Who Loves Her? (13 page)

“What thing?” inquired the police with a confused
look.

“
We’ve all known Bob since third grade.  We know his family.  I mean his dad was kind of rough, but Bob was just a sweet guy.  No way.  This can’t be true.  There must have been an error.”

Susan’s head was starting to spin
.  Her agitation from this morning was starting to return.  All the red and blue lights.  Everyone staring up at her.  She didn’t even remember the last time she had eaten anything other than the coffee cake she had at Sarah’s house following their marriage vows.  She froze in abject fear when she heard the next question.

“When was the last time you saw Bob?” the officer asked
.  Time stood still, and Susan knew that all eyes were on her.  She also knew that the grieving parents of a dead young man were about to be brought to their knees in angry pain when they heard the truth about Susan and her relationship with Harris.

“I need to sit down
,” Susan muttered, trying to steady herself.  Her mother jumped up and grabbed her by the elbows from behind, and half hugged her as Susan found her way to an empty place on the porch.  Nina was glancing toward her car and trying to keep track of both places.  Damn, Bob.

“This is all happening too fast, I me
an, is this real?  It can’t be, it can’t be.”

Suddenly, the agitation spiked
.  Susan’s left foot started twitching.  Her mother held her in almost a hugging choke hold from behind. The policeman watched with interest, fascinated by the blood spot that suddenly showed up on Mrs. Christiansen’s blouse.

“Grab her legs,
” Mrs. Christiansen ordered, and Mr. Christiansen swiftly obeyed.  They looked like two pudgy paramedics who had experience with this sort of thing.  Everyone tried to look the other way to preserve their dignity.  Nina rushed over and started whispering in Susan’s ear.  Susan started shouting at the top of her lungs, her mom quickly came near her and held her, hugging.  Susan twisted and turned.  Her whole body shook, as her screams pierced the night sky.  Now it was the police officer’s turn to be afraid.

They stepped back and watched as sweet little Susan turned into a raging maniac
.  Her body would twitch and then go stiff and then limp.  She would scream and squeal and cry.  The whole time Nina whispered.  “It’s all right, we know Bob.  You must be right, and it can’t be true.” Her mom held her from behind and as the fit started to subside, her mother started rocking her back and forth and back and forth.  Everyone on the porch could hear crickets chirping, by the time it was done.  All the ear-piercing shrieks made the normal night sounds, sound more alive and real to their ears.  Like someone had focused the sound the way a magnifying glass focuses the light when we are paying attention.

Susan eventually had one last bolt of electricity stiffen her body and then she went limp, still sobbing softly
.  She turned on her side as her dad let go of her legs.  She let her mother hold her.  Susan looked into her mom’s eyes. “Mom, tell me this is not real, please.”

Mrs
. Christiansen held her arms and comforted Susan.  Quietly, stroking Susan’s hair she said:  “The police are just doing their job.  All will be well.  I am so sorry, baby, I know how sad and terrible it is.  Calm down sweetheart, please.  Relax.  Somebody get some water for her.”

“Seventy-nine ninety-five.  Yes, that’s for any room.  All our rooms are the same.  No there are no smoking rooms.  Well, I’m not sure.  There’s a Walleye competition coming into town that weekend and so everyone pretty much books up pretty quick.”  Susan lied to the woman on the phone to see if she would book the room.  The Walleye competition was mostly for locals and anybody that wasn’t local used the R.V. parks sprinkled up and down the highway.  She put the woman on hold to feel important, and answered the second blinking light.

“Skylark M
otel.  Best skyline in the America’s best little town.  Can I help you?”

“It’s me, honey.”

“Oh, hi, Mom.  Dad doing okay?”

“Very funny
.  You know all he does is watch the Vikings statistics and fishing shows.”

“Maybe he should enter the Walleye competition.”

“Susan, leave your father alone.”

“I’ve got another call, Mom.”

“Honey, I just…”

“Can you hold please?” she sweetly spouted like a receptionist
.  She glanced up at the green sign that said, “WE DON’T RENT ROOMS TO MINORS.”  She counted to three and picked up the phone again with the other woman.”

“I’ll take the room
.  Do you take Visa over the phone?”

“Yes, m
a’am.  Thank you for your business.  Anytime you’re ready.”  The woman read off the sixteen digits and expiration date.  Susan wrote down the numbers on the old-fashioned carbon copy forms.

She begged Uncle Lars to update to one of the internet providers with a really cool website, but he just
ran the number through the dial-up and muttered:  “Ain’t broken yet, so no reason to borrow trouble and lose money.”

Susan’s cursor kept blinking at her like some kind of dog wagging his
tail so they could go for a walk.  As she finished up the room transaction she was drawn to the keyboard, the cursor a homing beacon on a ship.  As she settled into her chair she could feel the magic happening.  From the Starlight Motel to her wedding day.  The transformation was complete.

