talk to me a few minutes about your nephew James?”
She stood on the top step of the steps leading to the doorway holding the door open and rubbing her face with one hand.
“Now? It’s too early for this.”
“Well, I have a lot to do and you’d be helping me out if you could do this right now.”
She motioned for him to come inside. He remembered the pet smells and the other odors that came from
this house yesterday. For a moment he wanted to tell Christine that he had changed his mind.
He walked up the steps and into what should have been the laundry room, except there was no washer or dryer in there. He wondered briefly how she did laundry. She led him through a kitchen that was a landmine of magazines, newspapers, and fast food trash. Left over Sonic meals and the sacks they come in were strewn everywhere. Dishes were in the sink with flies floating around above. Mike imagined the flies were even looking for a clean place to land.
The living room was in no better condition with clothes laying in the floor and on the furniture. He did not see a place for him to sit, though he doubted he would have sat down anyway. He wanted to get out of here fast. He realized he did not see any signs of cats. The odors were probably just from the trash and rotting food that was all over the house. He decided to take care of business and leave.
“You said yesterday you didn’t know Toby had a son until he moved down here a week ago. We found texts from the two of you going back months. Why did you tell us that?” It was the easiest way to call her a liar without calling her a liar. He watched her face for reaction.
“I felt like it. I sometimes lie about things, and sometimes I’m Benjamin Franklin and cannot tell a lie.” She said, laughing at her own misnomer of a joke. Mike didn’t have the strength to tell her that old Ben was the one who flew the kite and it was Washington who couldn’t tell a lie, so he ignored it moving on.
“It’s kind of important to piece this together, you know. We have to know why he suddenly moved here after never having been around. Your brother seems to have dropped off the face of the earth after leaving Colby, then his son moves to town to be with family he has never known. Why?”
“It don’t matter much now, does it? He’s dead. This place kills everybody’s dreams.” She said, sighing in frustration.
Mike caught the full force of her exhale and fought the urge to gag. A stale mixture of cigarettes, alcohol, and morning breath was almost more than a person should have to endure he thought. He studied her facial expression more closely. There was a sadness that seemed deeply rooted that was just under the surface. Lieutenant Williams had said she was a good-looking girl in high school, and if you looked hard you could catch a glimpse of that. But the years of drinking and drug abuse had taken their toll on her. She was what he considered a wreck, living like this just existing in her own world. He pushed on.
Family Secrets Page 4