The Search for Grandma Sparkle

by Darlene Miller

  The cute granddaughter, that identified the purse, responded to his knock on the door. He tipped his hat but decided to replace it on his head to cover his balding head.

  “I’m detective Bob Watson. I would like to talk to Opal Spoolstra and see if she remembered anything more to help in the search for her kidnapper.”

  “Sure, come right in. We are in the dining room where we were just finishing lunch,” Sarah replied as she led the detective to the dining area off the kitchen. All the adults, except for the old lady, stood up and carried their dishes to the kitchen.

  Jessica’s mother returned and took the child from the booster chair and sat down again with the child on her lap. Jessica raised her eyes when the man entered the room but was content as long as Susan held her.

  The detective was surprised at the appearance of the old lady sitting in the chair with her foot elevated on another chair. Since she had her hair washed and curled, and bright clean clothes on, she appeared ten years younger. On closer examination, he noticed that she had lost weight from when the photos had been taken. The weight loss looked good on her body but with the subcutaneous fat removed from her face, she had more wrinkles. He had to give her credit though. She had used her wits and survived the ten day ordeal in the abandoned cabin with no apparent harm to her great-granddaughter, as well as solving the problem of summoning help, so she must be quite a sharp woman.

  When the table was cleared, everyone stood around awkwardly wondering what would happen next. Grandma Sparkle asked the law officer to sit by the table with them and have a cup of coffee. Thinking that would put everyone at ease, Bob decided to accept.

  At first he asked general questions such as “Do you remember anything more about the kidnapping?”

  “What is it that you want to know?” Opal answered.

  “Can you describe the kidnapper?”

  “He was shorter than me about five feet five or six, small boned, with short blond hair under a baseball cap. He wore big sun glasses and never took them off. His T-shirt and jeans were two sizes too big. He kept his head down most of the time and didn’t look into my eyes. I thought that he was just shy.”

  “Do you remember your kidnapper talking to the man at the gas station?”

  “No, Charlie stayed in the car with Jessica. I went in the station to see about getting the tires fixed.”

  “Can you describe the man who helped you at the service station.”

  “He was ordinary looking, about six feet tall, blond hair, about 40 years old.”

  “Did either man have facial hair or tattoos?”

  “No, I don’t remember that either one had a beard or mustache. I don’t remember any tattoos either.” Grandma Sparkle answered.

  “How did he seem to you?”

  “What do you mean?” She asked.

  “I mean was he nervous or anything?”

  “He was professional about the tires. Of course he wanted to sell me four tires but I told him that I could only afford to fix the tires. I don’t know where the tires are now or even my car.”

  “The car was towed to police headquarters so it could be searched for clues. The tires are still at the gas station. “Do you remember anyone else who could have helped Charlie kidnap you?”

  “No. We went willingly because I felt that he was helping us. I told you that he took us to McDonald’s for food. He went through the drive-in part of McDonald’s while Jessica and I were in the bathroom. We got in the car at the Farm and Home parking lot next door. I remember drinking the ice tea and thinking that it was bitter. Then I don’t remember anything until I woke up in the shack with Jessica beside me.”

  “Was she scared? Do you think that anyone hurt her?”

  “She was scared but felt safe with me. She would have told me if anyone hurt her so I don’t think anyone hurt her.”

  “Nobody hurt me.” Jessica answered.

  Looking at Jessica, the detective asked Jessica. “Did you ever see your daddy at the cabin?”

  “No.”

  Opal asked, “Do you still think that John is somehow responsible?”

  “He is still a person of interest.” . . . “Susan, did you ever go to the cabin?”

  “No. I’m sure that I would have remembered that.”

  “You didn’t realize that John owned the acre of land where the cabin stood? As his wife, you owned half of it too.”

  Susan wrinkled her forehead. “I don’t understand. We never bought the land. I didn’t even know that John owned it. All I asked for in the divorce was to keep Jessica’s things and for child support for her. I never wanted anything from John. I’ve been living here with Grandma Sparkle.”

