“No, it’s not a crime; but why didn’t you stop? It would have alleviated all the misconception you must be harboring.” Her voice sounded like his mother when she wanted to make a point after he’d done something stupid.
Her gaze touched his for a brief second, and he jerked the wheel, tires squealing as he pulled the car into a parking area at the curb. His hand shifted the gear to park, and he turned to face Barbara. He slid his arm across the back of the bench seat behind Barbara’s head.
“I’ll be honest, Barbara. I’m a bit scared to trust. I don’t want to be hurt.” He looked into her eyes and saw them shiny with moisture.
“You don’t have to say anymore. I was teasing you, and I’m sorry. I’ll tell you who he is.”
His hand drifted to her across her shoulder to her neck, and his fingers curled under her hair. “No. I’m sorry for doubting you. For not asking you right away.”
Barbara laid her hand on his thigh and leaned a little closer. “He’s my stepbrother. My mother married his father after my father died at the beginning of the war. He’s always taken care of me. He gave me a hug and kiss, which is our custom. He wants to meet you.”
A feeling grew in his chest. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he leaned forward, pulling Barbara into his arms and kissed her lips. She responded, hugging him, and kissing him senseless.
Robert’s step sounded light in his own ears, as he strode to his office. He couldn’t wipe the grin off his face. He ignored any glances his way as he got settled at his desk.
Jake tapped on his door. “You finally make up with Babs?”
“Not that it’s any of your business; yes, we did.”
Good, you were acting like a bear with a thorn in its paw.”
“Lion.”
“What?”
“It was a lion with a thorn.” Robert went on pulling files down from his inbox. He opened them and read whatever the case reported.
“What are you talking about?” Jake’s voice rose in exasperation.
Robert set the papers down, looked at his friend, then smiled. “If you’re going to quote something, get it right. A lion had a thorn in its paw. Androcles pulled it out. The lion was grateful, and later when Androcles had to fight for his life against lions, one lion remembered him and didn’t eat him or something like that.”
Jake shook his head, then smiled, “Welcome back, friend.” He gave a wave and headed back to his office.
Robert looked at his notes and decided it was time to make a call to Calvin. Although he had an ironclad alibi, Robert’s gut feeling was that Calvin knew more than he let on. It disgusted Robert that these men, who were about twenty-seven and twenty-eight years old, would stoop to seduce and hurt two minor girls. On top of that was the fact that Calvin would agree to it. The age difference between him and the girls seemed disconcerting. Did Calvin hold something against his parents for having this second family after all those years? Maybe he was jealous of the attention Karl gave his new family.
Robert called the base to talk to Calvin. He finally got him on the phone through one of the officers on base. After the preliminary legal questions were over, Calvin agreed to answer Robert’s inquiries without the presence of a lawyer.
“What do you want to know?” Calvin asked a bit defensively.
Robert started with the easy questions from his legal pad. “What did you and your father fight about last year?”
“What does that have to do with my missing family?” Calvin demanded.
“Just establishing a little background.”
“It wasn’t anything major. Dad just got hot about the things I stole.” Calvin sounded too offhand. “Am I a suspect?
“Everyone is a suspect in a murder case,” Robert answered.
“Are you sure it’s murder, not suicide?” Calvin sneered
“I don’t even think you believe that. You know your father would never have done something like that to his family.” Robert doodled on the pad of paper in front of him. “There was no motive for that kind of action. Let’s get back to my question. What did you and your father fight about?”
No sound came through the line. Robert tapped the mouthpiece of the receiver.
Calvin sighed, “All right, what do you know already?”
“I know that you fought about money, but it wasn’t money you had stolen. Could it have been what Kelly was stealing for you?” he paused.
Calvin remained silent, and Robert started to get a little angry. “It wouldn’t take much to get you sent here for questioning. Maybe we could get you and James together just for old times’ sake.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll talk. Dad caught Kelly taking some money, and he whipped her until she told him she was taking it for me.”
“Why would she do that? She doesn’t seem to be the type that would steal.” Robert paused. “What did you blackmail her with?”
Calvin swore. “Let’s start over from the beginning. I found where Dad would hide his cash; he didn’t like banks. His father lost a lot of money in the stock market crash. I started to take just a little spending money. He didn’t count it all the time, and he gave Mom her grocery money out of that stash so he might be off five or ten dollars, and he probably thought Mom took it. After that, he kicked me out—”
“Why did he do that?” Robert interrupted.
“After the store and the stolen goods business, he paid for everything and told me to move out. I’d met James at the store, and we’d become good friends. He was living in an apartment his father owned and let me stay with him.”
“That’s it? Your dad kicked you out because you were stealing from him. How come he didn’t kick Kelly out?”
“She was his pet.” It sounded as if he were talking through clenched teeth.
“Might it also be the fact that he found you and James in flagrante delicto, so to speak?” Robert inserted the proverbial knife. He almost heard Calvin grind his teeth.
“So, you heard about that, from Aunt Maggie, I suppose.” His tone became harsh and challenging.
“True or not?”
“You believe what you want.”
“No, I want the truth. If you hadn’t been caught, then why did she say you were? Why haven’t you refuted it?”
“The truth isn’t any better.”
“It might get me closer to the truth.” Robert pushed.
“And get you and me killed. No, thank you. It’s over now, so believe what you want.”
Robert’s mind flew. If they hadn’t been caught together, what had been the real reason and why the lie? A thought popped into his mind. “Did your Dad catch Kelly with the two of you?”
A long pause. “Look, what does this have to do with you finding my family?”
“I’ll take that as a yes. Putting the story out of two men together was easier. He could blame just one of you in the wrong. I’m assuming it was you?”
No answer, but Calvin didn’t hang up.
“Either way, why let the story go out that you and James were caught having sex? I’m sure James’ father would have something to say about it.”
Calvin remained silent.
“What does all this have to do with Kelly?” Robert asked, wanting to get back to her. He needed to find out if Calvin knew about the parties.
“We met Kelly after school—”
“Who’s we?” Robert interrupted again.
“James and me. I wanted her to get some things from my room. I told her what to get and where we’d be waiting. She put them in her schoolbag and brought them to me. There was a lot of stuff and James would always talk to her. She had a crush on him, and he thought it was cute.”