Oh what a tangled web we weave! I now had two potential suspects in the death of Ben Tracy but no evidence other than the hearsay mumblings of a 20 year old dishwasher to pin on one of them and no idea where to find the other one. I headed for home with more questions than I’d left there with a couple of hours before.
The house was again quiet when I entered it. Odd!
I poked my head into my den, now Dana’s room. Empty!
I stood at the foot of the stairs and listened for the kids. Nothing! I passed through the dining el off the kitchen and caught site of Beth, my niece, out on the deck. I reached in the fridge for a soda, grabbed a fork and then headed out there with those and my Chinese takeout to see what was going on.
Dana sat in a chaise lounge on the deck, under a light blanket to ward off the early spring chill. Her legs were stretched out in front of her and she had her crutches laid beside the chair, in easy reach. Her eyes were closed. She looked comfortable and content in the late evening light.
Beth, meanwhile, was standing at the rail watching her older but definitely not wiser brother Cole as he put some sort of stickers on one of the two base Honda 250 quads that I’d bought for myself and Beth, for fun. Because Beth had actually started to race, I’d put Holeshot tires on hers but I hadn’t yet modified it for performance. She was just getting started.
My own quad had the factory tires. As I peered into the growing darkness at the tires and rims, I realized that the bike Cole was decorating was mine and not his sisters.
“Boy! What do you think you’re doing?” My shouting startled Dana who sat upright in her chair. I dropped my food on the table then murmured my apologies to Dana, as I scrambled off the deck with Beth trailing behind me.
“I told him not to do it Aunt Mel! I told him you’d be mad!”
Cole looked at me with the look of a deer caught in the headlights. “I was just decorating it for the race on Saturday. I got these in the mail. Mom said it was okay.” He held out a passel of Fox and Honda Performance Racing stickers. They’d look silly on the small, unmodified quad.
I tried to quickly process all three of his statements at once but my interrogation training was failing me. “What race? Who’s racing?”
“There’s hill climbs on Saturday at Crow Canyon and I’m going to enter.”
“Crow Canyon? And your mom said that you could do that and that you could do it on my quad?” I was getting loud. Dana was up out of her chair, on her crutches, peering over the rail at us in the dimness.
“Well, I didn’t ask mom about the races yet...” He looked confused. I was even more confused. I looked to Beth for help.
“I told him when he came out here with the stickers and pulled out your quad that you’d be mad!”
“I...I thought this one was mine.” His voice quavered.
“What?” I shook my head. “What on earth made you think that? You have a quad!” I was getting angry.
He looked at his sister and then back at me. “Mine’s just a little 50. You gave Beth one of these. I thought the other one was for me...” His eyes were pleading.
“Cole, you know this isn’t yours.” I pointed at the bike. “You’ve never showed one whit of interest in riding once you outgrew the 50. You said it was boring. You’ve only been interested in rodeo until just now. What’s all of a sudden gotten into you?”
He didn’t answer me.
I blew out a breath and shook my head. “Look, for now, put the bike back where you got it. You and I and your mom will sit down and talk more about this, this weekend.”
“But, can I race on...”
“Cole, no! This bike is ‘A’, mine and ‘B’, not set up for that sort of thing. It’s just to ride, period. I don’t want to hear any more about racing right now!”
I watched as he pushed the quad back to the garage, head hung low. I turned to Beth, “Show’s over missy! It’s a school night. You best get moving.”
Beth climbed the stairs and trundled across the deck in a teenage huff. Once she was inside the house, I turned to Dana. “Welcome to chez Crane!”
“I apologize for drifting off. I had no idea what was going on.”
“Dana, don’t apologize. It isn’t your responsibility to handle those two anyway. It’s not even really mine but, well, someone has to and, while Kris works, that usually falls to me.”
Dana pointed at me and then at my food. I really was famished. The night was warm so, even though it was now dark, I parked myself at the table and I began to open the containers. She took the chair next to me and joined me.
“Would you like some? There’s plenty!”
“No thanks. I’m still full from the dinner you made for me and the kids before you left and the snacks they wanted all of an hour later!”
“I’m sorry. I guess I should have talked to you about the kids before and let you decide if this would work for you... ”
“Mel, they’re kids. They’re normal, teenage kids. Been there, done that!” She laughed. “Besides, you handle them pretty well!”
“I’m a cop!”
“No, no. It’s more than that. You’d be a great parent.” Her eyes drilled into mine in the darkness.
“Appearances are deceiving. I’ve been around those two all their lives. Their father isn’t in the picture. It’s been a community effort to raise them, especially Cole.”
“Community?”
“Yes. Kris, me – as you’ve seen – and my mom and dad for starters but also a lot of our friends and neighbors. Everyone looks out for them. They’re both great kids but Cole just seems to have some special challenges. He’s the older of the two but not the wiser. He really seems to lack for a real father figure.”
“Did you and your sister wind up living together so you could be on hand for the kids...if you don’t mind me asking?”
“It’s okay.” I paused to take a bite and think about her question. “When it comes right down to it, Kris loves her job at the station because she likes the constant community interaction. The thing is, this is a very small town. She’s not the manager there so it doesn’t pay the best...small town wages. If she doesn’t do it though, someone else gladly will.”
Dana nodded.
“Anyway, feeding teenagers and keeping them in Nike’s and Justin boots or whatever the shoe of the moment is, is tough. I help with bills and my parents - my dad especially - help with guidance, transportation and everything else.”
“Does Kris date?”
“Actually yes. She’s been getting pretty serious with a guy who’s an over the road truck driver. She just doesn’t get to see him a lot. He has a little apartment in Zanesville. He really tries to get home weekends but, if he’s on the West Coast on Thursday, it’s a sure bet he’s not going to be in Ohio before Sunday.”
Dana winced. “That’s rough! I thought my life on the road was bad!” She leaned back in her chair. “It’s so nice to sit and talk with you like this. I miss that about hanging around with people outside of work.”
It was my turn to smile. We chatted for several more minutes about everything and nothing while I ate. Kris found us on the deck when she got off work and joined us too. My mind was awhirl with the investigation but I put it aside for just one night and enjoyed the chatter.