theories? What do you mean?” Piper thought Betty to be eccentric but not an alien-chasing kind of crazy.
“Nothing they ever told me about his death made any sense. He was meticulous about how he did his job, how he took care of his weapons. It’ll be eleven years this fall and I swear there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t wonder what really happened to my husband. My Stan was a good cop and a smart man. He wouldn’t have walked into a situation without proper backup or with a dirty weapon that would jam. I should have known by the way he had been acting the few months leading up to it that something wasn’t right, but I tried to mind my own business. I don’t trust a single cop in this town besides Bobby, and especially the ones Stan thought were his friends. Not one of them came by the house to see how Julie and I were doing. I mean, she was only fifteen years old and burying her father. If it weren’t for Bobby I’m not sure how she would have made it through.” Betty seemed lost in thought as she trailed off.
“Are you and Bobby related?” Piper asked, genuinely interested in the answer. Piper had overheard enough of Betty’s conversations to realize there was always something worth hearing.
“He grew up next door to us, which in these parts practically makes you kin. His father is a businessman and wasn’t around too much, a cat’s-in-the-cradle type thing. So Stan took to spending time with him. He coached his baseball team and such. Bobby took it real hard when Stan died, but even at fifteen he was a great support to my Julie. They were thick as thieves since they were about ten years old. They rode out all their growing pains together, and if you’d have asked me a couple years ago I’d’ve told you they’d be married by now.” Betty was lost in a sweet memory for a moment.
“But as Bobby got older it became clear he was determined to join the force. It was all he talked about. Julie couldn’t deal with it. She wasn’t willing to put herself through the risk of losing someone she loved again, and they’ve never been the same since. She went off and married this moron. I don’t use the term moron lightly either. The boy doesn't know whether to check his ass or scratch his watch. She and Scott met one week after Bobby left for the academy. For the life of me, I could not see what she found appealing in this lump of a man. They dated for about six weeks and Jules was acting like a lovestruck puppy. I finally called her out on it and she told me that Scott was all she ever wanted. He was simple, which I thought to be the understatement of the century. He had a good safe job and wanted a normal life. What I started to realize was that my daughter was trying to be with someone she didn’t love who had a very low-risk job. She was looking for the complete opposite of Bobby, and I give her credit. If nothing else Scott was certainly that. I told myself I’d let her get this out of her system and when Bobby came back from the academy, he’d help me set all this right. But then that spiteful little hothead went and eloped the night before Bobby was set to come home. It was a nightmare. I didn’t like Bobby joining the force either, but I never expected Jules to go out and do something so impulsive and frankly dumb. To be honest, I couldn’t forgive Bobby myself for a while until I realized how proud Stan would’ve been of him for becoming a cop. That made it all a little easier. But listen to me ramble on about my old, dusty history. I just wanted you to know that I got it when you said the system wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I think I’ll go to my grave not knowing what happened to Stan.” Betty’s voice was barely above a whisper and she frequently looked over her shoulder, checking to see who might be listening.
“I’m sorry to hear all that, Betty, and I hope you do find out someday.” Empathy didn’t come easily to Piper, but she had watched enough television in her day to be able to fake