Val chuckled. “You kiss up very well. ”
“Part of the job,” he said, and they all laughed.
Crow nodded to Newton. “You can leave all that shit about me being a drunk out of the article, okay?”
“Sure,” Newton said a little too quickly, but then he caught the look in Val’s eyes, which were as uncompromising as a fist. Yeah, he thought, Henry Guthrie’s daughter right enough. Screw with her, Newt ol’boy and she’ll rip you a new one. “Sure,” he repeated with emphasis, giving Val a brief nod. She returned the nod and sat back in her chair.
“Okay, so where were we? Oh yeah,” said Crow, “the summer was coming to an end and fall was coming on. ”
“And that,” Val said, “was when people started getting killed. ”
“The Massacre?”
“Right,” Crow said. “That’s when it started. The first to die was one of the drifters. An old wino who’d been doing day labor with Morse, but who doesn’t show up for work one day near the end of September. The Bone Man and another guy go looking for him after work, thinking maybe he’s sick or something. The guy usually slept in a ragged bedroll under that old covered bridge near the reservoir and, he was there all right, but…well, I never saw it firsthand, but years later, when I worked as a town cop I looked at the case file, read the description, and saw the crime scene photos. The poor old bastard had literally been torn to pieces. Pieces, mind you—his throat was ripped out and his head was found thirty feet from his body, and the body had been partially devoured. No one knew what to make of it. Naturally, starving dogs were blamed. Seemed like a logical choice. ”
“Sure. ”
“Then it happens again. Same thing—another drifter. Guy never shows up for work, and when they find him he’s in his bedroll, torn to pieces and partly eaten. Two kills on two consecutive nights just rocks the whole town. They formed groups, loaded their guns, and killed damn near every dog in and around Pine Deep. ”
“The killings didn’t stop?” Newton prodded.
“Of course not. Wasn’t any damn dog doing it, and the killings kept up, nearly every night. Third vic was another drifter, but the fourth wasn’t any drifter. ”
“Who was it?”
Crow’s eyes were as dark and intense as those of a real crow. “The fourth body they found that year, the body they found without its head and with its heart torn out of its chest was…my brother Billy. ”
Newton felt as if someone had just punched him in the stomach. “Oh…my God…”
Crow eyes glistened with unshed tears. “I thank God I never saw the body, and I never had the nerve to look at those photos in the file. They had a closed coffin, of course. Cremated him and spread his ashes over the baseball diamond. He had always wanted to play pro ball when he grew up. ” Crow wiped at a tear and gave a small laugh. “Man did he love baseball. Bone Man called him Boppin’ Billy. ”
“Damn, Crow,” said Newton, “I’m really sorry. I should never have—”
Crow waved it away. “No, it’s okay. I’d actually want the story to be told. ”
“Yeah…I can see that. But why? I mean…why now?”
Crow looked at him over the mouth of the bottle, but Val answered the question, her fingers lightly touching her silver cross. “Because he doesn’t think it’s over yet. ”
(2)
“You’ll have to sign for these, doctor. ”
Weinstock nodded, took the pen from the assistant security supervisor and signed his name on the clipboard.
“Doctor…you do know these are tapes from the interior cameras, not the ones in the hall? When the night guard told me that you wanted the interior cameras left on all night, I thought he was mistaken. ”
Weinstock’s face showed no emotion, but in a cool authoritarian voice he said, “Is there a problem, Gary?”
“Uh, no, sir. It’s just a little strange. ”
“Is it?” Weinstock said in a way that did not invite any further comment. “Can we assume that as the hospital administrator I have the authority to have a camera running when and where I please?”
The assistant supervisor stiffened. “Sir, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t…”
“Then what were you going to say?”
“Well, it’s just that the security assistant hasn’t had a chance to review those tapes. We don’t know what’s on them, yet. ”