THE BANDIT QUEEN - Chapter 7 continued

“Who is he and what does he know?”
“His name is Wayne and he’ll tell you all about it if you want. He’ll probably answer any of your questions after that and kill the fatted calf too.”
Deakin glanced back and forth between the girl and the man before he sat down across the table from him. As he stared into Wayne’s eyes, confusion grew on Wayne’s face. He glanced uncertainly at Eden and then back at the serious young man staring at him. His mouth flew open and he started to stand up. Eden grabbed his hand and held it on the table to keep him seated. The man reached into his back pocket with his other hand and pulled out his wallet. He thumbed through the clear plastic pages until he found the picture he wanted. He slowly pulled it out and laid it carefully on the table in front of Deakin. Then it was Deakin’s turn to stare at Eden in confusion.
“Wayne, I’d like you to meet Deakin. Deakin, this is Wayne Kimbrough, Alexander David Kimbrough’s father.”
Deakin jerked back in surprise and tears started from his eyes. He grabbed the picture from the table and stumbled away from the table. The old man tried to rise again but his legs wobbled too much.
Eden prevented him from standing and said, “Please leave him his dignity. He’s been living on nothing else for a long time. Don’t take it away from him. He’ll come back when he’s ready to talk.”
The old man looked into her eyes with confusion and asked, “What do you mean? Who is he and where has he been all these years? He’s Alex. He can’t be but he is. He’s much taller and skinnier than Alex was but his face is right.” His mouth ran out of words but continued to open and close.
“Wayne, I think you should tell Deakin the same story you just told me. And then maybe Deakin will tell you a surprising story.”
Eden walked over to the tall young man and put her arm around his waist and her head on his chest. Deakin dropped his head into the brown cloud of her hair and she felt the heat of his tears. She took the small picture carefully from his hand and studied the serious face that looked back at her. He did look a little smaller than Deakin, not so much shorter as more compact all over. Deakin’s mouth was much softer but his eyes and cheekbones were identical to the boy in the picture. This must have been Alex’s graduation picture. It was probably the last one taken before he’d disappeared.
Eden slid the picture back into Deakin’s hand and wiped the tears from his face with her fingers. Deakin took one last look at the picture and slipped it into the pocket of his shirt. Then he looked at the shaken man still seated at the picnic table. Wayne’s hands were clasped together on the table solely to keep him from grabbing Deakin and never letting him go. There were no thoughts in his mind except the ones concerned with Deakin’s appearance. Later on, in the darkness of night, would come the thoughts that threw doubt on his kinship and its effect on the lives of all the Kimbroughs. But, now, there was only joy at his appearance coupled with fear that he too would soon disappear.
Eden rubbed her hand across Deakin’s chest and waited until he was ready to face the man who could be his grandfather. Deakin draped his arm across Eden’s shoulder and pulled her close. He studied the old man over the top of Eden’s head. Then he walked steadily over to the table and again sat down across from him. Eden stared at him in dawning wonder. All of a sudden Deakin looked years older and more sure of himself than she’d ever seen. This new person must be the one who’d survived on his own for two years in LA. She’d wondered where that person was hiding and was very glad he’d now surfaced. Wayne looked hopefully into Deakin’s eyes and closed his mouth tightly to give Deakin the first chance to speak.
Deakin carefully removed the picture from his pocket and pointed to it. “This is Alexander David Kimbrough? And he’s your son?”
Wayne nodded his head at the end of each question. “When did you lose contact with him?”
“We never saw him after he turned 21. He was at the University of Texas down in Austin at the time. He called a few times after that and talked to his mother but we never saw him again. That picture was taken when he was 18 years old, before he went off to college.”
“What did he say when he called?”
“He told my wife he was doing just fine. The last time he said he was calling from somewhere in California but he never gave her an address or a phone number. He would just say he was living with friends and he’d let us know when he got his own place. At first we thought he’d gotten involved in drugs at college and that’s what he was doing in California but the last time he called he sounded different. He must have been around 24 or 25 and he told Fran he was working on something big, something that would make a difference in the world. Fran thought he was just making up things so we’d think better of him but I’m not so sure.”
“Did he ever call anyone else during that time, like an old friend or an old girlfriend or a favorite teacher maybe?”
