After Death (24 page)

MUTILATED BODY OF CHILD FOUND IN HILLS.

His breath stopped in his throat. For a moment, his heart forgot to beat or he forgot to breath —
What-the-fuck!

He scanned the article quickly, trying to keep it together.
She’d known. She’d thrown away yesterday’s paper and must have taken todays… She’d known it was the same and had tried to keep it from him!

And it was confirmed as the same M.O. —
His
M.O.

The dead child found was Billy Wasau — One of his hands had been severed and he had bled to death. The hand had not been found. There were still no leads. The body had been dumped in a local park, in some bushes. It had been found by a jogger. That was it. Concise and to the point.

Not possible. People don’t come back from the dead. NOT possible. Stay logical. Be reasonable.

He reread the article again. Once, twice, three times, four, five… The words were few and there was nothing more to glean, no matter how hard he tried to squeeze something out of them. An innocent boy was dead, two other children were still missing, parents were in an uproar, no leads.

Coincidence? No way. Too many exact details were the same. But that didn’t mean —

The thought hit him suddenly and with the impact of a speeding bus:
Maybe he wasn’t dead? Eli hadn’t been truthful about so many things — why start with his own death? Could he have faked it?

Frank pondered the possibilities.
He hadn’t really seen the corpse — He hadn’t made sure Eli was really dead — why would he? He’d been too freaked out by Eli’s promise to return. He’d assumed that when he saw that glaring stare fixed on him, he was dead… But what if —

He had to be realistic here — This sounded too crazy — It would’ve been damn near impossible to fake out everybody… There were so many people involved — from the Coroner to the Undertaker… There must be another explanation…

But what if there weren’t? What if this outlandish idea were true?

He knew how ridiculous it sounded. He couldn’t mention it to anybody… Jackie would think he’d lost his mind for sure. It was what she seemed to fear most from her latest actions… He couldn’t tell anybody… Except… maybe Fernando… It was risky but… maybe…

He wrote a quick note to Jackie — He knew he’d be out late and didn’t want her to worry. He’d take the newspapers with him and dispose of them later. He hated to conceal things from her but she’d started it…

He wrote that he was going to a fellow teacher’s bachelor party… That should give him enough time…

***

It had started to rain as Frank made his way into Hollywood in his VW. The rain beat a steady rhythm against the windshield and his old wipers were having trouble keeping it clear, squealing against the glass and clacking hard at the end of each stroke.

He’d packed the few necessary tools and odds and ends into the trunk and was trying to think how he could broach the subject properly with Fernando. He pulled up outside the crusty apartment building and let the engine idle and defroster run at full blast. What could he say that wouldn’t sound completely “out there”?

Fernando was the only one besides Jackie that knew about his suspicions regarding Eli. And he was the only one that had actually met Eli and had some idea of what he was like. Of course, that was before all the other information had come to light but…

Frank made his way up the flights of stairs without having settled on a plan. The rain against his face and head felt good — He’d have to wing it—decide how to handle it based on how Fernando behaved…

After all — It wasn’t everyday that you asked someone to help you dig up a corpse.

Fernando watched TV with his four-year old daughter Marta on his lap and his girlfriend Rosa next to him on the couch. When there was a knock at the apartment door, he somehow knew immediately who it was without surprise — They didn’t get many visitors and it somehow made sense that Frank was overdue to get in touch.

He lifted his little girl and handed her over to Rosa who accepted her with a clear expression of forced tolerance. It was one of those strange things about Rosa, it would’ve made sense if this were because Marta wasn’t her biological offspring (Fernando was well aware of the Latin tendency for jealousy), but it had nothing to do with that. She simply had no maternal instinct. In the past, Fernando would’ve never been in a relationship with a woman with this characteristic — but with Rosa, he was willing to overlook it without even being able to say why. The easy answer would’ve been her amazing aura of sexuality but he thought it was more than that — he just didn’t know what. There was something warm and magnetic and hypnotic about her that he couldn’t put his finger on… Besides, the issue of children didn’t come up very often since Fernando had only very limited visitation rights. He didn’t know how his ex-girlfriend had managed it but when he’d gone to court, the judgment had gone against him with the speed of the wind and he didn’t have the money to fight it. As it stood, he saw Marta one night a week and on those nights, Rosa usually chose to do something else. Tonight was an exception.

He moved to the door, finishing a mouth full of special cake he’d brought home for his daughter and trying to lick his fingers clean before reaching for the knob. When he swung open the door, there was Frank, just as he’d expected.

“Hey, Frank —” He asked with his mouth still full and with a heavy dose of sarcasm, “Come to go ghost hunting again?”

Frank replied with a straight face and hands in his pockets.

“Maybe.”

Fernando glowered.

“That was a joke, Frank. We’re lucky we didn’t get busted for bein’ at the hospital that night. They called me in for questioning first thing the next morning. You know that Lidia died the same night we were there, right..?”

Frank shook his head, surprised and saddened.

“No… I didn’t hear anything about it… That’s terrible…” He took a moment to absorb this and then asked: “Why would the Police question you?”

Fernando stepped to the side of the doorway for Frank to come in and watched his eyes dart quickly around the apartment taking in the details. He could almost tell which items he was noting in the Tiajuana-style decorated apartment — the black velvet paintings, the several crucifix, large and small, hanging on the walls, the collection of wrought-iron candle holders, and Marta’s colorful drawings taped to the far wall. Fernando knew his place wasn’t much but he was still proud of it. It was a long way from what he’d come from…

“I didn’t say the Police, Frank — Management. You know they said she killed herself but she could barely move..! I heard her hand was almost totally cut off her wrist, there’s no way she could do that!”

