by Jackson, Jay
He was driving down Mt. Vernon Road when he saw Claudia Peters on the side of the road. She was looking at something in her hand. Pinky didn’t have a problem with her, but he didn’t like her sister at all. She was a menace to every man who wore a badge.
Deciding the drug houses could wait, Pinky pulled over and parked. He didn’t have a plan for what he was going to say to Claudia, but that didn’t matter. Just walking up and saying hello, reminding her to keep clear of traffic, would be enough. His message, that he was there and watching things, would get through. As he stepped from his car, Claudia looked up. She then looked back down and hurriedly placed the item she was holding into her carriage. Pinky’s face turned a slight mauve as he approached.
“Well, hello, Ms. Peters. How are you this morning? Kinda early, ain’t it?”
Claudia stepped behind her carriage and gripped the handles.
“Not early for me. I’ve been up since before dawn.”
Pinky smiled and replied. “Ms. Peters, I’d really like you to take your hands away from the baby carriage. What did you put in there so quickly when you saw me?”
“Nothing that concerns you a bit. Everything in here is mine. Now, I have somewhere to go.” With that she had pulled the carriage away and closed the top.
Pinky wasn’t sure what to do. Claudia hadn’t done a thing, but she seemed to be acting awfully suspicious. Even with his lack of experience, he knew that people putting things away when they saw the law was a bad sign. As a rule, they weren’t hiding their New Testaments.
Doing the only thing he could think of, he grabbed the front of the carriage. Claudia pushed back against him, knocking Pinky to the ground. She didn’t mean to do so. By this time a furious shade of violet, Pinky got off the ground with his gun drawn.
“Step away from the baby carriage and get on the ground!” He yelled the same sentence three times. As far as he knew, no one else had ever yelled that particular command during an arrest before. Pinky was breaking new ground.
“Deputy, it was an accident. I didn’t mean for you to fall.” Claudia was a bit stunned. She hadn’t seen the morning going like this at all.
“I said get on the ground or I’ll shoot!”
Claudia looked at him for a moment, then replied.
“You can shoot, but I’m not getting on the ground. I told you. The baby carriage is my concern. I told you. I have somewhere to go.”
Pinky was angry, but he wasn’t dumb. Shooting an unarmed civilian pushing a baby carriage was no way to get ahead. He holstered his weapon and immediately took out his Taser. Lunging at Claudia, he hit her with it, zapping her twice.
Claudia went down in a heap, her brown wig flying off and revealing the neatly shaved head underneath. Red clay smeared into her new white stockings.
Pinky cuffed her and rolled her on her back. She lay there as he bent over the carriage to see what she had placed inside. What he saw made him shake his head.
There were all matter of children’s items nestled in the bottom. Old pacifiers and onesies littered the inside of the carriage, along with rattles and tattered bibs. He didn’t care about any of that, though. His attention went to the small white shoe covered by a child’s blankie, by far the newest-looking item in the stroller. On the bottom of the shoe, written by a mother’s hand in baby-blue ink, were initials: MTJ.
Holy tits on a stick, that’s gotta be Melvin Theodore Johnson. I caught the Baby Ted snatcher.
Pinky looked at Claudia, still lying on the ground. He then stepped over her to go to his car and call in his position. Soon, everyone would know what he found. The scene would be covered with deputies, all coming to be a part of the action.
Of course, Pinky’s car was the first one at the scene. He was already writing his report when the others arrived.
31.
Mister Brother read his child-rearing books with a renewed fervor. It was one thing to want a child, and to read about them. It was a whole different thing to actually care for one.
The first thing he learned was that babies were unreasonable creatures. Reclaiming Baby Brother was easy, so easy that Mister Brother thought everything else would be as well. The problem was that, at some point, Baby Brother would be wide awake.
The fact of this became evident with the volume of his cries. Mister Brother was mystified that such a small being could be so loud. If he’d realized just how much noise a child could generate, he’d have soundproofed the house. As it was, he would have to be sure that no one ever came up to the house again.
