Chapter 13: Beginning a New Life

It was a warm summer evening, Percy stood at the edge of the small lake adjacent to his property. He was amongst a small crowd of people. Everyone was somber. Percy looked over the country side. It was green and covered with wild flowers. The birds were finishing their evening songs and getting ready to settle down for the night. The swallows were making those low level runs to snack on the bugs that were emerging from their daytime hiding places. All things considered, it would have been a beautiful evening except for the lights on the water.

The area was disturbed by the flashing red lights on the police cars and the spotlights from the boats that were dragging the lake looking for the missing couple whose empty boat had washed up on shore a few hours ago. Percy as the Acting Chief of Police stood solemnly by himself. He hated these situations.

He wished that Judith was next to him to help him deal with his feelings. But she was up at the lodge helping make coffee and serving soft drinks to the searchers and on lookers.

The young couple was staying in one of the cabins. They were on their honeymoon and only had eyes for each other. Watching the two lovers walking around the area, lost in each other, had all the summer guests talking. The women looked at them and thought back to their honeymoons and the years of happiness following. The men, well you know men. They just wondered about the "bed" part.

Everyone watching the recovery was quiet and thoughtful.

One of Percy's deputies walked up, "Chief, we found a list of phone numbers in their cabin. Dispatch is trying to locate the next of kin." He radio went off and he started mumbling into the mike.

"Chief, they located the husband's mother in a town about 100 miles into New York. NY State police agreed to notify her." He continued, "I guess the woman is a widow and this was her only child."

Percy thanked the deputy. "Damn, I wish Judith was here, I need her strength." He thought as he turned to look back out over the lake. He hoped that the recovery crews found the bodies before the marine life did too much damage. He wanted their family and friends to be able to have an open casket service.

It was hard enough to accept death, but if the bodies weren't able to be displayed there would be years of nightmares. Percy knew that personally because he had seen too many bodies before his retirement as a homicide detective and still had dreams.

About an hour later a helicopter landed in his field. It was a NY State Police chopper. Percy started up to greet them and find out what they wanted. Vermont was not part of their territory. He saw one of his deputies heading for the chopper and watched.

Soon he saw the deputy escorting a woman about his age toward him. The woman was obviously in distress. Percy hated this part of his job. The deputy introduced the woman as the mother of the missing man She was barely holding it together. I looked at the deputy and told him to send Judith with some coffee.

"I'm Percy Holmes, Chief of Police here. If you have any questions, please ask. I'll answer them as truthfully as I can."

"Thank you, Chief Holmes; I'm Sara Migdol, David's mother".

The silence got thick then. There was nothing either of us wanted to discuss. Judith arrived with coffee about that time and broke the awkward silence.

"I've brought coffee. Do you like cream and sugar or black?" Judith asked.

Sara replied, "Whatever Chief Holmes doesn't want."

"He'll drink whatever I tell him to. You're the guest and you get the choice." Judith retorted.

Sara smiled and selected the cream and sugar. I think Judith had just made another friend. "She'd better make another friend," I thought. "I hate black coffee.

As Sara talked with Judith I guessed she was Jewish. Alright with her name and accent I was probably correct. I walked over to one of my underlings and instructed him to arrange for our little town's only Rabbi to be picked up and brought here. I felt that soon he would be needed.

While this is a small town we are blessed with having a couple of really great guys as religious leaders. One was a Catholic priest and the other a Rabbi. They were both in their 60's and should be slowing down, but they were far from retirement. As anyone knew Father Dolan had been parish priest since shortly after the Crucifixion.

Well maybe not that long but it seemed like it.

Rabbi Feldman moved into our area about 20 years ago. His wife had just died of cancer and he needed a place to get his head back on straight before returning to his synagogue. He did get his head right, but he never left. He fell in love with the area and the people. He started a synagogue locally.

He and Father Dolan became fast friends. They would meet for breakfast or lunch at the local diner a couple of times a week. Most of the guys who met there talked politics or sports or hunting or fishing, which ever fit the season. The two religious men only talked religion. They laughed, they joked, and sometime they argued.

And boy did they argue!

Coffee mugs were slammed on tables and cutlery was waved around each other with such fury that at times I thought I might need to step in. Then all of a sudden they'd stop shouting, stand, and hug each other. The fight was over and they were the best of friends again.

One of the police cars arrived, not only with Rabbi Feldman, but with Reverend Dolan also; both were dressed in their "work" clothes. I guess that they wanted to make sure that people understood they were there to work with the grief, not visit with friends.

I caught the Rabbi's eye and nodded at Sara. Soon they were walking away and talking. Sara looked a little relieved. That was until one of the divers surfaced and shouted to a boat, "Over here. We found them."

The Rabbi caught Sara just before she reached the ground. One of the medics rushed over to her. He pronounced her "OK, she just fainted." They took her up to the main lodge and put her in one of the guest bedrooms. I purposely checked on her because I didn't want her to see her loved ones pulled from the water and placed in those awful body bags.