Chief Among Sinners

by Lois K. Gibson

  "Well, the chief. He was abusive, yelling at you, belittling you, we should just leave it at that?" Kate stared at Louise. "So you tell me, Mother, what do you think happened?"

  Louise looked up at Kate hovering over her. "The man got drunk. He isn't used to drinking. I don't think he's had a drink in twenty-four years and tonight he was guzzling your red wine."

  Kate saw her mother's accusing look. "You're telling me this is my fault? I don't believe that, and neither do you. Why don't you stop this nonsense, Mother, and tell us what's going on."

  Louise lowered her eyes, paused, and then said, "Well, you're both here now. I was going to write to tell you not to come home for Christmas, because I thought I'd be long gone. Dan, arriving on Halloween, got in the way. But I'm leaving 426 Sycamore Street, and when I do I hope never to see that bloated, arrogant, lying, bastard ever again."

  Kate couldn't believe what her mother was saying. Sure, things looked like they had been rough for a while, but how could she call her father that? "Mother, you can't do that? I admit I've never seen the chief like he's been tonight, but is it all that bad? There must be something you can salvage after so many years. You've known each other since high school, for God's sake. Why now? She looked at her brother, "Dan, say something!"

  "What is there to say? Mom is a grownup. She knows her life better than we do. Maybe she's right, and leaving is the only thing she can do. I don't like it any more than you do, but it ain't my decision." He looked at Kate then at Louise. "Is that right, Mom?"

  "Thank you, Son." Louise smiled at him.

  Kate watched her mother's face turn ashen as Louise continued, "Trouble is, if I leave tonight I'm not sure where to go. I know a lot of people in town but, no one I'm ready to impose on at nine o'clock on a Monday night." Then, her face lit up, and she said, "I could go to a B and B in Lanesboro, and the two of you could come with me. My treat, part of my Christmas present to you. We can leave right now."

  Kate said, "Wait a minute, Mother. I know you must be struggling, but you dropped a big bomb on us. I need time to think." She sat down at the table. Did it occur to you that he may not come back? If this is how things are between you, I bet he has a place to go to cool off. So, you wouldn't have to leave. We're here with you, and we can go through this calmly tomorrow and figure it out then. Now, doesn't that make more sense than some old B and B in the middle of the night? Dan and I can sit on the steps all night, if necessary, to keep him away from you at night if that's what you really want. Promise."

  Dan said, "I promise to keep him away if I have to cold-cock him, but Kate may be right. He roared away so fast I bet he left tread on the gravel. He sure didn't sound like somebody leaving on a short trip. I bet he's well into Wisconsin by now."

  Louise and Kate started to laugh and Dan joined in, but at that moment the door blew open. "What's so damn funny? Having a good laugh at my expense, eh?" The chief teetered and put a hand out to grab hold of a nearby chair. It wobbled and so did he. He steadied himself and shouted, "Go ahead and laugh. I don't need any of you, Louise, Kate, and especially you, Dan, my big disappointment of a son. You can all take a flying fuck at the moon. I've got other places to go. I'm the chief of police, or did you forget who I am?"

  Kate wondered that he could be so drunk in the little time he was gone, but realized he probably had a bottle stashed in his car. She reached out, offering a hand to help. He pulled away, plopped into his chair and stared up at them; his head lolled to one side and he passed out.

  Louise stared at him. "Of all the grief he's caused me, I don't think he's been drunk in twenty-four years, not since the night that Clark man was killed by a hit and run. I'm sorry you had to see it."

  Dan said, "But, Mom, I've seen lots worse. I'm a cop. I don't think you'd like to know the stuff I deal with every day. Your husband bad mouthed you, got drunk, and drove away, but he didn't hit you or me or Kate, didn't pull a gun. We're still hale and healthy. How bad is that?"

  Very quietly, so that Dan and Kate strained to hear, Louise said, "Your father doesn't know anything of my plans, and I trust you two to honor my confidence. You know I love you both with all my heart and would do anything for you. I think I have done well by you, but now you have your own careers, your own lives to lead. You should get on with your lives, and I have to get on with my life, too."

