Samson and Sunset (49 page)

  "Why? What do you mean?” I yelled.

  "Callie shut, please.” That was my
Shay. He never said
shut up
. He always just said
shut.
“I'm being held in jail in Pesterville, Missouri.
Callie, if you haven't heard from me by 10:00 tomorrow morning, I
want you to call Sterling and have him get a hold of the family
attorney, Willis Hock. Have Willis contact the jail in Pesterville.
Missouri. Willis will take it from there.”

  "God Shay, what happened?” I cried
out. “What did you do, were you speeding? What are they holding you
for? I need to know, tell me!”

  "Murder, I'm being held as a suspect
in a murder," Shay said.

  "What!" I screamed.

  "Callie, I have to hang up now, you've
got my orders. You know what to do if you don't hear from me by
10:00 tomorrow. I love you, babe," Shay said, and with that there
was a click, and he was gone.

  I sat there on our bed, holding the
phone. I was frozen, I couldn't move. Did I just hear my Shay Man
say he was being held on suspicion of murder? How could that be!
This was Shay. Shay would never hurt anyone. I finally made my way
up to mom's suite and woke her. I needed someone to hold me, even
if it wasn’t Shay. My mother was as dazed as I was when I told her
Shay was in jail on suspicion of murder. Mom and I were up the rest
of the night. I was running on pure adrenalin. About 6:30 a.m. the
phone rang. I ran to the formal living room to answer it. I was
trying to keep everything from the kids. I myself didn't know what
was happening.

  "Hello?" I said.

  "It's me, princess,” came that
beautiful, low, sexy voice I loved and knew so well. “I'm out of
jail. I just got to my truck. There's a pay phone right here, so I
called you right away. Babe, don't call Sterling, everything worked
out. I'm getting into my truck and getting the fuck out of this
hellhole of a town. I'm going to go unload, deadhead over and
reload then I'm driving straight through until I get home."

  "Oh darlin', please tell me what
happened?" I begged.

  "Too long a story! I'll tell you when
I get home, babe. I love you more than you'll ever know, Miss
Callie. I'm going to blow you a kiss through the phone and I'll be
home soon, then I can use my own lips to place that kiss where it
belongs. I'll unload this morning, go load and then I'm driving
straight thru like I said. I should be home tomorrow before 11:00
in the morning. I love you, bye babe."
Click.
With that he
was gone. I sat there crying like a little child. My heart had been
hurting all night for Shay. Slowly, I gathered myself together. I
quickly went to our bathroom suite to wash out my eyes and freshen
up before the kids saw me. I hurried up to Mom's room to tell her
our Shay was out of jail and heading home to us.

  "Why was he in jail?" Mom asked.

  "Mom. I have no idea, I have to wait
until he gets home," I told her with a huge sigh of relief.

  Another day of getting the kids off to
school. Late afternoon and they were home. They did their homework,
Wes did his chores, and then we ate supper. The kids asked if I’d
ever heard from Dad, and I told them yes, and he’d be home in the
morning—no need to mention he’d been calling from a jail cell.

  I decided to retire early. I knew Shay
would be home sometime in the morning and I wanted to be fresh for
my man. I got up early, bathed and got out of the tub. I was towel
drying when I noticed a little spot of blood on the towel. I
immediately checked between my legs with a tissue and found more. I
called my doctor and to my amazement the secretary put me through
right away. I told Doc Sam my whole dreadful story of the last few
days and he said that at this time, I wasn't to worry about
anything. Sometimes this just happens, he said, adding that I
abstain from heavy lifting. I was sure to ask about lovemaking with
Shay, of course; thrilled that Doc Sam cleared us for that. Doc Sam
said that if I found any heavier spotting, or got cramps, then I
was to come in and see him. I didn't have any cramping and I felt
fine, so I pushed the whole thing out of mind.

  Mom had gotten the kids off to school.
I was feeling much better. I got a glass of tea with orange juice
in it, gave Mom a few hugs and headed for our big porch to wait for
my Shay Man. After about half an hour I saw the red truck on the
five-mile road. It turned down Little Road, toward the farmstead.
It was my Shay!

