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Downstairs the Bailey boys were playing Uno in the living room with the men, giving Chief Flint and Johnny time alone in the kitchen. My determined march through the kitchen door alerted the Chief immediately that something was up. "Is there a problem, Mrs. Bailey?"
"Johnny, would you mind if I talk with the Chief alone for a moment?" I asked.
Johnny was crestfallen that I was taking his new friend away. I smiled at him, "I am sure the Chief will come back to chat again. While you wait, I think Travis would love to see the new train cars run in the living room."
"You noticed!" Johnny's smile lit up the room again. "No one else who came today wanted to see it."
"Of course, I noticed. You have another blue one. Now you have even numbered colors on the train." I shooed him into the living room and turned to the Chief. "I am sorry to disturb you just now, but we have a question upstairs. Did the police search Harvey's room today?"
"I don't believe that is any of your business, Mrs. Bailey," he replied, narrowing his eyes.
I took a deep breath while I quickly counted to ten, "Have it your way. But I was really hoping you could say yes, which would explain the mess in Harvey's bedroom that nearly gave Paula a heart attack."
He raised his right eyebrow at me as he motioned, "Show me."
At the top of the stairs, we found Paula now sitting on a chair in the hallway. As I neared the open door to the room, I stepped back to let Chief Flint have a good view.
After fully surveying the scene, he asked, "Did any of you walk into the room?"
"Maybe a step to see the whole room," I offered. "But I was sure the police officers, even while doing a thorough search, wouldn't have left the room like that. I moved everyone quickly back into the hall and went to find you."
"I see," he nodded. "Ladies, if you would please move back downstairs where you will be more comfortable until I take your statements." He pulled out his cell phone as we headed downstairs.
For the second day in a row I was entertained with red, blue and white flashing lights. Corbin arrived with a haggard look as if he just woke up from a nap. He walked right past me, forensics bag in hand, and headed upstairs. Officer Eric Perdale stayed downstairs with us, asking questions and trying to take statements.
Though the residents knew him, they refused to speak. It was bad enough to be in shock at losing a good friend, but now they had a crime scene in their own home.
Paula didn't know where to begin, as there had been so many people stop by. Audrey copied the list of the food dishes in the kitchen for police records. Paula attempted to put the list in order, but it was difficult when the over thirty different people stopped by and many of the visits overlapped.
Claiming to add to the statements, my twins cornered poor Eric and asked more questions than answered. When they were finished, I wondered who had interviewed whom. Finally, Chief Flint and Corbin returned, rescuing Eric from my boys, for a conference. Eric handed his notebook over to Corbin, before disappearing upstairs.
Acknowledging all the curious eyes, the Chief addressed the rest of us. "Thank you all for cooperating. At this time, it looks like someone was searching Harvey's room for something. I would appreciate it, Mrs. Newman, if you would look upstairs and let me know if anything is missing."
"I'll go with you, if you wish," I offered, as Paula struggled a bit to rise from her recliner.
Paula sighed with relief, "That would be most appreciated."
Chief Flint objected, "Is that necessary?"
"What do you mean?" Paula asked, using her teacher voice that commanded young hooligans’ attention for over forty years.
"Well, I would prefer if Mrs. Bailey stayed away from the crime scene at this time."
"And why is that, young man?" commanded Paula.
"Well, Ma'am, this is the second crime scene Mrs. Bailey has found in twenty-four hours."
"Are you saying she is a suspect?"
"Just a person of interest at this time," he conceded, then added, "but the more she stays out of it, the better for her."
"Person of interest? You have any proof of wrong doing? It sounds to me like she has been a law-abiding citizen by reporting these things." Paula continued in her thirty-six-year veteran teacher voice, "Maybe they don't have people like that in the big city, mister, but you are in a small God-fearing American town now. And I know Rainbow would never hurt anyone, especially not any of my boys, or she would have me to deal with."
Paula turned to me, "You know that, don't you, Rainbow?"
