Children of Chicago

by Cynthia Pelayo

  Lauren looked out over the congregants. “The word of the Lord,” she concluded. The congregation responded, “Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ,” in unison.

  Lauren closed the book and placed it on the lectern and then carefully walked down the marble steps. She returned to her seat in a pew in the back.

  As the father stood and approached the lectern to give his homily, Lauren thought of Diana and Marie and how she hated both so much. Diana came in and tried to be her mother, but Lauren had already had a mother out there in the world somewhere. And then there was Marie who one day said, “You don’t have a real mother, Lauren. Your mother is dead. My mother said so because she’s been gone so long she must be dead.”

  And Marie had laughed and laughed.

  Lauren noticed the chipped and scratched wood back of the pew in front of her. The green linoleum floor with white and black swirls that were so old they were bubbling in areas. The floor had a permanent sheet of dust. As she worked her eyes upward, she noticed the names at the bottom of each stained-glass. “Donated by the Richmond’s,” “Donated by the Mularz’s,” and so on. The church was founded in 1910, and these were names of those families who had lived in this neighborhood long ago and who had contributed to this building. None of those original families remained. She was sure of that. That was one of the many terrible things about Chicago. So, few people remained in this city of wind for long, blown away by hope or terror.

  The father concluded his sermon. It was now time for the Lord’s Prayer. Lauren stood, recited the prayer, and gave the sign of peace to those closest to her, a short woman with red hair and glasses and an elderly man who sat two rows in front of her. His clothes were old but clean and well-pressed. His thin blue jacket looked like it was something from the 1980s.

  When she returned to her seat, she could not bring herself to kneel, so she just sat there, thinking about those long-lost families. She wondered how much they had paid to donate a window. Did that donation put a financial strain on their family? Would they be happy to know that this congregation had changed so much?

  Her mind wandered back to her reading as two parishioners walked the bread and wine to the front of the church where they would eventually be changed into something else by the power of faith. There was even a word for it, transubstantiation, which was the actual change of the substance of bread to the flesh and wine to the blood of Jesus Christ.

  As the father held the Eucharist up towards the congregation, Lauren moved to the edge of the pew, on the outside aisle. She stood quietly and proceeded to walk towards the exit. She was careful not to let the door slam behind her. Lauren could feel the stares. She had come here to pay her respects to Daniel and his family, and she had.

  She pushed on the door, and the bright light from outside, stung her eyes. She kept them closed for a moment, and when she opened them, she felt disoriented and overwhelmed.

  Her phone rang, but she hit ignore.

  She did not want to talk. If she opened her mouth right this second, she would cry. As the phone rang again. Lauren clutched it tightly in her hand and answered.

  “Detective Medina...”

  “It’s Evie’s mother, Virginia.”

  Lauren ran her free hand down her face.

  “How’s your daughter doing?” Lauren asked.

  “Good—well, better. We talked this morning. I came back home to get her some more t-shirts and pajama pants so that she could be comfortable.”

  “That’s great.” Before Lauren could ask, Virginia told her what she had wanted to hear.

  “She’s ready to talk...”

  “I can come by right now.”

  “She’s having some tests done this morning so afterward should be fine.” Virginia covered the phone. Lauren could hear her muffled grief. “In a couple of hours should work.”

  “I’ll see you then.”

  Before Lauren hung up, Virginia stopped her.

  “Detective, do we know what happened to Daniel? Evie wanted me to ask if you knew exactly what happened to him.”

  That was an odd question. Evie had been there that night. If anyone knew what happened to Daniel, it would be Evie. Lauren did not want to tell the woman that the medical examiner had determined the boy died of drowning. Lauren also did not want to tell the woman that whoever had held him underwater had put enough force on his trachea to crush it. It had been an agonizing death.

  “He died quickly,” Lauren lied, as she often lied to mothers and fathers, easing whatever pain they would carry for the rest of their lives.

  “He and Evie were such good friends.”

  “I’m sorry, for some reason I thought that he was friends with only Finley and Mohammed. I have been trying to understand the connection of the four of them meeting at the lagoon together.”

  “She’s known Daniel since they were in kindergarten. We didn’t even know that’s where she was going. We didn’t know the others.”

  “Does Humboldt Park hold any significance for Evie, for you or your family?”

  “Why’d you ask?”

  “I’m just trying to determine if it had a larger meaning, them going there that night.”

  Virginia hesitated for a moment. The silence on the other end of the line confirmed to Lauren that there was something else, something that connected that place to her daughter.

  “My sister drowned there many, many years ago when she was about Evie’s age.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Lauren cut in. “I’m so sorry. I have to stop at home, but I’ll see you soon.”

  Lauren leaned against her car, looking up at the outside of those stained-glass windows, thinking how they have stood there through time, through Chicago’s harsh winter snowstorms, powerful spring wind gusts and rain, and scorching summers. For over a hundred years, those images remained there, embedded into that building, intact, never changing while the neighborhood changed around it.

