The Perfect Death

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.