Chapter 6 #2
“I don’t know about that,” Burton replied, “but here’s to trying.”
Anderson woke the next morning, listening, checking in to confirm the quiet in the house. Then he hopped out of bed and grabbed a quick shower. As soon as he got out of the bathroom, he heard the babies laughing and cooing.
He dressed as fast as he could and headed into their bedroom and found Burton already stripping down dirty diapers. “Hey,” Anderson greeted his buddy.
“You smell better at least,” Burton quipped, with a smile.
Anderson sighed. “I just can’t imagine doing this every day.”
“I think,” his buddy suggested, “and I’m fully prepared to be wrong on this, but I think you would get into a routine at some point, and that should make it easier.”
“Hopefully. Yes, there’ll be highs and lows, but maybe some of it would settle into a level of normalcy, the new normalcy.”
Burton agreed with him.
By the time they had the triplets in clean diapers, dressed, now seated and strapped in to their highchairs, working on feeding them, Pamela called.
Anderson answered, “Hey, what’s up? We’re just feeding the girls.”
“Good. The docket’s been moved up.”
“Great,” he replied, frustrated. “How long do I have?”
“You don’t,” she replied cheerfully. “I’ll see you there.”
“Crap.” He looked over at Burton, who just waved him on.
“Go. You don’t want to be late. I may call out for more support though.”
“Yeah, you do that,” Anderson muttered, “but I have to run.” He leaned over, kissing each little girl.
They looked up at him, laughing, cheerful, with food all over their faces. With that, he bolted out the door.
He made it to the courthouse in record time, and, just as he got out of the vehicle, Pamela walked toward him.
She smiled. “You made good time.”
“I literally left when we ended the call,” he replied. “How can they change a court date like that?”
“Ah, don’t worry about it,” she replied. “I’ve already gone in and spoken on your behalf, so I’m hoping it will be a very quick preliminary status-quo type thing.”
“Status quo?” Anderson frowned.
“Yes,” Pamela confirmed, “until we see what the outcome is for your sister’s health. We can’t just turn over the triplets to you, not legally, not while she’s still in there fighting for her life.”
“And she is,” he muttered. “I found out last night that she’s got a broken pelvis, probably from a heavy blow. Sounds like being kicked to me.”
She winced. “That makes it potentially like … I’ll just say that I’ve seen way too much domestic violence.”
“Don’t worry. I’m already wondering if her husband did this to her,” he declared. “The biggest challenge is the fact that no one reports any sign of Tim anywhere. So, we have no idea where he is or what he’s doing, much less what he may have done to Talia.”
Pamela nodded. “Let’s deal with the problem in front of us first.”
And, sure enough, the court date was basically an information-gathering hearing, where Anderson had to state that he agreed to handle his sister’s babies in the interim.
Some additional discussion was had about the fact that they were triplets.
He shared that he had a friend over helping, but they were concerned about how long that friend would be there.
He added that he had other close friends but acknowledged that he couldn’t guarantee anything, but neither could the court or family services.
He shared that these three little girls were his family and that no way he wouldn’t do his best by them. They asked about his job, and he told them he had taken a temporary leave from the military for the moment to look after his family.
There was more back-and-forth, and eventually paperwork was signed, and he was allowed to leave. Outside, Pamela stepped up and smiled at him. “That went well.”
“Did it?” he asked, frowning at her. “I swear to God, it just seemed as if more and more people were questioning whether I could even do this.”
“Don’t blame them for that,” she replied. “Their primary concern needs to be with the children, right?”
He took a deep breath. “I’m trying to remember that.”
“Good,” she said, with a smile, “because it is important. The children are all that matters.”
“Of course,” he agreed, “but it’s still frustrating. I mean, I’m trying my best to do right by them.”
“Sure, but they also,” she pointed out, chewing on the word they, “need to know whatever help you can give the children. So, considering that, don’t be mad at the system in place because it’s there for a reason.
Just try to do what you can to ensure everything works out the way you need it to.
I’ll check in with you and see how you’re doing in a day or so. ”
He asked her, “Is that because you’re afraid I can’t handle this?”
She smiled at him and shook her head. “Not at all. I can see you are determined to do whatever you can. So, any shortcomings you may have in parenting, you will make up for in determination.”