  Louise stood up and put her arms around Kate. Louise was unusually demonstrative, and her hug took Kate by surprise. Kate squeezed her mother affectionately. Louise pushed back from Kate and, as if searching for the right words, and went on, "I haven't told you that aside from tonight, your father has been exhibiting some rather bizarre behavior lately, and that's an understatement."

  A thought flashed across Kate's mind, wondering if the chief's behavior had anything to do with the weird goings on at St. Timothy's but, she quickly put that aside. What could he possibly have to do with Terry and the church?

  Before Kate could ask more questions, Louise said, "Look, you two, right now I'm exhausted. If we're not skipping town together, can we talk about this tomorrow?"

  "Of course, Mom," Kate said, but Dan interrupted, "Mom, that's not fair! You speak about strange, odd things, and then you want to drop it?"

  Louise turned her back on them. She left the kitchen and slowly started to walk up the stairs. Over her shoulder, she said, "You can yell, get mad, whatever, but right now, I'm going up to bed. Call me only if the drunk tries to come up stairs, or the house is on fire."

  "Mother," Dan and Kate said, almost in unison, "tonight you did more talking at one time than we've ever heard from you in our whole lives." They both started to laugh. Louise paused on the steps, threw her head back and laughed along with them.

  "What's so funny?" They all caught their breath. None of them saw the chief stir in his chair. "Having a good laugh at my expense, eh?" He tried to push himself up, looked around at the three of them, closed his eyes, and sank back into a stupor.

  Louise was staring at her husband passed out in his big club chair. She said, "I hope all the windows are shut tight. He's snoring loud enough to wake the neighbors." She laughed.

  "Okay, Mom, what's so hilarious?" Dan asked.

  "Oh grow up, kid." Kate was at the raw edge herself, but she didn't want to show Dan how she was feeling. "Get a hold of yourself, Mom. You're getting hysterical." Kate went to her mother, took hold of both her hands, and looked into her mother's face.

  Louise gasped to control her laughter and gulped hard. "You kids just don't understand. I'm not going to go into it now because in some ways, frankly, it's none of your business. Remember, the two of you don't live here anymore. Right now, you're holiday visitors."

  Kate saw the stricken look on Dan's face when he said, "So because we don't live here, because we have jobs that take us away, we're no longer family. Is that how it is? Well, even if we are just visitors, you're still my mother and I'm worried about you. I don't remember Dad ever being abusive to you. Frankly, he scared me more than he seems to have scared you. I don't get it." He pulled out a chair at the dining room table and sat down.

  Pushing aside the dirty dishes on the table, he looked up at his mother in the stairwell, "Getting back to the other question, did he ever hit you in one of these rages?"

  Louise came down the stairs and into the dining room. "Do you think I'd still be here if he ever raised a hand to me? The answer is no."

  "Well that's a relief, anyhow," Dan said. "I had the feeling that if he hadn't been so drunk, he would have come at you. He looked mad enough to hit you, and if that happened, I probably would have run upstairs, grabbed my gun, and tried to haul him off to jail." Dan sighed. "I'm glad it didn't get to that."

  "Well," Kate said, "what happens now? What do we do with him when he wakes up?"

  Louise said she expected he'd be out until morning, but if Dan was around he could steer Scott into the den, lay him down on the couch, and cover him with a blanket. He'd sleep it off, and if he remembered anything, he'd be mad a
s hell at himself, for making a scene. She told them that he had a convenient memory when it came to things he doesn't want to face.

  She paused and looked at her children. "The two of you are so grown up. I look at you and hardly recognize the chubby little boy or the pig-tailed little girl I cherished when you were growing up. I sometimes get an ache in my heart because you seem almost like strangers." The words caught in her throat, and her eyes spilled over with the tears she had been holding back.

  Kate and Dan went to her and put their arms around her.

  Dan said, "Mom, we're not strangers. Even if we don't get home as often as we might like, you are our mother and Oakton is our home. It's where we grew up, and we hope it will always be there for us to come home to. I'd like to know that goes for you too, but after what you told us, I know it will change forever when you walk away from this house."

