by Helen Gray
As soon as Kyle parked, the boys opened the back passenger doors and hopped to the ground.
“You guys have a good time, but don’t wander off too far,” Kyle cautioned.
“We won’t,” Gabe called over his shoulder as they dashed away.
Aunts, uncles, and cousins were emerging from other vehicles on the lot. If the pattern of past years held true, there would be nearly a hundred people present at Kyle’s family reunion. His take-charge mother would command the troops, and he, his dad and two younger sisters would obey her orders.
An ideal place for this yearly gathering, the thirteen-acre paradise just north of Galloway Village boasted a lagoon where ducks swam, open shelters, picnic tables and grills, restrooms, playground equipment, it was one of the few places with public caves on the premises. There was also a three-mile walking and fitness trail that ran from Galloway to National Court Trail.
When Kyle opened the driver’s door, hot air rushed into the van. It was only nine a.m., but the July fifth sun was already blazing, the air hazy. He and Toni wore khaki shorts and white tee shirts, but they were still going to roast in this heat.
A young couple bicycled past them as Kyle removed coolers from the back of the van.
When they headed toward the pavilion, Toni noted that the park was starting to come alive.
A family was feeding the ducks at the head of the lagoon, while a half dozen people hiked away from it. A group of youngsters walked across two small footbridges to the caves at the far side.
Their group assembling was small at this point, but more would be arriving soon. Kyle’s mother, Barb Donovan, met them at the edge of the pavilion. “Just slide the drink coolers under the end table,” she instructed Kyle. “Here, I’ll take those, and you can go back for whatever else you have,” she said to Toni.
Toni handed over her casserole without argument, the easiest way of dealing with her mother-in-law. Turning, she spied John Zachary’s dark green Sable pulling into the parking lot. John was a colleague from back home in Clearmount where they both taught science at the local high school. He taught the physical science classes, chemistry and physics, while Toni taught the life sciences, biology, A & P, and forensics. She and Kyle were close friends with John and his wife, Jenny.
Toni headed that way, wanting to make him feel welcome.
“Good morning,” he greeted her as he emerged from his car. “All I brought is a cooler of sodas.” He was a big, mild mannered guy with light brown hair worn in a simple, short cut, an extreme contrast to Toni’s five six, hundred and forty pound frame.
“That’s plenty,” she assured him. “You didn’t even need to do that. There’ll be enough food for an army.”
“Yeah, that’s always the case with these things,” he agreed, popping the trunk of his car. “That’s why I let you talk me into coming.” He pulled out the cooler and accompanied her to the pavilion. A few feet beyond it, Kyle was putting charcoal in the barbecue pits.
“How is your class going?” Toni asked as her colleague shoved his cooler next to the others under the table. She swatted at an irksome bee.
He shrugged. “Okay, I guess. One week down, three to go. It’s been interesting so far.”
“How big is it?”
“There are only eleven of us enrolled, so we have some interesting discussions that sometimes get lively.” His grin bordered on a smirk.
Kyle’s youngest sister, Kathy Mitchell, was coming across the lawn now, carrying a basket of food. She and her husband, Ron, both taught school here in Springfield. Their two young daughters, Rhonda and Robin, were headed to the far side of the pavilion to join the younger set assembling there. Karen, Kyle’s older sister and the middle sibling, rounded the table and went to meet them. A nurse at Cox Hospital, Karen was divorced with no children and lived only a few blocks from their parents.
A number of children, including Gabe and Garrett, came flocking to the pavilion, seeking cold drinks.
“There must have been over sixty thousand people at Firefall Saturday night,” John commented as he doled out sodas and bottled water to the children.
Toni nodded. “It took us over an hour just to get out of the parking lot at James River after the fireworks display.”
“But the fireworks were fantastic,” Kyle pointed out, joining them in time to hear John’s comment.
