Legacy: The Mark of Merlin. Gerald Pruett

you and your wife to come to Kansas City and claim custody of Ellen and your newborn niece. Otherwise the two will be placed in foster homes.”

      “Yes, of course. My wife and I will be there as soon as humanly possible,” Harris assured Detective Sykes.

      “Where will we be as soon as humanly possible?” Allyson again demanded to know.

      When Harris again gestured for Allyson to wait, Allyson just grunted her annoyance of not being answered.

      “Okay, I’ll see you and your wife when you two get here. Bye,” Detective Sykes said during Allyson’s grunt.

      “Bye,” Harris said in a low and distant tone.

      As Harris was hanging up the phone, Allyson demanded, “Will you tell me what in hell is going on?!”

      In the same low and distant tone, Harris said, “Tanya and Michael were in an accident.”

      “Oh my God!” Allyson uttered as her worry deepened. “Are they okay?!”

      “No; they’re not,” Harris said. “They both were killed, but the doctor was able to deliver their daughter before it was too late.”

      “Oh my God!” Allyson uttered in a shock tone.

      “We have to leave for Kansas City tonight,” Harris informed as he went to stand up.

      “Yes; of course,” Allyson said as she quickly stood as well. Harris went to put on his pants as Allyson went to put on a robe. “I’ll pack and you can call the airport for flight schedules.” Once Harris put on and buttoned his pants, he stood introverted as tears filled his eyes. “Harry?”

      Harris came out of his thoughts and looked at Allyson. As tears flowed down his cheeks he said, “Tanya’s dead.”

      Allyson moved to and gave Harris a consoling hug. As she gently stroke Harris’s hair, Harris cried harder.

      After a few seconds Allyson told Harris, “Tanya still needs you, Harry. Her daughter needs you.”

      Harris broke the hug and as he collected his composure, he said, “Right.” He then gestured towards the bedroom door. “I’ll call the airport.”

      When Allyson gave Harris a sympathetic nod, Harris turned and left the room.

      In Kansas City, Missouri, at a two-story house within a nice neighborhood, an attractive and socially liked sixteen-year-old girl—a girl who actually looked slightly younger than her actual age—had been awakened from her sleep from the noise of someone pounding on the front door.

      As she moved from the stairs towards the door with a baseball bat in a ready-to-strike position, she yelled out, “I called the police!”

      “We are the police—I’m Detective Bradshaw of the Kansas City Police Department!” a male voice shouted back. The teenager went to the peephole and saw three men who were each dressed in a business casual manner. “Ellen Anderson?! Did you hear me?! I’m Detective Bradshaw of the Kansas City Police Department!”

      “Hold your badge up at the peephole to where I can see it,” Ellen ordered.

      “For Pete’s sake,” Ellen heard before watching one of the three men holding up a badge. “There! Satisfied?”

      Ellen slightly hesitated and without verbally answering Detective Bradshaw she put the bat down and went to unlock the front door.

      Once the door was open, Ellen demanded to know, “What’s this about?”

      “Can we come in?” Detective Bradshaw asked politely.

      “Can you give me a second so I can stash my drugs?” Ellen jokingly requested. When the three shot her disturbed looks she quickly continued with, “Come in and look. I’m joking. I don’t even do drugs.”

      As the three men stepped in, the second man said, “Yes, well, all joking aside, we’re here on serious business.”

      “I didn’t think you woke me to sell me tickets to the Policemen’s Ball,” Ellen retorted as the third man shut the door. “And I know I didn’t do anything wrong, which brings me back to my recent question—what’s this about?”

      “Ellen Anderson, I am Jared Claiborne… a social worker,” the second man said while extending his hand to shake hands. Ellen just stared at his hand as if it was disease-infected, and after a brief moment, Jared dropped his handshake offer. “Yes, well, anyway, I’m here… we’re here because we have terrible news about your brother Michael and sister-in-law Tanya.”

      “What about them?!” Ellen demanded to know in a worried tone.

      “There was an accident on the highway…” Jared was only able to get out.

      “They’re okay though, right?!” Ellen quickly interrupted with.

      “I’m… I’m afraid not,” Jared informed. “They died after reaching the hospital.”

      Ellen’s knees buckled slightly and before she fell completely, she went to sit down at where she was standing.

      Detective Bradshaw went to catch her, but before he could she uttered, “No! I need to sit!”

      “Okay,” Detective Bradshaw said while backing off and allowing her to sit.

      Just after Ellen sat down she cried into her hands.

      Jared waited for a brief moment before squatting next to Ellen and saying gently, “Before Tanya died, the doctor was successfully able to deliver her daughter.”

      Ellen raised her head slightly before asking in a slight stupor, “The baby’s alive?”

      “She is,” Jared said before stating at what hospital her niece was in.

      “I’m an aunt,” Ellen said somberly.

      “Ellen, I’ll need you to come with me,” Jared informed her before he stood again.

      “Come with… where?” Ellen asked somberly.

      “There’s a foster couple with a room prepared for you,” Jared said. “They’re caring for two kids already so…”

      “No!” Ellen quickly uttered in an unyielding tone.

      “Being that you’re a minor, you can’t stay here alone,” Jared told her.

      “I want to see my niece,” Ellen insisted.

      “I’m sure Mr. and Mrs. Hunter will allow it during visitation hours,” Jared said.

      Ellen stood up and demanded through her clench teeth, “I want to see my niece now!”

      Before Jared or the two detectives could respond, there was a knock at the door followed by a woman calling out, “Ellen! It’s Jane.”

      “She’s my neighbor,” Ellen supplied as Detective Brad-shaw moved towards the door.

      Detective Bradshaw pulled out his badge, and once he opened the door, he held it up for Jane to see.

      After a second of staring at the badge, Jane faced Ellen before saying, “Ellen can be headstrong and at times a smart-aleck, but she’s no criminal or troublemaker.”

      “Mike and Tanya are dead,” Ellen got out before she began sobbing again.

      “Dead?!” Jane uttered in a shocked tone. “How?!”

      “They were involved in an accident on the highway,” Detective Bradshaw said. “The doctor was able to save their baby though.”

      “Okay, well, may I enter?” Jane strongly requested. “So I can console her.”

      Detective Bradshaw gestured for her to proceed while saying, “Come in.”

      Seconds later, as Ellen was embracing Jane’s consoling hug, Jane asked, “Is there anything I can