  “Grandma Sparkle?”

  “Yes, that’s our childhood name for Opal Spoolstra.”

  “How did John get the property?” Susan asked.

  “Apparently he inherited it from his Great Aunt Bertha Davis. She was a school teacher for many years in the one room schoolhouse. After consolidation of the one room schools, she was retired with no place to go. At her request, she was deeded the schoolhouse and an acre of ground. She lived in it for many years until she went to a nursing home in Knoxville. John said that he received the property from his great aunt after she died but hasn’t been there since last October when he used it for a hunting cabin.

  After questioning John’s friends, we learned that they used the cabin for keggers.”

  Opal looked at the law enforcement officer and asked, “keggers?”

  “Yes, Mam. That’s when young people go to what is usually an isolated place and drink alcohol. Usually some of them are underage drinkers. It will be hard to prove since the cabin went up in flames.”

  Grandma Sparkle answered, “There were some empty beer bottles on the shelf but I didn’t see a keg.”

  “They probably took the keg with them since it would have a deposit on it. It wasn’t bought locally by anyone we can point to but anyone who is over twenty-one wouldn’t have a problem buying it in Des Moines,” the detective explained. “So, we are back to Charlie. We haven’t found any man who is known to be John’s associate.”

  Jessica jumped down from her mother’s lap and stood in front of her great-grandmother with her hands on her hips. “But I told you that Charlie is a girl!” Jessica insisted.

  “Why do you think that?” the detective asked.

  “Cause Charlie wore nail polish. Only girls wear nail polish. My other grandma said so. I put nail polish on Dad’s toenails when he was sleeping on the sofa at Grandma Hazel’s house. Boy was he mad! I thought that he was going to hit me but Grandma Hazel heard him yelling. She laughed and told Dad to ‘calm down’ and gave him something to take the polish off. Then she told me to never do that again because only girls wear nail polish.”

  “Jessica thinks that Charlie is a girl because she thinks that he wore nail polish,” Opal repeated.

  “She took gloves off after she changed the tire and I seen her hands,” Jessica stated.

  Bob Watson looked away from the little girl and directed the next statement to her great-grandmother. “Do you think that Charlie might be a girl?”

  “Well, I thought of Charlie as a young man until Jessica said something after we were rescued but come to think of it, Charlie was a small person and the baggy clothes hid his or her figure. I suppose Charlie could have been a girl.”

  “We didn’t find any white pickups with extra high tires having Marion County plates belonging to a Charles or Charlie. We need to go over them again and look for someone who has a daughter named Charlene or Charlotte and nick-named Charlie. Do you remember anything about the license plate on the white pickup truck?”

  “I don’t remember any numbers or letters but it said Marion County. I thought that if Charlie was a local person, we would be safe.” Opal said with a sigh.

  “Thank you for your help, Mrs. Spoolstra.” The detective rose from his chair. “I’ll just leave from the kitchen door. You will be hearing from us. Please teleph
one the sheriffs department and ask for me, Bob Watson, if you remember anything else.”

  “Good-bye.”

  “Goodbye,” Opal repeated.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Tom arrived at Grandma Sparkle’s house and talked to Sarah in the living room. He said, “It doesn’t look like this was a premeditated kidnapping. We know that it was probably someone from around here because he/she knew about the hunting cabin. The sheriff is probably still looking for a young man but Jessica thinks it was a girl. Why don’t we look in the Bussey Library for a girl or boy who graduated recently from Twin Cedars High School by the name of Charles or Charlotte or Charlene. We need to look at first and second names because some kids are known by their second name. Then we will take this information to the authorities so they can investigate this ‘person of interest’.”

  Sarah answered. “I don’t remember anyone in school that we called Charlie and I know most of the kids since I just graduated last year.”

