Secret Hollows (16 page)

He shivered and took a deep breath. “I…I didn’t understand,” he continued. “Bob was always nice to me and Mother. Then he threw me on the porch and told me I was being arrested. I wondered what I had done. I asked Bob what I had done and he started saying that stuff they say on television. I had the right to remain silent. You know, stuff like that.”

“Did he tell you what he was arresting you for?” Bradley asked.

“He called me a name,” Emil said.
“A really bad name.
Mother didn’t let me use that kind of language. I was surprised Bob used it. I told him that he needed to be quiet because Mother didn’t like that word. Then he put the handcuffs on me and dragged me off the porch. I saw a bunch of men in my shed and I asked Bob what they were doing in there. That’s when he told me they found the bodies of the boys…”

Emil began to cry. “He said they found them buried on my property. They found their stuff in my shed. He said they knew I killed them. He said I was going to jail for a long time.”

Looking down at the table, he clasped his hands together and shook his head. “I told him…I told him I didn’t kill those boys. I told him those boys were my friends.”

Pausing for a moment, he studied his hands and finally he met their eyes. “Then he told me I was lying. He told me there was evil inside of me that took over me. He told me the evil made me do things I didn’t want to do.”

He shook his head and his eyes widened. “I never knew about the evil inside me. He said something was wrong with my mind, that’s why I wasn’t smart as other people. And whatever was wrong with my mind made me kill those boys.”

“What happened then?” Bradley asked.

“I told Bob I never wanted to kill those boys,” he said. “I didn’t even remember doing it. But I was sorry. I was sorry I killed those boys.”

He looked up and met Mary’s eyes. “Then Mother came out of the house. She yelled at Bob. She asked him what he thought he was doing. Told him he should know that I could never hurt anyone. Bob put me in the police car and Mother came down the steps. She told him to stop this nonsense right away. But he didn’t listen. He didn’t listen to her at all. He just got in the car and drove me away. Mother was standing by the road, calling my name and she was crying. But he just drove away.”

He turned his head slightly and looked at Bradley. “Mother’s dead now,” he said. “She died about ten years ago. She would write me letters all the time before she died. She never knew the truth about the evil inside me. She thought I didn’t kill those boys.”

“Did you know the boys?” Mary asked.

Emil nodded eagerly, and then stopped. “Well, I knew four of them,” he said. “There was one, from Freeport, didn’t know him at all. The other boys, I drove the bus for them since they were in kindergarten.”

“Did they find your fingerprints on the items they found in your shed?” Bradley asked.

“They said I wore gloves,” Emil replied. “And they found my gardening gloves in the shed. Course, I did always keep my gardening gloves in the shed.”

“Did they find a weapon, the weapon used to kill the boys, in your shed?” Bradley asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. “They said I must have cleaned it off or thrown it away,” he said. “They never found a weapon. But they said I probably got rid of it.”

He shrugged. “The evil part must have told me how to do it. But I wonder why the evil part didn’t hide the swim trunks.”

“Swim trunks?” Mary asked. “What are you talking about?”

Emil shook his head slowly, remembering. “That’s what I had in the grocery bag,” he said, “when I was going to leave my house, before Bob took me. I found Timmy’s swim trunks in the ditch, right by my house. I figured he must have dropped them when he was riding on his bike, past my place. I was going to bring them back to him.”

“How did you know they were Timmy’s?” Bradley asked.

“Oh, they had his name on the inside,” Emil said, “in black marker.”

“What did the police say when you told them about the trunks?” Mary asked.

Looking around the room, he lowered his voice. “Never told them,” he said. “I never told them about the trunks. I was too scared they would think I stole them. So, I never told anyone about them.”

“Do you know what happened to the trunks?” Bradley asked.

“I left them on the table,” he said. “And when Mother came to visit me, she told me she found them. She told me not to tell anyone about the trunks, she was going to hide them away.”

“Do you think she threw them away or destroyed them?” Mary asked.

“No,” he said, shaking his head emphatically. “She said she was going to store them and Mother never did throw much away.”

“Who lives in your house now?” Bradley asked.

“No one, I guess,” he said. “After Mother died, the lawyer came to see me. He said it’s mine, free and clear. He said no one wanted to buy a…”

He took a deep breath.
“A murderer’s house.”

“So, it’s just sitting there?” Mary asked.

“Yeah, just sitting there,” he replied. “Mother and I didn’t spend a lot of money, so there was plenty in her account to cover the taxes. The lawyer said he would get it boarded up for me, so vandals wouldn’t go inside.”

“Can we go inside and see if we can find the trunks?” Bradley asked. “They might have some DNA evidence on them to prove your innocence.”

“But, I’m not innocent,” he said, shaking his head.

Mary put her hand over Emil’s. “I think Bob was wrong. I don’t think you have evil inside you. I don’t think you killed those boys.”

“Really?” he asked.

“Really,” she replied. “Can we go into your house and get the trunks?”

“Sure, if you can find them,” he said. “Mother was always one for finding good hiding places for things.”

“Does your lawyer have a key?” Mary asked.

He shook his head. “No, the spare key is in a plastic box under the big rock by the front steps. You can use that one.”

“I have one more question for you,” Bradley said. “A year before the murders, a young boy went missing. He was camping at Lake Le-Aqua-Na with his family. He was from Chicago. Do you remember the incident?”

