Sarah Benadine is Dead

Chapter XI, Part I

A few weeks after the fight, another occurred. This one was far worse, even though not a single drop of blood was spilled. It had nothing to do with Quintus Zima and his gang; there were only three players in this drama. But its happening colored Shannon Malone's actions for perhaps the rest of the school year.

One week before this catastrophic second fight, Clarence Edwards had found himself in the Clearwater Police Department. No one there was particularly happy to see him; he had a history of showing up with little more to relay than an unconfirmed rumor passed down through seven different people. He could never be deterred, no matter what any of the officers said to him. He'd be sent away with the certainty that a few weeks later he'd be back, and the whole thing would repeat itself.

That time things were a little different. He did, as usual, supply unsubstantiated gossip to the officers in the station that morning. These tales centered on an old ladies' knitting club and the disappearance of a stray cat that they'd been feeding and had named, enigmatically, Finnie Jim. That had not been the real intention of his visit, though. After relating in vivid detail the exploits of Finnie Jim and his knitting lady providers, Clarence Edwards had lectured the officers for nearly a half an hour about the state of safety in the town of Clearwater.

Clarence Edwards was not without a point. It had been quite some time—since August at least—that anyone had felt truly secure in Clearwater. As far as any civilian was aware, the police had made absolutely no headway in investigation of any of the crimes that had plagued the town recently. The public unrest in Clearwater was great; every day tensions grew. Clarence appealed on behalf of his wife, who went into fits whenever a dog in the neighborhood got loose. He appealed on behalf of his sons, both still so young and spirited and full of life. He appealed on behalf of his teenage daughter, only one grade behind the late Sarah Benadine. He would've appealed on behalf of Finnie Jim if he'd had the chance. The officers had gotten the point by then and they knew that this time Clarence Edwards could not be ignored.

The decision was made—after a fair amount of arguing—to have an officer patrol the streets at night, hopefully resulting in giving some piece of mind back to the townspeople. It took Horace Strickland personally promising four times that this measure would be put into place as soon as possible for Clarence Edwards to leave the station. Strickland got someone out there that night, not eager to have Clarence back in the morning harping on him. None of the officers were under the impression they'd seen the last of the man; they knew he'd be back soon enough with another story that was shaky at best. But the night patrolman had not been implemented just to get Clarence Edwards out of their hair. All of the officers, to varying degrees, thought something like this was long overdue.

Shannon Malone and Toni Guaraldi were graced with insider knowledge of this story from Clarence's son, Robbie. Clarence was never shy about what he said in front of his children—he was never shy about what he said in front of anyone. Because of this, Robbie Edwards ended up with a play-by-play of everything that had happened in the police station, allowing for some exaggeration in Clarence's favor. Toni dragged the information out of him in her usual fashion, refusing to take anything close to 'no' for an answer. They discussed it at Toni's house over a game of Crazy Eights one week after Clarence Edwards had been at the police station—the night of the fight. Toni's parents and two oldest brothers were out; she, Gianni, and the third Guaraldi boy, Francesco, had the run of the house.

"I can't believe your dad did it," Toni said, throwing a card into the pile.

"It shouldn't surprise you," Robbie said. "My dad spends more time in the police station than he does anywhere else."