Key West Gone into the Night Elizabeth Hilleren (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📖

“I’ll be right down.  Harris, the family is here. Turn the murder board around and grab some soft drinks from the refrigerator.”

“Will do.”

Harris grabbed the pop out of the refrigerator and set out cups, then arranged the murder board so that it was facing the windows. He turned the pictures of the crime scene over.

Sharkey walked back into the room, showed the couple to the meeting table and they sat down. Harris came out from behind the murder board as Sharkey said, “Detective Harris, this is Stephanie Williams, and Carl Abbott.”

Harris did a double take.  “Stephie? What are you doin’ here?”

His face turned bright red then blanched.   “No…”

“You…bastard,” she shouted. Her eyes bored into Harris.

Sharkey looked both confused and alarmed for a moment, and then got Harris a chair as he stood there staring and holding two cold cans of soda.

“Sit down, take a deep breath.”

“This is my ex-wife,” Harris said. “Remarried, I assume.”  The words came out in a raspy voice.

“Take it easy,” Sharkey said, pushing one of the cans of soda toward him.

“That ‘victim’ is our daughter, you jerk.  Why didn’t you call me?” Stephanie’s head was sticking forward like a vulture.

“I didn’t know…”

“That figures. You never did know crap.”

“Stop.”  Sharkey cut her off with one short word. His voice had changed to sharp and commanding.

She froze.  Carl Abbott sat staring at his mother-in-law, his mouth slightly open.

Sharkey walked around in front of the woman. Her face was red, and her mouth was twitching. He knelt. His voice was now soft, and he looked directly at her.

“Detective Harris and I had no idea who the victim was. She had no purse and no ID. Even if she had ID, we wouldn’t have known who she was. She has a different name and I understand that it has been many years since he has seen her or heard from her.”

Stephanie glared at Harris. Sharkey pushed a beverage towards her, and she finally looked away and down at the can.

“Drink,” Sharkey ordered. “Let’s try to be civil. You’re both in shock. You need to come to grips with some unpleasant realities. Your grandchildren are in great peril. If we don’t get them back soon, we may never get them back.  We don’t have time to play stupid blame games.”

“My son is in great peril?” shouted Carl, who had been sitting watching the revelation of Harris and his ex-wife.

“Mr. Abbott, let’s give Stephanie and Harris time to deal with meeting unexpectedly.”

“Yeah. Sure.” He sat back down.

Harris took a deep breath. “You’re right. But now I got a big problem. I’ll have to recuse myself from the case.”

“Why?” Stephanie demanded in disbelief. “You hate us so much you won’t even try to find your daughter’s killer?”

“Because it’s personal,” Harris said through clenched teeth.  “I can’t work a case that involves my family. Department policy. Every police department has that rule. They won’t let me work it.  Look, I gotta get out of here. I can’t get involved.”

Sharkey held up his hand. “I’m calling Rex. You shouldn’t be alone right now.”

“There’s something that I gotta do, Sharkey. Tell Rex I’ll meet him in an hour downstairs.”

Sharkey stepped away and spoke quietly on the phone and then returned. “He’ll be here to pick you up in an hour.”

“Yeah.” Harris looked like he was close to tears, then he took a deep breath. “I’m okay.  I’ll go take Rex to lunch…or dinner…a drink. I gotta go.”

“Call me if you need anything,” Sharkey said.

“Will do, buddy.” He turned and walked out, closing the door behind him.

*    *    *

Harris walked out quickly to his car and drove directly to the morgue. Frank met him at the door.

“Harris.”

“Yeah, I need to see the body of Susan Abbott.”

Frank looked at Harris with a question on his face.

“I just learned that she’s my daughter, Frank.” Harris fought to control his voice.

“Oh, my God, Harris.  I’m so sorry.”

“She was estranged. I hadn’t seen her for years. She married and changed her name. I need to see her now.”

“Give us a few minutes and we’ll have her ready.”

Frank returned a few minutes later and led Harris to the viewing room. “Just take all the time you need.”

“Thanks.”

Harris walked over to the table where she lay. His throat tightened up and his mouth went dry. He swallowed hard and reached out and touched her hand.

“I’m so sorry, baby. I wasn’t there for you…You’ve grown up into such a beautiful young woman.  I failed you, but I will find out who did this to you, and I will find your sons.  Forgive me if you can… I promise you I will not fail you again and those boys will have a home and all the love I have.”

He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I love you, Susan. I have always loved you and always will.”

He turned and headed for the door.

“Thanks, Frank.”

“I’m here for you. Anything you need.”

“Thanks. I gotta go now.”

“I understand. Take care. Remember, anything.” Frank said as he led Harris to the front door.

*    *    *

Stephanie had excused herself and headed for the ladies room, then returned to Sharkey’s office with a look of stony resolution on her face.

She marched over to Sharkey’s desk and demanded, “Well, is there anybody that can work it?” Stephanie asked, her hands on her hips.

“Mrs. Williams, the entire police department is alerted to this case. We have volunteers that have stepped forward to work overtime because of the time sensitive nature of abductions. We have people working on the forensic clues from the crime scene.  What I need from you is to focus on sharing with us what you know about