Polite
"Tanner."
"Vin? It’s Lenny down in Records - you guys have the files from that bust last week, don’t you? That PI who was running guns?"
"Sure do..." Vin gazed across the office to the break room, liberally filled with bankers boxes of evidence. "Need something?"
"I got a guy on the phone, says he hired the PI to do a missing person for him. Sounds legit, doesn’t sound like a suspect. Wanted to know if there’s any way of getting copies of any information there might be in his file."
"Oh - well, pass him on to me, and I’ll see what I can do for him."
"Okay, thanks Vin." A couple of clicks on the line and Vin heard Lenny say:
"Mr. Carberry? I have Agent Tanner on the line, he’ll be glad to help you..."
"Thank you so much." another man said, and when Lenny hung up, Vin spoke.
"Mr. Carberry? I’m Vin Tanner. I don’t know that I can help you, not till I get a look at the files, but if you give me some idea what you’re looking for, I’ll see what I can do..."
"Oh, I understand Mr. Tanner. Whatever you can do, I appreciate. It’s been nearly thirty years, I don’t hold out much hope... but he told me he was so close to finding her..."
"Her?" Vin asked. He fished in his drawer for a legal pad to write the information down. Carbury, missing person, therty years...
"Oh - it'll sound silly to you, I’m sure..." Mr. Carberry said. "My wife died a few months ago, and..." a heartfelt sigh sounded across the phone lines. "I knew a girl, a long time ago...I was hoping to find her again. We parted under very bad circumstances, and - well, I just want to know how she’s doing. And apologize I guess for the way I treated her..."
"And what’s her name, sir?"
"Margaret."
Margert Vin wrote down. "And her family name?"
A pause. "I don’t know...we - never got that far...I only knew that her name was Margaret and she was taking evening classes at the University, the Main Street Campus..." Vin scratched some more information down.
"Well, sir. I’ll see what I can do. Don’t know how long it’ll take me...if you’d give me a number I can reach you, I’ll let you know by the end of the day what I come up with."
"I’d appreciate it very much Mr. Tanner..." and he gave Vin the number he could be reached at for the rest of the day. When Vin hung up, he glanced between the reports on his desk that he still needed to type into the computer - and the mountain of boxes he’d have to search through in the break room. Which would be less painful?
He grabbed his coffee cup and legal pad, and headed for the breakroom.
+ + + + + + +
Chris almost didn’t see Vin tucked in behind a stack of boxes as he negotiated his way through the maze to the coffee maker. One bankers box stood open on the conference table, and Vin stared down at a manila folder open in front of him.
"Tampering with evidence?" Chris asked as he walked past Vin to pour himself some more coffee. Vin silently shook his head and Chris looked at what he held in his hand. A picture of his mother.
"Haven’t seen that one before." Chris said of the photograph. Vin had shown him the one he carried in his wallet. When Vin didn’t answer, Chris lightly tapped his arm. Every once in a while Vin went off to a place all his own. "Sorry - didn’t mean to intrude." and headed back to his office.
"Chris." Vin called to him suddenly, as though he’d only just gotten enough air to do it.
"Yeah?" Chris walked back to him, concerned by the tone of his voice. Vin held up the old picture.
"This ain’t mine...came outta this file we took from that Barkley guy."
Chris stared at him a moment. "You just happened to find it?"
"No - this guy called. Hired Barkley to find an old girlfriend. Asked if we could copy him any information he might’ve found. I was reading the file - Barkley was stringing him along, this guy. This doctor - Carberry. His notes say he found out who she was weeks ago, and he was just getting more money out of the guy, out of this Dr. Carberry." Vin looked up from where he was shuffling the papers. "He’s got stuff in here about me Chris. This guy, this doctor, is looking for my mother..." Distress and confusion sounded in his voice.
"Vin - -" Chris wanted to tell him not to get his hopes up, but didn’t know if that’s where Vin’s thoughts were taking him. "What are you going to do?"
"I don’t know...doesn’t say in here if Barkley told him about me...I told him my name on the phone, didn’t seem to register anything with him...I don’t know..."
Chris shoved the overloaded box aside and pulled out a chair to sit at the table. "He might be your father." A statement, and a question.
"Time seems right, says here he met her in September, the year before I was born. About ten months before I was born..." He rubbed his fingers over the picture of his mother. "Wonder where he got this..."
"Vin - what did your Mom ever tell you about your father?" That was something Chris and Vin had never talked about. Vin gave a devious grin.
"Said he was a cowboy...could be...this doctor comes from Texas originally...that’s all I remember Mom saying."
"What about your grandfather? He ever say anything?" Chris wanted to be sure they covered every conceivable angle before Vin went and had his heart shredded.
"Oh, I never asked. I had Grandpa, didn’t need nobody - anybody - else. I think I figured he was dead too."
"So - what are you going to do?" Chris asked again.
"Gotta tell him she’s dead. Oughtta do that much for him..."
"I can do that if you want."
"No, thanks Chris. This got dropped in my lap for a reason, reckon I should ride it out...he’s got an office on Losson. Be allright with you I take an early lunch?"