  The Bussey Library was closed until Monday afternoon so they couldn’t go there until then. After lunch, they checked the names of recent graduates in Twin Cedars but didn’t find any of the names that corresponded. They next went to the Knoxville Library and checked the year books for the last three years. Two names were found, Charlie Davis and Charlene Roebuck. Sarah and Tom went to the sheriff with the information they had gathered. Detective Bob Watson discovered a white pickup licensed to Charlene’s father.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Charlene Robuck was driving along Hwy. 5 when she saw the blue lights of the Marion County Sheriff’s car flashing in her rear view mirror. Then she heard the siren. “Maybe they were going to an accident. I’ve been careful to obey the speed limit but if someone saw my license number a couple of weeks ago and they were looking for white pickups, I’d be in trouble,” she said to herself.

  She gripped the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles were white as she pulled over. The sheriff’s car pulled over behind her. She felt cold but was sweating at the same time.

  The law officer came to the driver’s door. “May I see your drivers license? Is this your pickup?” He asked.

  Charlene responded, “It’s in my billfold.” She leaned forward to retrieve it from her pocket. “Yes. The truck is mine. I wasn’t speeding. I guess that I should say that the pickup is licensed to my dad but he gave it to me.”

  The law officer responded, “I see that you are seventeen. Please call your mom or dad to come to the Knoxville Police Station.”

  Charlene’s body stiffened. She blinked to stop the tears that threatened to flow down her face. “I can’t,” she cried. “Mom is dead and my dad is a trucker on his way to Houston.”

  Detective Bob Watson could see the fright in her eyes. “I believe that this pickup was used in a crime so I’m going to have it towed to the Marion County Law Enforcement Center.”

  “What about me?” Charlene whined.

  “You have to come with us!”

  He nodded to his partner who opened the door of the pickup. Charlene jumped down. The partner helped her into the back seat of the sheriff’s car.

  “Who takes care of you when your dad is gone?”

  Charlene lifted her face to look him in the eye for the first time. “I take care of myself. I take care of dad too when he comes home. I do laundry and make the meals.”

  Detective Watson called the dispatch office to request a Child Services Representative to meet them at the Marion County Law Enforcement Center in Knoxville.

  He read her the Miranda Rights and then asked if she understood that she wouldn’t be questioned until the someone from Child Protective Services was present but anything that she said now could be held against her in a court of law.

  “Wait until you get to the police station to explain,” the detective stated.

  Soon they arrived at the station. A woman police officer helped Charlene out of the car and took her inside where they fingerprinted her and took photos.

  After the Child Services Representative arrived, Detective Bob Watson spoke, “Charlie, where were you the afternoon of July 16?”

  She realized then that they knew about the old lady and the little girl that were taken to the cabin. I’ve been busted, she thought. I was so sure that no one would ever find out that it was me. Even the old lady called me a young man when she thanked me for changing the tire. If I cooperate, keep it simple and act like a child, they will let me off easy. After all, I’m still a juvenile.

  “But I didn’t hurt anyone!” Charlene, alias Charlie, pleaded. “I was just looking for an opportunity to make some money when I saw the old lady with the flat tire. She was standing there like she didn’t know what to do. I stopped to ask her if she wanted help. She agreed to pay me $20 to change her tire. When I saw how much money she had, I made an excuse to go to the back of the car and I put a pocket knife in the other old tire on the passenger side. Then I followed her.

  “When the other tire flattened, I stopped to take her to Knoxville. That’s when I saw that she had a little girl with her. I had not noticed her before. I stayed in my pickup with the little girl when the old lady went inside to talk to the gas station guy about getting the tires fixed.” Charlene paused.

  The detective asked, “Where did you leave her car?”

  Charlene answered. “It was by the bridge near Oregon Road or Oregon Drive or whatever. I had taken the other tire off too so it didn’t have any tires in the back. I threw both tires in the pickup bed.”

  “What happened next?”

