Page 3 of Shelter for Martina

The woman’s face turned blood red. “That damn Burgess trash! Itoldher to stay away from that little sonofabitch. He’s nothing but trouble. What’s he gone and done this time? And where is Renita? Is she with him?”

“I don’t know, ma’am. So she has a history with Mr.Burgess?”

She snorted. “Too much of one. I thought when she and Darnell married, she’d leave that piece of shit alone, but no. Every time he calls her, crying that his life is a fucked-up mess and he can’t handle it, she goes to take care of him. She should let his drug-addicted, gun-totin’ ass burn in hell.” The woman was shaking with rage, and Bud could understand it. If his daughter were involved with Marty, he’d be furious too.

“What made you believe she was missing? Do you see her every day?”

“I got a call from her mother-in-law. Renita was supposed to go pick up the girls, but she never showed.”

“Girls?”

“Yeah. Two little ones. Annie is three, and Gabrielle is one. I called her, but she didn’t answer. Nola called her—”

“Nola?”

“Her mother-in-law. She called Renita too. We’ve been calling her, over and over and over, but she doesn’t answer. She lives in an apartment in Central City, so Arthur, Nola’s husband, went over there to check on her, but she wasn’t there. Nobody was.”

He could understand why her mother would be upset. If one of his kids didn’t pick up their children from his house, he’d know something was wrong. “And where is, um, Darnell?”

“Gone. He works on the river. Deckhand. He’s been gone for two weeks and won’t be home for another two. Nola called him and he’s just beside himself, but what can he do? Nothing. There’s nothing any of us can do except wait onyou peopleto do some work!” At that, Mrs.Anderson began to cry, and Bud felt terrible for her.

“Ma’am, I’m so sorry. I don’t know who dropped the ball, but I’ll be checking around and getting somebody on this as soon as possible. You can expect to hear from somebody soon.” That made her cry even harder, and Bud couldn’t just leave her like that. “Come on inside and sit down. Come on. I’ll help you.” He took her by the arm and the woman let him lead her in.

The house surprised him. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it wasn’t that. Everything was well-worn, but it was clean and very neat. There were two big bookcases in the living room and they were bursting with books. There was an especially thick one nearer the sofa and Bud took a quick glance—yep, Tolstoy. As soon as she was seated, Bud stood. “There are still a bunch of people down in Fordsville at the grocery store, and I—”

“Looking for Burgess, aren’t they?” she asked, sniffling.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Figures.” And she said nothing else.

The silence was awkward. “Well, ma’am, if there’s nothing else—”

“Could you at least tellsomebody? Look for her for even just fifteen minutes?”

“Ma’am, I…” And he thought of something. “Do you have an extra key for her car?”

“Yeah. It used to be my car. I’ve still got my keys.”

“I’ll have it towed to the lab and let them go over it. That’s something we can do before she’s found.”

The woman jumped up and ran to her purse, then came back, struggling with the keychain. “I hate these things!” she said, her hands shaking as she tried to get the keys off the ring.

Bud reached over and calmly took them from her hand. “Which ones are they?” She pointed at a key and a fob. “Hang on.” Using one of his own keys, he was able to separate the split ring and work the key and fob off her keychain. “There ya go. I’ll take these with me. Is there anything else you can tell me that might help?”

“No, sir. Nothing.” She paused for a few seconds, then looked up at Bud. “Look, I know she was hanging out with trash. I get that. But we’ve been through a lot. My younger daughter had cystic fibrosis. I had to quit my teaching job to take care of her. I’d taught for fourteen years before she died. In the meantime, my husband was in an accident on a boat and drown. He worked for the same company Darnell works for, had been out there for years. By the time Bettina died, my teaching certificate had expired, I didn’t have the money to do the things that would be required to renew it, and I had to make a living for myself and Renita. I worked one low-paying job after another, trying to keep us in electricity and food. And that girl… I swear, she’s just like her UncleEddie, my brother. She was into some kind of mischief all the time. And drugs? Oh, lawd, I sent her to rehab twice. But she was finally clean, and married, and had those two beautiful children. And now this. How much can a person take?”

The woman wasn’t crying anymore. Bud thought there was a good possibility that she’d used up her lifetime allotment of tears. She wasn’t just grief-stricken; she was tired and exasperated. Nothing had gone right for her in years, and now there was a good possibility that she’d wind up helping raise two small children at a time in her life that should’ve been hers to do as she pleased. He wanted to tell her they’d find her daughter and everything would be okay, but if she’d been mixed up with MartyBurgess, there was no guarantee. “I’m so sorry, ma’am. I’m especially sorry that nobody took the time to get back to you. I’ll get back over there and see if I can get them focused on Renita.”

“Thank you. You seem like a person who cares about others,” Mrs.Anderson said, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. “Thank you for being so kind to me.”

“You’re welcome. I’d want the same if it were my daughter. So I’ll be in touch.” Bud walked out the door and climbed back in his car, but when he looked up, there she was, in the doorway. She held up a hand in parting, and he did the same. People suffered all kinds of losses in their lives. That woman had suffered more than her share.

When he pulled up at the grocery store in LittleMount, everyone was still there. “Is the sheriff here?” Bud bellowed as soon as he was out of the car.

A young deputy pointed. “Right over there, sir.” Bud headed the direction in which the young man had pointed and saw a short, burly man standing at the edge of a group of people. There were talking and laughing, and something about the scene just rubbed Bud the wrong way. “Sheriff?”

The man spun. “Yeah? Well, hey there! If it ain’t the big dogs! Trooper, you don’t got your uniform on!” he said and laughed. A couple of the others twittered too.

---