The Search for Grandma Sparkle

by Darlene Miller

  Tom didn’t say anything but thought, Here is another person with a motive for murder.

  “Are you sure that your aunt is still in Anchorage?” Tom asked.

  “I never asked her where she is but it would take at least two weeks for her to drive here. She would never fly because she can’t fit onto a seat on the plane. Aunt Mary is a big woman who is six feet tall and weighs at least 400 pounds.” . . .

  “Close the window,” Sarah demanded.

  “Why? What’s happening?” Tom was sensitive to her tone of voice after going over the center line of the road.

  “We are about a mile and a half from the Pershing turn-off. There are hog confinement buildings there.”

  As they got closer to the confinement area, they could smell the terrible stench that seeped through the closed window.

  “Pull off when we get to the bridge.” Sarah told him.

  Tom parked the car on the shoulder of the highway where Grandma Sparkle was last seen.

  Sarah said, “Let’s walk east along the creek. You take one side of the creek and I’ll take the other. I think east is closer to where Grandma Sparkle lives.”

  “Okay. What’s the name of this creek?”

  “English Creek,” she said.

  Tom made a little gasp of surprise before he explained, “I was just reading about Andersonville in one of the books from your grandmother’s bookshelf.”

  “Grandma Sparkle has a lot of mining books and stories that used to belong to my grandpa. They were interested in the history of everything in southern Iowa. I have read some of them when I had to write elementary school papers about Iowa.”

  Tom slowed down as they were coming to the bridge where Opal’s car was last seen. “So your Aunt Mary is your father’s sister. Am I getting this right?”

  “Yes.” Sarah answered.

  “Tell me more about your Aunt Mary.”

  “After college, Mary got married to Pete Martin and moved to Anchorage, Alaska where Pete was in the military. She and Pete have a ten-year-old girl named Kari and an eight-yearold boy named Ryan. I don’t know her very well since she doesn’t call our house and she isn’t much for writing. She calls Grandma on the phone and sends gifts to her. She sent a plane ticket to Grandma Sparkle so Grandma flew to Anchorage a few years ago to visit with her. Aunt Mary wanted Grandma to live with them after Grandpa Mark died. Grandma said that she didn’t want to live in Alaska, not because it is cold, but because of the darkness.”

  “Does your Aunt Mary and her family come here to visit?”

  “No. Aunt Mary is pretty fat and can’t fit in the airplane seats very well. It takes too long to travel by car and she and Pete have a ten year old girl named Kari and an eight year old boy named Ryan to care for. . . . Aunt Mary also said that if Grandma was abducted, they could easily hide her and Jessica in these abandoned mine areas.”

  Tom parked the pickup on the gravel shoulder. He looked at the creek that was eight to ten feet across with grass, shrubs and low tree branches on its banks. “Why don’t you stay on the right side and I will cross the creek on the highway?”

  “Okay.”

  Tom continued, “We need to look for fresh footprints even though the rain last night may have erased most of them. Hopefully, we will see some that were protected by the trees.”

  “Do you think that Andersonville was around here?” Tom called in a loud voice. It wasn’t easy to carry on a conversation with the sound of rushing water and the twelve or so feet of terrain between them.

  Sarah shouted back, “Yes, it was somewhere around here but there is nothing left now.”

  They walked along in silence until Tom called out, “I didn’t know that the creek is so snaky.”

  “Snaky?” Sarah cried in alarm.

  Tom laughed. “I don’t think there are snakes. I meant it has a lot of twists and turns.”

  Sarah suddenly yelled, “I found something. I think it might be a shoe.”

  “I’m coming.” Tom looked for a narrow spot and jumped. He tittered in the air. Before he could regain balance his left foot slipped into the muddy water. He sat down hard on the muddy bank.

  “Oh, Tom, are you hurt?” Sarah cried.

  Tom stood up and scrambled up the side of the bank. “No. Just my pride. Let’s look at what you found.” They dug the shoe out of the muddy bank. It was a child’s tennis shoe but too large for Jessica and too small for grandma. Sarah looked defeated.