“Not that we ever heard. He never had many friends anyway. He was too wrapped up in his math classes. He loved numbers and he was always writing all these long strings of equations. He took every math class he could in high school and kept on in college. He won all kinds of awards and got a full scholarship to UT. He was kinda the cuckoo in the nest. None of our other kids had his kind of brains. They’ve all done well but nothing spectacular. We thought Alex would invent something or discover something important. But it didn’t happen that way.” Deakin reached into the battered backpack he’d brought from the car. He pulled out a large manila envelope and slid out several papers. He slid them across the table until they touched the old man’s fingers. Wayne picked them up with shaky hands and glanced quickly at the one on top. It was a copy of the marriage license for Alex and Helena. The next one was Deakin’s birth certificate. The last two pages were copies of death certificates. There was no death certificate for Deakin.
“I wondered how your name was spelled. I thought it was a nickname, like a preacher or something. I don’t know what else to say, son. We had no idea Alex was even married, much less a father. If we’d known about you, we certainly would have brought you here to live with us. I don’t know where you’ve been all this time and it doesn’t matter at all to me. I am just so damn glad you found us. Will you come home and stay with us for a while? According to this, you’re seventeen years old. You need someone to take care of you. Please come live with us.”
Deakin smiled slightly and shook his head. He gathered up his papers and slid them back into the backpack. Eden patted Wayne’s hands and said,
“Don’t worry about Deakin. He’s been living on his own for over two years now and has done all right for himself. He’s done more than I ever could have done at the same age.”
“But, he can’t just leave. He has to meet everyone in the family. We’ll have a big family dinner this weekend and you both can come. Now, I have to warn you about Fran. She won’t understand, boy. She lives in the past and she will probably call you ‘Alex’ instead of your real name. You can’t waltz in here, claiming to be my unknown grandson and then leave.”
Deakin reached out and touched the old man’s hands for the first time. “We can’t stay, Wayne. It would be dangerous for you and the rest of the family. You can’t say anything to anyone about us. There are some terrible people hunting for me. If I can find you, then so can they. I just need everything you can tell me about my father. Any names he might have mentioned, any places, any teachers at UT or even here at the high school. Tell me anything and everything and then tell me goodbye. I’ll be back if it’s at all possible. I’d like to have a real family. That’s why I started looking in the first place. I hoped I’d find my parents but they’re dead and you’re the only person I’ve found who knew my father. Help me, please.”
Wayne carefully placed his hands over the boy’s hands on the table and squeezed them softly. “But I don’t know anything, son. None of us have mentioned Alex’s name in years. I wouldn’t know where to start.”
Deakin chewed on his lower lip for a minute and then asked, “What about the things he left in his room when he went away to college? Do you still have his books and papers?”
Wayne nodded shakily. “There are a couple of boxes in the garage. I’ll get them down and bring them to you. What else?”
Eden leaned forward and asked, “What about his high school annuals? Are they in the boxes? There might be some names in there we could trace.”
“They’ll be in those boxes, I imagine. I’ll look around the house just to make sure but I haven’t seen anything like that in years. What else can I give you? Do you need money? I know some of the policemen here in town real well. I could take you in to the police station and you could tell them about the people who’re following you. Maybe they could keep you safe.”
Deakin and Eden both shook their heads. “It’s too bizarre for them to take seriously. And, anyway, they couldn’t keep watch over Deakin forever. These people are willing to spend a lot of money and wait a long time to get him. Actually, we’ve been here way too long already. We need to move again. We’ll drive you back to your car. Where will we meet you to pick up the boxes? You pick out a good place.”
Without letting go of Deakin’s hands, Wayne said, “The church. It’ll look like I’m taking some old things for the rummage sale. Meet me in the parking lot behind the First Baptist Church on Lake Drive in about two hours. That should give me enough time. Promise me you’ll be there. It will just about kill me if I can’t see you at least one more time.”
Deakin pulled one hand free and patted the soft cheek of his grandfather. “I promise we’ll meet you, but only you. Don’t bring anyone else with you, okay?”
Deakin helped Wayne stand up and the two men walked to car together. Eden wiped away a few tears before she drove back to the center of town. Then she and Deakin drove quickly away before Wayne could follow them.