The chronological order of my stories is now listed in WifeWatchman's biography.
Feedback and
constructive
criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.
This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.
*****
Part 7 - The Tolson Interviews
It was still Wednesday, July 15th as the investigation rolled on.
"Thank you for seeing us today." said Cindy, after Jenny Tolson had admitted them. Claude Tolson and their daughter Rebecca were at home. "I'm sure you're tired of the endless questions, but we're taking one last shot at this as a cold case."
"If it will help find Billy Joe..." said Jenny. She was an attractive woman with a medium build and brown hair, but the years of not knowing had etched her face with pain and sadness. Rebecca, a 25-year-old woman with a pretty face and a slender, sexy body, comforted her mom.
"We're certainly going to do what we can." said Phyllis.
"Before you ask anything," said Claude Tolson, also of medium build but still showing underlying physical strength, "are you acting on behalf of the insurance company?"
"Not at all." Phyllis said quickly, keeping a straight face. "We're acting on behalf of the Town & County Police Force, and anything we find will become public knowledge... which the insurance company can do nothing to stop." Cindy nodded vigorously in agreement.
"Okay." said Tolson. "I don't want to sound uncooperative, but those bastards have acted in the worst way. I don't have much to do with Art Mason, but I supported his lawsuit against the insurance company."
"I understand." said Cindy. "First, I need to ask if any of you know who called the police that day." None of the family members appeared to know, and said so.
"Okay, so we move on: who benefits from Billy Joe's policy?" asked Cindy.
"We do, his parents." said Claude. "What happened was: when Billy Joe and Rebecca were very small, we began life insurance policies on them, variable whole life policies, to pay for their college educations. The amount of the policies was not a tremendous amount, and we've borrowed against the policies to pay for the kids' schooling. But those bastards at the Insurance Company tried to shut the policy down after Billy Joe disappeared so that we could never collect, then tried to claw back what we'd borrowed for Billy Joe's schooling. Thank God Rebecca's policy was with another company; we were able to get her through Yale without going into debt."
"Oh, that's quite an accomplishment, of which you should be proud." said Phyllis. "And going to Yale in itself is something to be proud of. But the policies did not pay you a lot of money, is that right?"
"No, just $250,000." said Tolson. "Well, I guess the word 'just' sounds bad, but in reality, after we'd borrowed against the policy, it wasn't going to pay a tremendous amount. In fact, on Rebecca's policy we were only left with about $5000 after she graduated, which we redeemed and gave to her as a graduation gift.
Tolson continued: "If Billy Joe is declared dead, which he will be in September if he does not turn up alive somewhere, we'll get the full $250,000, and after the court case Mason filed that we won, we're going to get paid the interest also. The Insurance Company is very upset about that."
"I see." said Phyllis. "So why don't I take Miss Rebecca into the kitchen for a moment, while Captain Ross talks with you the parents." The parents put up no protest.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"So let me just ask right out," said Cindy, "what do you think happened to your son?"
"We don't know." said Claude. "He was there that afternoon, then he wasn't. I don't know if he went upstairs with Bonnie Jean or not, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did. But how they disappeared, and why? I have no idea."
"Mrs. Tolson?" Cindy asked, peering at the woman, who was being too quiet and passive.
"I agree with my husband." said Jenny. "Absolutely no idea, and I still can't understand how no one saw them come out of that upstairs room..."
"Mrs. Tolson, do you think Billy Joe and Bonnie Jean were having a sexual affair?" Cindy asked.
"I don't know." said Jenny Tolson. "I do know that Billy Joe tried to seduce just about every woman he met. The only girl he ever dated for any length of time was Willa Mason. I think he felt something for her, but he later said she was a slut, too, so he stopped dating her."
"Mr. Tolson?" Cindy asked the husband.
"I don't know about why he broke up with Willa," said Claude, "but he was a jock and girls were flocking all over him."
"Did Billy Joe get in trouble very much?" Cindy asked.
Claude Tolson answered "He was basically a good boy, minded us, his parents, got good grades and got into college and all. But he was also headstrong, and a handful. I was scared to death that one day some girl was going to show up on our doorstep and tell us that Billy Joe had gotten her pregnant."
"That
did
happen, didn't it?" Cindy inquired, peering at both parents. They just looked at each other with surprised looks on their faces.
"No ma'am," said Claude. "I never heard of Billy Joe knocking up any girl." Jenny agreed. Cindy made a note on her pad.
"So how was Billy Joe with his brother and sister?" asked Cindy.
Jenny Tolson said "I'm sure you'll hear, if you haven't already, that Billy Joe and Jimmy didn't get along. Billy Joe wasn't an unkind boy, though. He was protective of his sister, and they were pretty close. We
did
have to keep an eye on Billy Joe regarding Jimmy, or he'd do something like shove Jimmy's head in the toilet."
"Where is Jimmy now?" Cindy asked.
"He graduated school and has an apartment south of the Courthouse Square." said Claude Tolson. "He's an accountant and actuary with an insurance company. No, not the one that's given us all that trouble, but Conway Property & Casualty Insurance."
"What was Jimmy like, growing up?" Cindy asked.
"He was a very smart boy, still is." Jenny said. "He kept to himself a lot, though. We knew he was picked on a lot in school, but there was little we could do about it."
"What were his interests, hobbies?" Cindy asked.