Once Upon a Time...Again

Chapter 5

Tony

I arrived at the town of Green Lake mid-morning, I drove up and down Main St a couple times just get the feel of the town. It felt like I had driven back in time about 40 years, there were no fast-food places, no Walmart, all the businesses looked to be locally owned. The only name brand I saw was the Texaco sign at the convenience store when I first entered town. There appeared to be everything anyone would need to live here. A drug store, grocery store, Dr and dentist office, a lawyer, an accountant and even a clothing store.

I drove to the end of Main St and took the road out to the lake where Tanner had disappeared. There was a clearing that had a picnic area and a dock to fish from or put a small boat into the water. It was well maintained, and I saw a couple teenagers sitting at the end of the dock fishing. I thought, if it was ten years earlier, that could be Tanner and Logan. I walked up the shore and looked out across the lake. From what I read about the lake, it was approximately 100 acres and as deep as 20 feet in spots. You could see the other side, but it wasn’t lined with trees like this side, it was farm ground, and appeared to be planted to wheat this year. The lake was beautiful and so peaceful, the two boys fishing didn’t even seem to notice me.

I headed back to town, not sure who I should talk to first. I knew Tanner’s mom and stepdad lived on Oak St, Logan worked at the feed store, and the police Chief was still the same man that originally investigated the disappearance. About halfway back to town, an old house caught my eye, it was about 100 yards off the main road and looked to be abandoned. I slowed down and pulled into the drive, grass and weeds had overgrown the yard, but the house seemed intact. Just behind the house was an old barn, I could see that part of the roof had fallen in from a storm or possibly just age. As I was backing out to head into town, I noticed the for-sale sign that was leaning against the tree. I’m not sure why I was drawn to the house, but I snapped a picture of the sign.

It was now noon, I pulled up to the café and went in to get a bite to eat. I sat at the counter next to an older gentleman that I decided was in his late sixties or early seventies. He gave me a pleasant smile as I took my seat.

The waitress smiled as she approached us, “hey Frank, the usual for you today?” She handed me a menu.

He winked at her, “you talked me into it, Cindy, thanks.”

She winked back, “ham and cheese on wheat and a cup of coffee coming right up.”

She smiled at me, “I’ll be right back to get your order honey.”

I smiled back, “no hurry, thanks.”

Frank turned to me and held out his hand, “Frank Anderson, are you new in town?”

I shook his hand, “Tony Malone, no I’m just here for a visit.”

He nodded, “I see, so what do you do for a living Mr. Malone?”

I said, “please, it’s Tony. I am an accountant. What about you Mr. Anderson?”

He said, “the same, I am an accountant and it’s Frank.”

I chuckled, “that is a coincidence.” I told him that I worked for a firm back in the city.

He grinned, “well, if you ever want to move to a small town and start your own small firm, you can have my customers.”

I asked, “are you trying to retire?”

He nodded, “yep, have been for the last ten years. I have an office next to the hardware store, I keep books for about 12 businesses and farmers in the area. I do just about everyone in town tax returns every year too. I have been trying to find someone to take over, I hate to leave my clients high and dry, but I will be 77 on my next birthday and my wife is threatening to leave me if I work much longer.”

Cindy walked back and set a sandwich and cup of coffee in front of Frank, she turned to me, “have you decided yet sweetie?”

I pointed to Frank’s plate, “that looks good, I’ll have the same as Frank.”

She gave me a smile, “sure thing, be right back.”

I chatted with Frank as we ate, he gave me a nice history of Green Lake and all the businesses here. I sat and listened as people came in and out of the café as we talked, he called them all by name as they all said hi Frank to him, he really did know everyone. I couldn’t help but think that you would never find this back in the city, I was a bit envious.

After my pleasant talk with Frank, I drove to the motel on the other end of Main Street, and checked in.

The lady checking me in asked how long I would be staying.

I said, “probably three or four days.”

She smiled, “I’ll just charge you for three days, if you decide to stay longer you can just pay then. If you stay for the week, I can give you the weekly rate, you’ll save $10.”

I smiled, “sounds good, I will let you know when I decide for sure how long I will be staying.”

She handed me a key, yes, a real key, not a card and I went to my room. I brought in my bags and settled in. I looked over my notes for a while and added some of the new information that Frank had given me for my background material.

I decided to call the State Police investigator first, just to get his take on the case. I was a little surprised that he took my call, but once I explained that I was working a story just to keep Tanner’s disappearance in front of the public, he was happy to talk to me.

He answered the phone, “Investigator Ben Copple.”

I said, “Investigator Copple, I am Tony Malone, what can you tell me about the Tanner Grisham case? I looking to write a story or even a book about it, hopefully someone will see it and come forward with some new information.”

He said, “well, most of the details are out there in the public record, I don’t have a lot of additional information. There are a few facts that we always withhold, just to confirm any new stories, you understand that I can’t tell you those.”

