Here I Am. Send Me.-Chapter Twenty-Seven

Evelyn and Chris interview Cal, Leyla's father.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

         Since her next meeting was at least in part authorized by Amanda, Evelyn drove to the CDC where she could swap out her recently dented and battered personal vehicle for a company car.
         When Evelyn had told Chris that she knew where Lakeland Church was, she had assumed that, since she could see it from the interstate, she would figure out how to get there. But the Cumberland River that wound back and forth through Nashville made fools of the best. She finally pulled over into a gas station and opened the map app on her phone. She could probably shoot an arrow and hit the back of the building, but it was a five-mile drive to get there by car.
         Her embarrassment was compounded by the unmarked police car with two occupants that followed her every move. At one point, she thought about waving them over and asking them for directions. But the map app eventually got her to the sign on Trinity Lane which said ‘Lakeland Church’. It then went on to give the pastor’s name and the times of worship.
         The building was enormous and architecturally beautiful, with an arbored parking lot that held spaces for at least a thousand cars. An hour after services, most of those spaces were empty and, while there were still some people bustling about, she had no problem finding Chris standing at the front entrance. It was a chilly day for mid-March, and he had his coat buttoned uptight with his hands thrust into his pockets, looking miserable. She felt guilty as she pulled up.
         He was moving better than yesterday but it was still a slow process as he gingerly settled into the passenger seat.
         When he had struggled into the seat belt, she reached over and touched his knee. “I’m sorry for being late. I thought I knew how to get here but I guess I didn’t.”
         “No problem.” He leaned toward her, and they shared a brief kiss.
         That felt very… domestic. She decided that she liked it and put the car in ‘drive’. “We’re being followed.”
         “What?!” He craned his neck around and spotted the unmarked police car that followed them out of the lot.
         “Sorry.” She apologized again. “They’re police. After yesterday, Metro PD has decided that we might actually be in some danger.”
         He nodded. “That’s not scary at all.” Apparently, sarcasm wasn’t a sin. “I might not update my parents about that on our next call.”
         Evelyn wondered if her mother would care. She didn’t want to mentally or emotionally go down that rabbit hole.
         “We’re supposed to maintain situational awareness, take reasonable precautions, but otherwise act as if they’re not there.”
         “Situational awareness?”
         “It’s cop speak for staying alert to what’s happening around you.”
         “I’ll make it a point to be situationally aware.” He hazarded a smile.
         “I’m not sure that it’s a laughing matter.”
         “I hope it is, but I’m going to act like it’s not.”
         She took a good look at him. “You’ve taken the bandage off your head.”
         “Yeah, the doctor said that it could come off today. That means that I got to wash my hair this morning. It felt good until I accidentally raked my fingernails over the scar. It was worth it to feel clean. I was starting to worry what kind of stuff was growing under all those bandages.”
         She pushed that image out of her mind and glanced over at the sutured scar that made its way down from the shaved area over his forehead toward his left eye. “Does that hurt?”
         “Yes.” He glanced again at the police car following them. “They don’t seem to be making much effort to conceal themselves.”
         She checked the rearview mirror. “I kind of like seeing them. I guess as a security guard, you’re used to this sort of thing.”
         “No. I’m used to sitting in a quiet room full of display cases all night and watching drunks stagger past on the sidewalk. This…” he gestured to his scar and the police vehicle behind them “…is new to me. How about you? Working with the police, how many violent scenes have you been a part of.”
         “Our officers work hard to keep us away from situations like that. John was good at sensing when something was about to get out of hand and getting me out of the way. I saw some stuff but was never right in it. Not until this week, anyway. It’s different when it’s aimed right at you. It gets sort of personal.”
         “I’m feeling that, too.”
         Sunday afternoon traffic was not terrible, and they were already approaching the Old Hickory Boulevard exit off I-40. After the debacle trying to find the church, Evelyn’s geographical self-confidence was flagging. “Could you pull up the directions to Salvatore’s, I don’t want to be late.” The rest of the drive was spent listening to directions from the robot voice coming from his phone.
         The traffic felt more like Nashville normal as they gridlocked on Lebanon Road and crept the last half mile to the restaurant. Evelyn found a parking spot with relative ease in the mid-afternoon dining lull, and they walked in to find Cal nursing a glass of water at a table in the back.
         Cal stood as Evelyn approached. She spoke first, “Hi Cal. In case you don’t remember, I’m Evelyn and this is Chris.”
         “The preacher. I remember.” The look on his face said that it wasn’t a pleasant memory. He sat. “I don’t have much time. Momma will be wondering where I am. I ordered a pizza for myself which I guess you’re paying for.”
         Chris and Evelyn looked at each other as they took their seats. “Uh, sure. I got it.” Chris mentally did some math against the balance of his checking account. He would be packing lunches for the week.
         A waitress came over, dropped off a coke for Cal, and looked at Evelyn and Chris. “Drinks?”
         “Water.” They both said at once. Chris looked at her, “Split a medium? What do you want on it?”
         She saw that toppings were extra. “Cheese is fine.”
         The waitress left with their order.
         Cal seemed sullen, even angry. “What did y’all want to talk with me about?”
         Evelyn paused at the emotions coming off the younger man but then answered. “About Josey and about your mother.”
