A Son's Tale

“She sounds wonderful. Where did you find her?”

“She’s a friend of Julie’s.”

“What she says makes sense. Do you think you can stand up to your father and his attorneys if you’re put on the stand?”

“In this case, yes. I know I’m a good parent. And, having grown up under my father’s thumb, I really believe that Sammie is better off with me.”

“For what it’s worth, I do, too,” he said, and then continued without giving her a chance to respond. “So how did the meeting with the counselor go?”

“I’m not sure.” She sounded tired.

“Was Sammie uncooperative?”

“I don’t think so. She talked to him alone. And when I asked him about their meeting he said it was fine.”

He wondered if she was in bed in the room he’d seen when he’d visited the restroom last Friday night. Or sitting alone on the couch he’d shared with her during that one very long night. “Boys aren’t big on details.”

“Or maybe she told him not to tell me.”

“Maybe.” He’d never dealt with child services. He and his father had always outrun them. “What did you think of her?”

“I liked her. She seemed to have Sammie’s best interests at heart.”

As opposed to her father’s?

“That’s good.”

“Yeah.”

“Did she ask you a lot of questions?”

“Not really. She just wanted to talk with Sammie tonight.”

“When do you see her again?”

“Thursday night.” He was taking Kelsey out for sushi Thursday night.

“Okay, well, have a good night.”

“You, too.”

Cal hung up and took a long swig of the whiskey that was supposed to last him the rest of the night.

* * *

ON WEDNESDAY MORNING, a couple of hours before class, Cal was in his office at the university reading over material for the one Monday/Wednesday/Friday summer class he had that session, when he had another call from Comfort Cove Detective Ramsey Miller.

Accepting the inevitable, he picked up.

“Whittier,” he said abruptly into the mouthpiece.

After identifying himself Miller said, “Tell me again, Professor, how many times have you left the state of Tennessee in the past six months?”

Miller had already asked that question. And his reply was the same. “None.”

“Would you like to reconsider that answer?”

“No.”