Emil thought for a moment and finally, slowly, shook his head. “Yes. Yes, I do,” he replied. “Mother and I had just returned from visiting her sister, Aunt Vilene, from Champaign. We went every year during Spring Break because I didn’t have to drive the bus that week. When we came home, we heard he was missing. I helped search the woods, but we didn’t find him.”

“So, you were out of town when he disappeared?” Mary confirmed.

Emil nodded. “Yeah, I think everyone knew we always went out of town during that week. All the neighbors kept an eye on the house for us.”

“Emil, how could someone bury the bodies of those boys on your property without you knowing about it?” Bradley asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “I have asked myself the same question for many years. There are farmers going up and down that road all the time with big tractors and combines that would have been able to see someone digging. I guess they could have done it at night, but even then, the tractors would go up the road occasionally.”

“How far from the road was the gravesite?” Mary asked.

“Not too far, about fifty yards,” he said. “But it was behind the tree-line from our house, so I never even noticed the disturbed earth. My garden is closer to the house.”

“Was there anyone around who you thought could have been the murderer?” Bradley asked.

Shaking his head, Emil spread his hands out. “Why would anyone kill those little boys?” he asked. “And why would they want to blame me?”

The crackle in the underbrush caused Ian to freeze in his tracks. He turned to his right and saw the white-tailed deer slip out of the woods and move toward the lake. He held his breath and remained still, hoping to enjoy this experience for a little longer.

“She has a baby,” a young voice next to him spoke up.

Ian looked down to see the ghost of a boy standing next to him and involuntarily gasped softly. The boy’s face was covered in mud, like it had been pushed into a lake bottom and held. Where the mud didn’t cover, his skin was a mottled purple and brown, one horrific bruise after another. He took a moment to control his emotions and smiled at the boy. “Let’s see if the baby will come out too,” he whispered.

They stood together for a few minutes, watching the mother deer nibbling on some tree bark and soon saw the delicate fawn step forward, its long legs wobbly and unsure. Ian looked down at the boy and he grinned up at Ian. “Cool,” he mouthed and Ian nodded in agreement.

After a few more minutes, the deer moved slowly away from them into the forest. Ian sat down on a log, next to the little boy. “Are you Ronny?” he asked.

The boy nodded. “How did you know?”

“Well, one of my friends, Timmy, told me about you yesterday,” he explained. “And I came out to see if I could help you. My name’s Ian.”

“You talk funny,” Ronny said, “like Scrooge
McDuck
.”

Ian laughed. “Aye, Scrooge and I were neighbors back in the old country.”

“Really?”

“Ach, no, but it makes a fine story, doesn’t it?”

Ronny laughed again, but then his face dropped and the laughter died.

“Timmy said some things,” he said slowly. “Told me to think about some things…”

He raised clear blue eyes to Ian. “Am I dead?”

Sighing, Ian nodded. “Aye, Ronny, you died a while back,” he said. “And that’s why I want to help you. I want to find out who killed you.”

Shaking his head, he floated backwards, putting some space between them. “I don’t want to think about it,” he said fiercely. “I don’t want to remember what he did to me.”

Ian nodded. “I can truly understand that,” he said. “It must have been an awful thing that was done to you. And I don’t blame you for not wanting to think about it.”

Ronny’s form shimmered and he moved a little closer. “I don’t have to talk about it?”

“No, you don’t,” Ian said. “I’m only here to help you if you want help. You’ve had enough sorrow in your wee life already. I’ll not put you through any more.”

The boy moved closer. “If I tell you, how does it help me?”

“
Aye,
and there’s the kicker,” Ian said, placing his elbows on his knees and cradling his chin in his hands. “If you want to talk about it and if we’re able to find the person who did this to you, then you’ll be able to move on.”

“Move on?”

“Aye, go on to heaven,” Ian said. “Right now you’re stuck here because you have unfinished business.”

Turning, he looked out into the lake and stood silently for a few moments. “Can I see my parents again? If I help?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Ian answered honestly. “We can try to reach them and ask them to come here. But, I can’t promise you that.”

Ronny turned back and looked into Ian’s eyes. “Do you think I should try and remember?”

Ian closed his eyes for a moment as he felt competing emotions of sorrow, helplessness and rage wash over him. He’d like to catch the bastard that killed these boys and give him a chance to experience some of the horrors he had performed on them. He’d like to see the fear he could see in Ronny’s eyes shine in the murderous coward’s eyes.

The sound of a soft whimper from Ronny brought Ian back to the issue at hand. Ronny had glided even closer and stood, waiting, his eyes wide and trusting.

“Aye, I think you should,” he finally answered, his voice soft and sincere. “But it won’t be easy and it won’t be pleasant. He can’t hurt you again, but it will be scary to remember all that happened to you. But, if you don’t try, you won’t find your way home.”

Mike and Timmy appeared next to Ian and Ronny jumped back. “Oh, Timmy, you scared me,” he said.

Timmy grinned. “Mike showed me how to do some really cool ghost things,” he explained. “Like disappearing and going from one place to another, real fast.”

Ronny looked up at Mike. “Can you teach me too?”

Ian saw Mike struggle with his emotions for a moment, as he looked at Ronny for the first time. Mike took a deep breath and nodded, smiling at the little boy. “Sure, kid, I’d be happy to teach you all the cool ghost tricks,” he said. “But let’s get some questions answered first, okay?”