Later that day, I headed to the church where Opie, Barney, Aunt Bee and I go to each Sunday. I found Pastor Tucker in his office.
"Hi, Andy. What brings you here on a Friday?" Pastor Tucker asked, surprised.
He knew he wasn't expecting me on a Friday afternoon at lunch.
"Well, Pastor Tucker, I came to talk to you about Opie," I said.
"You know you can talk to me anytime, Andy. What's the trouble?" Pastor Tucker asked.
"Won't you sit down?" Pastor Tucker asked.
"Thank you," I said as Pastor Tucker shut the door behind myself.
As soon as I sat down across from Pastor Tucker in the office, Pastor Tucker waited for me to begin.
"Take all the time you need, Andy," Pastor Tucker said.
I waited a few more minutes to tell Pastor Tucker about me punishing Opie. I wondered where to begin. Pastor Tucker knew Andy would take his time, so he would give me all the time I needed. I was finally ready.
"Pastor Tucker, if you didn't hear the gossip from town lately, Barney and I are working on a twelve – year – old cold case murder. I had to take the case because an old friend of mine from Milwaukee asked me to help him, so I said I would help. Last week, Opie went to an out-of-town football game and he stole three to five crime scene pictures I wanted to look at and I couldn't find them.
"When he came home from the game, he told me at supper he had some information I would need for the case and I found out that he was the one who stole the evidence. I wasn't very happy with what Opie had done with the case. We want to his bedroom and I grounded him for a long, long time," I said as I ended my story.
"That does sound like you have a problem on your hands, Andy," Pastor Tucker said as he heard the ending of my story.
"I grounded him and told him he couldn't attend church on Sundays with the family," I said.
"That is where you're wrong, Andy. He has to attend. You can never punish a teenager or child from church," Pastor Tucker said.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Opie needs to be at church while he's punished, Andy. Haven't you read about the law in God's Word?" Pastor Tucker asked.
"I guess I have, but it's been a while," I replied.
"Read for yourself, Andy. Tell Opie to come in after school and I will deal with him. I will see him every day after school," Pastor Tucker said.
"Sounds fair," I said, liking our agreement.
"This is what I'm going have Opie do since you punished him, Andy. I'm going to have him read to me from God's Word about stealing and punishment every day he comes here," Pastor Tucker said.
"I like the idea. That will tell him how he feels about stealing evidence from a murder case," I said.
"Right, Andy. He comes to me starting Monday," Pastor Tucker said.
"Tell Opie I'll be praying for him," Pastor Tucker said as the two men stood up and Pastor Tucker opened his office door for me.
"Stealing is a crime, Andy," Pastor Tucker said.
"True, Pastor Tucker. What should I do about Opie?" I asked.
"Bring him here and I will do something about it," Pastor Tucker said.
"I will," I said and thanked Pastor Tucker as I left the church.
Andy went back to the jail and found Barney on the telephone. Barney didn't see me come in.
"Was the call urgent?" I asked.
"The call? Yeah, Ange. Your friend, Sheriff Cline called. He wants you to call him back," Barney come back. Once Barney was off the phone, he found me in the office.
"Hi, Ange. I was wondering when you'd come back," Barney said.
"Jeremy called? I'll call him back. Thanks for telling me," I said.
"Where did you go?" Barney asked.
"The church," I said.
"What for?" Barney asked.
"I was talking to Pastor Tucker about Opie," I said.
"What did he say about Opie?" Barney asked.
"I'm sure you remember you heard about Opie being grounded the other day," I said.
"I heard, Ange. I was there when you grounded Op. That's what I was doing your house because I wanted to talk to you about Thelma Lou. What is Pastor Tucker going to do with Op?" Barney asked.
"He's going to have Opie read to him from the Bible about stealing and punishment," I told Barney.
"That ain't a bad idea, Ange. Maybe Opie would learn something by doing that," Barney said.
"I hope it works out fine if Opie does this. Pastor says this starts Monday next week," I said.
"Good luck to Op," Barney said.
"Tell him that yourself. I'm thinking of grounding Opie for the rest of the school year," I said.
"The rest of the school year? That's a long time, Ange," Barney said.
"You know it, but I want to show Opie stealing evidence from a murder case ain't right," I said.
"Good point," Barney said.
I got on the phone.
"Sara, give me Sheriff Cline at the Milwaukee Sheriff's Department," I said.
I heard the phone ring a few times before hearing Sheriff Cline's voice on the other end of the line.
"Hi, Sheriff. Sheriff Taylor," I said once I heard Jeremy Cline on the other end.
"Hi, Andy," Jeremy said.
"My deputy told me you called when I was out," I said.
"I did. I wanted to see how far you were on my deputy's murder," Jeremy said.
"I'm still working on it, Jeremy. I heard our boys met," I said.
"So I heard. My wife drove your boy back to the hotel after the football game was over. I was busy and couldn't drive your son back, so she offered to drive him back," Jeremy said.
"That was nice of your wife to do that. Did Opie thank her?" I asked.
"I'm sure he did, but I didn't come along on the ride, Andy. Tell me what you've got on the case so far," Jeremy said.
"There ain't much to tell, Jeremy. A lot had happened since you sent me the evidence by mail," I said.
"Well, tell me, Andy. I need to know," Jeremy Cline said.
"Are you sure you want to hear this, Jeremy? If you are, I don't think you'd want to hear this," I said.
"I need to know, Andy. This is my deputy's case," Jeremy said.
"I understand that, Jeremy. I don't think this is something you'd want to hear. My boy Opie was involved while he was in Milwaukee," I said.
"Well, tell me, Andy. I need to know what happened," Jeremy said.
"All right, if you insist," I said, sighing.