  For Kate, the questions were still, 'What is going on in this house, in this town? Not tonight, but after we get a little rest, I swear, Dan and I are going to find some answers. We make a great team.'

  "Mom," Dan said, "you may not want us in on this, whatever this is, but we are here and we are in. Whatever Dad remembers when he sobers up, he'll know we were here, saw him and heard him, and will think we know everything. So you might as well tell all. We aren't going to let you off the hook until you do."

  Kate nodded in agreement and Louise sighed. Sitting down in the chair Dan pulled out for her, she started again, so softly they leaned close to hear.

  "I'm not sure when it all started. Hell," she swore, almost to herself, "I don't even know what started, but for the past few months things have been pretty strange. I shop, cook, whatever but, I stay out of the house as much as I can. Besides the library, I play bridge on Tuesdays, sometimes volunteer at the women's shelter."

  Kate saw her blush when she said, "And I have friends that keep me busy. Weekends are the worst because most people want to be home with their families, everyone, except me."

  "Mom," Kate interrupted, "The worst what? You mean worst because you have to be home with the chief? Worst because he keeps you tied down? I'm not sure what 'worst' you're talking about."

  "Strange happenings, I'd have to say." Louise paused. "That strange Saturday night, the night before Halloween, Scott came home later than usual. He didn't say much, except that nothing unusual happened. I was up, after ten, waiting for a few more trick-or-treaters. The high school kids always come late, except this year. There weren't so many, so I was ready to turn off the outside lights.

  "He came in wearing his coat and was carrying his shoes. He went upstairs, got into a robe, and carried a bundle down to the basement. I didn't go down to see what he was doing, but I thought I heard the washing machine. I didn't think Scott even knew how to turn it on.

  "The next morning the big news was about Agnes Clark and how she died in some weird accident. I asked Scott about it, and he said his usual, 'It's police business.' There was a suspicion that the chief might have been there when Agnes fell, hit her head, and broke her neck but, he swore he got there after the paramedics and she was dead when they walked in.

  "The whole story seemed far-fetched. People do die in their own kitchens, but break their neck? Hardly! But that's what we were told, and that's what we were expected to believe. Of course, there is never any foul play in Oakton. If you don't believe me, ask your father. It is really too sad. That Clark family has had enough misery to last several lifetimes."

  "Hey, Mom," Dan said. "You're trying to change the subject again."

  Louise paused. "It was Halloween. That was the day you came home, Dan, and went out after dinner. You didn't get home until late. Didn't I hear you go down to the basement when you came in?" She looked at Dan waiting for an answer.

  Kate couldn't help notice the sheepish grin on Dan's face. He said, "Mom, I'm grown up. I'm not in high school, and I don't have to account for my time, my friends, my whereabouts."

  "That's exactly what your father said when I asked him, especially about the washing machine. He said I was hearing things, that he was looking for tools to fix a broken handle on the bathroom door. I didn't even know it was broken."

  Kate tried to lighten things up. "Out with some floozy and didn't want us to find out. Is that it, Dan?"

  She saw Dan's face get red. "It's none of your business either, Kate."

  He looked so uncomfortable, obviously hiding something. Both her father and brother were out late, in unknown places on Halloween, and both men acted strange when they got home. That was the same night odd things started at St. Timothy's. That was the night Agnes Clark died, falling off a stool in her own kitchen. 'Yeah, as if that makes any sense,' She thought. Kate shook her head trying to clear out thoughts about her brother and father that could lead her down a dark and winding road, and she might not like what she found at the end.

  With that brooding thought in her head, Kate turned to Dan and Louise. "I don't think I can take any more. It has been an exhausting day. I've heard things I didn't want to hear, seen things I didn't want to see. I'm going to bed." She kissed Louise, winked at Dan, and made her way up the stairs.

  She heard Dan say, "Mom, you get to bed, too. I'll stay down here, and if the chief wakes up I'll get him into the den, like you said."

  Kate didn't hear her mother's response. At the top of the stairs she muttered to herself, "I could have gone to a public hanging and had a better time."

