C Weaver - Silent River

A long pause. “Look, what does this have to do with you finding my family?”

“I’ll take that as a yes. Putting the story out of two men together was easier. He could blame just one of you in the wrong. I’m assuming it was you?”

No answer, but Calvin didn’t hang up.

“Either way, why let the story go out that you and James were caught having sex? I’m sure James’ father would have something to say about it.”

Calvin remained silent.

“What does all this have to do with Kelly?” Robert asked, wanting to get back to her. He needed to find out if Calvin knew about the parties.

“We met Kelly after school—”

“Who’s we?” Robert interrupted again.

“James and me. I wanted her to get some things from my room. I told her what to get and where we’d be waiting. She put them in her schoolbag and brought them to me. There was a lot of stuff and James would always talk to her. She had a crush on him, and he thought it was cute.”

“How did you take that, James with your sister? Jealous?”

There was a pause. “Look, it doesn’t do you any good to make the wrong people mad.” He added the last little bit almost under his breath.

“Explain that,” Robert ordered.

“What?”

“What you just said about the wrong people getting mad.”

“I was just blowing steam. It means nothing.” Calvin changed his voice tone to be apologetic. He jumped back to the previous comment. “James treated Kelly like a sister. He didn’t want her like that.”

Robert drummed his fingers on his desk. “Are those the only times he saw Kelly?”

“Hold on; either I tell it my way or forget it!” Calvin’s voice rose.

“Go on.” Robert forced himself to relax.

“I told Kelly to call me if Mom and Dad were going to be out of the house for a while. When she did, James would keep her and the girls busy while I took some money.”

“Did he fool around with Kelly?” Robert kept a tight rein on his temper.

“She was just a kid.” Calvin’s voice was defensive. Robert wondered who he was defending; Kelly or his friend.

Calvin continued. “Besides James wasn’t interested in little girls.”

“You said your father made up the whole story, and it was a lie. Now you’re telling me it isn’t a lie?”

“James’ dad was trying to get him hooked up with some daughter of a friend of his. James wasn’t ready to settle down. He was having too much fun.” Calvin got defensive again.

Robert continued to question Calvin, drawing him out a little at a time. “Did you know if James met her without you there?”

“He didn’t. He would tell me something like that.” Calvin evaded the question.

“Yes, he would, and he would probably brag about it.”

“If you know so much, why are you asking me the questions?” Calvin’s sarcasm grated on Robert’s nerves.

“I want the whole story. Start talking!” Robert checked to see that there would be enough tape in the recording machine. He had turned the sound of the beeps down so Calvin would forget they were taping the conversation.

Robert could hear the phone being moved as if Calvin were trying to find a more comfortable position. Finally, the static stopped, and Calvin continued. “Yes, he did meet her without me. I didn’t know about it until after I moved out here. I guess he would pick her up from school. Kelly told Mom she had club meetings. Then I found out he got a job at the park near our house after school was out. Kelly met him there.”

“Do you know where they went?”

“No, they could have gone to his apartment or any number of places.” There was a slight pause, then Calvin continued, his voice a little harder than before. “When Dad found out he was missing a lot of money, he hit Kelly until she finally told him she had let me in the house when they were gone. He had Kelly call me and say they were going to be gone. He told Mom to leave. I got mad and went up and took the whole jar. Dad burst in the door and ran up the stairs. I dropped the jar and tried to run for it, but he caught me.” Calvin stopped, and Robert heard him ask for a drink of water. “I got dry doing all this talking.”

“That’s fine, take your time.” Robert doodled on his notepad while someone in the room at the other end of the line must have provided Calvin with something to drink. While he waited, he quickly changed the spool on the tape machine.

“Where were we?” Calvin spoke into the receiver.

Robert had made a note of the last part of Calvin’s story. “Your dad had just found you in the house with the money jar.”

“Oh, yeah. He caught me, and we fought. He’s a good deal bigger than I am and weighs more. I managed to break his hold with some moves I learned from a friend, and I ran out the door. He followed and yelled some stuff. I ran around the corner and got away.”

“Did you see any of your family after that?”

“No, I left. I’d already joined the service, so I waited a couple of weeks until time to leave, and I was history.”

“Did you hear from James after that?” Robert stretched his arms over his head. He was getting stiff from just sitting.

“I called him from boot camp and asked if I could stay with him for my leave. I had some time to kill before I had to show up in New York.”

“So, you were here just before your family disappeared,” Robert persisted.

“Yes.”

“Where’d you stay? Did you see your mom or sisters?” Robert sat up and pulled the notepad closer, his pen poised.

“James’ folks own a house near Portland. I stayed there. James said he had something going on, and he didn’t want me hanging around the apartment, messing it up.”

“Did you see any of your family while you were in town?”

“I had James call Kelly. He arranged to drive her over to see me. We had a good time.” Robert noticed Calvin’s use of the past tense and heard the slight break in Calvin’s voice. He wasn’t as hard as he wanted to come across.

“Did you notice anything going on between James and your sister?” Robert didn’t want him to break down. He tried to keep the flow of information going.

“I was only there a few weeks, and I only saw Kelly once.”

“You didn’t talk to any of the guys you used to hang out with?”

“I saw a couple of them. We had a beer, and that was it.”

“So, you didn’t ask Kelly what she was doing at a party with older men? You didn’t care about her?”

“I didn’t say that. I called my parents’ home and got lucky that she answered and the parents weren’t home. I told her she needed to stop what she was doing. She was going to get into trouble if she didn’t. She said she knew what she was doing. She was almost fifteen and…” He stopped.

“And what?” Robert prompted.

“Nothing, she wouldn’t listen to me.” Robert could tell that whatever he was about to say might have told him a name, but Calvin shut up.

“I have one last question, well, maybe two. First, when did you know Kelly was pregnant?”

Another long pause. “James called and told me.”

Robert raised his eyebrows. “Second question. Who got Kelly pregnant?”

“How would I know?” Calvin sounded immediately defensive.

“I figure your friend, James, seemed to know a lot. He wouldn’t keep it quiet.”

“I’m not saying anything more.”

“I’m going to write up my report and give it to my boss. Do you have anything more that might give us a direction to who would have wanted your family out of the way?”

That didn’t alleviate Calvin’s fears. He mumbled, “I don’t want to talk anymore.”

“That’s fine, we’ll talk again if I have any more questions, but I doubt I will. You’ve given me enough as it is.”