I really didn't want to tell Jeremy Cline about the evidence being stolen from Opie and about one of the townsfolk (Goober) looking at the crime scene pictures of Andy Jones but not touching the pictures and running out of the office.
"Well, Jeremy, it's like this. After you sent me the evidence by mail-"
I was a loss at words and didn't want to tell Jeremy Cline about Opie stealing the evidence. I knew Jeremy wouldn't like hearing it.
"I'm waiting, Andy. I want to hear what you found on the case," Jeremy said.
I looked at Barney for words. All Barney could do was shrug his shoulders.
"Could you hold for a few minutes, Jeremy?" I asked.
"Sure, Andy," he said.
I put the phone down so Jeremy would be out of mute.
"Barn, what are we going to do? Jeremy wants to know what we picked up on the case of the murdered deputy. I can't tell him about Goob and Op. He'll be hurt," I told Barney.
"Don't look at me. You were the one who said yes to this case, not me, Ange. I ain't telling this officer of law about this latest news," Barney said.
"You're right, Barn. You ain't and I am. I'd hate to tell Jeremy. You know I hate hurting people with news like this," I said.
That's when we both heard Aunt Bee walk into the office. I got back on to the telephone.
"Hi, Aunt Bee. What can we do for you?" Barney asked.
"Hi, Barney. Whom is Andy talking to?" Aunt Bee asked.
"Sheriff Cline. Andy don't want to talk to him about some news and he thinks it will hurt the sheriff," Barney told Aunt Bee.
"What will hurt Jeremy?" Aunt Bee asked.
"This case Andy took on, Aunt Bee. What made you come in?" Barney asked.
"It's about Opie," Aunt Bee said.
"I see. He ain't my problem," Barney said.
"I know he's not," Aunt Bee said.
Both Aunt Bee and Barney listened to my call with Sheriff Cline.
"Like I said earlier, Jeremy, my boy Opie was involved in the case out in Milwaukee while he was playing against your boy during the game. When he came back here to Mayberry, I had to punish Opie for what he did," Aunt Bee and Barney heard me say.
"What did your son do wrong that involved my deputy's murder?" Jeremy asked.
"He stole the evidence you sent me by mail and he took it with him to Milwaukee and talked to your boy about it. When he came back here to Mayberry, he told me he was the one who stole the evidence from me when I wanted to look at it and I punished him for it. Has your boy told you about this?" I asked.
"I haven't heard anything, Andy, but thank you for letting me know. I'll try talking with Tony and see what I can get out of that boy of mine," Jeremy Cline said.
We were off the phone.
"Aunt Bee, what brings you here?" I said after putting the phone back in its place.
"Andy, I talked with Opie at lunchtime today. He didn't come home because of his punishment from the car. He wanted to let you know he talked to the coach," Aunt Bee said.
"How did it go with the coach?" I asked.
"He says the coach isn't very happy with you taking him off the team, Andy. He still wants Opie on the team this weekend," Aunt Bee said.
"No can do, Aunt Bee. He ain't playing for the rest of the school year. He is punished for the rest of the school year. That's what I've decided on," I said.
"All right. Don't forget to pick Opie up," Aunt Bee said.
"I haven't forgotten," I said as the two of us watched Aunt Bee leave the office.
Barney and I worked more on the cold case until I had to pick Opie up at three that Friday afternoon from school.
"See you Sunday, Ange," Barney said.
"All right, Barney," said as I left the office for the weekend.
I drove off to Mayberry High and waited for Opie to show up. I saw Opie with Cassie, his girlfriend a few minutes later. I watched the two of them.
"Can we go out tonight, Opie?" I heard Cassie ask.
"I can't, Cassie. I'm grounded," Opie said.
"From what?" she asked.
"Pa grounded me. I wish we could go out tonight but Pa said I'm grounded because of what happened over the weekend. I stole some evidence from a case he's working on. Do you need a ride home? Pa's taking me home," Opie said.
"Thanks, Opie, but today's cheerleading practice, remember? Don't you want to stay and watch?" Cassie asked.
"I can't. I have to go straight home because I'm grounded," Opie told her.
"Bye, Cassie," Opie said as the two gave each other a quick kiss.
"Bye, Opie. I'll call you tonight," she said.
"I wish we could talk, Cassie, but I can't. Pa grounded me from the phone," Opie said.
"Sorry to hear that. I'll miss our conversations," she said. "Me, too, Cassie. I'll see you Monday," Opie said.
Cassie watched Opie head to the squad car.
"Hi, Pa," Opie said.
"Hi, Opie," I said.
I drove away from the high school.
"Opie, there's something I want to talk to you about," I said.
"What's that?" Opie asked.
"Your punishment," I said.
"What about it? Am I unpunished?" he asked.
"No," I said.
"What do you have to say about it?" Opie asked.
"I have decided how long you will be punished, Opie," I said.
"How long?" Opie asked.
"The rest of the school year," I said.
"That long? I can't be punished that long, Pa. That sounds like forever," Opie said.
"That's what I've decided and I'm sticking with it, Opie. I talked with Pastor Tucker today and he said he would be seeing you after school Monday. We agreed it would be a part of your punishment," I said.
"What did Pastor Tucker say?" Opie asked.
"He said part of your punishment is going to church directly after school and you two will talk about your being punished. He said he's going to have you read from God's Word about stealing and punishment. I hope you learn something," I said.
There was no word from Opie. That night at supper, I told Aunt Bee about my visit with Pastor Tucker.
"How in the world did he come up with that idea, Andy? That is very clever," Aunt Bee said.
"I have no idea, Aunt Bee, but I sure do like the idea," I said.
"He's not going to preach this," I told Aunt Bee.
"The way you said it, that sounds like this isn't a sermon," Aunt Bee said.
"I guess he wants to teach Op a lesson," I said.
"Guess so," Aunt Bee said.