“I think Firefall is a nice tradition,” Kathy said, taking a bottle of water for herself. “It’s grown over the years and provides a lot of enjoyment for a huge number of people. There’s music all day, featuring local groups and entertainers from Branson. Then there’s the choir concert, followed by a fireworks display choreographed to live symphony music.”
Always scheduled the Saturday night before the fourth, the whole event was a huge patriotic party in a lowly hay field near the Springfield-Branson Regional Airport.
“I liked the wing walker.” Garrett had paused next to John rather than leaving with the mob of children.
“That was a stunt plane,” Gabe pointed out, also still present. “The wing walker was good, but I still like the fireworks best.”
“Yeah, they were great.” Garrett swigged from his water bottle.
“Where did the man fall in the hole?” John asked.
Toni frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“It must have been over that way somewhere.” Dan Donovan pointed to a spot up the path.
John chuckled. “Didn’t you see yesterday’s paper? There was a story about a man who fell in a hole at this park. It said he was only a few feet from the paved path, and he was in there for several hours before someone found him. When they got him out, all he had with him was a pillowcase of belongings, and he wouldn’t talk.”
Toni shook her head. “I missed yesterday’s paper.”
“Sounds like a homeless person,” Kyle said. He unfolded a camp chair and positioned it near the south corner of the pavilion. His six one, broad shouldered frame filled it to capacity.
“That’s what the people who found him thought. But it turned out he was a thief, and the pillowcase was full of stolen loot,” John explained.
“Are there any more holes around here?” Gabe asked, tossing his drink bottle in the trash container.
“Let’s go see if we can find some,” Rhonda Mitchell, Kathy’s oldest daughter, said.
The kids all took off, happy to have an exploration project.
Kyle’s Aunt Madge, his mother’s critical-to-the-point-of-obnoxious sister, arrived, placed a platter on the table, and faced the group. “Kyle, why don’t you and Toni move here to Springfield so you can be near your parents and sisters? You could work from here, and Toni would have no trouble getting a teaching job in the area. After all, she’s already teaching here this summer.”
“We like it in Clearmount,” Kyle responded. “Karen, Kathy, and I grew up there, and I like the small town life. So do Toni and the boys.” After retirement, Dan’s health had deteriorated, and he and Barb had moved to Springfield to be near their daughters, as well as the medical facilities and Karen’s personal nursing care.
“But you would have so many more cultural things here, and there are so many more places to shop. Your boys would have bigger, better schools. And you could find more choices of beauty shops and clothes.”
“Bigger is not necessarily better,” Toni said. “In fact, I think our small school is better for them.”
It’s two hundred miles from you. And I’m happy with my simple medium length, natural brown hairstyle, thank you.
“Toni, can you help me here a minute,” Barb Donovan called from the other side of the table.
While family members continued to catch up on happenings of the past year, Toni helped her mother-in-law slice tomatoes and cucumbers and put condiments and table service on the picnic tables. They covered everything with tablecloths to protect it from the insects and dust.
As they worked, Toni glanced out over the park, trying to spot her boys and not seeing them
. To her right was the lagoon. Only about two or three feet deep, it spread across several hundred yards of the park area. Shaped somewhat like a music note, there was a long narrow section at the far end, and a large oval section here near them. An island down one side of it was populated with ducks and turtles to which visitors tossed bread crumbs to watch them dive.
She spotted Gabe at the far end of the lagoon by the spillway, but saw no sign of Garrett. A fresh twinge of unease ran through her.
“I think I’ll go for a little walk,” she told her mother-in-law.
“Run along. I’ve got things under control,” Barb responded.
Toni headed across the lawn, moving at an unhurried pace while keeping an eye out for
Garrett. The number of people populating the park had grown, and laughter and shouts of children echoed from the caves and play areas. No one but Gabe was squatted beside the water at the far end of the lagoon. When Toni got close enough for him to hear her, she called, “Where’s Garrett?”