Mister Brother was also starting to realize just how different Mom was since she came back. As a child, he remembered her taking care of everyone and everything. Back then, she hovered over Baby Brother like a hummingbird, flitting around to make sure he was happy.
Now, Mom just sat there and held him, looking bored. Dad would look up from the paper and tell Mister Brother to take his bothersome sibling.
“Your mother has been away for a long time, and the accident took a lot out of her. You need to help with your brother now, more than when you were a child yourself. Be the man I raised you to be.”
“Yes, just try to be a man, if you know how,” Sister chimed in.
Oh my chapped ass, they let Sister get away with murder.
Despite the injustice of the whole situation, he did as Dad directed and took Baby Brother with him no matter where he was in the house. Knowing he might have to do that, numerous playpens were already set up at strategic points. Whether it was the kitchen, upstairs bedroom, or even the bathroom, he made sure to have someplace to put his brother. Of course he put a playpen in the living room, where Mom and Dad seemed to be spending most of their time lately. Pre-homecoming, Mister Brother thought they would have a hard time not holding Baby Brother. He was wrong.
Mr. Brother, however, did not share his parents’ lack of enthusiasm about his newly reclaimed sibling. Despite the outbursts of noise, he enjoyed having his brother around. Usually he was sweet, his blue eyes wells of innocence. Mister Brother even began holding him in his lap, cooing “No, not me” every time the small child said “Mama.”
He tossed the clothes Mary Alice put on the child into the county trash compactor, three miles down the road on Mt. Vernon. The clothes were the best that money could buy in a small town, but they were all wrong. Any trace of Baby Brother’s time with the wrong family, the wrong name, would be destroyed. There would only be this life. Nothing else mattered.
Wanting to get home to Baby Brother as soon as possible, Mister Brother failed to carefully tie the clothes-stuffed trash bag. A little white shoe, bought by Mary Alice and initialed with care, fell out of the bag when it was dropped on the other trash. The tiny Li’l Leaper shot out of the compactor midsqueeze, propelled by the physics of too much trash in too little space.
It was this shoe that Claudia found on Mt. Vernon Road before being tased by Pinky. It was dragged to the roadway, enmeshed in an old potato-chip bag covered in spring-picnic ketchup, by a raccoon. It looked wrong, a new baby’s shoe just sitting by the side of the road. Watchers knew these things.
The shoe made Claudia the prime suspect in the Baby Ted snatching. She was an odd person—everyone in the county knew that. The baby shoe, and all the other baby items in her stroller, only proved that she was also dangerous. Soon, everyone in the county would know that, too.
It was also this shoe that sent Delroy down the highway in such a hurry. The first few hours after someone is arrested could mean the difference between a life of freedom or a life without. He’d been a lawyer long enough to know that the tiniest piece of evidence could convict a person. Even a small shoe, with enough force, could smash a bug. Delroy wanted to make sure Claudia wasn’t that bug.
32.
“Deputy, I said I have to see my client right now. You can’t hide her from me and you know it!”
Delroy was standing at the Gratis County Jail check-in counter. Behind him was Toots, taking notes on the number of times Delroy demanded
to be let in. So far, she wrote down twenty. Delroy brought Toots along for more than company and his personal records. If Claudia gave a statement and that statement hung her, Delroy needed to fight to keep it out of any trial. That’s why he came back to Gratis so quickly. If any detective later testified that Claudia gave a statement while not represented by counsel, Delroy wanted to call him on it. He would put Toots on the stand to testify about the number of times he demanded to see his client, and how much time elapsed before he was allowed to do so. Thirty minutes had already leaked off the clock since they’d arrived at the jail.
I just hope it’s not thirty minutes and the rest of Claudia’s life.
Finally, as he was about to lose it and get thrown in jail himself, Tommy came around the corner.
“God-a-mighty, Delroy, keep it down. Claudia hasn’t spoken to anyone. She said she had to speak to you first. Then she just shut down.”
