Black & Tan Blues Ch. 03

Jack hung his head and put his hands over his eyes and his whole body shook.

I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "I'll leave it to you to break it to Brenda. I'm sorry Jack, I'm sorry for all of us."

Jack just looked at me and nodded. We both had tears in our eyes. He got up and followed me out into the living room.

"Come on Sam, give Grandpa and Grandma a kiss goodbye. It's time to go."

I heard a gasp from Brenda and turned to see what was wrong. She was staring at Jack like he was a stranger. He appeared to have aged ten years in the last ten minutes. She walked over to him and looked into his eyes and he just wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. I gathered up Sam and they followed us out the door. I turned to them before getting in the car, "I'll call you if I hear anything." Jack just nodded and held onto Brenda's arm.

As we drove away, Sam looked out the window and asked, "Daddy, why is Grandpa Jack and Grandma Bren sad?"

I thought about that for a minute, and wondered if maybe it was time to start preparing her. "Well, sweetheart, we just found out that mommy isn't feeling well. So she is going to stay someplace for a few days where they will help her feel better. That's why they are sad."

Sam was sitting in her car seat in the back and I watched her in the rear view mirror as she started to realize what that meant.

"But daddy, I don't want mommy to go away. I want to see her." She said tearfully.

"You will honey, just as soon as she feels better. But we have to be patient. Do you know what that means?"

Sam started to cry quietly and repeated, "But I want mommy, daddy. Please?"

I bit my lip and desperately thought of some way to distract her.

"Sam? Would you like to go up to the lake and see Grandpa and Grandma Colville? We can stay overnight?"

Sam stopped crying for a moment and thought that over. Still sniffling she asked, "Can I go swimming?"

"Sam, it's probably too cold to swim. But you can go wading in the lake if you want." It wasn't even the middle of May yet and for sure the lake would be too cold for her.

"Can I go for a 'toon ride?"

"I'm sure Grandpa will take you for a pontoon ride if you want." I assured her.

Excited now she said, "Okay, let's go see Gran'ma and Gran'pa!"

When we got home I told Sam to get out some clothes and toys to take with us and I would help her pack. While she was doing that I got on the phone and called up north. When Dad answered I asked him if he and Mom would like some company since I wasn't scheduled to work tonight and I thought we might drive up.

"Hell yes. Your brother is coming up in the morning to help us put the docks and boats in the water, ours and Harvey's next door. We could use your help."

I assured him we would be up in a couple of hours and hung up. I packed an overnight bag for myself then helped Sam pack hers. I had to smile as she had optimistically included her bathing suit with her clothes.

"Just in case daddy!" She said brightly.

Sam quickly fell asleep in her car seat as we began the one hundred and thirty mile trip. The quiet gave me a lot of time to think and prepare to break the news to Mom and Dad. They had always been close to Donna ever since the three of us had come back from Germany. If fact, since my parents had never had daughters they doted on Donna and my brothers wife, Sandra almost as much as they did the grandkids. They were likely to take the news as hard as her own parents did.

It was mid-afternoon when we pulled into the driveway. Dad was puttering around in the garage and Mom was raking up the inevitable pine needles from the trees that surrounded the house. They both came over and met us as Sam bounded out of the car yelling "Gran'ma, Gran'pa!" They both showered her with hugs and kisses until she finally couldn't stand it anymore and went tearing off down the side of the house towards the lake and the beach.

They both turned to me and Mom asked accusingly, "Where's Donna?"

I grabbed a hold of the suitcases and said somberly, "Let's go into the house and I will tell you about it."

We sat down on the front deck where we could watch Sam throwing stones in the water and poking at things in the sand. I told them everything that had happened since the night before, coming home to the babysitter, getting the call from Jack this morning and going to the jail and hearing what the Detective had to say. Mom and Dad were incredulous. And if I hadn't been their son I think Dad would have called me an outright liar. I finally got the arrest report out of my bag and showed it to them.

Mom looked up from reading it with tears in her eyes, "Ken, this can't be true. You don't believe this do you? Donna would never do this."

Dad said, "This doesn't sound like Donna. Are they sure this is what happened?"

