Chapter 8: Dark Discoveries

School was finally out and my work took on a complete new set of routines. I called it “Operation Mop-Up.” All the windows had to be cleaned and the floors polished in every classroom and hallway. The bathrooms had to be thoroughly disinfected from top to bottom. The little scribbles and graffiti was the toughest part to get rid of, especially in the girl’s bathrooms. There were the usual smiley faces and the declarations of love, such as ‘I Luv Jimmy’ or ‘Mindy likes Kevin.’ I was surprised to find one that said ‘The new janitor is cute.’ But the best one of all showed an arrow pointing to the toilet paper saying ‘Pull for Arts Degree’ to which someone else added an ‘F’ in front of ‘Arts.’ I never laughed so hard, amazed at the thoughts and expressions of these young, innocent minds.

I was busy moving chairs to one side of a classroom to clean and polish the floor, when someone from the office called me on my walkie-talkie, telling me the police were there to see me. I hurried down the hallways thinking that maybe my brother had been released from jail and praying that nothing had happened to Susie. There was a woman detective and two uniformed policemen waiting for me outside the office.

“Is Susie alright?” was my main concern. “Is my brother out of jail?”

It was clear to the detective that I was worried and nervous. “Your neighbor, Mrs. Sanders, told us we could find you here. We’ve been instructed to take another look through your brother’s house. The department ran a nationwide check on his wife and was unable to find anything that could lead us to her whereabouts. There might still be some clues in the house that could help us. Are you available to accompany us?”

I informed Miss Hicks that I had to leave with the police and wasn’t sure if I would be back that day. She told me to go, to not worry, and to give Susie a big hug from her.

Susie was at Harriet’s house when the police came around the first time. When she saw me getting out of the back of the police cruiser, she came running. I told her everything was alright and explained to her the reason why the police was there, but left out the part about her mother. She didn’t buy my explanation.

“It’s about mom, isn’t it?” she asked searching my eyes.

I held her head against my chest, unable to look into her eyes, and told her not to worry and to stay with Harriet. She released her hold on me and I led the police over to the house.

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to comb every inch of your brother’s bedroom. We’ll try to put everything back the best we can,” the detective informed me. “In addition to the bedroom, is there any other part of the house you have never seen and which may contain clues about the wife?”

I thought for a moment. “There’s the attic. I haven’t been up there since I arrived. And then there is the basement. I’ve been there but haven’t touched anything.”

“Any other place?” the detective asked, trying to pick my brain.

A light bulb came on in my mind and I said, “Oh, yes, the garage. There’s so much junk piled up in there, however. Plus, it’s locked up with a chain. I meant to clean it out, but my brother was very adamant and told me not to touch his stuff.”

“We’ll start with the attic first and later come back to the bedroom,” the detective decided.

I showed the police the ceiling hatch in the hallway that went up into the attic and tugged on the rope to pull down the trap door, which opened out the telescoping ladder that pivoted down. The hot temperature in the attic reminded me of the dry desert heat of Anbar Province and I wanted to get down from there as quickly as I could. There were mostly cardboard boxes containing old clothes, books and toys. I even saw the little tricycle I played with when I was a toddler which my brother didn’t get a chance to break. I was moved by the fact that my mother had cherished and kept it. Despite the 120 and some degrees of heat, the police didn’t seem to be in a hurry and examined every box.

“Can you tell us anything about these photo albums,” the detective asked.

“I’ve been meaning to bring them down ever since Susie told me about them,” I responded. “They’re from my parents. I don’t think you will find any pictures of my brother’s wife in there. According to Susie, he burned all the photos he had of her, including those of Susie and himself after she ran away.”

I asked if I could take the albums with me when they concluded examining everything. I didn’t want them to see pictures of me in my birthday suit.

From the attic we went down to the basement where the cool air was a welcoming reprieve from the punishing heat of before. Even the policemen gave a sigh of relief as they wiped the sweat from their foreheads which was running down and dripping off their chins. The detective asked me if I had noticed any signs of recent repairs or mends to the concrete floor. I told her I hadn’t spent much time in the basement and there didn’t seem to be anything unusual on the floor, unless under a couple of stacks of boxes. The detective instructed the police to move the boxes to one side and then examine each box. They found nothing.

We returned upstairs and went out the back door to inspect the garage. One of the policemen went to their cruiser to get a bolt cutter to cut the lock. The doors had been jammed against the pile of junk and they literally sprung open when the chains were released.

There was a mountain of tangled junk and busted furniture and I was glad I listened to my brother and had given up the idea of trying to clean it out. Even the policemen were apprehensive to touch the pile. “Oh, boy, we better get our gloves,” one said to the other. I too went to get my pair of gloves to help them remove the debris. Otherwise, it would take several hours for just the two of them to get it done.

They started on the left side, while I, on the right, piling everything along the wood fence that separated the lot from Harriet’s. Progress was slow and after about an hour we reached the middle.

A crowd of people from the neighborhood had already gathered at the entrance of the driveway behind my brother’s parked car. They watched with intense curiosity, talking among themselves, speculating what the police was looking for.