  Tom said, “We must have walked a couple of miles without seeing any prints or any sign of your relatives. Do you think that we should try the other side of the highway?”

  They retraced their steps to the highway and to the pickup. Sarah looked at the hill they would have to climb on the west side of the highway. She felt defeated and fatigued. Looking at the dark clouds in the sky, she worried that it might rain again.

  “I can’t do any more today,” she said.

  Sarah called her mother on the cell phone as soon as they were by the car. Hanging up, she turned to Tom and reported, “No, they haven’t found either Grandma or Jessica or had any more clues as to where they might be.”

  She got the old blanket from the back of the pickup and placed it on the driver’s seat for Tom. They got into the car to go to Sarah’s grandmother’s house.

  Tom laughed. “Can you imagine your Mother letting me into the house with these muddy pants and shoes? . . . I need to go home to Ankeny. I have classes and my part time job at the restaurant tomorrow. I’ll just get something to eat at a drive-in on the way.”

  Sarah replied. “Of course, I will have to stay either at my home or Grandma Sparkle’s house until Grandma and Jessica are found. I’ll talk to you tomorrow on the cell phone. Thanks for your help.”

  “I have a favor to ask.” Tom said. “Do you think your grandmother would mind if I borrowed some books about the mines? I have a feeling that the mines are somehow connected to the disappearance.”

  Sarah sighed. “I think that John is somehow connected to the disappearance. Of course Grandma won’t mind. I’ll get the books for you since you are so muddy. You may borrow the blanket to sit on too. . . . You need a shower but what would you wear?”

  Tom responded, “I’ll be all right and shower when I get back to my apartment.”

  They were soon at Grandma Sparkle’s house. Before they got out of the car, Tom carefully leaned over and kissed her. Then Tom got out of the pickup and opened the door for Sarah. He placed the dirty blanket on the driver’s seat of his car and sat inside.

  After a few minutes, Sarah returned with the books.

  At the same time they both said, “Thanks.”

  With a smile and a wave, Tom drove away.

  CHAPTER SIX

  John woke up when he heard his telephone ring. He didn’t answer it but just let it ring. Whoever it was could leave a message if it was important. He was groggy since he hadn’t slept well. Who could sleep after the police interrogated him for hours last night?

  He asked them, “What is going on anyway?”

  The police answered, “Your daughter Jessica is missing? You have the right to remain silent.”

  “Are you arresting me?”

  The young policeman ignored his question as he continued, “Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law.” . . .

  “I demand that you tell me if I’m going to be arrested,” John screamed. His face was red. He may have been sluggish before but he wasn’t now that the adrenaline had kicked in.

  “. . . You have the right to an attorney.” . . .

  “I didn’t do anything wrong. Why do I need an attorney?”

  “. . .You may waive your rights.” . . .

  “I didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t need an attorney.”

  “Do you understand your rights?”

  “Yeah. Yeah. I don’t need an attorney. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “We are just going to ask some questions and give you a breath analyzer test.”


  After John blew into the thing that analyzed his alcohol content, he took another deep breath and sat down. His face was a more normal color now. He tried to relax his tight muscles.

  The law enforcement officers asked the same questions over and over.

  “Where were you Saturday afternoon? Who were you with? What were you wearing? Where did you go after the races were rained out? When did you last see Susan? Has Susan phoned you? When did you last see Jessica? What kind of vehicle do you drive? Were you driving when you went to the races? What have you been drinking? When did you arrive home?”

  John answered the questions one by one. “I went to the races. I wore the clothes that I have on now.” John pointed to his red long sleeved knit shirt and jeans.