I nodded, "The Detective seemed sure. And he even said there was a reporter present during the bust."

"Oh God, I'm so sorry. How could she do this? Jack and Brenda must be totally devastated!" Mom said and got up and ran crying into the house.

We sat silently for about ten minutes until Mom came back into the room wiping her eyes on a tissue. She suggested that Sam come up and help her with dinner while Dad and I went for a walk. She knew I always talked to Dad when I had a problem or a decision to make. I knew he would tell her everything later but it was just the way we had always done things. I yelled down to Sam and Dad and I went out back and ambled down the dirt access road.

He asked me what I was thinking. I told him that if this was all true, and it appeared it was, I couldn't trust Donna anymore. And I certainly couldn't trust her to be around Sam either. And what she had done had hurt me so bad; I couldn't imagine ever getting over it. The only answer was divorce. And I thought it might be best if I put some distance between us and her.

I told him I had finished school a semester ahead of schedule and I was being awarded my degree. He smiled warmly and congratulated me. I just nodded and said that given everything else that was happening it was a bittersweet accomplishment. Anyway I had sent out over a hundred resumes and applications all over the state. It was likely I could find a job away from our hometown. I thought the further away the better.

For awhile we talked of other things, their place in Florida, the possibility of putting an addition on the house here at the lake, my brother and his family. Finally he said that he and Mom had decided to give up the apartment in the city. It was just too much to keep up and they really couldn't afford to maintain the house on the lake, the apartment in town and the doublewide in their Florida retirement park. I nodded when he said that. My brother and I had often wondered why they even tried.

Finally our walk ended back at the house. But before we went in, Dad stopped and said. "Whatever you decide to do about Donna, just be sure you do it for the right reasons. I know you loved her, maybe you still do. You know we don't believe in divorce except as a last resort, but your mother and I will stand by you. Now is there anything we can do to help you and Samantha?"

As he said that, I started to choke up again. "Thanks Dad. Would you and Mom keep Sam for me this week? I have a lot of things to work out about all this and I need to keep working until I can find another job."

"Sure son, I'll talk to your Mom. I'm sure she would love to have Sam around as much as I would."

We spent the rest of the evening having dinner, visiting and playing games with Sam. We avoided any talk about Donna and by Sam's bedtime I was exhausted. I hadn't had much sleep the night before and I was emotionally wrung out. I staggered off to bed with a warning from Dad that we were going to get started by nine the next morning.

At eight I was up and having breakfast when Harvey wandered over. Harvey was in his seventies and had owned the cottage next door for over thirty years. His wife had passed away a couple of years before. Now he divided his time between the cottage and the homes of his three married kids. Only one of his kids, his oldest son still lived in Michigan and he had two college age kids of his own.

Up until a couple of years ago, these two grandkids, a girl and a boy could be seen up here nearly every weekend. Hanging out with friends, swimming, and water skiing and just having a wonderful time. I called them kids but in fact they were only five or six years younger than Donna and I. But as both of them got more and more involved in college they had pretty much quit coming to the lake

Harvey was a friendly old cuss. He and his wife had been close to mom and dad for years. He sat down with a cup of coffee and we all visited for a bit. Dad and Mom bragged about me finishing my engineering degree from Michigan State. He congratulated me and then volunteered the information that his granddaughter, Casey was graduating from Grand Valley the following week.

"Can you believe it? She is getting her degree in 'Kinesiology'! I can hardly pronounce it, much less spell it!" He laughed.

"She wants to spend some time up here this summer while she is working on finding a job. She hasn't been up here much the last couple of years and misses the lake. She's afraid that once she starts working she might not have the opportunity again for quite awhile."

About that time my brother John showed up with his daughter, Elaine who was a year older than Sam. Sandra stayed home with their youngest since John was only coming up for the day. Elaine went raring off to Sam's room to get her up.

Dad, John, Harvey and I got to work. With the four of us pitching in the work went pretty fast. By lunchtime we had the docks in. After a short break we borrowed a pontoon trailer from a neighbor down the road and got both Dad's and Harvey's pontoons in the water. We finished up by putting in Harvey's speedboat and Dad's fishing boat. Sam and Elaine couldn't wait to get on the pontoon. We ended the day by loading everyone on the pontoon and doing a short circuit around our end of the lake.