He looked up and shrugged, but remained squatted, dragging a hand through the water.
Toni glanced back and saw Kyle and John following her. She walked on down to join Gabe. “Do you know where he went?”
Gabe stood and peered around, his face scrunching up in thought. “He was here until just a little bit ago. He said he had to find the fire chief, or something like that.”
Even though her shirt was sweat-dampened, the chill inside Toni deepened. A sense of urgency rose in the pit of her stomach. She looked around, trying to imagine where he could be.
John and Kyle joined them and grasped the situation. “Let’s split up,” Kyle said. “I’ll check the woods down there.” He pointed toward the far end of the lagoon.
“I’ll go around and check those.” John indicated the wooded area around the far side of it.
“I’ll work my way around the water,” Toni said. “Do you two have a funny feeling?” she asked before they took off.
The two men stared at one another.
“There’s a feeling inside me that’s not comfortable,” John admitted.
Kyle nodded. “Me, too. Let’s go.”
Toni fought a growing sense of panic as she followed them, visually searching the area. She kept walking when they veered off into the woods. Staying near the edge of the water, she worked her way around to the far side of the lagoon.
She was near the point of panic when she spotted Garrett back over where the island down the middle of the lagoon had been blocking the view. He was running.
“Hey, Mom!” he yelled when he spotted her. When he reached her, he grabbed her hand. “Come quick. I found the fire chief.”
“Kyle! John!” Toni yelled over her shoulder.
They both came running from the woods.
“Where have you been?” Kyle demanded of Garrett as he reached them.
“I found the fire chief,” he repeated. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
They followed their youngest son along the perimeter of the water to the back of the island. Staring ahead, Toni spied yellow coloring beneath the surface of the water about half a dozen yards from shore.
“Not again!” she heard Kyle gasp as they all ran to that spot and stopped.
“Someone’s in there,” Toni shouted, peering down into the water that was murky with a brownish discoloration. She could distinguish the form of a body at the bottom.
Kyle jerked off his shoes. “Call nine-one-one,” he yelled at John as he jumped into the water. He waded out, leaned over and grabbed the body, and pulled it to the surface. Slipping on the slimy bottom, he dragged it to the shore.
Toni knelt and grabbed an arm. John joined them, his cell phone in his hand, starting to punch in the number. Seeing their struggle, he stuck it in his pocket and dropped to his knees to help. The three of them pulled the body up onto the dry ground and turned it over. It was a man, wearing jeans and a yellow tee shirt. On the front of the shirt was a big picture of an Indian chief.
Chapter 2
Kyle began to administer CPR, but soon stopped. “He’s dead, probably has been for hours.”
Suddenly John gasped and stepped back a pace. “That’s Jesse!”
Toni stared up at her colleague’s shocked expression. “You know him?”
John rocked back on his heels, his head bobbing. “His name is Jesse Campbell. He’s in the class I’m taking.”
“Did you get the nine-one-one call made?”
He started in remembrance and jerked the phone from his pocket.
Toni shifted her attention to her sons as John dialed. “You boys go back to the pavilion.”
They started to protest, but read her don’t-give-me-any-argument look and decided to do as ordered. They headed slowly away from the area, but Garrett stopped a few yards away and looked back. When she pointed a finger, he moved on.
People were beginning to gather around them. “Can you keep people from crowding in here?” Toni asked Kyle. “It’s a crime scene, and we need to keep it from being trampled.”
“I’ll try to head them off. All right, everybody stay back,” he ordered, moving toward the crowd that was growing fast.
Toni turned to John, who was putting his phone back in his pocket. “Did you get through?”
He nodded. “The police should be here soon. It looks like Kyle could use some help.”
“While you do that, keep your eyes peeled for anything that might be evidence. I’ll do the same.”
John nodded and went to head off the people who were by now circling around the pond from the other direction. While they halted traffic from all directions, Toni did a quick study of the scene.