  Now it seemed that the Pied Piper had been making regular treks to this city, and she knew he was not done. She needed to go home and collect her thoughts first until Evie was ready to talk. Lauren also needed to make one more phone call.

  CHAPTER 28

  Every time Lauren entered her home, she felt as though she were disturbing someone. It was not really her house. At least, it had never felt like her house. It was her parents’, and she stayed, not because she liked the neighborhood, or because she adored the historic red-brick bungalow with stained-glass window accents in the style of famed Midwestern architect Frank Lloyd Wright. She stayed living here in this house, in this city, because she did not know what else to do.

  Lauren unzipped her boots and dropped them on the rubber mat beside the front door. The floor creaked beneath her steps. Lauren made her way past the living room, dining room, and into the kitchen. Even though it was still daylight outside, the house felt blanketed in darkness.

  She opened the refrigerator. She looked at the containers stacked on the shelves, leftovers from the funeral. Lauren swung the door fully open and then dragged the garbage can over. She grabbed containers and tossed them into the bin. She did not want any of this food. She did not want to eat anything prepared for her in pity. When everything was gone, the only things that remained from her last purchase were eggs and bread. Lunch would be scrambled eggs and toast. She set the plate down on her desk as well as a mug of black coffee.

  Outside noises made their way inside, cars hitting the speed bump just feet from her door. Horns beeped at the major intersection outside only one street over. Her phone vibrated, rattling on the surface of her desk. An email alert came through, and then another asking for her to call. She dialed his number as she read the subject line.

  “I don’t read German, you know that right, Bobby?”

  “Good time, I assume?” He asked.

  “There’s no such thing,” she took a bite of her eggs and then moved the plate away. “But it’s you, so why not?”

  “Oh,
this is something new, Lore, being mildly kind to me.”

  She smiled but moved on quickly.

  “I don’t have much time. What is it I’m looking at?”

  “It’s from the Lüneburg manuscript...”

  “I have no idea what that means, and you’re going to have to tell me why that’s significant.”

  “Do I sense a little bit of attitude there?”

  “Wasn’t a little bit.” She paused and then corrected herself. It was not Bobby’s fault she was exhausted and eager. He was trying to help and honestly if she were him she would not even answer her calls.

  “I’m tired.”

  “Figured. Did you eat?”

  “Yes, but I don’t want to talk about me right now,” she wrapped a hand around the coffee mug and took a sip.

  “I get it. This manuscript gives an early account of an event that corresponds to some text that can be found inscribed on an old house in the town of Hamelin in Germany. If you scroll down, I translated it for you.”

  Lauren found the place and followed along with Bobby as he read aloud.

  “In the year 1284 on the day of Saints John and Paul on 26th June. One hundred and thirty children born in Hamelin were led away by a piper clothed in many colours to their Calvary near the Koppen and lost.”

  “Translate it again. Koppen? What does this all mean?”

  “This is high German Kuppe, Koppen. It means a dome or a hill.”

  “You’re telling me that 130 kids were lost at a hill? In Germany? In 1284? I don’t understand how that helps me.”

  “I’m telling you that on June 26th, in the year 1284, 130 children from the town of Hamelin were reported to have gone missing and they were led away by a piper wearing a suit of pied.”

  She remained silent.

  Please remove my worry.

  “Don’t you remember the fairy tale?” he asked.

  “Humor me. It was a long time ago.”

  “The piper leads the children to a forest, and only two children managed to escape. One of them was blind. The other was deaf. So the full extent of what happened could not be clearly communicated.”

  “You’re saying that the variation of the story we know today is not really complete, then? Because it originated from these two children who could not tell the full story?”

  Bobby laughed on the other line. “It depends on how much of these fairy tales you want to believe. We know the Grimm brothers collected these tales by interviewing people who lived in small villages and in rural homes. Many of these people believed strongly in magic and superstition. It was a way to explain the unexplainable of the world.”

  Payment will be in blood

  To get the deed done

  “Is this real?” She asked. “About the children? Is there any way to cross-reference it with a historical event?”

  “There are theories as to what happened to the children. Some believe they were sent off to war, to be a part of some child brigade, that they were killed. Others just believe it’s just that: a fairy tale.”

  If I fail to meet my obligation

  I’ll offer the ultimate item for compensation

  “What is he then? A person? A ghost? Demon?”

  “A villain, a boogeyman, the boogeyman. There have also been some comparisons between him and the god Pan.”

  Lauren lowered her head into her hand. Her head began to throb. “Explain.”

  Bobby continued. “In Ancient Greek culture there were major and minor gods, one of those minor gods was Pan. Pan’s worship centered around nature. People went to worship him in caves, grottoes, pastures, and forests. We get the word panic from Pan. He’s also associated with the pan flute. There are plenty of mythical stories about his antics. I’d need to give myself a refresher, but the Pied Piper isn’t a man or a ghost or a devil. If I had to categorize him, he’d be more along the lines of a trickster god. He’d be Pan.”

  “What does Pan look like?”

  “Half man. Half goat. Almost like a centaur.”

  Half and half, she thought. A suit of pied. Pied means having patches of two or more colors.

