The Cries of the Butterfly - A LOVE STORY (57 page)

And for the second time this Monday morning, Wolf’s heart came to a standstill.

.

A
round eleven am, Rochelle turned up.

A little later, it was Maddy.

“You kidding me!” she exclaimed, looking around wonderingly at the collected ensemble. “Wolf Butcher’s entire harem is here!” She turned to Wolf. “Take your pick for the hour, Holly-boy, and let’s get on with it. The others will wait their turn.” And they all laughed.

Then Maddy got serious. “I have news for you, Wolf. Cass called our office a half hour ago. He said we should not be printing falsehoods. He completely denied he had any intention of adopting Robin.”

The Tribune today had said:

A New Halcyon Tribune Exclusive:

Cass To Adopt Robin After All Other Efforts Fail

Wolf went very still.

Savannah and Rochelle exchanged quick, knowing glances.

“Are you joking, Maddy?” he said.

“Don’t be a prick!”

“So your information was wrong then,” Wolf said turning to Rochelle.

“It was hundred percent correct. Apparently, Mr. Cass has changed his mind,” she said.

“What made him do that, I wonder,” Maddy wondered. “But I intend to find out for sure. That’s going to be my next story,” she added, talking to herself.

.

“
D
o you know anyone in a forensic lab?” Wolf asked Maddy in a whisper.

It was two-ten pm. They had lunched together and as Savannah and Rochelle took a siesta in the bedroom, Wolf and Maddy undertoned in the living room.

“What for?”

Wolf pulled out the two sheets of paper.

“I want these handwriting samples compared.” And when Maddy looked at him questioningly, he put his hand up. “I’ll explain later.”

She took the sheets. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“By evening? It’s urgent.”

“I can’t promise.”

But by now, Wolf knew her only too well. If Maddy wasn’t proficient she was nothing.

.

T
hey met at Butcher Garden that evening. The five trustees. The mood was somber. It was as if they had congregated at a funeral.

“I do not believe you too changed your mind, Ian. It is most unlike you. You have always been a man of your word,” Grant Butcher said, shaking his head in disbelief. “What happened? You owe us an explanation.”

Cass didn’t say anything for a long time. He sat there stone-faced and hunched.

“Judge Cass?” Cardinal Misquitta nudged.

“I had a long think about it. I ain’t feel that at my age, I can bear the responsibility of raising a child, especially one so troubled. It ain’t fair on the girl. Moreover, you know the law. I’m a single man, who lives alone.”

“You yourself told us the other night that you would get your daughter or son to stay with you.”

“Well, it ain’t worked out.”

“Is that really it, Ian?” Grant pressed. “Look, if there is anything else…if something is bothering you…”

Cass’s eyes suddenly flashed. He leaned forward.

“Ain’t nothing bothering me!” Then he fell back. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I was being impetuous then. Now, I’m thinking more rationally.” He tried to smile, trying to be nonchalant. “After all, it’s what’s good for the girl that’s paramount, ain’t it?”

They silently agreed…even as Cardinal Misquitta teetered within.
Ain’t, ain’t
… So funny, this oral idiosyncrasy of Judge Cass.

“I hear that Wolf has withdrawn the suit against the Home. Is that true, Sister Blessing?” Grant asked.

The Sister nodded. “Yes, from what I gather, Mr. President.”

“How did that happen?”

The sly look that passed across her eyes was too fleeting for any of them to snatch.

“I have no idea, sir. Perhaps, Mr. Wolf realized the folly of his actions.”

“Uh…so yet another stalemate,” Grant said, almost helplessly. “So what do we do now? This thing is dragging on and on and it is not helping the girl one little bit.”

“I have a suggestion,” Cass quietly said. He looked straight at Art. “Why ain’t you and your wife adopt the little girl? It would be the perfect scenario for you, ain’t you think?”

Art’s eyes went wide with shock. “Me?”

“Ain’t it be just ideal?”

“I…I’ll…have to think about it,” he stuttered.

“Talk to your wife and let us know,” Cass said.

.

T
he call was from Maddy. It was ten-fifty-three that same evening.

“I got the results, Holly-boy.”

“That was quick,” Wolf said.

“Well, you were in heat.”

Wolf kept quiet.

“The handwritings match. They belong to the same person,” she said.

A chill entered Wolf’s heart.

“Who’s this Mary, Wolf?”

He didn’t hear it.

“Wolf?” she said more loudly.

“Yah,” he answered. “Can you…can you come over?”

“You okay?”

“Please come over.” His voice was a croak.

.

S
he was there in no time.

His face was a white sheet.

“Wassup?” she asked, grabbing his arm.

“Are you sure the handwritings are the same?” His voice was low and hoarse.

“That’s what Gatting, the expert, said. … In any case, see for yourself—even to the lay eyes they look the same.”

“How reliable is this…this man?” Wolf asked.

“Gatting? He’s the best. He works for New Halcyon Laboratories—a government accredited lab. It’s one of the best in the world and Gatting is the finest.”

Wolf covered his face with his hands.

“Now talk to me…what’s all this about?” Maddy demanded.

But he couldn’t speak.

She let him be for a while.

When he looked up, he seemed in a daze.

She squeezed his arm.

He looked at her. “I think I may have the identity of Robin’s biological mother,” he said. His face had gone paler still. At her questioning look, he added softly, “I think it’s Savannah.”

.

“
H
a, sure!” Maddy said with a barking laugh.

Then he told her—told her everything. How he had gone to Sister Blessing, then to Ceecee Sandford. And he showed her the pendant.

From mirth, Maddy’s face gradually turned to sober.