“Well, Sheriff, given that you know I represent her and her family, you shouldn’t have even tried to talk to her. That’s bullshit.” He knew that Tommy was paid to be on the other side of things, but Delroy was still angry.
Not a bit of common courtesy.
“Delroy, I’ll talk to anybody I see fit to talk at. Now I advise you to tell your client to take us to that baby. Things will go a lot easier on her if she does. This is a small child, Delroy.”
“I know the child, Tommy, and I’m worried about him, too. You know, as well as I do, that Claudia wouldn’t take a baby—or anybody else for that matter.”
Tommy’s lips turned up in a smile, but his eyes failed to follow suit. He was angry, too, and tired of asking people to do the right thing.
“What I know is that the little boy’s shoe, the one he wore when he was kidnapped, was found in your ‘harmless’ client’s little baby contraption. What I know is that there were a lot of other baby things found in that same little contraption, and that just ain’t right. Now I suggest you get what you can from your client, or I’m gonna look everywhere I have to. I’m not gonna ask to come in, no matter where that may be.”
Tommy’s threat was veiled, but just barely. He wanted Delroy to hear that he was about to charge into the sisters’ house to find the baby. If Jewel was there and attempted to stop an armed deputy with a butcher knife, that was on her. It wouldn’t be Tommy’s fault that she brought a knife to a gunfight.
Delroy was ready for this. On the way down he’d told Kero to get Jewel and take her away from the house. When Tommy made his threat, she was already settled into Kero’s third daughter’s bedroom, watching Family Feud. Any romantic notion in Jewel’s muddled mind usually orbited around Richard Dawson.
“Tommy, you want to kill a defenseless woman, that’s your sin. I find it despicable, but you do what you have to do. Me, I’m gonna go see my client.”
With that reply, Tommy knew that Jewel was already away from her home. There was no way Delroy would put her at risk.
“Look Delroy, I’m just trying to find this little baby. I’ll have my deputy take you to Claudia. Just try to do the right thing and think about that scared little child.”
A deputy came to the locked jail door and got Delroy. Toots stayed behind, shooting withering old-lady looks at Tommy. The deputy led Delroy to the attorney interview room. It was a small room, not more than ten by ten, painted a sad brown befitting its purpose. Five minutes later, another deputy led Claudia into the room. He uncuffed her and closed the door, leaving her alone with her attorney. She sat down and looked away.
Her blue dress was torn from falling, and her stockings were streaked the color of red velvet cake.
They want to speak to her so badly they haven’t even given her an orange jumpsuit yet—jerks.
For the first time, Delroy noticed her wig. Before, he wasn’t sure whether her hair was real or not. Now it was obvious, her faux brown locks askew on her bald pate.
They sat in silence for a few moments. Delroy didn’t want to rush her. She’d been pushed enough for one day. Claudia finally broke the silence and recounted the day’s events. She told him how she found the shoe about two miles from her home.
“It must have somehow got out of the trash compactor, covered as it was. I’ve seen a lot come out of that dirty thing. I knew that something was wrong, though. That shoe was new, nothing wrong with it except for being in the trash. Nobody is going to throw that away, not around here. I just picked it up. I figured it would help me watch.”
Delroy considered his client. Watch?
“Okay, Claudia, I believe you. Thanks for waiting to see me before you spoke to anyone. Just remember that I’m the only one you can speak to about this. It’s important. Even if you say something that means nothing, folks can twist it around. You understand?”
She nodded, looking down.
“Can you tell me what those other things were—all the children’s things? Nothing’s wrong with those things, or having them, it’s just something a number of folks might find odd.”
Claudia waited a moment, considering her answer. “Those are things I’ve collected from those I’ve watched. Just little things. Sometimes, I have to help. After I help, I keep going by until I find something to keep. It makes me remember why I walk and watch. Sometimes, I need to remember.”
Delroy stared intently at Claudia. He was afraid to ask any more questions, but couldn’t help himself.
