One: Vita takes a leave of absence & says goodbye to the city.

 

Vita came in early several days back to speak with Lieutenant Conway. She knew the lieutenant sometimes arrived early to sign off on reports as he tried to keep up with the endless paperwork to keep a precinct running. She nodded to the officers she knew as she entered the precinct. She walked over to her desk, hung her coat on the rack and locked her purse away in her desk drawer. She walked over to lieutenant’s closed door and tapped on it.

“LT, Boss, it’s me. Can I speak with you?”

Lieutenant Conway sighed as he looked up from the stacks of papers spread out on his desk in separate stacks. He hated all the writing he had to do. This wasn’t what he signed up for when he first became a cop seventeen years ago. He loved the street. He hated the paperwork. He needed a break from it. He removed his reading glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Sure. Sure, come on inside, Vee.”

Vita walked inside his office but decided not to sit down. She wanted to leave soon as she dropped her load. “Personnel called me about using some vacation days. They say if I don’t use them, I’ll lose ‘em.”

The lieutenant nodded and rocked back in his chair. “They told me you have close to three years’ vacation time.”

“I know. I don’t take vacations.”

Lieutenant Conway studied his secretary without saying anything for a minute. “Mind if I ask two questions?”

Vita shrugged.

“Why now, Vee?”

Vita wasn’t ready to answer. She was running scared, but she would be damned if she’d ever admit it to anybody. “What’s the second question, LT?”

“After your vacation time is over, are you coming back, Vita?”

Vita anxiously rubbed her temples then played with the back of the visitor’s chair in front of her lieutenant’s desk. “Things happen … unexpected things, LT.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Lieutenant Conway noted his secretary looked flustered. Vita never looked upset or acted speechless. That wasn’t her style. She was quick-witted and always had a sharp quip or two. Most of them were unkind but true. She said them to stop the speaker in his tracks.

“I thought I might visit a cousin who lives upstate. She always asks me and I always say no. I decided to call her and go up there for a visit.” Vita groaned. “Maybe I can figure out what’s wrong with me once I get out of the city.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Vee. Sometimes, all one needs is a change of scene for a couple of weeks.” The lieutenant watched Vita frown. He rubbed his chin as he rethought the timeframe. “Okay then, a couple of months.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I guess I can stand dealing with the secretarial pool for the next eight weeks.”

Vita chuckled. “I’ll call you if it’s longer.”

“If it’s longer, you’ll do better than making that call.”

“Oh, I will?”

“Yep. You’ll tell me who’s the best administrative associate and then arrange for her to stay with me ‘til you return.”

Vita smiled at her lieutenant. “That’s not a problem. Just remember the names and I’ll check them out with friends if I don’t already know them.”

“Thank you. Are you working today?”

“Nope. I wanted to let you know personally.”

Lieutenant Conway nodded. “Personnel called me too for approval. I gave it. I figured you come and speak with me anyway. I was right. You do follow most of the rules and regs. With some occasional mishaps, like we all have.”

“Thanks, LT. I really appreciate this.”

The lieutenant nodded. He watched her head for the door. “Vita, I hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for. And I hope you know it when you find it.”

Vita sighed and turned around. “Me too, LT. Me too. I’ll see you in a couple of months.” She grabbed her coat and bag, managing to leave before Detective MB Collins, her partner Ross Hayes and their rookie Detective Tanya Dodge appeared in the office.

In fact, she was in an Uber when she spotted the three of them walking from the police lot. She let out the breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She couldn’t face the rookie. She simply wasn’t strong enough or brave enough to say what needed to be said. Or answer the hundreds of questions she was certain Tanya Dodge, also known as Tiny Tee, would ask her.

She needed plenty of time and lots of distance to figure out things. Fingers crossed, she presumed going to visit her cousin in Wickwire for a few months should do that for her. She went to her place. She collected the suitcases she had packed last night and this morning instead of sleeping. Then she called an Uber, locked her door and left no note. She was out the door with all kinds of crazy thoughts churning through her mind when she stepped into the Uber.

