EYES ON YOU Page 13

Looking straight at Eli, Roman asked, “Do you see her popping her ex?”

  “Nope,” Eli quickly answered. “I do see his brother doing it because, when I mentioned to the lead detective on the case that Bill Leitner was flying all the way here today, he said ‘he probably wants a John Henry or two because Mrs. Leitner owns controlling interest in Galaxy Investments.’ And then he asked if I would keep track of the guy while he’s here and I told him we were already on it because Mrs. Leitner’s afraid of him and has asked for our help.”

  Their lunches and drinks came and when they were alone again, Eli added, “I’m plannin’ on followin’ the guy back to his plane in Portland when Cheryl calls me.”

  “I hope Jess will stand her ground with him,” Roman said.

  “Cheryl went over dressed in jeans and lookin’ like she’s a drop-in friend. And she drove her Camry, pahkin’ it down the street from Jess’s house. The two patrolmen I sent are pahked a street over, on Harman Road. She’ll be watchin’ out for any funny business dealins.’”

  It truly paid, in innumerable ways, to have family members who were in law enforcement.

  CHAPTER 18

  Roman didn’t hear anything else until just before his four o’clock appointment, when Eli called him.

  “Leitner’s now on his way back to Portland and I’m followin’ him in an unmarked car. Cheryl stayed behind the curtain, so to speak, when he arrived at Jess’s, and got an earful of his remarks pertainin’ to Jess’s plan to make this move permanent. He was livid about it, tellin’ her that she was nuts to take her kids and run off to such a remote area. Jess held her ground though, telling him that she had already told him what she was going to do before she left Seattle. He fired back that he thought she’d have come to her senses by now, and that conversation went on for a while.

  “Then he got down to the actual point of him comin’ over here, sayin’ he had some papers that she needed to sign, and that’s when Cheryl made her appearance. She waited until he pulled out the paperwork from his briefcase, and that’s when Cheryl had her hand on her gun that she kept in her pocket. Leitner was beside himself with surprise, askin’ who she was, and she told him she was a friend of Jess’s. At that point, he grew a tad squirrelly, but then pressed Jess to sign the papers anyway. Cheryl reminded her that she needed an attorney to look over any paperwork that needed signatures, Cheryl tried pickin’ up the paperwork, and Leitner snatched the stuff up before she could get to it. He was really surprised to see the determined look on both Jess’s and Cheryl’s faces, stuffed the paperwork back into his satchel and made a fast exit from the house.”

  Roman added, “Leitner’s trying to gain control of this Galaxy Investments. When advances toward Jess didn’t work, he waited a bit, and then thought he’d pull the wool over her eyes.”

  “This stuff definitely has a sour note to it,” Eli said. “I know you’ve got to go. I’ll be drivin’ directly over to Gardiner, once the dude actually gets on the plane, headed back to Seattle—we hope.”

  *****

  Roman wasn’t sure that Jess would feel up to going to a basketball game, but when he saw the Rover with its occupants pull into the clinic’s parking lot, he grabbed his jacket, bid Rene goodnight, and hustled out the door. The Leitners summoned him to their car, and when Roman saw that Aden was already sitting in the backseat with Molly, Jess indicating that she would drive, he was totally up for riding shotgun.

  As soon as he got into the vehicle and buckled up, he looked at Jess, seeing that she had a somewhat tired, yet otherwise unreadable look on her face. She managed a smile, however, and Aden said, “Doc might be thirsty, Mom.”

  Glancing back, Roman knew the kid was referring to their sessions together. “Believe it or not, I drank a bottle of water during the last appointment,” he said. “But, thanks for suggesting we stop for something.” He shot Aden with a finger gun and the boy nodded.

  Jess was driving somewhat slowly. “I have no idea where Gardiner is, so you’ll have to tell me which route to take.”

  As soon as Roman told her, she rapidly accelerated, catching Roman by surprise. Molly laughed while saying, “Go for it, Mom!”

  Jess held a brief, smug look while tamping down her driving, to just above the speed limit. Aden revealed, “Mom does have a lead foot.”

  “No argument there,” she admitted.