  My heart started skipping beats and I
couldn't catch my breath. Every time I saw Shay, he sucked the
breath right out of me. It was like I was seeing him for the very
first time. The first time I’d seen him I was 21 years old. Now I
was 38 and my love and my feelings for him hadn't changed one
little bit, they had only intensified. He was my life, the most
handsome, sexy man I'd ever known. I wasn't the only one who felt
that way; Shay still turned women’s heads. Women like Wes's
teacher, Shanelle Parker. Shanelle was also our local telephone
operator for the area; she ran the switchboard some nights. We were
in a rural area, so we were on five and six people party lines.

  Shanelle's crush on Shay was so
obvious. When we had the school carnival, Shay was selected to be
the man in the kissing booth, at two dollars a kiss. I remember
Shanelle rushing up to me at our baked goods booth and showing me
the 25 tickets she had bought for kisses from Shay. Wow, she had
spent $50. I thought that was fine, because it was for a good
cause. "Look, Callie," she said, "I spent $50 to kiss that
beautiful man of yours 25 times."

  "Well, you got a good deal," I told
her. "Twenty five kisses from Shay for fifty dollars is a bargain.
I can't afford that, so I guess I'll just have to settle for free
kisses tonight in bed," I laughed.

  As the truck got closer, I was jumping
up and down at the end of the circle drive, out by the straight
little road. I swear I must have looked like a jumping bean. As
Shay pulled up and brought the truck to a stop, he rolled the
window down and said, "Get up here, woman, get in the truck.” I
opened the door and pulled myself up. Shay reached across the
doghouse to the passenger’s seat, took my hands and put his arms
around me, pulling me so close you'd think there were two people
sitting in the driver’s seat. He started kissing me and I was
butter in his hands. My heart melted.

  "Shay, everyone can see us," I
said.

  "Yeah, well I don't care, do you? Just
crawl into the sleeper, princess. I'll go park the truck in the
shop and be back there with you in a few minutes.” It took me
seconds to get in the sleeper and then it was only a short time
before I heard the truck shut down. Shay climbed into the sleeper
with me. "Babe, I haven't showered for two days and I don't even
care. I want you right now,” Shay said as he undressed us both. He
didn't have to tell me how glad he was to see me; he just showed
it. Having Shay inside of my lif
e
(as we called it) was all
I lived for.

  "How come you always smell so good,
even if you haven't showered for two days?" I asked. "Your breath
is always so fresh," I told him.

  "Breath mints, babe, breath mints! I
do need to shower, shave and brush my teeth, but I needed you
first. I love you so much." Afterwards, Shay helped me out of the
truck and we walked to the big house, his arm around me.

  "Shay," I said, "as soon as you
shower, I want to hear what happened to you in Missouri. I was so
upset. I was truly sick, just sick."

  “After we shower, I'll tell you all
about it, princess.”

  I told Shay I didn't tell his parents
or the kids about it. I didn't want them upset since everything was
all right. Gosh, it was good to be in a warm shower with the man
that warmed my heart. After Shay dried us, he picked me up, carried
me to our bed and gently laid me down in the center of the bed.
Then he slid between the sheets and lay down beside me.

  “Well, princess, I know you’re anxious
to know what happened in Missouri, so if you just let me tell you
without interrupting me, I can sum it up rather quickly."

  "All right darlin', I'm going to lay
here and listen to what happened. I’m anxious to know why anyone
could think you would hurt anybody. I just can't even imagine
it—”

  "Callie, shut. If you want to know,
just shut for a few minutes, woman," he said.

  "I talked to you around 3:00 p.m. your
time. I told you I'd call back at supper, so I could talk to the
kids. I got to Pesterville, Missouri about 5:30 that afternoon,
your time. I got my briefcase and got out of my truck, thought I'd
fuel up after I ate. I wanted to be sure to catch the kids while
they were all at the dinner table. I went into the truck stop
restaurant, got me a booth, and opened my briefcase to do some
paperwork. My waitress came over and I ordered ice tea, a burger
and fries. She brought the tea, while I got my logs out to catch
them up. After that I was going to call the kids.

  “I was sitting there doing my logs
when I noticed several Sheriff’s cars pull up to the truck stop. I
watched through the window as the officers got out and came inside.
They stayed pretty close to the front door and one of them
announced, ‘Can we have your attention please.’ Well, of course
they got everyone's attention. They asked if anyone in the
restaurant was wearing western boots and had a briefcase. I raised
my hand.

