Рита Браун - Pawing Through The Past

"You don't buy that it's Dennis Rablan. He had access to everyone. Not much in the way of alibis but then we've both seen ironclad alibis suddenly get produced in the courtroom, along with the expensive lawyer." The sheriff rubbed his chin, opened his drawer, pulling out a cordless electric razor.

"Boss, do that in the car. Let's go over there."

"Jason's in the parking lot."

"Like a neon sign."

"What are we, then?"

"I don't know but I think we ought to-" The phone rang, interrupting her.

"Sheriff Shaw," Rick answered as the operator put the call through. "Well, stay with him." He hung the phone up. "Jason says Dennis Rablan ran out of the high school, fired up his van, and is pulling out of the parking lot."

"Jason can stay with Dennis. Let's go to Crozet High."

"I hope so."

46

"Jesus, what a mess." Harry watched as the reunion dinner fell apart. "We might as well clean up and go home."

"Yeah." Susan, also dejected, picked up the plates, depositing them in huge trash bags. "One good thing, they ate more than I thought they would. We'll have a lot to take home but at least people enjoyed the food."

Fair stayed behind, as did Hank Bittner, Bonnie Baltier, Market Shiflett, and Linda Osterhoudt. Within an hour and a half the place looked as though they'd never been in it. The huge senior superlative photographs easily came down. Market rolled them up, placing them in large tubes.

"You might as well throw those out," Fair told him.

"Maybe our thirtieth reunion will be better. Anyway, there's plenty of space in the attic of the store. Who knows, huh?"

Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tucker, tired from the rich food and the human fuss, sat down under the raised basketball backboard.

"Guess that's it." Harry put her hands on her hips, surveying the polished gym floor. "Too bad we couldn't have had the dance. Alvarez made serious tapes. He was always good at that kind of stuff."

"His wife sure tells him what to do," Hank Bittner laughed. "I thought he might sneak back to the dinner."

"She probably dragged him to Monticello. That's what all the out-of-towners want to see." Susan pressed her hand to the small of her back. All the bending over and lifting had made her ache a little. "I hate to see our reunion end this way."

"Yeah," the others agreed.

Harry asked Hank, "Do you believe the story about Bob, Rex, Charlie, and Leo attacking Ron?"

"Yes," Hank replied.

"Was Dennis there?" Harry continued her inquiry.

"I think he was. I think he stood by the door to watch out for Coach. I can't prove any of it but I believe it."

"How did you hear about it?" Fair asked.

"Ron told me," Hank said, looking truly sorrowful.

"Why didn't you go to the principal or Coach or somebody?" Harry blurted out. She didn't want to sound accusatory but she did.

"Because Ron said he would deny what happened. He didn't want anyone to know. He especially didn't want Deborah Kingsmill to know. He was taking her to the Christmas dance. He thought she'd break the date if she knew." Hank paused. "And if he'd told, who knows what they would have done to him. There was a kind of wisdom to his silence."

"If she really cared about him, she'd go anyway," Susan said.

"Not Deborah." Hank half-smiled. "She didn't care about anybody-which made the guys want her. And remember, she was a cheerleader and all that crap. Even then, her ambition made her cold. Ron felt like he was, I don't know, moving up, I guess, having a date with her."

"Did you know he was gay?" Harry wondered.

"Kinda." Hank shrugged. "What do you know at that age? I'm not sure even Ron knew. I do know that Leo, Charlie, Bob, and Rex spent the rest of the year teasing him but they weren't violent again."

"Maybe Dennis was his boyfriend?" Fair stooped over to pick up a carton loaded with food. He was going to start carrying food and drinks out to his truck, Harry's truck, and Susan's car.

"He's got two kids and one ex-wife," Susan said.

"That doesn't mean he's not gay." Hank also bent over to pick up a carton. "Hell, I've been married and divorced three times-to the same woman. That doesn't mean I'm nuts."

"Hank, I've been meaning to ask you about that." Fair smiled as the men walked out of the gym.

"I'm going home. Thanks for the food, Susan." Bonnie kissed Susan on the cheek.

"Drive safely." Susan kissed her back. "That ninety miles can get truly boring."

"Back to Washington." Linda Osterhoudt did her round of kisses. "Call me when you come up. The opera this year is worth the trip."

"We will," Susan and Harry said. "Hey, why don't you let the guys carry that out for you?"

"I'm not taking that much home." She lifted her small carton and left.

Market came back in for more tubes. Subdued, he waved and left.

Harry and Susan sighed simultaneously.

"It's a bitch," Harry exhaled.

"Yeah. I understand revenge. But why wreck the reunion for everyone else?"

"Guess your mind warps after a while. Hey, Boom let us all have it, didn't she? And you know, she's right. It's her body. A husband isn't a purse. You can't snatch him unless he wants to be snatched. I give her credit for fighting back."

"You're mellow."

Harry clapped her hands together for the animals. "Sick of it. Not mellow. I'm sick of being angry at her, angry at him, angry at me. Done is done. Took me a long enough time to get there, though. In a strange way this reunion has helped me."

"I'd like to know how?" Susan asked, genuinely interested.

"I've had ample proof of what carrying around anger, hate, and the desire for revenge can do to somebody-whoever that somebody is. So he's winning. Winning what? His life is reduced to this one issue, a very great pain, a terrible wound and it would seem an equally terrible act of cowardice. But life moves on. Our killer didn't. In my own little way, I don't want to be like that." She smiled as the three animals trotted toward her. "I've seen enough embittered women not to want to become one."

Susan hugged Harry fiercely. "I love you."

"I love you, too. I couldn't ask for a better friend."

The two women stood there with tears in their eyes.

"Maybe it wasn't such a bad reunion after all." Susan wiped away her tears and Harry's, too. "Shall we?"

They bent over to pick up two cartons and walked out the door. Harry paused for a moment to look back, then cut the lights. "Good-bye, class of 1980."

Mrs. Murphy and Pewter dashed ahead of the humans, turned a few very pretty kitty circles, and waited at the door. Tucker barked at the door; she'd barreled on ahead of them.

Harry put her carton down for a second. The faint sounds of fifties music wafted down the hall from the cafeteria. She wanted to stick her head in and watch but thought better of it. Hank came back in for another carton.