Chapter 9: Murder In Harmony
Chapter 9:
“It’s ok Daddy, you can sit down,” Kay said quietly. She was a little nervous about finally talking to her father, about what he would say.
Sam sat down and smiled at Kay. “I’ve really missed you pumpkin.
Kay smiled slightly at the sound of her dad’s nickname for her. “I’ve missed you too.
Ivy grabbed her cup and stood up. “I need a refill, Kay do you want anything?” Kay shook her head no. “Sam would you like some coffee?”
“Sure, thank you Ivy,” Sam said. Ivy took her time getting the coffee to give them some time alone.
“Kay, I’m not going to force you to come home,” Sam said, but I want to make sure you know that I want you to come home and if you decide you’re ready just call me and I’ll come get you.”
“I’m sorry daddy, but I’m not coming home. I just can’t live there anymore,” Kay said, holding back her tears.
“Kay please tell me what happened. Why did you run away?”
“I really don’t want to talk about it.”
“Did I do something wrong? Did your mother do something? Are you angry with me?” Sam asked.
“No daddy, it’s not because of you. But could we please not talk about it.”
“Ok pumpkin, I’m sorry,” Sam said relenting, “how is it living at the Cranes, are you doing ok there?”
“It’s great. Ivy and Ethan have been really wonderful and Sheridan’s nice too,” Kay said.
“Do you need anything?”
“No daddy, I have more than I need,” Kay chuckled, “Ivy won’t quit buying me stuff.”
“I worry about you staying there. You know the Cranes aren’t my favorite people. If anything happens I want you to call me day or night and I’ll come right over.”
“Everything’s fine, you shouldn’t worry about me.”
“I know, but it’s my job. I just miss you. You’re my little girl and I thought I’d have more time with you before you left home,” Sam said sadly.
“We can see each other daddy, we could have lunch or something sometime,” Kay said, hating to see her father so sad because of her, “and you can call me. Ivy said she’s getting my own phone line installed in my room, so you can call me if you want to check on me.”
“I’d like that,” Sam said, “would you like to see your mother too?”
“No,” Kay said quickly, “I don’t want to see her, I just want to see you.”
Ivy came back to the table with the coffee and sat down. “Here you go Sam. Kay dear, why don’t you go look for come of those decorating magazines.”
Kay left to look at the magazines and Sam took a sip of his coffee, it was just the way he liked it. ‘Ivy remembered,’ Sam thought.
“So how did it go with Kay,” Ivy asked, “did she talk to you?”
“It went ok, but she still won’t tell me why she ran away.” Sam looked at Ivy in scrutiny. “You set this up didn’t you. You and Kay being here and Luis insisting that I walk Sheridan over here, you set it all up.”
Yes but I wasn’t trying to get you over here for myself Ivy said defensively, “I knew Kay wanted to see you but she wasn’t ready to take the first step herself, so I figured if you happened to bump into each other she would want to talk to you. Please don’t be mad at me.”
“I wasn’t accusing you Ivy. I want to thank you.”
“Oh, well your welcome.”
“We need to talk about Kay’s living situation though,” Sam said, “Kay’s can’t stay with you forever.”
“Actually she can,” Ivy replied, “I told her this morning that she can stay as long as she wants. That’s why she’s looking at decorating magazines. I’m letting her pick out what she wants to redecorate her bedroom.”
“Thank you Ivy, but why are you doing this?”
“I admit that at first I had selfish reasons,” Ivy said somewhat ashamed, “when I first found her I thought that if I was nice to her and took her in then you wouldn’t hate me so much anymore.
But now I’ve gotten to know her and she’s such a sweet girl. I just want to try and help her and make sure she is ok. She reminds me of my girls. They’re so far away and I don’t get to spend time with them as often as I’d like. I hope that if they needed help that you would do the same for them that I have done for Kay.”
“Of course,” Sam said, “what about school? Kay should have been at school today.”
“We talked about that,” Ivy answered, “Kay refuses to go back to school. She doesn’t feel comfortable there anymore.”
“But Ivy, her education is important. She needs to be in school.”
“I know. She agreed to have private tutors come to the house. They can follow the same lessons that the school does so she can go back to school if she changes her mind.”
“Ivy that’s going to be awfully expensive. Kay doesn’t need to do that. She can go to her regular school.
All her friends are there, maybe they can get through to her.”
“Sam she didn’t just run away because of things at home, her friends are part of it too. They are the reason she doesn’t want to go to school. Having school at home will be better for her. All my kids had school at home before they went to boarding school, Sheridan too, the tutors do a great job. It’s only money Sam that’s not what’s important. I’m going to interview the tutors tomorrow, do you want to come too?”
“No, you seem to have more experience at this sort of thing. Just give me a list of names so I can run a check on them.”
“Sam the agency does background checks on everyone. But if it makes you feel better I’ll get you the list.”
“Thanks.”
Kay came back to the table with an arm full of magazines and a couple of books. “I wasn’t sure which magazines to get, so I got a few. I also found a couple of books I want to read, is that ok?”
“Sure, you can get whatever you want dear,” Ivy said.
“Dad, maybe you can come see my room when it’s done. Is that ok?” Kay asked Ivy.
“Of course. Your father can come to the house whenever you want.”
“So will you dad?”
“Sure, just let me know when you want me to come,” Sam said, “I’d better get back to the station. It was really great to see your pumpkin. Bye Ivy.” Sam kissed Kay on the forehead, stopped to talk to Beth for a second and left.