  “I met Dan and Hank there. After the races, I drove to my apartment. Dan and Hank picked me up and we went to the Osky bar. I saw Susan and Jessica when I went to pick up Jessica with the court appointed woman. I think her name is Lisa. That was a week ago. I drive a 4-wheel-drive Chevy king cab pickup. Yes, I drank a few beers. That’s what you do in a bar. What does it matter anyway since I’m over 21 and I didn’t drive. I rode with Dan who drove his red Mustang convertible! I got home about midnight. Then you came and hauled me off to the Marion County Law Enforcement Center.”

  “Did you get any phone calls?”

  “I got a phone call on my cell phone but they hung up before I answered it. It was from Susan’s parents’ house. I called back but the line was busy so I called the house phone where Susan is living with her grandmother. There was a message. No, it wasn’t Susan. It was a man’s voice. How do I know who it was? The recorded message just asked where I was on Saturday afternoon.”

  The police seemed satisfied with his answers. They even gave him a ride home.

  Now it was Sunday morning. John woke up with a pounding headache. Since he couldn’t sleep, he took two aspirin and walked into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. What do you know? The coffee was gone.

  The portable house phone rang again. He stumbled around looking for it all over his apartment. It stopped. Then both his cell phone and the house phone rang together. Finally John found the house phone under his pants and the cell phone in the pocket of his jeans. He sat down on the stool in the kitchen to check to see who called on the house phone. There were a bunch of calls from numbers that he didn’t recognize but the early morning call from his cell phone was from his mother.

  Why would she call? She only called for details about when he would bring Jessica to her house. She cares more for the kid than she does me. It wasn’t this weekend was it? No, it was last weekend that I spent a boring day at her house.

  “I’d better call back to see what she wants,” he muttered to himself.

  “Mom, you called.”. . .

  “No, I was sleeping. I don’t care what time it is. I was up late last night.” . . .

  “Why? You might as well know. The police hauled me down to the station and asked me some questions. . . . Mom, I don’t need a lawyer. I didn’t do anything wrong. Why would I need a lawyer?” . . .

  “I found out late last night from the police that Jessica is missing? I didn’t want to call and wake you up.” . . .

  “No, I haven’t seen her. How did you find out? . . . You heard it on TV? Her grandma is missing too?”

  “I’m sorry that you heard about it on the TV. . . . Yes, I should have called you but I didn’t know anything about it either until late last night.” . . .

  “What am I supposed to do about it? Susan is responsible for her.” . . .

  “Where is Susan? I don’t know. I don’t keep track of her since she dumped me.” . . .

  “You want to give a reward?” . . .

  “What if she is alive and well? Maybe they took her to visit someone.” . . .

  “If you feel that you must give a reward, at least make it for information leading to the safe return of both of them. They must be returned alive and unharmed.” . . .

  “Okay, you call them. I don’t want to talk to them. Bye.”

  “What a waste of money,” he muttered to himself. His head was pounding but at least he had it all together when he called his mother. She didn’t seem to realize that he was a little hung over.

  “That saved me from the drinking lecture.” John said to himself. “Mom can be so demanding that I ‘do the right thing.’ At least I was smart enough to say that they had to be returned safely. Maybe I should have added a time limit. I don’t want her to spend money on a reward. That would be a deduction from my inheritance.”

  With no coffee in the apartment, he had to leave and go to the Coffee Cafe for breakfast. As soon as he left the gated apartment house in his Chevy truck, he was followed by a van, a TV truck and several media vehicles. When he stopped at the cafe, they all stopped and yelled at him. “Where is your daughter?” “How do you feel about your little girl being kidnapped?” “Where is she?”

  Disgusted, John grabbed a cup of coffee and a slice of apple pie to go and left the cafe slamming the door behind him.

  “You’d think that I’m famous with the paparazzi following me home,” he muttered. His truck almost hit the gate when he turned to drive into his parking spot. He kicked the neighbor’s dog and slammed the door of the entrance.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Hazel Brown sat by her antique walnut desk looking at the cloudy sky through her window and contemplating the phone call she was planning. The other grandparents of her granddaughter Jessica would surely want to add to the reward. She hoped that George didn’t answer the phone because she hated to talk to that rude man.