I was pleasantly exhausted but I had managed to put Donna out of my mind for most of the day. At one point I did have to explain to John what was happening. After he got over the initial shock, we agreed to get together for lunch later in the week and talk some more. I approached Sam about staying at the lake with Grandma and Grandpa. At first she was concerned about missing pre-school but I assured her I would call the school and they wouldn't mind if she missed a week.

After a quick dinner, I packed up and said goodbye to everyone. I gave Sam a hug and kiss and told her to be good for Grandma and Grandma. I assured her I would call her every day and Grandpa would bring her home on Friday. As I drove home I reflected on the fact that I was more relaxed than I had been for a couple of weeks. Mentally I was relieved that with Sam being cared for I could concentrate on bringing some finality to my situation.

I got home just about dusk. I collected Saturday's mail and the Sunday newspaper off the porch and dropped them on the kitchen table. I glanced at the answering machine in the den and the message light was blinking. There were three messages. Trevor had called and wanted to see how I was doing. And Jack had called and wanted me to call him back. The third call was from Donna. When I realized whose barely recognizable voice it was my heart started pounding.

Faintly she said, "Ken? Ken where are you?"

I could hear her barely suppress a sob and her voice quivered. "Ken, please, please come get me out of here. It's a mistake. I don't know what you think happened but it's not true. Daddy will hardly talk to me and Mom won't come to the phone. I don't know who else to call. Please?" She started crying openly and then the call disconnected.

I stood there for moment. Trying to get my mind back to the moment, to recapture the anger and hate I had felt only last Friday night. Mostly I just felt sad. Sad and bitter.

I picked up the phone and called Jack. When he answered I said, "Jack, it's Ken. How's Brenda?"

In a tired dull voice, he said "Ken, I tried to reach you but you weren't home."

"I know, I decided to take Sam up to the lake to Mom and Dad's. I just got back. They are going to keep Sam for me this week."

"Brenda's in the hospital, Ken. I took her into emergency yesterday. After I told her everything you told me her blood pressure got dangerously high. She may be having an emotional breakdown too. The doctor says they want to keep her sedated and under observation for a couple of days."

"Damn it, I'm sorry Jack. I'm hope she's going to be all right."

"Me too, Ken. But I wanted to tell you that Donna called again early this morning. I could hardly stand to talk to her! I didn't know what to say. She did this to her mother and right now I can't forgive her for that. I finally just hung up."

"Yeah, I know Jack. She left a message on our answering machine too. Begging me to come and get her out of there. Claiming that's its all a mistake."

I hesitated for a minute, "I'm planning on going to the arraignment tomorrow, are you?"

"I think I need to be back at the hospital in the morning. If Brenda sees me it helps keep her calm."

"Okay, I'll call you tomorrow afternoon or come by the hospital before I go to work and let you know what's going on. Give Brenda my best, will you?"

"I will, thanks Ken."

After hanging up I quickly went through the mail. There were a couple of envelopes from engineering firms I had applied to. I opened them and scanned through the letters. One of them said they had no current openings but would keep my resume on file. The other said to apply to the employment agency they used to fill openings when they occurred. No joy there, I thought.

I flipped on the television and opened up the Sunday paper. As the television droned on I sleepily turned the pages and half-heartedly got caught up on the news. Suddenly I was wide awake. There on the bottom of the front page of the metro section was a story titled 'Major Drug Bust on East Side'. It was several columns wide and was continued on an inside page.

The inside page contained two photos. One photo showed the back half of a Lincoln Town Car with the trunk open and two officers going through it. In the background you could see the open hotel room door and one of the beds with the bedding strewn all over. The other pictured showed a half naked man from behind in handcuffs being put into a police car. I could tell from the profile and the fact he was walking under his own power that it had to be James.

