Shambles by D.M. O'Neal

Author:D.M. O'Neal [O’Neal, D.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-945419-29-4
Publisher: Fawkes Press

16

February 12, 1995

Early Saturday morning, I find Connor stacking gear by the door and rummaging through his tackle box on the dining table.

“Hey, can we have a clean spot for breakfast?” I demand and push the box to the edge of the table with a plate.

He gathers all of his own fishing equipment and proudly proclaims he’s made a basic kit for Jackie from Ian’s neatly organized supply. If Ian knew anything had been removed from his designated storage area in the garage, he’d be upset, but I was sure after Connor explained, Ian would make an exception and be more upset at Connor’s good fortune.

For an early morning in February, it’s nice and sunny. “The weather man says we might get up to 70 degrees today,” Connor muffles through shoveled pancakes.

Edward and James are every boy’s dream uncles. Over the years, Edward became Ed and that was okay, but never Eddie, and James never converted to a Jim. Connor and Ian are like the sons that neither of them had. They are good men. I want my boys to spend as much time as possible with my brothers. Hopefully, they’ll be more like their uncles than their father. With Ian away at school, Ed and James keep Connor busy and out of trouble. Connor respects both of them and loves doing guy stuff. They are his yin and yang on the male perspective of life.

We had arranged to meet at 8:00 at our usual spot under the 820 bridge that joins the towns of Lake Worth and White Settlement. It’s a long, high bridge, and, even though we don’t need the shade today, in the summer, it’s the best parking and shove-off point. As we round the northwest curve of the freeway approaching Heron Drive, we see flashing lights on the westbound side of the bridge.

“Hmmm… I wonder what’s going on.” Jackie’s antenna goes up. She plucks a scrunchie from her purse and ties her hair back, a habit I’m sure she’s picked up from working scenes with me.

I drive on eastward to exit Cahoba Drive and turn westbound on the access road. James’s big red truck and boat are pulled over to the edge of the road as we come close to the lake. He and Ed are standing on their toes in the bed of the truck in an attempt to see. We pull up beside them, Jackie and Connor rolling down their windows.

“Hey!” Connor hollers over the sound of the police helicopter circling above. “What’s going on?”

James steps down from the tailgate. “There’s a body floating in the water just over there where that boat is.” He points at a boat under the bridge. “Looks like a woman in a red jacket with long hair.”

Ed joins him and pushes his way to Jackie’s window. He looks at me past Jackie. I can see from his expression that her presence has not escaped him, and I notice Jackie has released the long dark curls from the scrunchie.

“And… you are?” he says, holding out his hand.

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