 

 

Vita watched the heavyset but muscular Black bus driver load her two large aluminum wheelies into the exterior luggage storage area on the right side of the bus. The driver gave her receipt tags for both of them. He stayed where he was at the side of the blue and gray bus to load more passengers’ suitcases, backpacks, instrument cases, other packages or items passengers couldn’t secure in the overhead bins because they were too large or too odd-sized to safely fit. She climbed through the double doors of the bus and found her window seat. It was a few rows from the driver’s seat and about midway on the bus. She had small backpack with her personal items like deodorant, mouthwash, toothpaste, a toothbrush, perfume, a makeup kit with nail clippers, nail files, several colors of nail polish, lipstick, foundation, eyelash brushes, a box of Tampax and eyeshadow.

She brought two frozen bottled waters and two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches inside an insulated envelope. She put that inside the rear of the backpack. Her cellphone and a couple paperbacks she never had time to read, she placed in the front section of the backpack. Last but certainly not least, she packed one of those travel pillows and silver thinsulate blankets she’d bought online. She was already feeling tired. Now, exhaustion finally hit her like the proverbial ton of bricks. However, before she could sleep all day, she had a phone call to make first.

“Hello? Who’s this?” Lottie’s chest heaved as she gasped into the cellphone.

She was breathless from chasing after the Pirelli boys, who didn’t like late-morning naps or any naps at all. Red-headed TJ, six months older than his cousins, would refuse to lie down on the mats. If and when he did lie down, he never stayed there for long. Somehow, he managed to convince cousins Angelo Junior, also known as AJ, and Orlando, and friend Griffin Day to start running and hiding with him. Meanwhile, Joy Wayne, who was Ozzie’s daughter and AJ’s cousin Rosetta, also known as Rosie, pointed at the boys’ hiding places and giggled uproariously.

Rendie Riggins-Whitehawk, two years older than the oldest Pirellis, simply rolled her eyes as she sat at the kitchen table. She was treated as the two women’s helper. She folded her arms across her nearly five-year-old chest. “Miss Lottie, them boys always hide in the same places. I don’t why you can’t find ‘em faster.”

“Whew!” Lottie wiped at the sweat dripping from her forehead down her chest. “Rendie, Honey, it’s not the where. It’s running to catch the little crumb-crushers all at the same time.”

They both watched G-Ma dragging four giggling boys to their sleeping mats spread out in the living room. She bent down to their level and gave each boy the stink eye, then she muttered something under her breath. Whatever she said had the three cousins scrambling to lie down and close their eyes.

“Cousin Lottie? Are you too busy to talk? I can call back later,” Vita asked when all she heard were children in the background.

Cousin … Lottie frowned. Who was calling her cousin? She suddenly smiled as the image of her sexy cousin Vita Kane popped into her mind. “Vita Kane! Is that you calling me?”

Vita sighed. “Yes, Cousin Lottie, it’s me. I know it’s been a while since we last spoke. I was wondering if your invitation to come for a visit is still good?”

Lottie could hear trouble in her voice. “Honey, you’re always welcome here. In fact, if you need a place to stay right now, come on up here today.”

Vita exhaled deeply and rubbed her temple. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Honey, whatever is troubling you, we can talk when you get here. What time are you arriving? Are you taking the bus or the train?”

“I’m arriving by bus. If all goes well, I should be there long before dinnertime.”

“If I can’t pick you up, somebody will. I’m inputting your number in my landline. I’ll call you at five to see what’s what with the arrival. Okay, Vita?”

“Thank you so much, Cousin Lottie. You have no idea how much this means to me. Anytime you need something from me, I have your back.”

“Honey, you are family. We always do for family. See you later.”

