Chapter 24
Woody quickly offered to push her chair and Petunia smiled up at him. "Usually I prefer to get around on my own young man, but it is very rare these days that a handsome young man offers to do something for me, so just this once I will say yes."
Petunia pointed the way to a bench where Mac and Woody could sit while they talked. When they were settled she said, "So you want to know about little Clem. That was what I called him you see. I never could abide that name Maggie chose. Clem was a quiet little thing. Don't get me wrong he was very bright. He had already started to read at only three years old. But he was always so still. He would sit with a book or stare out the window for such a long time that you would forget he was in the room until he shifted or got up for something. One time I tried to get him to talk about his father, because Mac wouldn't tell me much about him, but little Clem just sat there and stared at me as if he hadn't heard my questions. A moment later, his mother called from the kitchen saying that she had milk and cookies for him and he ran off. He was a very secretive little boy."
"What about his looks Ms. Orly? There were never any pictures of your nephew found."
"He was very tall for his age, so when the three of us would go out together they always thought Clem was my son rather than Maggie's. She was so short. So I don't really know if that came from our side of the family or his father's, but the rest of his looks had to have come from that man. Little Clem had dark hair and eyes, his eyes were so dark, almost like holes in his face. Both Maggie and I had blond hair and green eyes. Clem almost looked foreign he was so dark."
"From the case file we read, you said you thought his father's name was Ellery. Do you remember a last name? Or anything more about him that might help us find him?" Woody asked.
Petunia sat quietly for a moment clearly trying to remember, but then sadly shook her head, "I know Maggie never mentioned his last name. All she would tell me about him was that he was tall, dark, and handsome, but he also was very controlling and later started to hit her whenever she would do something that displeased him."
"She ran away from him and kept moving to stay ahead of him or had he found her each time?" Mac wanted to know.
"He kept finding her. He was a very smart man. I kept telling her to come and live on the farm with me instead of working in banks, but she didn't want to be a burden. She wanted to support herself and Clem."
"Thank you for talking to us Ms. Orly, we will let you know if we are able to locate your nephew," Woody told her, then added as he got to his feet, "May I wheel you back inside?"
"No, I will stay out here for a while, but when you arrived you said there might be another case that connected to my sister's murder. Can't you tell me anything about that?" Petunia pleaded.
"Actually if Detective Hoyt and I are right, our other case might just be part of the same case. There was a young Marine outside the airport that saw your sister get shot and her son kidnapped. He jumped into a cab and followed the car that your nephew was abducted in. The next day the body of an unidentified man was found in an alley. When Detective Hoyt ran the man's fingerprints, he found out he was Captain Kellson Manors, a Marine returning from Viet Nam. We are hoping that by working both of these cases we might yet be able to find out what happened," Mac explained.
"That is the best news I have ever had about my sister and nephew! I certainly hope that you are able to solve both cases," Petunia said.
"We do as well," Woody stated.
"Please," Petunia said softly as the two of them were about to leave.
To be continued…