“You got that straight,” he stated, finally returning her smile with one of his.
With a wave, she left.
Anderson wanted to talk to the police again. He called the station, and it took time, but he finally was connected to lead detective Samuel Colt. From the sound of his tone, Samuel remembered their prior conversation all too well.
Right away, Anderson asked about Tim. “I was hoping you had found him or at least had some idea where he was.”
“You tell us. Do you have any idea where he is or where he could be?”
“No,” Anderson said in frustration. “Believe me, if I did, I would have already hauled him in myself.”
At that, the detective added, “We can’t have vigilantes roaming around, messing up the whole situation.”
“Yeah, well, you’re talking to a military man who has done more than his fair share of investigations.
And now my sister is in the hospital, being beaten to the point that, Jesus, …
she has a busted pelvis,” he stated, his frustration oozing.
“Her triplets are not even one year old, and so I’m here, trying to take care of them, and meanwhile her husband is AWOL. ”
The detective remained silent to the point that Anderson felt he had to jump into the space. “So, unless he too was beaten up and maybe died, I have no idea where he is.”
“I agree with you,” the detective said, his tone still mild, calm, as if he’d prepared himself for this conversation and was doing his best to keep everything on an even keel. “In the meantime, we haven’t found him. The thing is, if he is responsible for this, I don’t understand the motive.”
“I don’t either,” Anderson muttered. “That isn’t what I would have thought of him.
On the other hand, I don’t know what to say about their marriage.
Obviously I’ve been overseas with the military, but, as far as I’m aware, everything was fine with them.
I spoke to her”—he paused for a moment—“about three weeks ago, and she told me that everything was fine.”
“How did she sound?”
“She was laughing. She seemed happy, and there was no indication of any problem, much less one this serious.”
“That’s good because if there were any indication—”
“I know,” Anderson snapped. “Believe me that I’ve already been through the implications, wondering if I missed something.”
The detective added, “You can’t blame yourself for this.
And yet I know it’s human nature, and I get that too.
” The detective was doing something on the computer as they spoke, as Anderson heard a keyboard clattering in the background.
“Still, that doesn’t help anybody. Do you have any idea where the husband would go underground? ”
“No, I really don’t. He doesn’t have any family around here that I know of.”
“That’s one of the biggest things, isn’t it? Where’s he from?”
“San Diego, I think,” he shared. “I never really talked to him about his family or met anyone related to him. And Talia and Tim have been together for, jeez, I think four, maybe even five years now.”
“Did he have weapons in the home? Did he have a history of violence? Were you at any time worried about your sister?”
“No, never,” he replied. “If Tim did this, I can only imagine that he snapped somehow.” Anderson could almost hear the brain cells in the detective’s mind humming. “Unless you’ve come up with something that shows him in another light?”
“No, we haven’t. And that is the problem.”
“Did you talk to his coworkers?”
“He is missing from work obviously. They noted that he had taken a few weeks off. So they weren’t expecting him back anytime soon. He works for some international company, supposedly as a clerk, whatever that means.”
“Yeah, well, it’ll be interesting to see if he comes back at all.” At the mention of some international company, red flags popped up for Anderson. “Maybe Tim got mixed up in some shady dealings?”
“What shady dealings?” Colt asked.
“I don’t know,” he snapped. “Potentially drugs or theft or smuggling. If he’s alive, he’s looking very much like a suspect to me at this point.” Then he thought about the vehicle that he had seen the other night. “I did see a vehicle parked near Talia’s house that had me concerned.”
“In what way?” Detective Colt asked, his tone turning sharp.
“I saw no need for it to be there. It wasn’t broken down with a flat tire or anything obvious to me. When the car drove off, that confirmed that it was working. Yet, when the driver figured out that I was following behind him, he—or she—took off at top speed and disappeared down the highway.”
“You approached the vehicle?” the detective asked, almost in outrage.
“Remember that part about my being in the military, having done multiple investigations?” His tone was hard.
“I’ve put out as many feelers as I can into my brother-in-law’s life.
But, so far, I haven’t found anything that indicates he did this.
Trust me, how that is something I do want to know, and I want to know it damn fast.”