Ash Return of the Beast

CHAPTER 43



The Next Day…

Kane glanced over at Ravenwood in the passenger seat as they drove down a very typical suburban street on their way to pick up Sarah. The noonday sun was just popping out from behind a thin layer of haze as he parked the car in front of the modest rambler-style home.

The front yard boasted a huge chestnut tree with a tire swing dangling from one of the fat branches. He’d constructed it for Sarah years ago. Until the divorce five years ago, this is where Kane had lived the happy life of a husband and father. He turned to Ravenwood. “Well, here we are. Home used-to-be-sweet home.”

Ravenwood lifted her sunglasses and looked out her window. The front door of the house flew open and Sarah came running out, attired in white sneakers, blue jeans and a gray University of Washington sweatshirt that was at least two sizes too big for her petite frame.

Kane jumped out of the car and stood waiting to grab her as she ran toward him, her shoulder-length blonde hair bouncing all the way. She jumped up, wrapped her arms and legs around him, and nearly knocked him over. He tousled her hair, gave her a kiss on the top of the head and let her down.

“Little hot for a sweatshirt, isn’t it?” he said.

She looked down and shrugged. “But I just like it.”

Ravenwood grinned. The girl was adorable and Kane seemed like a different man. It was definitely a side of him she’d not seen before. This was big time Teddy Bear.

Sarah saw Ravenwood sitting in the car. “Who’s that, Daddy?”

Ravenwood stepped out of the car and smiled.

“Sarah,” Kane said, “This is Rowena.”

Ravenwood extended a hand. “Ro. Call me Ro.”

Kane groaned. “Yeah, um… Ro. Whatever. She’s an FBI agent. We’ve been working on a case together. I told her you’re the world’s best flute player so she wanted to meet you.”

“Daddy…” sarah protested. She shook Ravenwood’s hand and rolled her eyes as if to say ‘don’t listen to him, he’s just being a Dad’. “You’re an FBI agent?”

“I sure am.”

Sarah’s blue eyes widened. “Wow, that’s really cool. I never met an FBI agent before.”

“Well, I’ve never met a flute player before.”

Sarah laughed.

“Um…” Kane said, “do you guys wanna stand here talking all day or shall we get going? I’m hungry.”

***

As usual, during the summer vacation months, there were at least a million kids inside the huge circus-themed extravaganza known as Monkeyshine’s Pizza Palooza. Maybe not quite a million, but it sounded like it. The din of noise was a clamorous confusion of kids squealing and laughing, video games beeping, booping and whirring, calliopes whistling every fifteen minutes, circus music blaring from a dozen speakers strategically placed among the rafters, and the cacophony of voices of moms and dads trying to be heard over the semi-controlled insanity. Kids loved it and parents tolerated it for as long as their nerves could hold out.

Once inside the door, Sarah immediately headed straight for the nearly full-sized merry-go-round, the central feature of the place, and stood waiting for it to stop so she could hop onto her favorite animal, the white unicorn.

“Sarah!” Kane called after her. “We’ll be right here!” He pointed to the only empty table near the window.

Sarah acknowledged with a wave.

Kane and Ravenwood took a seat at the table.

“She’s still beautiful,” Ravenwood said. “But you know that, right?”

“Still?”

“You know what I mean.”

Kane turned away for a moment, his eyes searching for Sarah amongst the crowd of kids. “Yeah.”

“It’s not all that bad.” She leveled a look straight into his face. “Really. It isn’t.”

Kane nodded. “I suppose you know about that, too. How it happened, I mean.”

“Of course. Who doesn’t?”

“What do you mean?”

“It was in the newspaper, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“You remember everything you read in the paper five years ago?”

“No. But that story… it touched me, personally.”

Kane tilted his head, begging an explanation.

Ravenwood took a deep breath. “I… uh… sort of lied to you when you asked me if I had any kids.

“Well, whaddya know. The resident witch is a mother. So what’s the big––”

She raised a hand to interrupt him. “I’m not,” she said.

“Okay, you’re not a witch. I’m sorry. I was just––”

“I’m not a mother.”

Kane looked confused.

“I lost my baby at birth. A girl. Five years ago. A month before I read the article about you and Sarah.” She turned toward the window, her eyes glistening.

“Oh, Jesus.” Kane’s face registered genuine sympathy. He was also genuinely uncomfortable with the intimate direction the conversation was taking. “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

She turned to him again, her emotions under control. “It’s all right. Maybe the whole thing was meant to be. Who knows?”

In spite of the fact that he was uncomfortable with the conversation, there was still one more thing he wanted to know. Not that it was any of his business but he was a detective, after all, and the mystery of Rowena Ravenwood was not completely solved. “So you were married?”

As soon as the question rolled out of his mouth he remembered back to when he had barked at Wheeler for getting too nosey by asking the same damned question about himself. Now he looked at Ravenwood and put up his hands. “I’m sorry. It’s none of my business.”

Ravenwood shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I wasn’t married. The father was a cop. Undercover, narcotics. Out of Chicago. He was here for almost a year, working on a case. Somehow our paths crossed and… well, anyway, it doesn’t matter. Sorry to dump. But, now that I’ve told you my little secret, how about you tell me yours.”

“Mine? What do you mean?”

“That phone call back at Bodine’s apartment.”

“Look, I told you I don’t want––”

“You don’t want to talk about it. I know. It’s just that my gut tells me…”

Sarah ran up to the table. “Hey, you guys! Where’s the pizza? And can I get a monkey shake?”

Ravenwood tore her intense gaze away from Kane and turned to Sarah. The enthusiasm in the young girl’s eyes was infectious. Ravenwood grinned. “And what, pray tell, is a monkey shake?

Sarah returned the grin. “Banana, of course.”

Ravenwood nodded. “Ah! Of course. How silly of me.” She turned to Kane with a pleading look. “Can I get a monkey shake, too?”

On the trip back to Sarah’s house most of the conversation was between Sarah and Ravenwood. They talked monkey shakes and shoes, hair color, handbags and unicorns while Kane was mostly silent, lost in thought, conversing with the demons in the shadows of his own dark dilemma.

After dropping Sarah off at home Kane and Ravenwood headed back to the precinct headquarters.

“Well,” Ravenwood said, “You were certainly the chatty one.”

Kane shrugged. “Yeah. Well, between you and Sarah, who could get a word in anyway?”

“She’s a great kid. You’re lucky.”

Kane reached out and turned on the radio.

After a minute or two, Ravenwood leaned forward and turned it down. “I’m leaving for New Mexico tomorrow afternoon. Should only be gone a couple of days. Maybe three.”

“What’s in New Mexico?”

“A case I’ve been involved in for a while. Can’t really talk about it.”

“Aliens landed in Roswell?”

She turned to him and peered over the top of her sunglasses.

Kane nodded. “Yeah, I know. If you told me, you’d have to kill me.” Maybe that would be preferable to what I’m going through now.

She pushed her sunglasses back up. “When I get back,” she said, looking straight ahead, “maybe you’ll be ready to talk about that phone call.”

Kane reached out and turned the volume back up.