  A woman’s voice answered. “Hello.”

  “Hello. This is John’s mother, Hazel. Is this Susan, Sarah, or Nancy?”

  “This is Sarah.”

  “Have you heard anymore about where Jessica is?”

  “No, we haven’t heard any more news.”

  “It was quite a shock to me to hear on the TV news that my granddaughter is missing.”

  “I’m sorry. Didn’t John tell you?”

  “No, he didn’t know it until late last night.”

  “What I’m calling about is that I want to offer a reward for information that leads us to their safe return. Would your family be interested in contributing?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll ask my father and someone will call you back. Please give me your phone number.”

  “It’s 555-525-0398.”

  “Okay, goodbye.”

  Sarah gave the message to her parents and then left the room but stayed behind the door to hear what they were saying.

  “George, I think that we should give some money for the reward.”

  “Well, I don’t.”

  “But we have money in our savings account.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I found the receipt in your shirt pocket when I was doing laundry. We have $60,000.”

  “But that money is for farm repairs and for a down payment on a new tractor. You don’t know how much it costs to farm nowadays.”

  “But we will have another harvest in two or three months. I didn’t say to give all $60,000. We can spare some of it.”

  George’s voice got louder and louder. “I say we need our money. Hazel has plenty of money. Let her and her good-fornothing son give the reward.”

  “But George, what will the neighbors say if she gives money and we don’t?”

  “Let them say whatever they want to say. Susan has been nothing but trouble the last five years. She doesn’t deserve it.”

  “But the reward money would be for your mother too.”

  He was shouting so loud now that the media people could probably hear it down the lane.

  “I said No, and I mean it. Don’t you say another word!”

  Sarah quickly moved into the kitchen as her weeping mother went up the stairs to her bedroom.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The next morning, Sarah finished washing the dishes and wondered what to do n
ext when her cell phone rang.

  She felt a little better when she realized that the call was from Tom. He must be calling from his cell phone before his first class at Des Moines Area Community College.

  “How are you doing, Sarah?”

  Sarah sounded tired as she replied, “The same as yesterday.”

  “Do you have any new information?”

  “No.”

  Tom sighed. “I have the Des Moines newspaper article about it. Have you seen it?”

  “We don’t get the daily paper. Please read it to me.”

  “After a heart-wrenching wait for answers, twenty-threeyear-old Susan Brown of rural Bussey, who is the mother of three-and-a-half-year-old Jessica Brown, appealed to whoever is responsible for the disappearance of her daughter and grandmother, 72-year-old Opal Spoolstra, on July 16.

  In a shaky voice, Susan read the written statement describing the case as a nightmare and noting that despite numerous tips from the public, the two Marion County residents have not been found.

  “It makes no sense that a 72-year-old woman would disappear with a three-and-a-half-year-old great- grandchild without taking clothing and medicine. Someone listening to me today either knows where they are or knows someone who has that information. We appeal to you to come forward so Opal and Jessica can be found.”

  When a video of the exuberant child was shown skipping across the yard and helping her great grandmother blow out the birthday candles on the 72-year-old woman’s cake; Susan broke out in sobs.

  Since she couldn’t speak anymore her sister, Sarah Spoolstra, took the written statement and continued reading the statement. “This is a family’s worst nightmare. Please help us bring them home.”

  As she fought tears, George Spoolstra, the son of Opal and grandfather of Jessica took the paper and read, “Thank you to all who have helped in the search and have offered support.” He turned away from the crowd and putting his arm around his wife, he returned to the house.

  When contacted yesterday by the Des Moines Register, John Brown who is the father of Jessica, refused comment.

  A search of about a hundred people, including law enforcement officers and trained volunteers, has been combing the corn fields and countryside in Marion County. Searchers had been out all day Sunday looking for the woman and girl who disappeared from a rural road on Saturday, July 16. A law enforcement computer mapping specialist officer will come to Knoxville today to review the areas searched and create a master plan.