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Chapter or Story
Chapter 16
It was quiet in the courthouse for quite some time. Sydney and Broots buried themselves in the newspaper, and Miss Parker took a paper into her cell, but Andy noticed the pages turned very slowly, if at all. Otis had lain down again, pretending to nap, his hat over his face. Andy pretended to be busy with paperwork, though really he was thinking about how much he hadn’t known about Otis and his wife and how much Miss Parker changed when she was talking about her mother. It made him wonder if Opie missed having a mother that much, or if having a good, loving, involved father and a nurturing great-aunt was enough.
Just on cue, the nurturing great-aunt entered with lunch, just in time to hear Sydney say, “I’m not finding anything in these newspapers” and Miss Parker swear at him. Aunt Bee looked shocked and Broots embarrassed, but Sydney didn’t turn a hair.
“Lunchtime!” Aunt Bee said uncertainly. “Otis, don’t you want some lunch? Why, you didn’t finish your breakfast!”
“Wasn’t hungry,” Otis mumbled.
“Are you hungry now?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’ve got a nice, hot casserole here. You eat up. You too, Miss Parker. You’re far too thin!”
Miss Parker snorted, but she accepted a heaping plate with a quiet, “Thank you.”
“Hey, Aunt Bee, how’s that sick friend of Opie’s?”
“Sick friend of—oh! He’s much better, Andy. You know how those boys are. Constitution of an ox!”
Andy’s eyes twinkled at her, and hers twinkled back. “That’s good. That’s real good. I’ll bring your basket back later. Oh, and I got something to ask Opie, so keep him in the neighborhood, will you?”
“Sure, Andy.” She cast a worried look at Miss Parker and trotted away.
Everyone was silent as they ate, other than occasional comments on the food, but when Otis handed back his plate to Andy, he glanced in Miss Parker’s direction through the cell bars.
“You sure look like your ma, but you ain’t much like her, are you?”
“No, I’m not,” Miss Parker snapped, but there was that in her expression that said she might wish she were.
“You’re more like her than you think, Miss Parker,” Sydney said.
Miss Parker gave him a look too complicated for Andy to read—contempt? longing? pain hidden behind arrogance? gratitude? all of the above? –and retreated behind her newspaper again. Then—
“Syd! Look at this!” She showed him a tiny article in her paper.
“’Empire State Building Worker Killed By Fall From Tower,’” Sydney read. “’Police suspect foul play. He leaves behind a wife and two children.’”
“Hey!” Broots said. “That sounds exactly like something Jarod would go for.”
“And it’s actually in the Empire State Building,” Sydney agreed.
“Broots, get on the phone and find out what Angelo thinks of this one. I have a gut feeling it’s the one we’re looking for.”
Andy kept his face straight by a valiant effort of the will as he offered his telephone to Broots. “What’s so important about the Empire State Building?”
They all turned to look at him, then cast each other glances.
“It’s Jarod’s favorite building,” Sydney answered carefully. “He built an exact replica of it from photographs when he was four years old.”
“That’s impressive, isn’t it? Opie’s little buildings he made from building blocks when he was four were crude little things.”
“Yes, it is impressive. It is what made me comprehend the extent of his intelligence.”
Barney rushed in while Broots was still on the phone. “Hey, And! Hope I’m not too late for some of Aunt Bee’s cooking!”
“No, Barn, there’s a little left for you. Did you get a good rest?”
“Sure did. Slept like the dead.” He chuckled as if he’d just coined a very clever phrase. “Like the dead, get it?”
“Yeah, I got it, Barn. You was all restless and sleepwalkin’.”
“Sleepwalking?”
“You know, like ghosts and so forth. Them’s dead.”
“No, Andy! If you say you slept like the dead, you mean you slept like you were dead!”
“Well, you better not tell Thelma Lou that. She might get worried about you.”
“No, she won’t because she knows common, everyday phrases! What’s wrong with you, Andy?”
“Nothin’,” Andy grinned. “Eat up, and I’m goin’ to return Aunt Bee’s basket to her and go out on patrol. You keep a close eye on the prisoners and don’t let them have the key! Well, Otis can have it, but not Miss Parker.” He cast her a grin and received a glare in return, but he thought there was a distinct glint of humor in her eyes. If we let this young lady hang around here very long, she’ll become a real human being, a real nice person. “Oh, and Barn, remember this evening I’m taking that package to Mount Pilot.”
“Package? What package?”
“You know, that one we found by the road the other day, the one dropped there by accident that we picked up and promised to get there? I put it in my room to get it out of the way. Big package.”
“Ohh, that package. Well, why didn’t you say so? Don’t you worry about a thing. We’ll be alright here.”
“Thanks, Barney. See you later.”
“See ya, And.”
Andy took the basket and drove the squad car home. Dropping off the basket with Aunt Bee, he went upstairs to where Jarod was sitting on his bed with a book.
“Good to see you so much better. Aunt Bee says you have the constitution of an ox.”
“Well, I’ve never heard it put that way, but she’s probably right. She’s making me stay upstairs, through, in case anyone comes over.”
“Good idea. Whatcha reading?”
Jarod showed him the cover. “Book Opie lent me. It’s very good. A boy named Eddie goes to a ranch for a visit and comes home with a goat and some snakes.”
Andy laughed. “Ope loves those books. Anything to do with horses and cowboys. I guess you didn’t read much kids’ books when you were growing up?”
Jarod’s eyes darkened a little. “None at all. The first children’s book I read was ‘Curious George,’ a year or two ago.”
“Aw, that’s a good one. Listen, Jarod, I just thought you oughta know: they’re investigatin’ a death in New York they think you’re interested in. Something about the Empire State Building.”
Jarod cracked a grin. “Are they. That’s very funny.”
“I didn’t tell ‘em they were barking up the wrong tree, o’course.”
“Barking—?”
“Barking? Oh—um, running after the wrong clue. Like a hound dog chasing some squirrel up a tree and sittin’ barking at one tree when it’s in the next one over.”
“Oh. How very descriptive. Barking up the wrong tree. Well, they are, but they’re not.”
“How do you mean?”
“The squirrel has been and gone. I did investigate that death, by phone, last week, and I sent an anonymous tip to the New York police, and they solved it. It should be in the papers by Monday.”
Andy shook his head with a laugh. “I never saw the beat of you! Wa’al, I better git going. I’m coming back at four this afternoon to take you to Mount Pilot to catch the bus. You ready for a trip?”
“Yes, I am. Thank you, Andy.”
“Welcome. See ya.”
Downstairs, Opie met him in the living room. “Didja want to see me, Paw?”
“I sure did, Ope. I got a mission for you. You know what a diversion is?”
“Sure, Paw. When you make a big ruckus so’s people don’t pay any attention to what’s really goin’ on.”
“Right. Now, I need you to make me a diversion at four o’clock this afternoon. I have to get Jarod out the back door and into the squad car without anyone knowin’ he was ever here. At four o’clock exactly. You got that?”
Opie was all smiles. “Oh, sure, Paw! That’ll be easy.”
“Right, but nobody can know what it’s about.”
“Don’t worry, Paw. I’ll take care of it.”
“I know you will! Plan carefully, and I’ll see you later.”
“Bye, Paw.”
He left Opie almost jumping up and down with excitement and went out on patrol.