“Yes sir, I do understand. Can I ask you what your gut feeling is though, I know it’s not for the record, I am just wondering where the best place would be to start.” I told him.

He paused, “if you saw the story, they did on channel 12 a few weeks ago, they made it sound like we thought we were dealing with a runaway situation and didn’t look too far into anything else.”

I said, “yes, that is the impression they gave, was that not right?”

He scoffed, “no that was not right, the partner I had at the time was the one who planted that seed in the press. He was two months from retirement, and I think he just didn’t want to get too involved in a new case. That is also not for the record by the way.”

“Of course, so, you don’t think Tanner did run away?” I asked.

“No, I don’t. Everyone I talked to that knew him said he would never do that. His mom, his friend Logan even all his teachers said he was a stable kid, he would have talked to someone before he just left.” He told me.

I asked, “what do you think his relationship with his family was like?”

He said, “It seemed good with his mom, there may have been a little tension with the stepdad, but nothing bad. His biological dad isn’t in the picture, we did talk to him, and he was 200 miles away and we were able to verify his alibi.”

So far, I wasn’t getting anything new, I asked, “so if you were to start your investigation over right now, who would you start with?”

He thought a minute, then said, “I would talk to Logan again, I don’t think he is involved, but I just had the feeling he wasn’t telling me everything, like he was hiding something.”

I said, “thank you for taking my call, if it is ok with you, I may call you again.”

He said, “yes that’s fine, if you do turn up anything you will be sure and let me know.”

“Of course, thanks again for the help.”

I walked down the street to the feed store where Logan worked, he was walking out the door as I approached. He walked over to a picnic table on the side of the store, he sat at the table as he lit up a cigarette. I walked toward him, he let out a cloud of smoke as he turned to look at me.

I held my hand out to shake, “Logan?”

He shook my hand, “yep, and you are?”

I pointed to the bench, “I’m Tony Malone, can I join you?”

He took another drag of his cigarette, “I guess so.”

I said, “I’m doing some research on the Tanner Grisham case, could I ask you a few questions?”

He rolled his eyes, “that fucking news story, just as things were getting back to normal, they had to stir things up again.”

I said, “I’m sorry, if you would rather not talk to me, I understand, but I really just want to keep Tanner’s story in the public eye. Hopefully, someone will see it and maybe come forward with some new information. You and Tanner’s family deserve to have some closure.”

He nodded, “I just want to know what happened, if I hadn’t been late, maybe I could have helped him.”

I turned to him, “it wasn’t your fault, there was nothing you could have done.”

He shook his head, “how do you know that.”

I said, “I don’t, I just don’t think we have any control over what happens in our lives.”

He put his cigarette out in the ash tray, “I better get back to work, what questions did you have?”

“Well, just about the day you were going fishing and things about you and Tanner.” I told him.

He looked at his watch, “I have another hour before I get off work.”

I stood up, “I’m staying at the motel, room 3. If you want to talk to me, you can stop by.”

He nodded, “I’ll see how things go after work.”

I smiled, “thank you.”

He went back inside as I walked back to my room. About two hours later, I heard a knock at my door. Logan was standing on the other side when I opened the door.

I smiled, “thanks for coming, please come in.”

We sat down at the table that I had covered in papers, I handed him a beer.

He took a drink, “so what do you want to know about Tanner?”

We reviewed all the information that he had told the police and press ten years ago, and his story was always the same. I decided to get a little more personal.

I asked, “so how long were you two friends?”

He said, “since the first day of school in kindergarten.” He smiled, “we did everything together, both in school and during breaks. We knew everything about each other, we had no secrets.” I could see he had a lot of pleasant memories of Tanner.

I suddenly realized that there may be more between he and Tanner than Logan was telling. I decided to press my luck.

I said, “you were more than just friends, weren’t you?”

He went pale, “what? No, I mean, we just…”

I looked him in his eyes, “Logan, relax. I’m not here to judge you or spill your secrets. I can see the love that you have for Tanner in your eyes when you talk about him. I know exactly what you are going through, I lost the only man I ever loved too.”

His eyes went wide, “really, what happened?”

I told him about Liam, then I said, “I know it’s not the same, I at least had closure, I know what happened to Liam. I can’t imagine what you have been dealing with the last ten years.”

Logan started to cry, “oh God, I miss him so much, I know he didn’t run away, he would never have left me like that.”

I put my hand on his shoulder, “I know.”

He wiped his tears away with the back of his hand, “we have been in love since we were 14, I can’t even think about being with anyone else until I know what happened to Tanner. I keep hoping that he will came back, and we can pick up where we left off.”

We talked for another hour, about both Tanner and Liam, sharing details of our relationships, we had so much in common. We drank another beer and Logan gave me a hug as he left to go home.

I took a deep breath as I sat back at the table, emotionally drained, I’m sure Logan was too. I looked through my notes again, trying to decide where to go next with my research.

I decided tomorrow morning, I was going to try to talk to Tanner’s parents and then maybe see if the local Police Chief will talk to me.