  Eight

  Kate closed the door and turned on the lights in her own room. Her old school desk was still against the wall between two windows. The framed senior class picture still hung above it, and on either side of the picture, red and gray high school banners were thumb tacked to the wall.

  The flowered curtains were dingier than she remembered, faded pink flowers with fraying ruffled edges. The rose colored carpet showed the wear and tear of eighteen years of play, work, slumber parties, and occasional tears.

  Only her bed seemed to have been rejuvenated for her homecoming. The headboard was polished to a high shine, reflecting the smooth fabric of an expensive new duvet. It was reassuring and yet upsetting that Louise kept her bedroom like a shrine. It should have been a sewing room, a guest bedroom, but it was the same as before she went away to college.

  Bed and sleep were the farthest things from her mind, and even rich childhood memories could not supersede her investigation into the back steps mystery at St. Timothy's and the crazy stories about Halloween. Tonight was time for serious work.

  She sat at the desk, took pencils and a notebook from her brief case, and wrote:

  Halloween at the church: Terry's usual cemetery rounds

  First surprise on back steps: dead fish in bowl, red ribbon

  Halloween other: Dad home late, washing machine, excuses!

  Dan home late, no excuses!

  Looking at her brief notes, more and more questions plagued her. What was her father doing with the washing machine? Where did Dan go? Was he alone, and why was he so late getting home? What was open after one in the morning? Why did Dan come home on Halloween? That was a bit early for a winter break. Was it because he's still a rookie?

  She paused and thought, 'I'm missing something, someone important.' She closed her eyes and nibbled on the pencil eraser. 'Of course. Where was Mom on Halloween? She said she was home alone waiting for trick or treaters. Did anybody see her?

  'Mom said she was home when Dad got home, that he and Dan were both very late. How late is late? Oakton snaps shut at 11 p.m., even on Halloween. Were they with buddies at the casino in Mortonville? That place never shuts down and it was only eighteen miles away.'

  Kate thought about Louise's account of the chief's bizarre behavior; his mysterious comings and goings, his black mood tonight and then there was the drinking. In the mind and heart of a devoted daughter, the chief was a straight arrow, a white hat. As well as her father, he was her knight in shining armor, heroic without the white horse, and now, she didn't know the man. Was this
a mid-life crisis, an affair? Did he screw up an important case?

  She was tired and felt like she could sleep for a week. Shaking her head, trying to push thoughts of family out of her mind, she remembered promising Terry that she and Dan would be back at the church 8:30 the next morning. That was something to think about. 'Tomorrow is Tuesday, and you get to see Terry again. There's something better to dream about than the turmoil in the Addams household.'

  Kate shucked off her bunny slippers and pulled her old cabbage patch doll from under the blankets in the bureau drawer. She nestled under the new duvet, turned out the light, then laid her head on the pillow. One last thought came to her before she fell asleep. She sat up so fast she grabbed the sheet to keep from falling out of bed. "Oh my God! How could I forget? Agnes Clark was murdered on Halloween." Kate paused, then said to herself, "No, she died. Who did I think murder?" A conclusion came to her that she didn't like. 'Because nobody breaks their neck falling off a kitchen stool. Who wanted her dead?'

  Downstairs, Dan cleaned up after the disastrous dinner, ran the dishwasher, then sat at the dining room table and reviewed the day's events. Other people were working on the St. Timothy mystery and Agnes Clark's murder, and it surely was murder, but only he and Kate were involved with the Addams family debacle.

  He thought about Halloween. Kate and Louise didn't need to know he took Sally Clark over to Mortonville and lost sixty bucks at the casino. For years, the chief warned him to stay away from that Clark girl, but how could he? He knew Sally most of his life. She went to high school with Kate. Sally and Kate were the same age, looked like sisters, and used to be good friends.

  In spite of his father's threats of beatings and lost allowances, he sneaked dates with Sally whenever he was home. It never occurred to him to wonder why she never said no to him when he called, and they had been having sex since he was seventeen and she was nineteen. She never objected. Most girls automatically said no the first time, but not Sally.