"Yes, Ma'am." I flashed back to a younger Mrs. Newman, hundred-pound-when-wet English teacher, who stepped into the middle of a fight between a couple of three hundred-pound boys fighting in the hall, grabbed their ears and frog marched them to the principal's office.
"Rainbow, did you hurt Harvey?" Paula asked pointly.
"No, Mrs. Newman," I replied.
"Then that is good enough for me." She turned back to Chief Flint, "Chief, it looks like you need to get to work finding a new `person of interest'!"
From the frown on his face, I envisioned a few choice responses he considered. Realizing this was not a battle worth fighting at the moment, he capitulated.
"I thank you for your input, Mrs. Newman. May I escort you both upstairs to complete an inventory survey?" He asked, intending to keep me in sight.
"Yes, of course." Paula replied.
"In the meantime, Mrs. Newman, as legal guardian of these men, do you grant us permission to take their fingerprints? We need to match and eliminate any fingerprints that come from the household in order to discover any new persons of interest."
"Why certainly, Chief Flint. I will even show them by being the first." Paula smiled at him.
"Tomorrow. First thing in the morning, at the station?" Chief Flint said with a glance at me. "Would that be too early for you?"
"Nonsense, Chief, we start early as part of our routine," Paula replied. "A good routine helps us deal with the unexpected."
Chief nodded, motioning a clear path to the stairs. As the three of us traipsed upstairs, I detected a half victory smile on the Chief's face. He can have his early bird's skinny worm. Night owl's rabbit soup for me.
Eric greeted us at the entrance to the room. "Mrs. Newman, we need to know if anything is missing, as it seems the person or persons ransacked the room fast looking for something. Knowing that would greatly help the investigation."
"Can we move anything?" Paula asked.
Chief replied, "Yes, we finished processing the room for fingerprints and recorded the damage with photographs."
Paula and I stepped carefully into the room, afraid to trip over or break things buried in the mess. I centered the mattress and made the bed just enough to create a workspace. Paula began working with the boxes from the closet. I rehung the clothes while Chief Flint watched my every move.
"Oh, I don't know," sighed Paula after filling five shoe boxes with twenty or more still sitting empty. "All my boys seem to be little pack rats. As long as they found places to store it all, I usually didn't fuss at the amount, but right now this is just too much. It will take days to go through it all and even then, I might not know if something is missing."
"The real reason we came up here was to find funeral clothes," I stated. "I suggest this gray suit with the white shirt and his favorite tie." Then, inspired by the mouth-watering smells that wafted up the stairs, I added, "Break time, I think. Dinner will give you strength."
In the hallway I inquired, "Chief, could Paula finish cleaning this up tonight and call with a list of anything that is missing?"
"That would be fine. Eric will be here to supervise." He consented, offering his arm to Paula. "I know it has been a long day."
We found Paula's boys actively setting the table.
Audrey explained, "They were starting to get hungry again. Hunter found the chore chart for this week and Johnny read the assignments. Skylar, Emily and I will have the food ready in a few minutes."
Paula perked up instantly, "That is just wonderful, Audrey. Thank you so much. I didn't realize how late it was getting. And, please, everyone, we have plenty of food. You all must join us."
Chief Flint declined, "No, thank you. We have to get these reports in."
"Well, a man has to eat, too, but suit yourself," stated Paula, as she lined up her boys to receive a plate of food.
With Officer Perdale left behind to supervise the Bailey activities, the Chief drove off with Corbin, but not before I managed to sneak him a doggy-bag of his favorite chicken casserole. Chief Flint might work well on an empty stomach, but after growing up with Corbin, I knew my cousin functioned best on a full stomach.
Using the landline, I called Martin with updates so he would not worry about us, nor pack a dinner home that night. After dinner dishes were washed and put away, Paula and I headed back upstairs, with a plate of food for Eric standing guard. With the residents retiring to their own rooms for the evening, my crew joined us. Under Paula's supervision, I put my girls in charge of the dresser, while the boys restocked the closet with all the knickknacks and collectibles.