  “What if his patches were two or more beings?” She questioned. “And not a suit of pied, or any other suit?”

  “I suppose. He’s a trickster. He can appear however he wants.”

  “And if he had gotten his payment, who’s to say he wouldn’t have led the children away anyway?”

  “I’m not following...”

  “What if he always intended on taking the children? What if he always intended to kill them? He wanted the children all along. What if he knew that they were never going to pay him money for this service? What if he had always intended on taking them as payment? Maybe that’s why he showed up mysteriously, unexpectedly? Because someone wanted him there to get rid of the children? He did not want the gold, or whatever payment. He wanted the children.”

  “I don’t know...maybe that’s why the definition of a trickster god fits in best. He made a deal. Yes, the deal was broken, but he took it to another level. Something evil.”

  “Just hear me out,” she was already slipping on her jacket. “What if there are people out there that believe if you summon the Pied Piper...”

  “Summon? How?”

  “What if I told you there was a rhyme that summoned him?”

  “Wait. What?”

  “Listen, what if you had a person who was a problem. What if you called upon the Pied Piper, and he showed up and got rid of the person that was being a problem for you?”

  “Got rid of?”

  “What if he tricked you, never really making clear what the payment was for getting rid of that person? Never really clearly stating the terms and conditions for this contract of sorts? So, he comes back and demands payment, but this time you had to kill a person for him, a sacrifice, and he comes back again and again, each time he comes to town. He can call upon you as many times as he wishes, and if you don’t follow through, then he’ll take you...?”

  “Lauren...are you okay?”

  She set her phone on the floor as she pulled on her boots.

  “I’m fine Bobby,” she shouted towards the direction of the phone. “Look, I’ve got to go. I’m fine.” She picked up the phone and zippered her jacket. “I’ll explain later. Thank you.”

  “Wait, where are you going? I’m worried.”

  “To Lurie’s Hospital. I have to interview someone.”

  CHAPTER 29

  Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital was ranked at the top regionally in pediatric specialties, and Evie was lucky that she lived in a city with an advanced children’s trauma hospital who could attend to her severe injuries. She had been stabbed multiple times in her arms, legs, and torso. She had already undergone several surgeries, and her doctors anticipated many more, over a lifetime, to come.

  Lauren knocked on the door. There was no answer. She pushed it open and found Evie sitting up in bed, a laptop open on the tray table in front of her. The girl seemed so small to be attached to so many tubes connected to soft beeping machines. Dark red, blue, and purple bruises covered her pale face, hands, and arms.

  “Yeah?” Evie said, slowly closing her laptop screen.

  “I’m Detective Medina. Your mother said you were ready to talk.” Lauren took a seat beside the window. “Weird, guess I’m early.” A view of the lakefront spread out before them.

  “My mom’s not here yet. She’s on her way.”

  Lauren ignored her.

  “She’ll be here soon,” Evie urged as if that would make Lauren get up and leave the room. “You’re not supposed to be here. My mom said I’m not supposed to talk to anyone unless she’s here.”

  “Yeah, I don’t care,” Lauren said, looking out the window. She tapped on the glass. “This is a nice view you have.”

  “I’m going to call a nurse,” Evie said.

  Lauren turned to her and smiled. “No, you’re not.�
�� She crossed her arms across her chest and leaned back in the seat. “I don’t have much to say other than Fin is dead, but I have a feeling you might already know that.” Lauren crossed her legs.

  Evie nodded.

  “And, really, there’s only one question I’d like to ask you.” Lauren interlaced her fingers and lay her hands on top of her right knee and leaned forward. “Why did you kill Daniel?”

  For a brief second, the corner of Evie’s mouth curled up. “I didn’t kill him. It was Fin. She pushed him down in the water, and...”

  “Yeah, that’s bullshit, and you know it. I just need to know why. Why did you kill Daniel?”

  “I didn’t kill Daniel,” Evie said her voice trembling. “He was my friend. I loved him.”

  The tears came, and with that, Lauren laughed. “That’s a lie, and you and I both know it. When Fin and Mo left, your arms were still wrapped around Daniel’s neck in the lagoon. You drowned him. Forcefully, too. You crushed his damn trachea. The Pied Piper was there. He would have done it for you, but you didn’t care. You hated Daniel so much you were fine with killing him yourself.”

  Evie looked down at her closed laptop.

  “What were you working on before I got here?”

  “Just looking at pictures,” Evie said.

  “Nice, I love pictures.” Lauren stood up and sat in a chair directly against Evie’s bed. “Let’s see.”

  Evie eyed the nurse call button.

  “You can press it, but then I’m going to have to tell my commander that I have evidence that Daniel was not murdered by either Fin or Mo.” Lauren bit her lip and then said, “Weird. That would leave you as the only suspect.”

  The tears stopped quickly, and Evie brushed the wetness off her cheeks.

  “He’d be mad if he knew you were here,” Evie said. “He’s watching you, too, you know. You’re ignoring him. You owe him. Payment is due, Lauren. Why do you keep ignoring him? It’s never going to stop.”