Donnie
I went to Ness and Dug’s and asked them to come to the police station with me.
“I will go with you but I don’t know what I can do,” Ness told me. “I am old and they will think I am just a crazy old woman.”
I looked at the old woman. “You aren’t crazy and I really just want you there for moral support. "If we can get one, just one police officer to listen to us,” I sighed loudly. “Someone has got to listen to me. I have got to get my mother out of there.” Ness reached across the table and took my hand. She squeezed it for reassurance.
“You are good boy, Donnie.” She told me.
“You are nice and tidy, Donnie. You are my best friend,” Dug told me. “I know that man has Ev. He is the neighboring man and he is sick. Sick in the head. Got it from his dad.”
I looked at him. I didn’t question him. I knew he was telling the truth. I didn’t understand how he knew what he did. He had a gift.
“You know what, Dug?”
“What Donnie?”
I looked at him and smiled. “You are my best friend too. You’re the brother I never had.”
He smiled from ear to ear. “Do you mean it, Donnie? Do you?”
I laughed loudly. “Damn straight I mean it. You and I are going to be close forever.”
Ness stood up. “Okay boys, let’s go to police station. It’s now or never.”
I stood up and Dug did too. I got the keys to the truck out of my pocket.
“Put those keys up, Donnie. If you really want me to go, I’m driving and you are a passenger-I don’t want any back seat driving advice from you,” Ness told me.
I laughed. “Yes ma’am. You are the boss. You’re Miss Daisy with a led foot!”
She looked at me and smiled widely. “Don’t forget it, young man.”
We drove to the police station in silence. I was nervous about talking to the cops again. I wanted them to believe me. I was glad that Ness was driving. She drove slowly and honestly, I needed the extra time to prepare my thoughts and how I was going to explain this to an officer without the officer thinking I was completely off my nut. They already had the police talking to my mother’s keeper. The police didn’t search his place. They didn’t really look around his house. Of course, they didn’t really have cause. I now have talked to my mother and I know she is there. I know she is hurt and sick. I needed someone in the police station to believe me.
We pulled into the police station and my heart lurched into my throat. Ness put the car in park and looked at me. “You can do this, Donnie. I know you can. Just stay calm and don’t let your mouth get away with you.”
“Hope is in there,” Dug told me and pointed at the police station. “He will help us.”
I didn’t know what Dug meant. Ness looked at me and smiled. “You just never know what Dug is going to feel or see. If he says hope is in that police station, I believe him. Let’s go.”
We walked into the police station and up to the front desk.
“I need to speak to someone about my mother. She’s missing and I know where she is,” I told the battle-ax of a woman at the front desk.
“Who is you mother?” she asked.
“Evelyn Trammel,” I answered.
She picked up the phone and called someone. “I have a kid here who says the missing woman, Evelyn Trammel is his mother.” She listened a minute and hung up the phone. “A detective will be with you in a moment.”
“Thank you," I told her politely. I was bracing myself to be brushed off by the cops. I knew people were going to think I was crazy.
A man in a suit walked up to me and said: “I’m detective Hope. What can I do for you?”
He shook my hand and looked me in the eye. “I am Donnie Trammel and my mother is the missing woman, Evelyn Trammel.” I told him. “I have some information on where she is.”
He was a big man. He wasn’t fat, but he was tall and lean. His head was shaved and he had a beard that was neatly trimmed with the beginnings of grey in it. His eyes were blue and warm. He didn’t give off the vibe of a hard ass.
He looked at me for a moment, sizing me up. “Well, Donnie-let’s go into the break room and talk about it.”
“My friend, Dug has to come too,” I told him. “He knows things.”
He looked over at Dug, but didn’t roll his eyes, didn’t say anything rude. “Sure, your friend can come. I’m interested in what you both have to say.”
I smiled. My gut clinched in anticipation . “Thanks Detective Hope.” I looked at Ness who is sitting in a chair and reading an old magazine. She gave me a silent head nod of support.
He led us into an empty break room with coke machines and snack machines. I sat down and Dug sat beside me. “They have coke.” He said.
Detective Hope smiled. He didn’t seem irritated or put out in the least. “I was just fixing to get me one. Would you guys like to have a coke with me?”
“I sure would,” Dug told him. “I promise I will be neat and tidy. I won’t make a mess. Not at all.”
Detective Hope looked at Dug and smiled. “I trust you. You don’t look like the messy type.” He put some quarters in the machine and a coke popped out. He gave it to Dug. He put in some more change and another one popped out and he gave it to me. He finally got his coke and sat with us at the table.
“I’m not a messy person. My ma raised me well. She takes good care of me. She has been sad since Ev has been gone. She likes her a lot and she thinks she is a good-hearted woman. She feels really bad for her,” Dug prattled on. “She says acts of violence can change a woman. Then she gets really sad. Ev is the night runner and the neighboring man has her. He’s a bad, evil man. He looks normal, but is mean and evil. He kinda wears a mask and doesn’t show his real face.” Dug took a long drink of his coke and let out a big burp. He blushed. “That’s a good coke. Hmmmm good. One of the best I ever had. I’ve never been in a police station before. Do you carry a gun?”
Detective Hope let out a big burp. Dug laughed loudly. I smirked. “I do carry a gun, Dug. I carry it so I can protect the good guys from the bad guys like this ‘neighboring man’ you are talking about.”