When he finished, she said, “That still doesn’t prove anything. Could be just red herrings. In any case, the premise is too farfetched. Savannah, Robin’s mother? Ridiculous!”

“What about the handwriting?”

“What about it? It’s not as if they’re fingerprints. Two people
can
have the same handwriting style.”

“How do you know? Did the lab guy tell you that?”

“No. But he doesn’t need to tell me. I have commonsense.” She patted his shoulder. “Relax, Wolf. The trouble with you is you’re always too uptight about everything.” She glanced at her watch. “Look, I have to return to work. For a second, you really had me by my tits. The way your voice sounded on the phone…you had me shit scared.”

Wolf touched his forehead. Perhaps Maddy was right.
Savannah, Robin’s biological mother?
It
was
ridiculous. These two clues could be nothing but illusions. He began to relax now.

“You found anything on why Cass changed his mind?” he asked.

“Perhaps,” she said.

“Can’t you toss me a straight answer for once?”

She thought for a moment. “I think it has something to do with her.”

“Her?”

“Your woman.”

“Savannah?”

“You have others?”

He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“She visited Cass this morning. It was after that Cass changed his mind. And now don’t ask me to reveal my source. I never do that,” she said.

“If you are right then what could Savannah have said to make him change his mind so abruptly?” Wolf wondered aloud. “Nothing
she
could’ve said would…”

“Whatever she said was very persuasive. It worked.”

“You know what it was then?”

“Not yet, but I intend to find out,” she answered, patting his cheek. “Okay, my turn now. Show me your superstar dick.” Her hand traveled slowly to his crotch. “Let me hold it for a second…”

He hastily backed off.
There you go again!

“This isn’t fair, Wolf! I come rushing to you all this distance at the snap of your fingers. And you can’t do one little thing for me? How bloody unthankful can you be?”

Wolf glared at her. “Witch!” he spat. “Mad Witch! Utterly shameless Mad Witch!”

She sighed. “Anyways… Now go to bed. It’s late. Or do you want your milk first?” She raised her left breast. “Warm and fresh. Straight from the udder. … And look, I have big udders too. Giant ones. Lots of milk.”

“Keep it for your little pet,” he said. “How’s she doing anyway? How’s your sex life?”

“She’s an angel. And my sex life hasn’t ever been so good. Boy!”

“Have you got yourself shots yet?” he asked.

“Shots?”

“Anti-rabies?”

“What for?” But then she understood and her eyes hardened. “Now, now!” She wagged a finger at him.

“Well, at least get her fingernails clipped,” he said with a straight face. “And perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have her canines plucked as well.”

“Fuck you!” And she stormed out.

.

B
ut again, Wolf couldn’t sleep that night. The anxiety was back and he was helpless against it.

Red herrings? Illusions? But what if it
was
the truth? And yet if Savannah was indeed Robin’s biological mother, why hadn’t she given any indication of that? Not the slightest whiff in all these days of her dealings with the little girl. Surely, she would’ve betrayed
some
sign, given
some
hint in some unguarded moment. And why would she be so ready to be the girl’s adoptive mother when she could be the real one? Did it make any sense at all?

And yet, the clues were just too glaring, too compelling to ignore.

Finally, just past two am, he turned to Maddy again.

“Glick, you prick, lay off now, will you! Jesus, who made you an editor? You can’t even pee without me holding your willy!” she barked into the handset.

“It’s me,” Wolf said quietly.

“Me?” her voice sobered. “Who? Wolf?”

For heaven’s sakes check your cellphone screen before you answer, will you?
“Yes. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

“What’s wrong now?”

“This thing…it won’t let me rest.”

There was a pause. Then she said, “Well, there’s only one thing to do then.”

“Please tell me.”

“DNA,” she said. “That’s the only way to lay your doubts to rest.”

“I see.”

“And speaking of
lay,
I was just in the process of… So don’t disturb me again. Goodnight.”

“Why don’t you turn your handset off?”

“Can’t…service rules.”

“Well, happy
lay
then; have a nice one. And remember what I said about claws and canines and anti-rabies shots. You don’t want to die young, howling like a bitch, do you?”

She ignored that, and instead said, “Have you considered my earnest entreaty?”

“What entreaty?”

“Will you show me your dick and let me hold it?”

“Screw you, witch!”

“Anytime, honey, anytime. For you, I’ll even go straight for a day,” she said. Then she began moaning. “Oh, baby, I wish you could be here. We could have such a threesome. It would be sooooo awesome. Uhhhhh…”

Wolf quickly snapped the connection.

As he lay back on the bed and tried to sleep, he wondered at how close and familiar he and Maddy had become…from antagonistic strangers to almost thick friends—literally overnight.
But when you come together over as intimate a situation as life and death, that isn’t really a surprise, is it?
He also understood Maddy’s great interest in him. In return for her help to him, she got firsthand exclusive stories. The sales of The New Halcyon Tribune had tripled in the last week, and Maddy Witcher had become a superstar reporter from a virtual nobody. Well, it was fine by him, particularly as she screwed him no more. More importantly, she had single-handedly turned the tide of public opinion in his favor.

Then his thoughts turned back to Savannah. DNA? What was he going to tell her? How was he going to ask her to subject herself to it? How insulting, how humiliating would such a request be. He sighed. All this was so bizarre—
the whole fucking affair
. He wished he hadn’t started the whole thing in the first place—hadn’t gone to Sister Blessing, hadn’t visited Ceecee Sandford. He felt as if he was plunging deeper and deeper into this bottomless chasm, of his own making, and he was scared where it was taking him.