“Bye-bye, Cousin Lottie,” Vita remarked softly and then swiped off. She dug out her blanket and opened the pillow package, watching it expand. Then she jammed the backpack between her side and the bus’s wall. She yawned as she covered herself with the thinsulate blanket and rested her head against the pillow propped against the window. She slipped into dreamland and stayed there through several bus comfort stops and rest breaks. She didn’t know she had three previous seat partners while she slept. Each one rode part of the way to Wickwire then exited before they reached it.

 

 

Back in Wickwire inside the farmhouse owned by Lottie and Bonita, G-Ma wearily sat down on one of the living room couches. Lottie collapsed on the same couch next to her. “I keep saying never again, but here I am, day after day.”

Rendie skipped over to join them on the couch. She was older and didn’t need the naps her younger little neighbors did. The two women had her chasing after the boys when things became really wild.

G-Ma watched Griffin Day, the Pirelli boys, their sister and Joy Wayne finally falling asleep on the camping mats. She sighed. “Today, children too smart for own good. Bend rules. Too much energy. Two ears, two legs and one head. No listen; just run. No think; just run.”

Lottie nodded then rubbed her temples. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.” She covered a yawn as she closed her eyes. “Whew! All that running has made me tired too. Remind me to call my cousin around five today. If all goes well, she’ll be waiting for me at the bus station.”

G-Ma patted Lottie’s knee. “You rest now. Rendie and me watch children. We send to meet Cousin Vita too.”

Lottie nodded then hugged herself, rubbing her arms to keep the drafts away as she shifted her body to get more comfortable on the couch. That was, until G-Ma had Rendie bring a quilt over from the armchair. Soon as Lottie felt the warm blanket surrounding her, she loudly sighed with satisfaction. “Thanks,” she remarked before falling asleep.

“Rendie, you come. I call. I send to meet Lottie cousin.” G-Ma rose then motioned her great-granddaughter to hop off the couch and follow her. She and Rendie went into the kitchen and sat down at the table. She knew Dutch, Marsha Sharpe-Pirelli, Angelo, Tony, Bonita, Ozzie, Zerlena, and maybe Dora too, were in the city working on another case. There was no point in calling them to pick up Lottie’s cousin from the bus station. That left a few folks to call. She pressed on the icon for Little Spirit Fighter.

Linda noticed the flashing number and her eyes widened as she sat at her small desk in the ranger station. Right away, she started imagining all sorts of horrible things. The caves collapsed. Or they were lost in the caves. Or one of the children set the house on fire. Or one of them ran away and they couldn’t find him or her. Or somebody was seriously hurt and she was calling from the hospital emergency room.

She had been reviewing forms for this year’s hunting licenses. She was running names to make sure no one who had a history of hunting violations would be purchasing licenses this year. Now, she was close to freaking out. Her grandmother rarely called during workhours. It had to be terrible.

“G-Ma, is everything all right? How’s Rendie? How are you? How’s Lottie? Are the children all right? Is anybody hurt?”

G-Ma cackled. “Imagination bad for you, Little Spirit Fighter. Nothing bad happen. Need ride. Lottie cousin coming dinnertime. I call when she at station.”

“Bus or train?”

“Bus.”

Linda stared at her overloaded desk. “I’m at the ranger station, G-Ma. I’m not in town yet. Depending on how long it takes me to do research and provided none of the tourists get in trouble, I’ll be in town in the afternoon.” She sighed. “Or later. It might be better to find another driver. Call Dora or Viola. If Viola is in town, her office is near the bus station. I bet she’d do it for Lottie. If not them, Charlie or Nadia might do it if one of them is off by then.” She stretched out her hands and arms. Then she smiled as she looked down at her flat belly. She wasn’t showing yet. But she was pregnant again. Dutch didn’t know because she hadn’t told her or G-Ma.

“I call Talking Woman with Brave Heart. Office near station. If she say no, I call Charlie.”

Linda exhaled. “G-Ma, call me later around four o’clock. If I’m in town by then, I’ll do it.”

“I do that if Talking Woman say no.” G-Ma swiped off. She pressed on the icon for Viola.