“What do you mean, you help those you ‘watch’? Who are you watching? Help me help you, Claudia. I’m a little confused.”
Claudia sat silently, then rose from her chair and knocked on the window. She was through with the day, police, and lawyers. The deputy opened the door. As she stepped through, she turned one last time toward Delroy.
“What and why I do anything is my business. Just know that I did nothing to that poor child. Get me out of here Delroy, and make sure Jewel is okay until you do.” With that, she left.
Delroy waited until the deputy came back to escort him to the lobby. Toots left a note for him with the deputy at the counter, telling him she’d see him at the office. Despite her withering stares, Tommy gave her a ride when she asked for one. His mother and two sisters were Drum and Bugle Corp alumnae, too. Leaving the jail, Delroy turned the Suburban toward Daddy Jack’s. He didn’t have all the answers he wanted yet, but he did have a fairly dry throat. That could be remedied.
It was just too bad that Amy wasn’t there. He hoped she called, soon, with information. Even if she had none, he would get to hear her voice. That would have to be enough, for now.
33.
The cold air of Daddy Jack’s embraced Delroy with its icy hand as soon as he walked in. Kero’s electric bill was alarmingly steep, having to run three A/C units to keep the drafty upstairs and downstairs comfortable for his customers. Although juke joints were known to be hot, greasy places, folks could do without the “hot.” Mostly authentic was good enough.
As soon as Delroy entered, Kero motioned him toward the back booth. Delroy settled in the red seat across from his friend. Kero yelled for Garo to bring them a couple of pulled-pork sandwiches and a bucket of beer. “Well, don’t leave me hanging.”
“Kero, Claudia told me she had nothing to do with the baby being taken, and I believe her. She found the shoe on the side of the road.”
“I knew it!” Kero visibly slumped, the tension in his back easing a little. He knew his cousin wouldn’t take a baby. Still, it felt good to hear that she denied doing so.
“But she did say something sorta odd. She told me that she ‘watched’ folks and helped them, and then she took things that reminded her of watching and helping. When I asked her what she meant, I got nothing. You got any idea what she’s talking about?”
Kero frowned. “I don’t have a clue, Delroy, at least not about helping and taking things. I figured she had to do be doing something while she walked, and looking makes sense, I guess.”
He stopped and took a bite from one of the sandwiches that appeared at the table. Delroy did the
same, and then neither man said another word until they were on their second sandwich and beer.
Wiping off the gobs of sauce on each corner of his mouth, Kero continued.
“When we were kids, Claudia always had his, I mean her, eyes open for everything. Seriously, we’d go down the Bird and he’d point out hawks hiding in the trees on the riverbank. He always saw them before I did. In the Neck—and there ain’t no telling how many times we got lost out there—he always knew when we were fixin’ to get stuck or come up on a gator. He just saw things, and put them all together in a way I couldn’t, or at least not as fast as he could.”
Without meaning to, Kero referred to his cousin as a male when recounting their childhood. That’s just how he remembered Claudia.
“Well, she seemed kind of defensive when I asked her about it. I don’t know if it has anything to do with anything, but I was just curious. It’s a little strange, that’s all.”
Delroy’s phone rang. It was Amy. Delroy picked it up and felt a nervous pang in his gut. He wasn’t sure if the pang came from what she might tell him about the fingerprint, or because he would hear about it from her voice.
“Okay, Delroy. I have some good news and some not-so-good news. Which one do you want to hear first?” He loved that about Amy. She didn’t sugarcoat anything. “Give me the bad news first, but then follow up fast as hell with the good news. Seriously, so fast I won’t even know which one came first.”
Amy smiled on the other end of the line. Like Delroy, she felt a nervous pang. His humor, bad as it was, calmed her down. “We ran the fingerprint, and it didn’t come back as a positive match to anyone. At least not as a positive match good enough to stand up in court. There just weren’t enough discernible points for that.” Amy hesitated, and the phone went silent.