  Looking back at both kids, Roman asked in a serious tone, “Should I be scared?”

  “YES!” both kids shouted.

  Roman made a show of rechecking his seatbelt.

  On the way to Gardiner, Molly sang the theme song from one of the recent animated movies. She had the accompanying music on her I-pod, but what the others heard was an a cappella version that she sang in a clear, genuinely sweet way.

  Roman was struck by the stark reality that these beautiful, talented, and well-behaved children had faced in their brief lives: the men in their lives had not valued them as unique and special human beings. He didn’t feel he could tell them the positive impressions he had of them; whatever he could say might seem too contrived, or spoken too soon for either child to believe him. So he did the only thing he could do. For a brief moment, he reached to hold one of Jess’s hands while she steered with the other. Perceptively, she grasped what he was telling her, without him having to say anything aloud, but she had the saddest look on her face, before she glanced at him to smile.

  *****

  Before the game began, Cheryl and Eli were huddled together at the top of the bleachers, Eli having gotten to Gardiner by taking the quicker northern route. Jess and Roman climbed to the top and Jess profusely thanked them both again for what they’d done for her.

  Looking around to make sure that the kids weren’t tagging along behind, Cheryl said, “He’s on his way back. Eli saw him board his jet.”

  “He won’t come back,” Jess said. “He, or Norcross, will try to get me to fly back to Seattle to sign away the company.”

  “And if you don’t?” Eli asked.

  “There are several things that they can’t do without my signature,” she explained. “Gary was a wretched father, and a despicable husband, but he took care of us in the end—something I had no idea about, until after he died and his attorney notified me. You can imagine Bill and Franklin Norcross’s surprise when they discovered that Gary had left an updated directive in his attorney’s hands.”

  “Because he trusted you,” Eli said.

  Jess nodded. Everyone took seats, with Roman sitting beside Aden. Just as the announcer started welcoming everyone to the final game of the season between the junior varsity teams for the Hawks and the Gulls, Aden leaned in to quietly say, “That thing we talked about yesterday? Well, it didn’t happen. Uncle Bill must have had things come up and he couldn’t make it. ”

  Roman looked at the boy, seeing in his obscure expression a look of relief, but also one with a degree of disappointment. Roman wondered how many times Aden and Molly had been faced with having to bury their feelings—their needs—for what ultimately mattered most to their father or to their uncle.

  “No,” Roman quietly agreed. “He obviously didn’t make it.”

  *****

  He had a follow-up session with Ben Girard on Thursday. Usually, they had only one session per week, but Roman had strongly felt the need for checking on Ben after his session the previous Monday.

  The man walked in to Roman’s inner office with a sheepish look. “We had coffee,” he blurted out while taking a seat on the couch.

  “Who’d you have coffee with?” Roman asked, oblivious to whom Ben was referring.

  Ben looked up and replied, “Hope.” The sheepish expression on his face stayed true. “I asked her after group last Friday, and wasn’t at all expectin’ a ‘yes’ from her, but she said, ‘okay.’ So we had coffee on Tuesday evenin,’ after we got off work.”

  “And how’d that go?” Roman asked, enlivened by the news.

  Thinking about the question before answering, Ben said, “A
ll in all, I’d say it went good. She did talk about her dead husband some.”

  “But you don’t refer to him as her dead husband—do you?”

  “Nope,” Ben said. “I didn’t refer to him at all, ‘cause I knew that would probably set her off. See—she was wearin’ a nice dress and she didn’t have to tell me this, but she had put on some eye make-up and, when we first sat down, she told me that she had on mascara and that stuff around her eyes…” Ben couldn’t think of the name of the product.

  “Eye liner maybe, or eye shadow?”

  “That’s it! I think she had some of both on, but she didn’t get carried away with it. Her eyes are real pretty without all that stuff! Anyways, she said she wore the eye make-up so she wouldn’t cry.”

  “But did she?”

  “Almost,” Ben admitted. “Her eyes got all watery just the one time when she told me that her and her dead husband had been childhood sweethearts. He was the only dude she ever went out with.”