Paula was right, Harvey certainly had plenty of things in his room. There were large items such as airplane models and basic items like marble rocks. It was pointless to try to put all the things back in their places. Even Paula didn't know how Harvey had held on to so much. We just wanted to make his room nice out of respect. Knowing how much would be given away soon, I sent Skylar and Hunter to retrieve a few boxes to hold the various items Harvey held dear. Besides, the other residents would probably choose a few mementos over the next few days.
We all worked pretty quietly on the sobering job, lost in our own thoughts. What could Harvey have that someone wanted so badly?
"Mrs. Newman?" asked Travis, breaking into our thoughts. "Does this part of the train belong up here?"
Paula took the train Travis held out and gripped it tight. "Yes. It matches the coal car downstairs. Harvey always played with this car so much that it caused some fights with the boys. So, I bought him another one for his very own on his birthday three years ago. He kept it in his room when they weren't playing."
Paula handed it back to Travis to put in the box. It slipped out of his hand and bounced on the floor, knocking the coal door open.
"I'm sorry," said Travis, "Did I break it?"
"No, that was the reason Harvey liked it. The back-coal door opened," explained Paula.
In a short time, we were done. The room looked much better. According to Paula, it looked cleaner than it had in years.
"Can you tell if anything is missing from the room?" Officer Eric asked Paula.
"I have no idea. It looks like it is all here, but I didn't know about every little thing they owned. As long as it wasn't an animal or food, they could have it up in their room," she explained, as she locked the room on our way out.
As we headed downstairs, I couldn't believe how dark the night sky had become. The Pit Stop had been closed for a little while now. Martin would be headed home soon, probably just putzing at the shop until we arrived with the divided food containers. Officer Perdale headed back to the office to report no missing items.
On our way through the living room, Travis stopped by the other train set to see if that long coal car opened up.
"Hey, Mom, look what I found."
As I walked over, Travis pulled out a piece of paper from the hidey-hole. He unrolled it on the train table. Drawings on the paper looked like a map to somewhere. There were markings that looked like trails, with houses and such on the way. But some of the lines trailed off the edge of the paper where it seemed to be torn from the pad.
"Oh, that Harvey", laughed Paula, "always making little hunts and games. He loved secret messages. Of course, they were easy for me, but they stumped the other boys for a while."
Skylar came to look. "It looks like part of our town, going out a little farther towards the Emerson Woods. See, here is the highway. That is the north stoplight."
"No, that is the stoplight at Miller street. But the map might continue up to the North stoplight," added Hunter.
"Are you talking about near the cemetery side of Emerson Woods?" Audrey asked. "We went hiking with my Girl Scout troop that way last year. Remember that, Emily?"
"Yes, we were letter-boxing. I remember you found a black box looking thing, but the location was off. Mrs. Connor looked at but said it wasn't the right kind of box. So, we went on until we found the right box," answered Emily.
Hunter asked, "Did you look in it?"
"No," admitted Emily.
"Do you think you could find it again?" insisted Hunter.
"Why should we want to do that?" I wondered.
"Yeah, Mrs. Connor said to leave it alone since it wasn't the gray box we were looking for. This one was black. I know she opened it, frowned, and then put it back quickly." Audrey explained. "Why? You think it is important?"
Skylar, agreeing with Hunter in their silent twin way, replied, "Because it might mean something to Harvey."
"Oh, I bet this is just part of his silly games he played," Paula indulged. "I doubt it means anything."
Hunter turned to Audrey, insisting, "Well, can you find it again?"
"We could try," she said, looking at Emily.
"But not tonight. We need to scoot with the food." I declared. The food was stored in coolers from the Pit Stop, but it would spoil if we did not reach the deep freezers soon. "Let us continue the discussion at home."
We said our good-byes to Paula and the boys and quietly left.