councilors who were brought in from Cleveland to ‘help the children of Lakeview during this difficult time’. The annual miniboat regatta had been cancelled and replaced with a candlelight vigil and moment of silence. I wondered what it was about death that made people want to congregate with candles.
When I got to the guardhouse for my shift John was waiting for me. “George Loeffler wants to talk to you.” He said. “Don’t go anywhere, he’ll be here in a minute.”
“What does he want to talk about?” I asked.
“Gee Ben, I’m guessing it’s about the murder.” He said.
George Loeffler came riding up to the guardhouse in one of the golf carts. He usually wore a suit, but that day he had on a light sweater and khakis. He looked uncomfortable in casual clothes the way most people look uncomfortable when they dress up. He pulled up to the side door and gave me a weak smile. “Hop in Mr. Perkins.” He said. “We’ll take a ride.”
“Have you heard how Junior’s doing?” I asked as I got in the cart.
“He’s doing as well as can be expected for a man who’s putting his wife in the ground day after tomorrow. He’s recovering down at his place in Everett. He’s not ready to come back to Lakeview.”
“But his health is okay?”
“Yes, yes. He should be fine.” He turned toward the lake on Noah Avenue and drove a few blocks before he spoke again. “I’ll tell you straight,” he said, “the Resident’s Council wanted you out. They said that you couldn’t be trusted because you didn’t see that Junior was in distress when you came to check on him after the noise complaint, and because you didn’t stop David Telano at the gate -as if it were your fault that the side gate isn’t secure. I just wanted you to know that I don’t give much credence to all that. I assume that if there had been some sign that Junior was in danger, you would’ve picked up on it.”
“Yes sir.” I said. “He seemed absolutely fine.”
“The way I see it you’re one of our own, and we don’t hang one of our own out to dry just because they make a mistake.” He made a right turn on Lakeshore Blvd. “The bottom line is that I think you caught some bad breaks that night. That’s all. I told them I didn’t want you fired over it, and that if John Marchin still believed in you that that was good enough for me.”
“Thank you sir. I really-”
“But,” he interrupted, “a new fact has come to my attention that has made me question whether or not I was right to defend you.” He parked in front of Junior Pierson’s house and got out of the cart. “Come with me.” He said. I got out and followed him up to the porch. He unlocked the front door and held it open for me.
“What are we doing here?” I asked as I walked into the entryway.
“I just want you to see something, that’s all.” He said. I followed him through the kitchen and watched him open the door to the garage. “Come in here for a moment.” I followed him. “You see this stain on the ground?” There was a dark brown smear on the concrete. “That’s where Junior lay bleeding until Miss Ravhandies found him.”
I put on my most solemn expression and looked him in the eye. “I can’t imagine what he must’ve gone through.” I said. “It must’ve been horrendous.”
He nodded. “Yes.” He said.
“Sir, what is this about? You said there was some reason you thought you were wrong to defend me?”
“It has recently come to my attention that you were friends with David Telano growing up.”
“That’s true.” I said. He stared at me for a moment. “We lived on the same street. I was the one who told the detectives who he was. When they blew up the security camera picture I recognized him.”
“I bet the detectives had some questions about your relationship with him.”
“Yeah of course” I said.
“And what did you tell them?”
“I told them that I had no idea where he was and that we hadn’t been close for years.” I shook my head. “Shoreston is a small town sir, it’s not even a coincidence if you really look at it. I mean, take any two people in town and I bet you could find a connection between them without even having to look too hard.”
“I suppose you’re right.” He said. “Come on.”
I followed him through the living room and watched him start up the stairs. “I don’t want to go up there.” I said.
He stopped and turned around. “I don’t care whether you want to or not. I saved your job, and I can un-save it. If we’re going to keep you on as an agent I need to settle something in my own mind, and this is the only way I know how to do it. So are you coming or not?”