“Sorry, Anna,” s
he mumbled to herself.  Furiously, she was typing again with both index fingers.  She wished she hadn’t failed typing in high school.  Her tongue stuck out in concentration.  She scratched her left nostril where the nose ring was itching and wiped the sweat from her forehead with her hoodie sleeve.  “God,” she whispered, “Susan must really hate this damn band.”

***

Through the corner of her eyes, Susan saw the same musical band sitting across the street.  She immediately blurted.  “Mom!” She was sobbing and pointing at the band across the street.  “What are they doing there?” Susan saw tears in their eyes as if they knew something horrible had happened to her family.  The instruments all just laid there like limp rags and they were laying against each other like stuffed animals waiting on a child’s bed in the darkness.

“I don’t know
, sweetie.  Just ignore them.  We can’t just tell people not to be here.  Why, what is it?”

Susan just
buried her face in her mother’s shoulder, collapsing from the day.  Deep heaving sobs came from her soul and she just kept crying, not caring anymore what happened to her eye make-up or what the town thought of “Stir-crazy Susan.”  Bill and his wife got up and dusted themselves off.  Bill pulled Mr. Christiansen and the officers aside and nodded after the exchange.  His wife just stood staring into the darkness at the band, and Bill had to gently take her by both arms from behind.  He guided her to their car.  He glanced at Susan and then up at Mr. Christiansen one last time before getting into the driver’s seat.

“I am not sure what is going on here
.  Someone killed my boy and that crazy girl knows something.  I intend to find the truth tomorrow and when I do you all better be ready for the fallout.”  With that threat hanging in the wind, he climbed into the car and drove his grieving wife to the privacy of their home.

Nina
had slipped to the side of the house after Susan’s fit had subsided.  Unlike everyone else exhausted with the day, Nina was vamped up with worry.  Rocking back and forth on the rickety old chair her dad used for shucking corn, she finally plopped to the ground.  She sat there with her head resting in her hands on the deserted footpath.  Both elbows on her knees, her head was in her hands as if holding onto her forehead was going to stop her racing thoughts.  “What the hell are we going to do now?” she whispered to herself, watching the red and blue lights flicker across her dad’s front porch.

Nina still lived with her dad because after her mom died of breast cancer four years ago
, she didn’t want him to fall apart living so far away.  He was a big strapping man’s man who loved the Walleye and drank his whiskey neatly after he finished his shifts at the marina.  Her dad actually took a liking to Bob in the beginning, since they both had similar backgrounds.  Her dad was strong and dependable as clockwork.  When her mom died it was Nina’s job to get him his morning coffee and paper.  She made sure that the fish and chips or steak was on the table by five-thirty.  They attended St. Thomas’ early mass, and even though nothing much made them veer from their routine, he still treated her like she was sixteen and needed a curfew.  Maybe that was why Nina clung to Susan so much through all of her craziness.  Her dad was crazy in a different kind of way.  After they buried her mom, he took down all of her pictures but one and put them all in a trunk that he labeled “Mabel” in the basement.  It was like he buried her there a second time.  About once a year, Nina would find him down there with the boss’s Christmas present--a fifth of Wild Turkey reserve, crying his eyes out and looking over old photos.

The first time it happened, Nina thought some
one had broken in the basement.  When she made it to the top step, she was a little rattled because she’d never seen her stone cold strong father act like that before.  She just closed the door.  When he passed out on the floor she checked on him and wrapped him up in a blanket they had left in storage in case of a winter storm watch.  Neither of them spoke of those events, even though they would glance at each other in the morning with a sad, knowing look.  She had begun to make things more cozy down in the basement.  Without a word, she made sure it was clean, and that there were warm blankets nearby.  Anything she could do to ease his pain of loss.

Those same despondent eyes had
looked at her tonight.  He knew she was deep with trouble, but he didn’t want to broadcast it to the world.  And the police!  What the hell!  What were they all going to do?  She glanced at her car, but didn’t dare go over there.  She imagined Bob huddled down deep into the floorboard, but gosh he was a big guy.  A smiled tried to break open as she imagined that huge body of his trying to fit into a tiny cave of safety.  She prayed to St. Jude that he was either in the deserted car or he had simply escaped on foot during Susan’s fit.  She hoped he was safe in a hotel room somewhere trying to find answers to who could have committed such a heinous murder of a man most people adored.

With a sinking heart, Nina realized
they had lied to the police!  Now that the whole thing had turned into a murder case they were in the worst position imaginable.  She and Susan had looked terribly guilty as they had lied, and to make matters worse, the investigation began right there on her dad’s front lawn!  Nina’s dad was not worried because he knew his daughter was gentle and kind.  Just look at how she took care of that crazy Susan girl!  But damn they were obviously in something deep and something ugly.

“W
hat should I have done instead of lie?  Should I have told the police that Bob was in my car? He could have answered his own questions, and then she and Susan would be in the clear.  As it stood now, she had given safety and provided safe passage to a murderer!  Nina flinched, “A murderer? Bob? Surely not!” she mumbled as she paced the floor.  Besides, if it really was him, I’ll be blamed as an accomplice!  At least Susan could just plead insanity and get off…wait, now I’m the one who is talking crazy.  Just calm down, Nina.  We could all be arrested!  No way!  Bob is not like that,” Nina told herself looking at Susan sobbing into her mother’s shoulder.

