Details at Ten by Ardella Garland Read Free Book Online Page B

on the phone? I just didn’t think so. I felt no connection to them. Neither spoke; so above all else the aggressiveness of the woman I had talked to was immediately missing.
    Then I heard a toilet flush and the snap of a turning door latch. A short woman in her early twenties came out of the rear bathroom. She was using the flat of her palms to adjust the two-piece blue shorts set she had on. Her narrow smooth-skinned face was fair; she had long skinny braids down her back, and she had large bloodshot eyes. She looked dead at me and I got the vibe.
    “Kelly?” I asked.
    Reverend Walker answered, “Yes, this is the worried mother. May we all be seated.”
    Now I respect the church but I hoped Reverend Walker wasn’t going to get in the middle of this too much. We would need his prayers, but Doug and I would also need a free flow of communication between us and the Stewarts. It was obvious that he had prepped the family, the way he had them all sitting around like they were waiting for a prayer meeting to start. I looked at my companions. Zeke dropped his eyes. Doug hunched his shoulders and then introduced himself. “And of course you know reporter Georgia Barnett.”
    “Yep!” The little boy smiled at me. Then he said to the druggie, “She the one put us on TV, Ma.”
    Butter’s mother made the formal introductions after she moved to sit down on the ottoman at her mother’s side. “Hi, I’m Kelly, and this is my mama, Miss Mabel. That’s my sister, Angel, and her son, Roger.”
    “Roger!” The little boy made a loud fart sound through a slender gap in his front teeth. “My name is Trip!”
    I smiled at him. “Why do they call you Trip?”
    Kelly, Angel, Miss Mabel, and the Reverend, all of them answered at once: “’Cause he always falling!”
    That made everyone laugh.
    “Trip, young man,” Doug began to ask between chuckles. “Get us some chairs, huh?”
    Trip rolled his eyes.
    Miss Mabel snapped, “Boy, if you don’t get a move on, you’d better!”
    Trip scrambled up, ran behind one of the blankets, and came back hustling with three folding chairs. Doug grabbed one and opened it for me. Zeke declined to take a seat but stood the chair up next to him as he leaned back against the wall. Doug took the third folding chair and sat near Miss Mabel.
    While seated I took a long, deep breath and caught Zeke out of the corner of my eye. He pointed down at his camera resting on the floor but I shook my head no. Zeke scowled at me. I thought, I know … I know … you always roll whether you use it or not, but not yet. A little girl’s life was at stake. I asked God to be my guide.
    “Kelly,” I began, strong and firm in voice, “I asked Detective Eckart to come here this evening with me. That’s because, well, we think that Butter is in danger.” Now, I sip facts and spew words for a living. But this was the first time that I hated that I was even opening my mouth. I hated hearing my own voice right now because Butter’s mother and grandmother looked like they were about to die from worry.
    “She missin’, yeah-yeah, but can’t y’all find her?” Kelly said as she slunk down and sat on the very edge of the ottoman.
    Doug leaned forward toward Kelly, “Can we discuss this privately? Just the family?”
    Miss Mabel gave Doug a long, hard stare. “That’s all that’s here—and the Lord.”
    Reverend Walker released an affirmative sigh.
    “Of course, ma’am,” Doug quickly agreed before getting right to the point. “We think that Butter might be being held against her will—”
    “Kidnapped?” Reverend Walker’s eyebrows arched in surprise.
    “Who’d wanna kidnap a baby like Butter?” her grandmother asked. “And what fah?”
    “She saw the drive-by the other day,” Doug answered.
    Please, Doug, break it to the family a little easier.
    “Butter,” Doug explained further, “saw the shooter and basically described him on television.”
    “Dear God.” Reverend Walker gasped.