I looked at Detective Hope with respect and some awe. “He took my mother.” I blurted. I couldn’t control it, tears were welling up in my eyes.
“Who?” he asked me. “Who took your mother?”
I could feel my tears running down my cheeks. “This man in her neighborhood. He does look normal and he’s not. He’s done horrible things to her.”
I felt Dug put his strong hand on my shoulder. “Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.”
“Do you know who this man is?” The detective asked me with sincerity. He seemed to want to hear what I had to say.
“I do,” I told him. “I’ve been researching him and Dug and I went there.”
“Donnie, you can’t go and harass this man,” he told me. “That is sure way to get you in trouble. That won’t help your mom at all. I know she wouldn’t want you to get in trouble or go and accuse an innocent man of something he didn’t do.”
Dug looked at the detective. “He isn’t an innocent. He is evil. He will kill her.” Dug looked like he was in a trance. “He comes from a line of evil. He has a whip with fish hooks and he isn’t going fishing with it. No siree. He has cut her. Cut her badly. He wants her love but she won’t tell him she loves him. She won’t. She still has hope. She sees hope when she is passed out or sleeping.” He looked at the detective. He was staring a hole into the cop. His eyes were glassy. “You’re ‘hope’. You will be her hope. You will believe us eventually.” His eyes cleared. His mouth turned into a smile. “I sure do love coke. It’s my most favorite drink. It sure is. It is so good. It makes me want to burp it taste so good.”
The detective’s mouth was hanging open. He looked like he had just seen a ghost. “What was that?”
“Dug knows things. He gets these feelings or visions or something,” I tried to explain without sounding stupid and on drugs.
“Okay, well this is all new to me.” He told me.
“The man who has my mother is named Adam Smith.” I told him. “You need to check him out.”
“Okay, wait here. Finish your coke. I will go run him through the computer system and see if anything comes up,” he told us. He got up and walked out of the room. I drank my coke in silence.
“Did I do it again, Donnie?” Dug asked. “Did my mind go somewhere?”
“Yes it did. It’s okay though. Don’t worry about it,” I told him. “You can change who you are. I don’t want you to anyway.”
Dug smiled shyly. “I’m so glad you like me. I’ve never had any friends. I’ve just had Ma."
I smiled at him and gave him a big hug. “You are a cool cat, Dug. A real cool cat.”
He laughed. “I like that. I’ve never been called that before. I’m a cool cat. A real cool cat.”
I started laughing with him.
“You better be nice to me, Donnie or I will hiss at you like a cat.” Dug then started hissing like a cat, which made me laugh harder. I felt guilty laughing but couldn’t help myself. His child like wonder amazed me and he made me happy. Even though he was much older than me, I felt like his guardian, his watcher-his big brother. I felt an over powering love for this child like man, who was blessed with the gift (or curse) of knowing things he had no business knowing. He knew horrible things and yet, he still remained innocent and endearing. If I had visions or knew things like him, I think my mind would crack. Maybe that is why he was blessed with this gift. His mind was wired different and the universe or God just knew that Dug could handle knowing terrible things and still keep his soul intact. He wasn’t like normal people. He was better. So much better.
Just going through trying to rescue my mother was having effects on my sanity. I missed her so much and I wish she were here to share this laugh with Dug and I.
The door opened and Detective Hope came back in and sat down. He had a thin folder with him. Dug and I stopped laughing immediately.
“Okay, so the cops have already been to this man’s house once thanks to you two,” he told us.
“They didn’t find anything to lead them to believe that your mother was being held there.”
I let out a frustrated sigh. “I knew you wouldn’t believe us.” I started to get up and leave. I went into my best deflected teenager with angst stance.
“Sit down,” he told me sternly. “I didn’t say I didn’t believe you. As a detective, I have to go on set of rules set forth by the law. I am not above believing in such things. I just have never seen it firsthand.” He blew a deep breath out of his mouth. “I can’t just march to this man’s house and accuse him of taking your mother. I need proof. Hard evidence. You don’t have any. I also don’t want you to get any because I don’t want you two getting hurt or in trouble. You two seem like pretty likable people.
“She’s going to die if someone doesn’t do something,” I whispered. “No one will believe us. This man has her and he has really hurt her. She’s sick.”
“I will look into it.” He told me. “Go home and rest and leave this Smith man alone. I am going to talk to the detective who is handling your mother’s case and see what he has. I will check on you two.” He looked at Dug. “When I do check on you, Dug, I’m going to bring a six pack of cokes, okay?”
Dug smiled. “That’s really nice Ray of Hope. I sure wish you would find Ev. She is in a heap of poo poo and she needs a doc.”
Detective Hope looked at him quizzically. “Why did you call me Ray of Hope?”
Dug just laughed. “That’s your name, isn’t it?”
“Actually, my name is Rayland Hope,” he told us.
Dug stopped laughing. “Well it sounds like Ray of Hope.”
The detective lost some of the color in his face. “Well, you boys better get going.”
“I wish I could say thanks for your help,” I said sarcastically.
“Donnie, I promise I will look into it,” he told me.
“He will,” Dug agreed. “I told you Hope was in the police station.”
I looked at Dug and realized he was talking about the detective we had just met. I hoped that Dug was right about this guy. I hoped with all my heart. We needed some help coming our way.