         “I don’t know why I agreed to this.” He stared at the glass of water in his hands and seemed to be squeezing it with all of his strength.
         “Is something wrong?”
         “If you want to ask questions, just ask. When the pizza comes, I’m taking it to go, and I’m done with you people.” His voice remained quiet as looked up to glare at Evelyn. The look was cold. Nothing like what she had seen from him before. It stopped her.
          Chris leaned forward. “Cal, are you okay?”
         The cold stare switched from Evelyn to Chris. “I’m just peachy, preacher. Why don’t you drop some lame quotes from the Bible on us to make everybody feel better.” It was Chris’ turn to be silenced.
         “We visited Josey yesterday.” Evelyn tried to get the conversation on track.
         “Why don’t you leave us alone?”
         Chris responded. “Because something is going on here and we’re worried that your daughter might be in danger.”
         Cal looked over his shoulder as if trying to force his pizza to be delivered more quickly. He turned back. “She’s probably the only one who isn’t”
         Evelyn took over. “What do you mean?”
         “Nothing. Leyla’s fine and she’s going to stay fine.”
         “There’s something you’re not telling us.”
         “There’s a lot I’m not telling you. Because it's none of your business.”
         “If it has to do with the well-being of you or your family, it’s my business.”
         He looked over his shoulder again. Still no pizza on the way. “I told you I’d answer your questions. Ask.”
         “I understand that Josey had mental health issues before last week’s incident. Tell me about those.”
         Cal balled his right hand into a fist. Evelyn tried not to look away from the man’s face but noticed the whitening knuckles. With his left hand, he took a sip from his glass before answering.
         “She was on pills when we first met. They made her a little glassy-eyed, which is why we didn’t start dating at first. She told me that she had trouble sometimes telling what was real from what wasn’t.”
         “Did she tell you the name of her condition?”
         “Schizophrenia?”
         “Do you know what medication she was taking?”
         He shook his head. “No. They were yellow. She started seeming more normal after a while and was able to talk without getting confused. We hit it off.”
         “She was under a doctor’s care?”
         “On and off.”
         “On and off?”
         “Yeah, after we got married, she quit going. She said she was fine and had probably grown out of it. Then she got pregnant, and I thought it was probably better she wasn’t taking those pills. Then she had Leyla and, when Leyla was a baby, Josey had some problems.”
         “What kind of problems?”
         “She had a breakdown, I guess. We had to put her in a hospital for a couple of weeks. After that, she didn’t laugh as much and seemed uncomfortable around people, even though she started going to the doctor and taking the pills again.”
         “And she continued going to the doctor?”
         “Yeah. Until about a year ago. We couldn’t afford it. It was expensive even with insurance.”
         “She stopped taking her pills again?”
         “I think so. I was being sent on the road more and more, so I didn’t keep up. Maybe she tried to spread them out. Like, taking them every other day.”
         “That’s not how they work.”
         “Whatever you say. We didn’t have insurance and couldn’t afford a doctor. She never talked to me about it, and I didn’t ask.” His steadfast glare wavered. “I should have.”
         “Did you notice anything in the weeks leading up to last week? Was she acting in any unusual ways in the last few weeks?”
         “Like what?”
         “Like seeing things that weren’t there, believing things that weren’t true, talking in ways that didn’t make sense, unusual tics or movements, or changes in behavior patterns like bathing.”
          “Momma said she had several of those things. Particularly believing things that weren’t true.”
         “Did you see any?”
         “No. Like I said, I was away most of the time.”
         Chris took the next question. “The last time we spoke, you said that your mother wasn’t Josey’s biggest fan. Why was that?”
         “Momma doesn’t like most people. Honestly, Momma doesn’t really like anybody except Leyla, me, and Claire Wilkins. And she gets pretty mad at Miss Claire at times.”
         “Has she always been that way?”
         “I guess. Momma wasn’t around a lot when I was a kid. I was raised by my grandmother and Miss Claire.”
         “Did your mother ever talk about what she was doing when she was away?”
         Cal turned around again and strained to look to the kitchen as if willing the pizza to arrive. “No. She never talked about it.”
         “How was she as a mother?”
         “She was gone until I was in high school. That doesn’t get her any mother-of-the-year trophies.”
         “Did she hit you?”
         “Of course she did. Didn’t your mother ever hit you?”
         Chris smiled and nodded. “I remember the occasional spanking. When your mother hit you, was she simply punishing or did she seem really mad.”
         “She didn’t beat me, if that’s what you’re asking. I didn’t go to school with hidden bruises, or anything like in those movies they used to show in homeroom.”
         “Your mother came back into your life when you were fourteen?”
         “That’s right.”
         “And you got married to Josey when you were eighteen.”
         “Almost nineteen.”
         “How long after you were married was Leyla born?”
         Cal got up from the table and walked over to the counter. Chris and Evelyn only heard the cashier’s response. “It’s coming out now.”
         Cal came back to the table and Chris repeated his question.
         Cal answered, “Right at a year. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
         “I know. I’m just trying to get a timeline. When we asked questions about Leyla’s age, Josey got agitated. Do you have any idea why?”
         A large box with ‘Hot Pizza’ written on the top was deposited on the table by the waitress. Cal grabbed it and nearly ran from the restaurant.