Pam put a hand on Sue’s shoulder. “The county has a safe house for battered women and children. I can drive you there. You’ll be safe and there will be women there who have the same problems.”
“I think the shelter would be a good idea,” the doctor said. “I think you should see your family doctor while you’re there, too. I’ve got his name and I’ll give him a call.” He gathered the charts and left.
“I’ll drive Sue to the shelter,” Pam said to Floyd, “if you’ll make the call to get it set up.”
“Sure,” Floyd said, digging the cellphone out of his pocket.
“Um, Floyd,” Pam said. “Could you call from the waiting room? We need to put our blouses back on.”
“I’ll call from the car,” Floyd said, shaking his head at missing the obvious awkwardness of the situation.
“When did you start having problems with the blues?” Pam asked as she and Sue pulled out of the hospital parking lot. “Did Aaron’s disappearance have anything to do with it?”
Sue nodded, tears welling in her eyes.
“Do you remember if anything special happened the night he disappeared?”
“He didn’t want to go out with Ken. I remember that clearly. Aaron eased off his drinking after Ken left for basic training and he started spending time with his sister, who lives in the Cities, and hanging around with a different bunch of people. Then Ken showed up on leave from Korea and he expects the old gang to be the same as before: drinking and carousing all night, then coming home at daybreak to crash. Aaron had a job, a nice car, some clean-cut friends, and he was saving money. He wasn’t interested in risking what he had on a night of drinking. The night he disappeared Ken called and badgered Aaron to go out. Ken told Aaron he was having problems with Melissa and the only way she’d go out was if Aaron and Kathy went along. Aaron resisted, but Ken always got his way.”
“It’s interesting that Aaron had been cutting back on his drinking,” Pam said. “I talked to Kathy Tucker and she said she was a heavy drinker until a couple years later. It seems odd that they were dating seriously with such different ideas about drinking.”
“We thought Aaron and Kathy were going to get married the summer before…” Sue paused. “I think the pain pill is working. I’m a little lightheaded.
“Anyway, they’d been dating for two years and we were waiting for them to set a wedding date. Kathy was making wedding plans and the harder she pushed the more reluctant Aaron got. They’d agreed to cool things off for a while that fall and Aaron started doing things with friends he’d made in the Cities. When Ken came back he tried really hard to push them back together, but Aaron told me that he and Kathy had grown apart.”
“Kathy told me that she and Aaron had a big fight that night,” Pam said. “They argued, then afterward Aaron and Ken got in a fistfight. She was so drunk she can’t remember what happened after that.”
“Something happened between them that night,” Sue said. “Kathy and I were close before then and we’d even done some wedding planning together. After Aaron disappeared she didn’t return my calls and she couldn’t even look me in the eye when we met in town.”
“Interesting. I read through the old files,” Pam said. “I don’t recall seeing any interviews with Aaron’s sister or his friends in the Cities. Did you give the deputies names and phone numbers for his friends?”
“I told them about my daughter and I’m sure they talked to her. Aaron had friends in the Cities, but I didn’t have their names or phone numbers. When I met them Aaron only told me their first names and I never found any phone numbers when we went through his stuff. I’m sure they weren’t involved. They were all really nice, clean-cut boys with nice cars. The ones I met were really polite and pleasant, not at all like Ken and that bunch.”
“How did you feel about Aaron’s migration from hard drinker to clean-cut kid?”
“I thought it was great that he was thinking about college and hanging around with a better crowd. Mark didn’t like Aaron drinking and running around, but I think he knew how to deal with that. When Aaron started buying shirts with collars and khaki slacks instead of rock band T-shirts and worn-out jeans Mark accused him of turning into a geek. Aaron applied to the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, and registered to start classes in January. Mark thought that was about the stupidest thing he’d ever heard. I remember Mark taunting him and asking if he was going to be a frat boy, too. In Mark’s mind, that was about the lowest thing you could be.” Sue blinked a couple times. “My head feels funny, and I’m talking too much.”
“How’s your pain?”
“It’s pretty dull; more of an ache than the sharp pain I had at the hospital.” Sue stared out the side window, watching the farms along old highway 61. “Is Mark really in jail?”
“Yes, he was booked on assault charges.”
“You know, he wasn’t hitting me when you came to the door. We were just yelling.”
“When did he hurt your ribs?”
“Last night, right after he got home.”
“You must’ve been in terrible pain all night. Why didn’t you go to the doctor?”
“Mark wouldn’t let me. He was afraid the doctor would report him to the police. He told me to ‘suck it up’ so I took a some aspirin and tried to sleep in the recliner.”
“Haven’t you ever been tempted to leave him?”
“I haven’t got anywhere to go. Besides, Mark would kill me. He told me that.”
“The place we’re going is a secret,” Pam explained. “You can’t tell anyone where it is. You’re safety, and the safety of the other residents, depends on no one knowing where it is. You’ll be able to call people and assure them that you’re safe. You can give them the phone number, but under no circumstances can you tell anyone the location. Do you understand?”
“I’ll be able to call my daughter?”
“Yes, call her so she knows that you’re safe.” Pam paused. “Is she older or younger than Aaron?”
“She’s five years older than Aaron. She’s married and living down in the Cities. I have three grandchildren: the two girls are in high school and my grandson’s in sixth grade.”
“Were she and Aaron close?”
“Not really. Five years is a big spread in years when you’re a kid. She got married when Aaron was a teen, so she’d been out of the house for almost ten years when Aaron disappeared.”
Thoughts flashed through Pam’s head about Sue’s earlier comments. The question that flirted with her brain finally gelled. “Did your daughter have any influence on Aaron’s decision to quit drinking and start college classes?”
“I don’t know. He always talked to Jen, but they were in different worlds. He was wild and she was quiet. He stayed single and caroused, while she had a husband, a house, and family.”
“It sounds like a stereotypical oldest child and youngest child,” Pam said. “The old one is stable and does what mom and dad want, while the baby gets easier rules and goofs off.”
“I always thought we treated them the same, but it’s sure funny how two kids from the same parents can be so different. I guess part of it was growing up. It seems like Jen was grown up when she was in junior high. Aaron didn’t seem to get past the juvenile stage. Toward the end, it seemed like maybe he did figure it out and I was kind of hopeful that he’d be something other than a drunk who lived with his parents for the rest of his life.”
“I’d like to talk to Jen,” Pam said. “I think she might have some insight we haven’t had before.”
“Go ahead. Her name’s Jennifer, and she’s married to Keith Zollner. I can’t remember their phone number, but they live in Cottage Grove, down in the south part of the Cities. I talk to her once a week or so, when Mark’s on the road. He doesn’t like me talking to her because Jen’s told me to leave him and move in with her.”