Even though the clock ticked and the suspects fled, she chose to take the parson’s duty to notify the next of kin their loved one wouldn’t be home tonight to tuck the kids in or any other night for that matter. The chore every law enforcement officer hates, no amount of seminars can prepare for the way it rips at the heart every single time. She would offer the grieving mother the only counsel she could dispense; clinically feeble, nothing more than a shoulder to cry on and an “I’m sorry for your loss.” But she was losing ground and she knew after the tears and the anguish of those first few terrible, truth-sinking-in moments, she had a question for the person who would answer the door.
She wasn’t prepared for the person who opened the door. A little girl in a ballerina Halloween costume looked up with big brown eyes at Agent Hawk and Officer Jenkins.
“Hi, sweetie, is your mommy home?” Angela said.
Angela’s heart caught in her throat when the cute young woman whose photo she had seen fifteen minutes before appeared with an infant in her arms.
“Yes?” she said cheerfully, as she opened the door wider. When she saw the two police officers, panic spread across her pretty face and she shouted, “Oh no, what’s happened? Is it Jose`?”
“My name is Special Agent Angela Hawk and this is Patrolman Sam Jenkins. Are you Mrs. Osorio?”
“Yes, Yolanda Osorio,” she said anxiously.
“May we come inside?”
“Of course, yes. What’s happened? Is Jose` okay?” Tears welled in her eyes.
The two officers stepped inside and Angela took a quick look around. A banner hung across the opening between the living and dining rooms with multi-colored letters that declared “Happy Birthday, Rosa.” A partially eaten two layer cake sat on the dining room table and birthday wrap cluttered the living room floor. On a small lamp table by the couch, Angela saw a photo of Yolanda and Jose`.
“Mommy?” asked the little girl in a frightened tone. She clutched her mother’s leg and looked up at the two officers.
Angela kneeled down to eye level with Rosa and asked, “Is today your birthday?”
“Uh huh. I t’ree.” she said and held up three fingers with her right hand. She continued to cling to her mother’s leg with the left.
“Did you get some new toys today?”
“Uh huh.”
“Would you like to show Patrolman Jenkins your new toys?” she asked and shot him a quick glance over her shoulder.
“Yes, Rosa,” Yolanda said. She kneeled down and wiped away the tears streaming down her face. “Go with the nice policeman and show him some of the new toys you got for your birthday.”
“Hey sweetie,” Samuel said, addressing the girl, “I have a little girl at my home. Why don’t you take my hand and show me your bedroom. I wonder if you have some of the same toys.”
He held out his hand but she hesitated with her arms clutched tight around her mother’s leg.
“It’s okay,” Yolanda said, “Go with the nice policeman.”
“Will you show me the way?” he asked.
Rosa let go of her mommy and reached her tiny hand into the strong hand of the patrolman. She glanced up to Yolanda for assurance and then turned away. They walked together across the living room and disappeared through a doorway. Angela heard Rosa’s muffled voice from the bedroom as she told the policeman about “… the party … the games … the presents … Daddy put frosting on my nose.”
“Yolanda, won’t you sit down?” Angela turned back toward the woman. She wore a painful anguished look on her face and didn’t move. The tears began to flow down her cheeks again. Angela reached for the picture on the table. “Is this Jose` with you here?”
“Yes, he’s been in an accident, hasn’t he?”
“No, it wasn’t an accident, but I’m afraid I do have some very bad news.”
She slipped her arm around Yolanda’s shoulders and continued. “Is Jose` your husband?”
“Yes,” she said,
Angela recognized the pleading in her eyes. They begged that the next words wouldn’t be the ones she feared most.
“I’m sorry to tell you, your husband is dead.”
Angela paused to let Yolanda absorb the news. Reality swept over her with vengeance. The stream of tears turned into a river and she began to heave heavy sobs. The baby also began to cry. Yolanda pulled the infant tight to her chest.
“You have such a beautiful baby, may I?” Angela asked and slipped her arm from the woman’s shoulder. She reached for the child.
Yolanda didn’t respond at first, but then she looked up into Angela’s eyes and released the little bundle wrapped in a powder blue blanket. Through her sobs, she asked, “What … happened?”
Angela cradled the crying baby in her arms, and began to rock him back and forth in front of her.
She looked back to Yolanda. “We believe some men stole your husband’s car and shot him so he couldn’t be a witness.”
“They shot him?” she said, through her tears. “Where is he? I need to see him. Is this really happening?”
“Yes, I’m sorry, it’s really happening. Please sit down?”
Yolanda made her way to the couch and sat on the edge. Angela sat next to her.
“I can’t believe it,” Yolanda said through sobs. “He was just here. He had to go to work. Someone shot him?”
“Yes, some very bad men,” Angela said. She knew she had to get through this so she could ask the question that might bring Yolanda’s husband’s murderer to justice. “I believe they pretended to have car trouble and Jose` stopped to see if he could help them.”
“He would do that. He is the kindest man I’ve ever known, and I’ll never be with him again, will I?”
“No, he’s not coming home. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Yolanda wept deep. Angela felt a knot form in her throat and moister formed at the corners of her eyes. Her witness found dead from a gunshot yesterday and now Jose’ whose life had been taken in just the same way broke her restraint. She could hold the tears back no longer.
After a couple of minutes, when Yolanda’s sobs turned to sniffles, Angela reined her emotions in and brushed her cheeks with the sleeves of her jacket. It was time for the question. She hated to ask it at a moment like this, but time wasn’t in her favor.
“These men who shot your husband have abducted a young woman and killed some other men. Will you help me before they hurt someone else?”
Yolanda could hardly speak as she gasped and gulped for air, but she forced herself to ask, “How can I … help?”
“According to the Department of Licensing, your husband has three vehicles registered in his name. We saw one of them in the driveway when we drove up, but we need to know what he was driving today.”
“Uh ... He loaned his brother the truck. The one in the driveway is his and since it needed gas he took mine, the Subaru.”
_____
©
Jearl Rugh 2012
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