The dead man had darkly tanned skin, and she guessed his age to be in the late thirties or early forties. She recognized the logo on his tee shirt as that of Kickapoo High School.
Scanning hastily, she didn’t see anything that looked like drag marks, nor any sign of a weapon. Near the edge of the lagoon, about two yards from where they had pulled the body from the water, she spotted some blood spatters and squatted to study them.
“Who is it? Is he dead?” Spectators were hurling questions at Kyle.
“I’m sorry. We need to keep the area clear until the police can get here,” he repeated while blocking them from getting past him.
Toni shifted back around on her haunches and refocused on the body. Besides the school tee shirt, the man wore jeans and high dollar athletic shoes, nothing out of the ordinary. Then she noticed a narrow white strip of skin around his tanned wrist. Had his watch slipped off into the water?
She moved to the edge of the lagoon and peered down at where the body had been. The normally clear water was still slightly discolored with the man’s blood, but she could see fairly well. She dropped to her stomach to get a closer look at the bottom of the water. She saw nothing that looked like a watch—or a weapon. She was just getting to her feet when the scream of police sirens sounded.
When two black and whites pulled into the parking lot a minute later, Toni saw Gabe and Garrett approach them and point back toward the lagoon. She waved her arms back and forth over the body to shoo away the flies that were already beginning to camp on it. Two officers emerged from the police cars and loped around the end of the lagoon where Kyle was having trouble blocking curious onlookers.
“Are you the person who found the body?” the first officer to arrive asked as he dropped to his haunches next to the dead man.
Toni nodded. “One of them.”
“Stick around. We need to talk to you.”
Both officers examined the body without touching it. The one who had spoken to her reached up and positioned the radio on his shoulder closer to his mouth. “It looks like a guy has been stabbed. We need the coroner and a detective out here.”
Within minutes the place was populated with a detective and two more officers who began securing the area. An ambulance crew came pushing a gurney across the lawn and stopped a few yards away to wait for the photographer an
d detective to finish their work and tell them they could remove the body.
A news van careened into the parking lot and screeched to a halt. A woman emerged and came sprinting toward them, camera in hand. She began snapping pictures from the edge of the crowd and worked her way closer until an officer stopped her.
When the techs took over, the first two officers rejoined Toni, Kyle and John. This time Toni noticed the name tags on their uniforms. The tall black man with an impassive face was Officer Durbin. His younger partner was Officer Chilton.
Officer Durbin’s eyes swept over the three of them. “Which one of you found the body?”
“Uh, we sort of all did,” Toni said quickly.
He frowned. “How do you mean?”
“We were looking for our younger son—mine and Kyle’s,” she explained, stepping over beside her husband. “He
wasn’t with the other kids, and we were circling the lagoon looking for him.”
Durbin’s eyes bored into her. “You’re saying that’s how you came to be over here on this side of the water?”
Toni was reluctant to bring Garrett into it, and this guy’s unsmiling face didn’t encourage her to open up to him. She just nodded.
“The body was in the lagoon, right?”
Toni nodded again.
“The son we were looking for came running to meet us and said someone was in the water,” Kyle clarified.
Durbin’s attention sharpened, and his eyes narrowed. “So the boy is the one who actually found the body?”
Kyle nodded. “That’s right, officer. Garrett saw the man and ran to tell us. I went into the water and pulled him out.” He glanced down at the wet edges of his khaki shorts.
“I helped Kyle pull him onto land,” John said.
“So did I,” Toni added. “We weren’t sure he was dead when we first saw him. Otherwise we wouldn’t have moved him.”
Durbin gave her a hard stare. “So you’re aware that you disturbed a crime scene. Do any of you have any idea who the guy is?”
“I do,” John said. “His name is Jesse Campbell.”
Brows rose on both officers’ faces. Chilton had his notebook and pen out, scribbling furiously. Toni assumed he was the duo’s assigned scribe.