Frank had come inside far enough to notice Rosa and Marta on the couch and froze.

“Hi.” He said a bit awkwardly and gave Fernando a look. He leaned in and whispered. “Should we really be talking about this in front of…”

Rosa and Marta seemed amused and watched the exchange. Fernando laughed.

“It’s alright. This is nothing compared to the movies she watches.” He wagged a finger at Marta. “Movies that her
mother
lets her watch!”

Marta giggled. Frank still seemed very uncomfortable. He moved towards the kitchen, clearly wanting Fernando to follow. Fernando smiled to himself — Frank apparently had no idea how small this apartment was — talking in the kitchen wasn’t going to keep anything private. Still — he humored him and followed.

“What’d you tell them?” Frank asked after a brief hesitation, leaning against the kitchen counter.

“Nothing — What
could
I tell them?”

“Did they ask about me?” Frank ventured.

Fernando made a face.
That was a strange question…

“Why would they ask about you, Frank? You don’t even work there anymore, remember?”

Frank nodded and looked away.

“You’re right… Just a little paranoid I guess…”

“They did ask me something weird though. They asked if I’d ever seen a dog cruising around the hospital. How weird is that — A dog!”

Marta squealed from the other room.

“A doggie?”

Fernando shrugged towards Frank, called back.

“Yes, sweetie, a big old nasty doggie.”

Fernando put a hand on Frank’s shoulder, guided him back to the living room.

“C’mon, this is silly.”

Frank coughed. He swallowed then tipped his head in greeting to Rosa.

“Hi. Sorry to interrupt…” He said weakly.

Rosa smiled and spoke with a flippantly flirty air.

“Why? You’re good at it.”

Fernando could see Frank didn’t know what to say. More than that, he could see that Rosa was leaning slightly forward and her breasts were almost completely showing. He liked her to wear sexy clothes, he liked to watch men stare at her when they went out, appreciating that even though she was getting up there in age, she was still an attractive woman. But this was going too far — he could see one entire breast — including the nipple!

He stepped in front of Frank to block his view.

“So, Frank — What are you really here for?”

Frank swallowed again and Fernando noticed that there were beads of sweat on his forehead and that he looked pale and exhausted.

“You all right, Frank? You don’t look well, man?”

Frank nodded and rubbed his eyes and suddenly Marta was off the sofa and had wrapped her arms around Frank’s legs. Fernando just stared. He murmured to himself in surprise.

“That’s a new one…” And then to Marta: “What’re ya doin’, sweetie?”

Marta didn’t answer and wouldn’t let go. She peeked up at Frank and giggled but still held tight.

“You have kids, Frank?” Fernando asked.

Frank stroked Marta’s head tenderly — there was a connection there, nothing artificial or rehearsed — just an instant innate magnetism between the adult and child.

“Not yet. My wife and I are working on getting a bit more secure first…”

He seemed to relax and smiled back at Fernando, still stroking Marta’s hair.

“Soon, I hope.”

“Secure first?” Fernando laughed.” White people!” He shook his head, still laughing. “Well, if you ever want to babysit — for practice…”

Frank and even Rosa laughed as well. Frank caught Fernando’s eye.

“I actually came by to apologize for the other night. I know you did me a huge favor and I wanted to thank you…”

“It’s okay, Frank. What are friends for?”

Rosa smirked at them with an air of mischief.

“Ah, how cute. You two gonna kiss now?”

Frank had never been to a cemetery at night — all he knew was what he’d seen in the scary movies he’d been obsessed with for years and that wasn’t exactly comforting. What he felt now as he slogged through the rain in his parka with his gloves, small tool bag, and flashlight was far worse than he could have imagined. He had little visibility with all the water in his eyes and almost ran into the fence surrounding the small graveyard. Then the view of this dark and dreary place with the headstones reflecting what little light there was made him shiver from more than just the cold. There was something so still about this place — so
repellent
— it was as though the air was charged with negative ions or molecules — and it was all he could do to force himself to keep moving forward, to scale the ragged fence after dropping his gear to the other side and continue towards his horrific destination.

He hazarded a glance back at the top of the decayed structure he’d just crawled over. There was no barbed wire, no further protection at all against intruders…

This air was enough
, he thought.
Something about the thickly stagnant air of this place was enough to intimidate… everything… and everyone…

He darted as quickly as he could from gravestone to gravestone in case there were the watchful eyes of a guard somewhere… He felt as though he were struggling against a current and his movements felt slowed — as though meeting a constant resistance…

I need to put away such thoughts… I need to get a handle on things…

He used his flashlight sparingly — only enough sporadic flashes to get his bearings on his meandering path. In his half-blind progress he came to Eli’s gravestone sooner than he’d expected and accidentally thumped his knee against the plain grave marker. He barely suppressed a painful yowl.

Even in death, the motherfucker’s getting me! Even in death!

And then the vice grip of logic took hold:
Stop that! Stop that right now and get to the business at hand!

He plopped his tool bag into the muck and tugged open the zipper. He took one more good long look around to make sure no one was watching and pulled out his foldable shovel and clicked it into position.

At least there was one good thing about this rain
, he thought.
The ground should be easier to dig
…