  “The old lady came to the car and said that it would take awhile to fix the tires so why didn’t we go to McDonalds to get something to eat.”

  “Did you suggest that you eat in the pickup rather than go inside?”

  “No, the little girl had to go to the bathroom so the old lady gave me some money and said for me to go through the drive-in area. When I saw the money, I decided to take it for myself. That is when I thought about putting in the medicine in her drink.”

  “What was the name of the medicine?”

  “I don’t know. It was something that a guy put into Cathy’s drink at a party. He asked if I wanted some too. I said ‘sure’ so he gave two of them to me. I only pretended to take the capsules. Cathy was pretty much out of it so I figured it was sort of a date rape medicine. Anyway, I put the capsules in my pocket and later put them in the glove box.”

  “When did you put them in the woman’s drink?”

  “When she was in the rest room. I put both of them in the old lady’s drink but nothing in the girl’s drink. We drove around Knoxville until the old woman went to sleep.”

  “Then I took her to the shack and left them there. I figured that they would walk out and be okay. I’d be okay since I wore gloves when I changed the tire and never got into her car so they didn’t have finger prints or anything and I said that I was Charlie. My dad and some of my friends call me Charlie.”

  “Do you know John Brown?”

  “Yeah. I went to a party at the ‘hunting lodge’ that he calls his shack. He is a handsome dude. I liked him but he didn’t want anything to do with me. He called me ‘jail bait’.”

  “How did you get invited to his party?”

  “I heard some kids say that they were going to a party so I just followed them. That’s how I knew about the shack.”

  “How did Mrs. Spoolstra break her ankle?”

  “Her ankle is broken? I thought it was just sprained. I opened the door of the pickup to help her out but she fell. I told the little girl to stay in the pickup while I helped the old lady inside and put her on the bed. Then I carried the little girl inside and laid her by her grandmother. I didn’t hurt anyone.” . . . “Are you finished with my truck? May I go now?”

  “No. I don’t think that you realize just how serious this matter is. You could be tried as an adult for kidnapping and stealing in addition to other charges. We have a room for you until you are charged. Then you will go to juvenil
e hall in Des Moines.”

  “But I didn’t hurt anyone.” Charlene was sobbing now. “I’ve cooperated with you. It was a ‘spur of the moment’ thing and I only got $400.00. That’s a misdemeanor isn’t it?”

  No one answered her. They just put her into a cell at the Marion County Law Enforcement Center.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  It was a happy group of people who came to Grandma Sparkle’s home the next Sunday to see Opal and Jessica. When Hazel Brown called to see if it was convenient to visit her granddaughter, Grandma Sparkle said it was fine but she was startled to see that Hazel also brought Jessica’s father.

  Jessica squealed with joy when she saw the new doll that Hazel brought but she clung to her mother as if she was afraid that Susan would disappear.

  After they visited for awhile, Hazel inquired, “Now who gets the reward money?”

  John was quick to protest, “The reward was for information that resulted in no harm to Jessica or Grandma Sparkle but Grandma Sparkle has been hospitalized and needed surgery for her foot and ankle so the reward is void.”

  Hazel gave a dirty look to her son and continued speaking. “The $10,000 reward is for information that led to the arrest and conviction of the kidnapper.”

  Grandma Sparkle said, “Bob Watson was very instrumental in the capture of Charlie but he said that no law enforcement officer should get the monies. He also said that both Sarah and Tom helped him a lot.”

  Tom said, “I didn’t help for the money.” Then he suggested that it was Jessica’s idea that gave him the information and he had only helped Sarah so maybe they should split the reward money between the three of them so everyone could use it for college funds.

  George’s voice was emphatic. “No family member should get the money.”

  Hazel gave a dirty look to her son which told him not to protest. “Jessica won’t have a problem with college funds,” she said. “I have already written a trust for her to have sufficient funds for college. . . . If it’s okay with Sarah, I’m going to give the money to Tom.”