The story stated two male and two female suspects had been taken into custody. And that the state prosecutor's office was very interested in the fact that one of the male suspects was a state corrections officer. A large quantity of drugs had been seized in the cars belonging to two of the suspects. A gun and a knife had also been found in the room. The suspects were to be arraigned on Monday.

In addition to the reporters byline, there was Dennis Thompson's byline under the pictures. I paused as I considered that. I knew from my previous contact with him that even though he was free-lance he kept an office over in the newspaper building. I thought it might be beneficial to pay him a visit the first thing the next day.

The last thing I did before going to bed was to return Trevor's call. When he answered I quickly brought him up to date on everything that had happened over the weekend. We talked a bit about the impact this was having on her parents and my parents. I told him I planned on being at work all week since Sam was being taken care of.

I was getting ready to hang up when he said he had some news too. He had gotten his letter from General Motors telling him his start date for the apprenticeship program was in two weeks. I congratulated him and told him no one deserved it more. And I meant it. Trevor was a good guy, hardworking and smart, too smart to spend his life on the assembly line.

The next morning I got up early. By eight I was on the phone with the office of a divorce attorney I had called the previous week. I was fortunate and able to get an appointment for that afternoon. By eight thirty I was standing outside Dennis Thompson's office in the newspaper building knocking at his door.

He answered the door and said without warmth, "Yeah, what do you want?"

He was a couple of years younger than me, tall and thin. He appeared somewhat scruffy looking, like he didn't much care about appearances.

"Mr. Thompson, my name is Ken Colville. I would like to speak to you about the pictures you ran in Sunday's paper about the drug bust."

"Oh yeah? Come on in. Have we met? You sound familiar."

Trying to pitch my voice slightly higher than usual, I said, "I don't think so."

"Okay, so what's your interest?"

"My wife is Donna Colville. She was one of the women arrested at that motel."

That statement got his undivided attention. "I'm sorry to hear that." He said.

"Yes, I'm sure you are. I am filing for divorce. From the pictures in the paper and a comment the Detective made I believe that you may have other pictures that may be useful to my divorce attorney."

"Yeah, there are other pictures. But why should I make them available to you?"

I decided on a direct approach and see what he would do. "Look Mr. Thompson. I will pay you five hundred dollars for a set of any pictures you might have. And I will sign an Agreement that they are for my personal use in any litigation I may be involved in and will not be published anywhere."

He thought about it for a minute. "Like I said, why should I make them available to you?"

"Would you prefer to have my attorney subpoena you and the photos for a divorce hearing? This way you get the cash and will not have to be bothered."

He stared at me for a minute then he laughed, "Yeah, you may be right."

He reached for a pile of manila envelopes on the corner of his desk and started going through them. He finally came to the one he was looking for and slid it across the desk to me. He then reached into a file drawer under the desk and pulled out a couple of printed sheets.

"There are two sets of five by sevens in there. I have to warn you that some of them are pretty graphic. Look them over and make sure they are what you are looking for while I fill out the standard contract forms. Oh, yeah and you can make out a check to me for five hundred and fifty bucks, five hundred for the right to the photos, and fifty for the prints. You return the prints to me and I will refund the fifty, fair enough?"

I just grunted at him as I was sure he knew the prints would never be returned. I gingerly opened the envelope and pulled out a sheaf of pictures. As I quickly leafed through them I felt my throat tighten and I was suddenly dizzy.

"Yeah, this is what I want. And I, I recognize the other woman too." I said almost whispering as I put them back in the envelope.

He stopped writing for a moment and looked at me closely, "You didn't know anything about this did you? Are there kids involved too?"

I didn't say anything, just nodded. He shook his head and said, "I do some work for a private investigator from time to time. It's amazing how much it hurts when a man or woman finds out their spouse isn't who they think they are."

With my hands shaking I got out my checkbook and wrote out the check. We both signed the contracts, a copy for both of us, and I handed him the money.

As he took the check, he said, "Thanks, I couldn't have used most of those pictures anyway, too graphic and too many chances of a lawsuit if I did."

I nodded. "I may be able to throw some more business your way. The other woman has two ex-husbands who would like to get custody of their kids too. I will let them know about these and I bet they will be willing to pay you for copies."