"Yeah, take all the time you need." Chris stood up and grabbed his coffee cup. "You gonna be all right?" he asked.
"Reckon..." Vin seemed to realize what Chris was really asking. "I ain’t - I’m not - looking to get a Dad. Don’t even know as I’ll tell him. Been pushed away by enough people in my life Chris - you know I’m real careful who I let in."
"I know." Chris grinned, thinking of the tussle he’d gone through to get Vin trust him those first few months they’d known each other. "Anything happens - you call me. Okay?" Vin nodded and shuffled the papers back into their folder and slid it back into the box.
"See? I don’t need a Dad - I already got you..."
+ + + + + + +
The medical building sat one story high, a yellow brick building with a parking lot bigger than it apparently needed. Only one car was in the lot, and Vin pulled in a few spaces away from it. He took a deep breath and tried to imagine what he might say. His hand shook as he opened his car door. What was he doing? What was he thinking? Should’ve just let Larabee handle it.
He watched in almost disbelief as his feet carried him across the blacktop, closer and closer to the horror waiting for him inside that little building. What was he going to say? He was so intent on his feet that he was at the building before he realized and nearly got blasted by the door as someone came out.
"Whoa - sorry about that." the man said. "Wasn’t looking where I was going... couldn’t remember if I locked that inside door or not. You got me just in time - I was on my way out to lunch..." Vin wasn’t saying anything and the man looked closer at him. "You’re not one of my patients."
"No sir." Vin managed to stammer out. "Are you Dr. Carberry? I’m Agent Tanner - -" He fumbled for his identification. "We talked this morning..." The doctor wasn’t as old as Vin had been expecting - he was in his mid fifties, maybe. Sandy brown hair, blue eyes. Just about as tall as Vin, maybe a little taller.
"Ohh - Agent Tanner...you came all the way to my office. This can’t be good."
"No sir, I’m sorry." Vin finally had his ID out, but didn’t offer it up for inspection.
"Welllllll...come on back inside." Dr. Carberry drawled. "I’ll buy you a juice and you can tell what I don’t want to hear..." He led the way back into the building, through the waiting room and to his office at the back. "Have a seat Agent..." he waved Vin to a chair with a tired gesture, and turned to a little refrigerator tucked next to a bookcase. "Can I interest you in some pineapple juice?"
Normally, Vin would’ve said ‘no’, but his mouth was dry. "Thanks, that’d be nice." and the doctor handed him over a small store bought can of unsweetened pineapple juice, and took one for himself before he settled into the worn upholstered chair behind his desk.
"All right Agent Tanner - let me have the bad news..." he pulled the silver foil tab back and emptied the can into the cup next to his PDR.
"Well..." Vin didn’t open his juice, though he flicked at the tab. "I’m sorry sir, the lady you were looking for - she died - about twenty-five years ago." and the doctor let out a long sigh.
"No, so young..." he was honestly grieved. "Any idea how?"
"Umm..." nervously worrying the label with his thumbnail. "She worked nights...at a convenience store...puttin’ herself through school." Vin tried not to let his emotions weave into his voice, but it was hard. "A coupla thugs held up the store and shot her." He shook the can of juice for something to do. "She done - did - what they told her, gave ‘em the money and such...but..." Giving up on his voice, Vin shrugged.
"Murdered? Dear God...so the Investigator was playing me for a fool, wasn’t he? He kept telling me he was close, and he had all this information for quite some time."
"Yessir." Though it wasn’t quite true - the circumstances of her death weren’t in the file. Vin kept trying to make eye contact. It wasn’t working.
"Well, I appreciate you coming to tell me this in person, Mr. Tanner..." his voice dropped to soft and concerned. "I can see that it hasn’t been easy on you..."
"Didn’t figure it was something to be told over a phone line." Vin shrugged again. This was the part where he stood up, got thanked for his time and effort, walked out the door, and never looked back. He just waited for the slight movement that meant the doctor was ready to stand up and show him out. Instead, that quiet concerned voice asked:
"Is there something else you need to tell me?" Not impatient - understanding. Waiting to be told something he could sense was unpleasant. Vin shook his head, then blinked, then took a breath.
"She had a child." he almost whispered. "A son." He let the implication hang. The doctor stared at him.
"How old?"
Vin’s mouth was really dry and he wished he could get his fingers to pull the tab off the can. "Seems he’d be turning thirty this June." and the other man was silent, calculating.
"Dear Lord, what have I done?" and Vin looked at him then. His eyes were closed, and he was shaking his head. "I didn’t know." and Vin guessed Dr. Carberry wasn’t talking to him. "What happened to him?" and this was directed at Vin. "She must’ve died when he was four..."
"Five." Vin supplied.
"What happened to him? Did Barkley have an address for him? Would you know where he is now?" He sounded desperate, hopeful.
"I don’t know." Vin quickly stammered out. Shoulda let Larabee handle this. "I mean - I don’t know what information I can give you sir. I know he was raised by his grandfather, but I don’t know if I can give you his address..."
