Mr. Henry continued, "you see his wife was shot in the bank robbery." "Yes I remember reading about her. I thought it might have been his wife" I motioned him to go on. "He was heart broken you see, she never was right after being shot. He took care of her until her death many years ago. No children, no one to turn to but your grandmother. She went to him not long after it happened. She felt she owed him a visit. Somewhat a denial of the awful rumor that was running around even in some of the papers." "What rumor was that Mr. Henry?" "The one Missy, that said your grandmother's little brother Connor had something to do with the bank robbery." "Oh yes I did hear that. It wasn't true was it?" "Of course not, no brother of that dear lady could have ever done such a thing, but anyway this Rev. McDonald, well he started coming by to see your grandmother bout every week, bout anytime he could get someone to sit with his wife--and before long the whole county had them linked together. It was a horrible embarrassment to Queenie and your grandfather. You see I knew it wasn't true cause I was this close with Queenie and your grandfather. It nearly killed them. "But Mr. Henry" I almost started to tell this man about the letters, but came to my senses and changed my question, "just what became of my grandmother's brother, the one people thought had something to do with the robbery." "Oh, I heard he moved away because of the scandal and died a few years later of a brain tumor. I think your grandmother knew where he was and kept in touch with him least that's what I heard. So you see, just leave this alone Missy. It can't do no good to dredge this old stuff up." I assured him he was right, but still we both agreed I should be weary of the man coming around posing as Rev. McDonald.
William was still up when I went to the kitchen to get some juice. "I can't sleep Carol, I'm overwhelmed with questions and imaginations etc. etc.." He was so dramatic. "Listen William let's just drop this whole thing. Really what good will it do?" "But Carol, that man! Don't you want to know who he is, gee I'm even kinda afraid of him coming around again. Aren't you?" "Yeah I know what you mean, but something tells me we should move on, just do our time here and move on------what was that?" There was a terrible crash. We went flying to the back door and out into the yard. "What the hell---shuuuu shhuuu--I held my hand over William's mouth. I could hear my heart beating or William's. On the side of the house we could only see it was a man. What was going on? What did he want? Who was he? What was I going to do about it? When was this going to end and how? This was getting dangerous--duh! What had I been thinking--time to go to the police with maybe everything we knew. I'd have to do it without Daddy knowing and soon.
The next afternoon when William got home from work, we went to the police station in town. I hadn't shared the Henry disclosure about Rev. McDonald being dead not even to William, but I was about to.
Captain Smith had been on the force for some time. I didn't know him personally, but had heard good things and felt I could trust him. I gave him all the lurid details as William's jaw dropped to hear Rev. McDonald was dead. As I hoped Captain Smith seemed just as eager to find out who this Rev. McDonald want to be was and sooner than later. He arranged to stake out our house the next couple of nights. The first one our elusive Rev. McDonald was a no show.
The next day I had taken another one of my walks, I had come to love. They cleared out all this mess around me and made me remember why we were here. To dream of the future, although I was feeling more and more unsure of a future away from this place. It seemed I had truly come home again.
As I started back by the mailbox, I saw a note sticking our. "Dear Carol please meet me at the library at 1pm. I'll be on the side near the drugstore. Please show up and please come alone. Don't be afraid I mean you no harm. I will finally explain who I am" signed "Rev. McDonald"
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