“They walked over to the booth and asked me
to get up. Then they pushed me up against the wall and frisked me.
Put my hands behind my back, cuffed me, and put me in the backseat
of a sheriff's cruiser. One officer had gathered up my things,
putting them in my briefcase, and brought it along. I asked the
officer who was driving what we were doing and where we were going.
I told them I hadn't even paid my tab. They said not to worry about
it. It was about a five-mile ride. The sheriff's office was way the
hell out on the edge of town. 

“Rude, these were the rudest officers I'd
ever met. Well, you know my old saying, Callie: two can chew.
They'd ask me questions; I'd answer with a question.
Tell me why
I'm here?
They wouldn't, so when they asked a question, I
stared right into their faces in total silence. I told the officer:
If this is how we’re going to play, two can play this game.
They did give me some water. One officer got me a coke in a can. I
asked him:
Aren't you afraid I'll throw this can at you?
He
thought for a minute then poured the coke into a Styrofoam cup.

  “This little dance went on until about
midnight, when, finally, one of the officers came in and told me I
was being held as the only suspect in a double murder and an
attempted homicide. I looked at the officer and told him I was
sorry for whoever was killed. I told them they had the wrong
number, and they would best serve their time and town’s people by
finding the person who did it. Then they let me make a phone call
and I called you, which would have been around 1:00 a.m.

  “About 15 minutes later, an officer
came in saying the woman I allegedly shot had regained
consciousness at the Pesterville hospital. They were taking me
there to get a positive ID on me from her.

  “I felt so bad for the poor lady. She
was in bad shape, Callie. I'm not sure she made it, but she was
awake and talking. They put me right in front of her and asked her
if I was the one who shot her. She looked at me with soft tender
eyes, and said:
No sir, I've never seen this young man before.
The man who shot us was Patrick Kelso. Patrick used to work for my
husband. I looked him right in the face before he shot me.
She
went on to tell us that she, her father and her husband had been
returning home from their vacation. When they walked up to their
house, they could see that the door had been jimmied open. Once in,
they came face to face with Patrick Kelso. He had a gun, and
everything just happened so fast after that. She could barely
speak.

  “They quickly moved me out of the
room. As we were leaving, I heard that flat line sound. Callie,
that's a sound I'll never forget. We left, they weren't quite as
rude, but I was amazed they still kept me cuffed. I said:
Hey
fellows, charge me or release me. If ya don't, you'll be hearing
from my attorney.
When we got back to the sheriff's office,
they got my things out and gave them to me, saying I could go; I
was released. I asked them how I was going to get to my truck. They
said they weren't a taxi service and that was
my
problem. I took my things and left. I started
walking toward my truck about 4:30 in the morning.

  “Ya know, babe, while I was walking I
kept glancing up at the stars. There are just so many stars.
They’re uncountable. I could hear each star saying to me:
You
need to go home to Callie, and your babies, Shay.
I sat down on
the curb for a few seconds, thinking about how lucky I was to be
out in the fresh air, breathing it. I had something to look forward
to. You know, freedom is something we all take for granted. I kept
wondering what I would have done, had that poor lady not cleared me
before she died.

  “Callie, how would I have proven my
innocence? I never, ever in my life had a panicky feeling like the
panic I've heard you describe. All of a sudden, sitting there I
felt that panic. What if I never saw you and the kids again? Fear
crept up on me—the thought of how a child would feel if they
thought they were never going to see their mommy and daddy again.
It was more than I could fathom; sheer horror. Somehow, I truly for
the first time understood you, Callie; what a terrible fear you
lived with all your life, having experienced that as a child and
having no one to talk to about it.

  “I feel like I understand you better,
princess. That veil of fear you said separated you from everyone
else, keeping you from letting anyone know who you were. How you
ran and hid from death, so it couldn't find you. How you couldn't
let anyone into your world. People truly didn't understand you, nor
could they. Then as you told me later, when death found you and
took your loved ones, somehow that veil lifted and you were able to
let the real Kathrine out. Why not, death had found you? No matter
how far you'd run or where you'd hidden, it still found you. You
stepped out into a world where everyone got to know the real
Kathrine. I love you so much, Callie.”