"I’m sorry - of course...I should know about confidentiality." The doctor was obviously disappointed. "My wife and I - we never had children. I never hoped - never dared imagine - that I might have - a son -." Vin could see the thought turning over in his mind, that somehow it lit a fire that’d gone cold in him. "Did he have a good life, with his grandfather? Do you know?"
Vin wanted to answer his question, put his mind at rest, but didn’t want to let on too much information that the PI couldn’t possibly have gotten. "Seems he had a good life." he said. "Married now."
"Any children?" the hopefulness resurfaced.
"Umm..." flicking again at the juice tab. "They lost a baby, couple months ago...stillborn."
"Oh...I’m so sorry." and for an instant, it sounded like he was talking exactly to Vin. A thought sprang up in the doctor. "Is there anyway - I know you can’t give me his name, or any information, but is there anyway you could get a message to him? Just - I don’t know - just tell him an old friend of his mother’s would like to get in touch with him? He doesn’t have to, of course. I’m sure he has his own life now - I’d just like to - I don’t know -." His shoulders sagged in discouragement. "I don’t know."
"I could see about doing that for you sir...is that all the message you’d like me to give him?" Vin was beginning to regret hiding his identity from this man.
"No - I’d like to - ." the doctor shook his head. "I wish I’d known. If I’d known that Margaret was expecting - nothing she said would’ve made me leave her side. Oh - maybe I would have anyway. I was an idiot in my younger days, Mr. Tanner. I left a good woman - in apparently a difficult situation - because I thought she’d get in the way of my medical career. My precious career...a son...I wish I’d known..."
Vin decided to make a run for it, before he broke down and told this man everything. He set the juice on the desk and pushed himself up out of the chair. "I should be heading back to work sir. I’ll see what I can do about getting that message to your son...her son..." he almost tripped over the stupid chair trying to get to the door as soon as he could.
"Well, I do appreciate your trouble Agent Tanner..." the doctor’s voice registered mild puzzlement as to why Vin was so upset. "You have my number to give to the young man, and my address here at the office..." he stood up and came around the desk to shake Vin’s hand. He seemed to take new stock of Vin as they shook hands, and Vin could not keep eye contact.
"What was her last name?" Dr. Carberry asked suddenly.
"What?" Vin had been hoping to make his escape before that ever came up. But the doctor repeated his question, with quiet, patient concern.
"What was your mother’s last name?" and Vin felt as though his heart had dropped clean through the floor.
"Tanner." he breathed out. He felt his face grow hot as his blood pressure hit the roof in fear.
"You’re my son." A statement, and a question.
"Don’t know."
"Please - look at me..." Dr. Carberry didn’t release his hand. Vin shook his head. He couldn’t - physically couldn’t - lift his head. "Weren’t you going to tell me?"
"Don’t - didn’t - know. I didn’t know how you’d - what you’d -." Vin wanted nothing more than to run out of that building and find somewhere to hide and think over everything that was going on right now. "I ain’t - won’t - don’t worry. I don’t want anything from you." Vin pushed before he could be pushed away. "I won’t bother you...just thought you oughtta know - she’s gone." and the doctor - his father - released Vin’s hand.
"Maybe we could do lunch sometime?" he asked, and Vin nodded, still trying - and failing - to make eye contact.
"Sure." The doctor - his father? - was just being polite. "Lunch..." Seven more feet and he was out of the office.
"Well, let me give you a couple more numbers, okay? Where you can reach me?" Dr. Carberry sat down at his desk again and Vin could hear - because he couldn’t look - numbers being hastily scratched onto a piece of paper. Then the doctor was offering him the folded piece of paper. Vin took it and tried to not just shove it into his jacket pocket.
"Umm - thanks. I’ll call...sometime...I have to go - have to get back..."
"Of course - I understand...I appreciate you coming to tell me in person about Margaret...I won’t keep you any longer."
And if Vin didn’t run out of that building, he sure came close.
+ + + + + + +
Chris ate his lunch at his desk, wanting to be in his office, near a phone, when or if Vin came back or called. The others were gone, and the office was quiet, when he heard the door open and Vin came in. He sank into a chair in front of Chris’ desk and let out a long, pent up sigh.
"How’d it go?" Chris asked, deadly serious.
"Don’t know."
"Did you tell him?"
"He guessed - ." This still surprised Vin.
"And?"
"Don’t know." Before Chris could ask what Vin did know, he pulled the paper out of his pocket and tossed it over to his friend. "Gave me another coupla phone numbers, in case I want t’ call him."
"Are you going to?" Chris asked as he opened the half sheet of steno pad. He stared down at the numbers before him.
"Naah - reckon not. He’s just bein’ polite. Reckon he really doesn’t want t’ hear from me again. Just polite."
"Polite hunh?" Chris came around the desk to stand behind Vin while he held the paper in front of his eyes. There, written in clear open handwriting, Dr. Carberry had listed:
office phone
office phone private line
home phone
cell phone
car phone
fax
email at home
email at work
Instant Message ID
free-clinic phone (Thursdays and Saturdays)
answering service number
beeper number
voice pager
and home address.
"I’d say this was mighty polite of him..." Chris said. He leaned down close to Vin’s ear and whispered. "Congratulations Vin - you’re a son..."
END