  “But he wasn’t dead when she was sweethearts with him. See what I mean, Ben?”

  “So I shouldn’t say he’s her… I get it.” Ben had a satisfied look after Roman helped him to figure that out.

  “Some things are better left unsaid,” Roman gently added.

  “Yup,” Ben acknowledged. “Anyways, it went good, we talked about our jobs. And she gave me her phone number. I’m tryin’ to decide what I should do next.”

  “What would you like to do?”

  “Take her out to supper sometime,” Ben stated. “Soon.”

  “We have to be the bolder ones,” Roman said. “Most women prefer that we be the ones to make the first gesture. That hasn’t changed. If she gave you her number, she’s probably hoping that you’ll ask her out on a date.”

  “Yup,” Ben said while shifting in his seat.

  “You asked her out for coffee,” Roman reminded him. “So this is just one step beyond that.”

  “Yup,” Ben acknowledged, visibly antsy. “Been a long while since I did somethin’ like this.”

  To himself, Roman thought: Tell me something I don’t already know!

  “But you really want to ask her.”

  “Yup. I like her name...a lot.” Ben suddenly turned philosophically-minded. “Better days ahead is what I get out of it.”

  “It surely does mean that,” Roman agreed.

  *****

  Later, he called the Episcopal minister at the reverend’s office, catching him there in the late afternoon.

  “Hi Chuck. It’s Roman.”

  “Roman!” Dr. Charles Mannis jubilantly exclaimed. Roman had known Chuck since before he had left for Emory University in Atlanta to begin work on his doctorate. “What’s goin’ down, Bro?” Chuck asked.

  “There’s a nine-year-old girl who’s got an extraordinary voice…who’s perhaps a prodigy… Her name is Molly Leitner.”

  “Believe it or not, I heard something about a little girl who recently sang the national anthem at Murray High’s basketball game. We weren’t there that night. That song is very difficult to sing, but I heard she performed it splendidly.”

  “She blew it away,” Roman said, “but I’m not the theologian who has a second doctorate in music and voice. What I can tell you, based on my humble layman’s ear, is that Molly Leitner will bring tears of joy to your eyes.”

  Chuck Mannis chuckled. “I’d love to hear her sing, Roman.”

  “Her family’s new here, they live on Whittler. How does Friday after school look for you?”

  “That’ll work fine,” Mannis assured, “‘cause that’s my day off. Good Golly, Miss Molly’s comin!’”

  “She’s gonna love you, Chuck!”

  *****

  Later that evening, he called Jess.

  “I think I’ve found a voice instructor for Molly.”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  He told her all about Dr. Charles Mannis. “This guy sings like Pavarotti, but he makes light of his talent, sings on occasion—like Christmas and Easter. He’s one of the only African Americans in this town…he and his wife Dot are adored by everyone, and she’s the probate judge.”

  “Molly will be ecstatic!” Jess exclaimed. “I’m so thrilled, Roman. Thank you!”

  He could hear her shutting the door of what he imagined was her darkroom. She sounded truly exuberant. He told her about the time for the first meeting with Chuck. “At the Episcopal church,” he added.

  “This is wonderful! You do know absolutely everyone.”

  “Just about,” he agreed.

  “Thank you,” she said again. “And Molly will thank you when she sees you.”

  “Like their mother, your children have special talents that can’t be ignored. I just finished a first viewing of Dignity. What an insightful masterpiece.”

  “Thank you for saying that,” she said. “I want my kids to take their talents as far in their lives as they can.”

  “You’re a very good mother, Jess. There are millions of single mothers raising children who become successful and lead very happy lives.”

  “But those of us who are truly lucky have people behind the scenes who help us chart new territory and provide help when we need it. The kids and I have friends and allies in you and your family.”

  “I’m glad we’re in positions to help,” he replied.

  “I had a talk with Aden about his Uncle Bill,” Jess said. “He told me about Bill texting him and saying he was coming and asking him to keep it a secret, and then Aden said that he didn’t come after all. I don’t want my son hanging by a thread with that bastard, so I told him what happened, leaving you, Cheryl and Eli out of it. I said that he came, and that he wanted me to sign papers that I don’t want to sign, that he was very angry and left.”