Ivy flagged down Beth. “Excuse me, could we please get our check for the coffee and the magazines and books.”
“Actually Chief Bennett already took care of your check already,” Beth said.
Ivy smiled, remembering back to when she and Sam where dating and he would never let her pay for anything, and she and Kay left the Book Café.
After lunch Ethan dropped Sheridan off at her cottage. She laid around on the couch for a couple hours reading a book until there was a knock on the door. She got up and peeked through the curtains before opening the door.
“Hi Hank, what are you doing here?”
“I just wanted to come by and see you,” Hank said, “can I come in.” Hank didn’t wait for her answer; he just walked right past her into the living room.
“Uh, sure,” Sheridan said and she shut the door and sat down on the couch.
Hank sat sown on the couch close to Sheridan, a little too close for her. “So have you missed me?”
“Uh Hank…”
“Cause I’ve missed my favorite girl,” Hank interrupted and he grabbed Sheridan and kissed her harshly. Sheridan pushed away and jumped up off the couch.
“What the hell do you think your doing Hank?”
“What did it look like I was doing,” Hank laughed.
“Look Hank, Luis and I…”
“I don’t care about Luis,” Hank sneered, “you dated both of us before. Luis had his turn with you and now I want my turn.” Hank came at Sheridan, knocking over a lamp in the process. He grabbed her arms and pushed her against the wall. He pushed his body against hers and tried to kiss her as she struggled to get free herself from his grasp.
She finally managed to bring her knee to his crotch and she pushed him away as he gasped for air and doubled over in pain. She grabbed a gold candlestick off the mantle in case he came at her again.
“You bitch,” Hank spat and he grabbed a vase of flowers off the table and threw it at Sheridan. The vase shattered against the wall next to Sheridan’s head, glass, flowers, and water flying everywhere. A piece of glass hit Sheridan’s neck, leaving a small bleeding cut. Hank was still muttering obscenities as he stumbled out the door.
Sheridan quickly ran to the door and locked it. Her hands were shaking. She walked over to the mess of the broken vase and started to pick it up. One of the pieces of glass cut her hand and she dropped the pieces she had picked up and her eyes glazed over as she stared at the blood on her hand.
When Luis got to Sheridan’s after he got off work he was so happy he was practically whistling. He couldn’t wait to spend the evening with Sheridan. He stepped into the living room and stopped in his tracks when he saw the broken mess of the vase of flowers and the broken lamp. He saw the red tint of blood on a piece of glass and pulled out his gun, calling Sheridan’s name frantically as he searched the house.
When he walked into the bedroom she was lying asleep, curled up on the bed. Her face was pale and her cheeks still stained with tears. There was a small line of blood on the side of her neck and there was blood on one of her hands and a stain of blood on the comforter underneath her hand. Luis rushed to her side, holstering his gun and sitting down on the bed next to her. He shook her gently and called her name until her eyes opened.
“Sheridan, are you ok? What happened?”
“Hank came and the blood. I cut myself,” Sheridan rambled shakily.
“Luis went into the bathroom and came out with some peroxide and bandages and started cleaning the cut on her hand. “Why was Hank here? Did he hurt you?”
“He grabbed me and pushed me against the wall. He kept trying to kiss me but I hurt him and he let me go.”
“How did you hurt you neck?” Luis asked as he gently wiped the small cut on her neck with a peroxide soaked cotton ball.
“He was mad and he threw a vase at me. He barley missed me, but a piece of glass his me when it broke and then I cut my hand when I tried to pick up the glass.” Sheridan’s voice was trembling.
“He wanted to… He was going to…” A fresh tear slid down her cheek and Luis wiped it away. “He said that you had your turn with me and know it was his turn. I thought he was my friend.”
Luis wrapped his arms around Sheridan and spoke softly. “Don’t worry about Hank anymore, he’s never going to hurt you again, I promise. Are you hurt anywhere else?”
“No, I’m ok, I’m just glad you’re here.”
“Do you still want to go to go to dinner, or would you rather stay home?”
“I’m fine, we can still go out.”
“Actually I thought we’d eat at my house. Mama’s been complaining that she hardly ever sees me anymore.”
“That sounds great,” Sheridan said, finally smiling, “I’d love to have dinner with Pilar. Just let me go wash my face and we can go.”
“Are you sure you feel up to this, cause we don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Luis said as he and Sheridan walked up the drive toward his house.
“I’m ok Luis, stop worrying. Hank didn’t hurt me; he just scared me that’s all. I want to have dinner with your family.”
“Hey mama, something smells great,” Luis said when they walked into the kitchen and he kissed her on the cheek.
“Luis,” Pilar said, “I’m so glad you and Sheridan came for dinner.”
“Thank you for inviting me,” Sheridan said, “I’m sorry I’ve been keeping Luis away from home.”
“I knew I’d have to share him eventually,” Pilar said.
Theresa came bouncing into the kitchen. “Hi Luis, hi Sheridan. I didn’t know you guys were coming. I was starting to think you were planning on staying at Sheridan’s forever,” Theresa teased and Sheridan blushed slightly. “How long till dinner mama, I’m starving?” “Another 25 minutes.”
“I think I’ll go get some wine to have with dinner,” Luis said.
“Oh, you’re going to let me drink?”
“Very funny Theresa. Take Sheridan in the living room and keep her company for me.” Luis gave Sheridan a quick kiss. “I’ll be right back.” Luis got into his car, but he didn’t go to the liquor store, he pulled his car to a stop in front of the Bennett house.
To Be Continued…