I considered quitting right then and there. I never had a job that I couldn’t walk away from at any moment, and this one was no exception, but there was something about the old man that made me want to go up the steps. It was like I was part of his family or something. He seemed to want to protect me. I followed him through a door at the top of the stairs.
“This is where Becky Pierson was shot to death by David Telano.” He said. There was a brown splatter on the wall and a thick layer of dried blood on the carpet. The room had a strange smell, like when rain hits the sidewalk on a hot day. The sight and smell of the gore turned my stomach. I looked at Mr. Loeffler and he looked back at me searchingly. “I need you to tell me the god’s honest truth.” He said. “Do you know anything about this that you haven’t told the police? I want you to swear to me son, because I have to know. This isn’t a game -a woman is dead. If you have something to say, now is the time to say it.”
“I told the police everything I know.” I said, trying to keep my eyes off of the blood. “I swear.”
He continued looking at me in silence for a long time. “Good.” He said. “Let’s go, I’ll take you back to the guardhouse.” I followed him out of the room and down the steps.
“It’s so awful.” I said, getting into the golf cart. “That a person can just be gone like that. Last year around Christmas I remember she brought gingerbread cookies to the guardhouse. I talked to her for a while. She was nice.”
“Do you go to church son?” He asked as we pulled away from the house.
“Yes I do.” I said. The last time I’d been to church was when my cousin had gotten married three years before.
“Are you a Methodist?”
“Episcopalian.”
“Well if you’re at all interested I want you to know that our services are open to anyone who lives or works here. Nothing would make me happier than to see a young man such as yourself take an interest in our church. You could even bring your lady friend, uh, John’s granddaughter. You could make a day of it.”
“Well I might just do that.” I said. I’d been invited to church exactly five hundred and sixty seven times since I started working in Lakeview, and ‘I might just do that’ was my standard response. It seemed to work a lot better than ‘fuck no.’
“There’s not a lot of chance for advancement in your job.” He said. “Agent is top of the heap until John retires. I know a lot of our guards want to work in law enforcement, but you don’t do you?”
“No, not particularly.”
“Doesn’t interest you eh?”
“Not really. There’s a show on TV, I’m sure you’ve seen it or heard of it. It’s called Cops. That show would put anyone off of being a policeman. I mean, it just seems like they have to break up drunken family squabbles all the time. I don’t think I have the patience for it.”
“Alright.” He said. “I just brought it up because I have some pull over at the prison complex in Port Sound. They’re always looking for guards there. The pay is better, and you get full medical coverage right away.” He looked at me and waited.
“Uh, that’s nice Mr. Loeffler, really. It’s just that I don’t think I’d be cut out for that kind of work. I can handle these kids around here, and the occasional irate tourist, but I don’t know about dealing with real criminals.”
“Well, that’s what the training is for!” He said. “Just
think about it. I could get you in there, no problem.” We were pulling up to the guardhouse. “Before you get to work there was one other thing.” He said. “I was hoping you could tell me if the police contact you again. I’d like to know what questions they ask.”
I looked at him for a moment. “Sure, I could do that.” I said. “Any particular reason why?”
“Well Ben, sometimes when the police have a case like this, you know, killer at large and a lot of media attention, they start to look at the people involved as potential suspects. I just want to know if they ask you anything that might make you believe they were trying to pin something on poor Junior. Whenever there’s a murder, the spouse is suspect number one, especially if the real killer is out of sight. The police are looking pretty foolish now, you understand. They might start grasping at straws.”
“Alright.” I said. “I’ll let you know.”
He smiled at me. “You think about making it to one of our services alright?”
“I sure will.” I said getting out of the cart. I watched him drive off.
FIVE
“Tonight, on America’s Most Wanted, we bring you the heart-wrenching tale of David Telano, a cold-blooded killer who rocked the quiet, gated community of Lakeview Ohio. This story is one of the most disturbing crimes on record, and we need your help to bring this scumbag to justice. I’m John Walsh, and to date your tips have helped us capture eight hundred and twenty seven fugitives from the law.” Jessie took