  “How did Aden react to that?”

  “He didn’t say anything for a while,” Jess admitted. “So, I sat there and waited until he did say something. My kids have a long history of having to deal with disappointment.”

  Roman said, “I know that.”

  “I had already blocked Bill’s calls and texts to my phone, right after we got here. Aden said, ‘Mom, I’m blocking him on my phone too, and I’m forgetting about him. He’s a phony dick-weed, just like Norcross is. Maybe he did kill Dad.’”

  Roman considered what Aden had been forced to conclude for himself, and said, “I wish this most recent stuff wasn’t piling on to everything that’s already happened, but I’m glad to hear that Aden’s made the decision to prevent further calls from Bill.”

  “I need to see my attorney about this stuff.”

  Roman concurred. “You definitely do, Jess.”

  CHAPTER 19

  While The Group was assembling, Mona went to Ben Girard’s side, situating herself between his and Hope Canard’s chairs. She received an ear rub and a thorough petting from both humans, holding her head high in self-esteem. Hope commented to Ben, “You’re her favorite.”

  Quietly, Ben muttered, “She goes where she’s needed—will you have supper with me?”

  Hope’s attention remained focused on Mona as she answered, “That would be nice. Call me.”

  Roman and some of the others were getting some of Rene’s freshly-brewed coffee, and no one heard the brief exchange. Ben Housman was telling Wyatt about some of the antics that his dog, Minnie, was up to. “Smart as a whip,” Ben was asserting. “And she reads my mind.”

  “Who says that they aren’t telepathic?” Roman commented.

  “That’s exactly right!” Ben exclaimed. “Minnie knows how to get me to go outside and play with her just by me thinkin’ about it.”

  Wyatt said, “I just heard somethin’ on the news about dogs helpin’ their owners live longer and stay healthier.”

  “Anyone else have a dog?” Roman asked.

  “I’ve got a poodle,” Gloria Schiller piped up.

  “Maybe I need to get one,” Iris timidly muttered. “I mean…not a poodle, but…”

  Ben warned, “They aren�
��t stuffed animals that you can set aside and forget, whenever you want. You’ve got to be willin’ to give ‘em lots of attention and exercise.”

  “A very small one,” Iris murmured.

  “Like a chee-huahua,” Wyatt said.

  “I think Iris is more of a Pomeranian person,” Gloria stated with confidence.

  “There’s them “pa-pill-ions,” Wyatt insisted.

  “Those,” Iris corrected Wyatt’s grammar. “And you’re pronouncing the dog breed all wrong.”

  “What’s that?” Ben quizzically asked, straining his ear to hear.

  Loudly clearing his throat, Roman announced that The Group was now in session. As though all present were children, everyone shifted in their seats to face him. “Did anyone have a difficult time this past week?”

  At first, no one uttered a word, but then, Ben Girard meekly raised his hand, before lowering it again to the side of Mona’s head to stroke her.

  “Something we talk about in closed session?” Roman asked. Anything said in closed sessions was generally off-limits.

  Shaking his head almost unnoticeably, Ben opened his mouth to say something, but then didn’t.

  “Would you like to share what happened with The Group, Ben?” Roman more insistently asked.

  “I almost had a beer with a guy,” Ben blurted out. “I wanted that beer, or somethin’ stronger somethin’ fierce. The man I’m speakin’ about just got back from another tour in Iraq.”

  “Did you go to a bar with him?” Gloria asked.

  “I did,” Ben defensively said. “I thought, no harm, I’d get a Coke. But when I ordered it, he said, ‘Hey dude,’ and looked at me real funny-like.”

  “Did you tell him you was in AA?” asked Wyatt.

  “Not right then,” Ben admitted, clearly troubled by the recollection.

  “What got you through the encounter, Ben?” Roman asked.

  “Hope.”

  Everyone’s eyes swiveled to Hope Canard. When Ben realized what he had just said, his entire face and neck turned crimson. Hope Canard shifted in her seat, staring solemnly at the floor.

  Ben mumbled, “I mean…”