A Murder in Mayberry

Part 4/5) William Moves On

It did not take long for William to lose all he gained back. When you live paycheck to paycheck and week to week, it only takes about two weeks to lose it all. Things were bleak for William and getting darker. The manager of Donnelly Apartments was not without compassion for William, but years of dealing with less than stable renters who were sometimes between disability payments or paychecks, had left the manager with a "it's not personal, it's just business" attitude. It was personal to William, but it did not matter to the manager. It was business. He gave William a week's notice.

"Pay up or get out," the manager said with little fanfare.

William was homeless before, and he was not excited about the prospect of living outdoors again, especially with winter coming. He also knew that having no address meant Bernie could not find him if she needed him, and that it just did not look good for a man on the way to recovery to lose his job and his home. At this rate, Bernie would not come looking for him at all. He was headed towards another downward spiral fast.

William was not without options. He had friends around town and at the retirement center. After he was secretly fired, the next day, William did not show up for work, and it was immediately noticed.

"Where's William? " asked Miss Lacey who raised the alarm. "Where's my baby brother?" she demanded.

"He's not your baby brother, remember we talked about this before. Your baby brother is gone. They are not the same William," said Matthew. Lacey threw her breakfast plate at Matthew.

Matthew went looking for William.

William did not have a phone and did not talk anyway which meant his supervisor could not call to see if he was sick. William was never absent, so one of the maintenance men dropped by Donnelly Apartments on his way to Holcomb Hardware because the staff was worried, and Matthew asked him to. The other residents at Donnelly's were not necessarily the most reliable witnesses, but not one had seen William come in the night before. Workers at Riverview became concerned. They called Pastor Tommy who promised to drop by and check. On the day Pastor Tommy dropped by, William was out at his other job blowing leaves and not at home. Pastor Tommy left his name and told the manager to call him. The manager, who did not like dealing with what he called "do-gooders" did not call back. Pastor Tommy felt reassured though that a couple of residents had seen William that morning "going to work", and he informed concerned friends at the retirement center that he thought William must have a new job. He told them that he would check around town and see what was going on and let them know if he heard anything else.

William could not find the mayor so he could get paid for the landscaping. It would not pay the rent anyway, but it might hold off the landlord. One week behind in rent and with no prospects of next week's rent, William went to see an old friend he knew would help him out. He drove out to Bernie's house.

Bernie had company. The company was male. Bernie seemed a little nervous and flushed. Bernie introduced the company as a friend from school. It was obvious to William that the friend was more than a friend or wanted to be. The friend soon left. Bernie did not explain that the friend was not interested in her that way. The friend was an old friend with a partner, a male partner.

"Well, William, how have you been? I've been getting your notes. They are really sweet. I see you have a car," said Bernie.

William nodded.

"Did you come to see me for a reason today? You look like you have something on your mind," asked Bernie.

William did have something on his mind, but he did not know where to begin.

"Well, I am glad you came out today," said Bernie. "We need to talk."

William had heard this kind of opening before - it was the "I love you, but not that way talk". It was the "but we can still be friends talk." William listened. He smiled.

William was at a loss for words, more so than usual. He could only think of two song titles to respond. The first was " Ain't too Proud to Beg" which he did not say and the second was "I Ain't That Lonely Yet," which he did say. The bad thing about talking in song lyrics and titles is that they are often misconstrued. It was the soul of the song, one of the loneliest songs William could think of, and not the actual words that he meant to convey. Bernie thought for a minute. She interpreted the words as William felt he'd be okay without her.

"We'll both be fine," she said. "We can still be friends." Bernie kissed him on the cheek.

William left that afternoon without asking for help. On the way home, he abandoned the car, no gas anyway. When he left his apartment and headed to the bridge where he had spent a previous winter, a fellow, mentally challenged resident of the apartment building noticed he had a bag packed. "Where you going, William?" he asked.

William unusually stunned by his circumstances could only think of one song about leaving. "I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane," he said. Funny, thought William, I must know thousands of song titles and lyrics, lots of songs about loss and leaving, but I can't think of any. I am, finally, really losing my mind, he thought.

"Are you really leaving town?" the man asked. "How? Ain't no airport nearby. You ain't got no gas for your car. How you leaving?".

"Midnight Train to Georgia," said William.

William was spotted on Riverside Drive by two fellow female employees leaving work that afternoon. It was late and William was walking in the opposite direction so they did not stop. They honked and William waved. The next day they called Pastor Tommy, and he and some congregation members went looking. They walked the entire four miles between the apartments and the retirement center on both sides of the road. They looked in ditches. They looked in ravines. They were worried a car had struck William in the dark the previous day. They walked through Riverside Park. They looked on the walking trail. They looked on the banks of the Ararat River. They could not find William. They called Sheriff Nichols.

Another search the next day was led by a citizen, Clayton Hardy, known as a cold-hearted, tight-fisted scrooge businessman who oddly sometimes championed lost causes, his favorite being William. He called into service several troops of area boy scouts and their leaders who scoured the area and found no sign of William. Sheriff Nichols went by Donnelley Apartments to check on William and heard the story about William leaving. The story had been told enough times about the jet plane and the midnight train that people really did believe William left town.

Sheriff Nichols went by Riverview Retirement Center. He talked to the staff including Candi who looked quite beautiful this day. He got distracted. Had she lost some weight? He told her she didn't really need to, she was nigh near to perfect already. Maybe, she'd like to go to supper one night, he wondered, but he didn't ask out loud. He just wondered. He had to get back to work.

The search might have been extended except that Sheriff Nichols also went to see Bernie Livengood who was distraught beyond consolation and admitted to the Sheriff in a broken jagged, tear-filled confession- "I'm the reason he's gone."

After talking to Bernie, Sheriff Nichols really did believe William left town. Heartbroken, he concluded. He needed to find him before something worse happens. He was going to see the Wild Bunch and hoped their resources, brains, and skills would help find another missing man. At least, he told himself, this missing person just left town.