SIXTY-ONE
On Sunday morning about ten o’clock, John Stallings’s phone rang and he was surprised to hear Lois Tischler on the other end. She was crying and asked him to come by the house. When he hesitated she threw in a “please” and hung up. He wasn’t scheduled to take the kids and his father out to lunch until one o’clock so he hopped in his Impala and drove out to the beach, wondering if it was some kind of domestic Mrs. Tischler wanted to keep quiet. Often grieving parents identified with a cop investigating a missing child and called the cop for any number of reasons. He saw no harm in easing this woman’s sorrow.
He pulled in the winding driveway and was met at the door by Mrs. Tischler in simple jeans and a top that showed off her athletic body. She surprised him by jumping up and hugging him and kissing him on cheek. While he was entangled with Mrs. Tischler, he looked over her shoulder, and standing in the ornate entryway was a young lady. That was the phrase that came to his mind since she looked every bit of a youthful, graceful, cultured lady.
Her hair was cut differently, but Stallings knew immediately who it was. A smile broke across his face as he said, “Leah?”
The girl nodded, then rushed forward and joined the hug. Stallings felt a tear pop out of his eye as he said, “How? What happened?” He noticed in the hallway Bob Tischler bawling like the rest of them.
Ten minutes later, after everyone had settled down and he sipped a remarkably strong cup of exotic coffee, Leah sat across from him on a leather couch. Her parents were on either side like they intended to prevent any planned escape.
Leah said, “I saw my photo on TV in Tennessee. It made me realize how much pain I caused and I had to come home to face the consequences.”
Eventually Stallings was able to ask if she’d ever met Arnold Cather.
“He gave me a ride from near the hotel downtown. But while I was at his shop two women came in and started arguing with him over rent or the lease. I just got up and walked away. The next day I took a bus as far as Atlanta and then caught a ride with a truck driver to my friend’s house in Tennessee.”
Stallings marveled at the young woman.
Leah continued, “The guy at the glass warehouse gave me an old flannel shirt and I had a pair of jeans and my backpack. I left my school uniform and the backpack at his shop.”
It was amazing how many questions were being answered by a girl who had never even known she had been moments away from death.
Stallings felt something that hadn’t surfaced in a long time: hope.
SIXTY-TWO
Almost a month after the capture of Arnold Cather, a few days after Halloween, Stallings sat next to his father in the living room of the rooming house where he lived. His memory had not improved and he had provided no more details about his brief visit with his missing granddaughter. His prognosis remained grim. Stallings felt the pain of never connecting with his father until recently, and now the old man was likely to forget him altogether. But the goodwill he had built up over the years had provided a solid core of volunteers to help care for the ailing James Stallings. It was gratifying on a number of levels.
The father and son watched an Orlando Magic game that led directly into the local news. The lead story caught Stallings’s attention when the announcer said, “Arnold Cather, being held for the murder of at least four local young women, has died of lung cancer in the medical unit of the city hospital. He had been transferred there from the county jail two days ago and had remained under constant guard.”
Stallings noted, as the story continued, that the JSO captain made a point of mentioning that Cather had suffered and wasted away. His defense attorney had the balls to say, “He lost his valiant battle with cancer.”
To Stallings the only hero in the story was Leah Tischler. She had done more for him than he ever thought possible. Her return had allowed him to move on from not only a missing persons case but the murder investigation. It had given him motivation to deal with Maria and the kids differently. He and Maria were talking much more frequently and the kids seemed happy.
But most of all Leah Tischler had given him hope.
If Leah could make it back to her family, so could Jeanie.