Nina jumped
.  Her phone rang and she hissed, “Oh, shit!  Shut up!” with the lyrics to
We stay up all night to get lucky
blaring out of her pocket.  She killed the ringer and switched it to vibrate.  Since she didn’t recognize the number, she let it go to voicemail.  A second later, her phone started vibrating again and she finally stood up and snuck behind her dad’s toolshed to take the call.  She was over the top, but she wanted to see who was bugging her.  It was Bob.

“Oh, no
.  Nina whispered in shock.  “What should I do, think Nina think.”  She looked at Susan.  Her deep heaving sobs had subsided and her mother looked tired.  She got a quick idea.  She blurted into the phone.

“Hang up, I’ll call right back
.”  Nina smoothed her dress and walked back out onto the front lawn.  Her dad raised his eyebrows and she ignored him.  He still had his arms crossed and was in his bathrobe.  At least he’d gone inside to get his ball cap, but that made him look a little silly instead of a like a macho guy defending his house.

“Mrs
. Christiansen, you look exhausted,” Nina comforted.  She put a big hugging arm around her as she sat down next to the two on the porch.  Susan looked up with her mascara streaked and plopped her head back down on her mother’s shoulder.  Mrs. Christiansen’s eyes were hollow, looking out at the band.  She’d logged too many hours with Susan, and instead of the wedding fixing it all, it looked like she was going to be chained to Susan’s illness for a very long time.  Nina felt sorry for her.  “Mrs. Christiansen, why I don’t take over.”

“You don’t have to do that, Nina
.  You’ve already helped so much today.  We all know how much you’ve given up to take care of your father and being such a good friend to Susan.”

“
He’s my dad, and Susan is one of the only friends I’ve got.” Nina smiled through some tears that came across her cheeks without any notice.  She wiped them and barreled on.

“Let me take the night shift with Susan, and we’ll make sure to get her some sleep and maybe another appointment with Dr. Freudette.  Why don’t you go on home with Mr. Christiansen and get some sleep?”

“I think that would be a great plan
.”  Nina’s dad suddenly broke into action.  Giving Nina a stern look, he continued:  “Nina and Susan will have the privacy of the house tonight.  The best thing any of you can do is get some rest.  You won’t solve anything tonight being so tired and upset.  Better for everyone to just go home and sleep some of it off.  The girls will be safe here, and they will be able to think a lot clearer come the morning.”  Nina felt an overwhelming sense of love and gratefulness to her old dad in that moment.  At least he had bought the girls some time.  But time to do what?

It didn’t take much for Mrs
. Christiansen to agree.  She handed Susan over to Nina, and with slumped shoulders made her way over to Mr. Christiansen.  He hugged her shoulders and let her cry against him for a moment.  Then they both hunched over and walked out of sight to their car.  You could hear the ignition start and the gravel start to groan against the acceleration of their station wagon.  Nina took up the position that Mrs. Christiansen had, and rocked Susan back and forth.  Aware that the police were still there, she just rocked and sang, and finally murmured in Susan’s ear.

“Don’t make any sudden moves
.  I know you can hear me and that you’re all drained from the episode.  When I was behind the tool shed, Bob called me.” Susan jolted, as if she was going to sit upright, but Nina held her tight so she couldn’t move.  “No sudden moves.  The police are still here and we’ve got to figure out how to get out of this.”  Susan relaxed again, whimpering and Nina went back to stroking her hair and rocking back and forth.  A small snore arose from Susan and Nina got an idea.

“Officers?”
Nina kind of yelled.

“Yes, miss?
”

“Well, it’s been a rough day on everyone and the bride has just fallen asleep
.  Is there any chance I can bring her by in the morning after she’s had a chance to recover?”  The two officers glanced at each other and compared notes.  They must have realized after seeing the seizure that this was going to take longer than they expected.

“I guess you’re right
.  But don’t leave the country, you hear?”  Officer Joe joked weakly as he closed his little notebook.

“You can count on it
.”  Nina gave a tired smile and resumed rocking back and forth with Susan.  The police officers got into their car.  They killed the red and blue lights before driving out of sight.  The band was still there, playing.

“You mind telling me what’s going on?” 
Nina’s dad piped up, stepping out into the light and sitting down next to Nina. 

“Nothing, Dad
.  Just a screwed up day with Susan again compounded by a murder.  Seems to just be one of those days.”

“You think I don’t know when things are up
?  Just like you used to think I didn’t know when you climbed out the window to go to those keggers after the football games.  Don’t act so shocked.  We’re all stupid kids once.  Hell, I climbed out of a couple windows myself.  The game changes, though, when there’s a dead body.  That’s nothing to screw around with, honey.”