Shadow by the Bridge

by Suzanne Zewan

  “You can stay with us tonight. I’ll tell my mother.”

  “All right.” I gave her a long hug.

  “I love you,” she whispered, “so much.”

  “I love you, too.” I gave her a kiss and felt one of her tears fall onto my lip.

  I ran into my house and up the stairs. I pulled my mother’s small chest out of her closet and packed her clothes and toiletries, hoping I had everything that she needed for the next few days. I grabbed the shotgun that was sitting against the kitchen wall. I threw my mother’s small chest and the shotgun in the backseat of the car and drove out of Linden.

  Several cars passed me as I headed toward Route 63. My eyes swelled with tears. Flashes of Martha, Helen, and Travis lying there on the bedroom floor haunted my thoughts. Their bloody, charred bodies propped themselves on a shelf inside my head next to the two shattered skulls. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I searched for the words to tell my mother that her dearest friends were now dead.

  Twenty-Three

  I turned down Ellicott Avenue and pulled up in front of Joseph’s parents’ home. Thankfully, Joseph’s touring car was still in the driveway. I grabbed the chest filled with my mother’s clothes out of the backseat and walked briskly to the large, wooden front door. My heart thrashed against my chest. Tears welled up in my eyes. After my knuckles hit the cold wood, I stared at the door for a moment, crying, dreading the story I would have to tell.

  I reached into my pocket and clutched my watch. I closed my eyes and whispered. “Dad, please help keep Mom strong. She’s going to need all the strength she can get to help her through this.” Suddenly, the door swung open.

  Joseph’s dark brown eyes widened with surprise. “Fritz! I thought I saw a car pull up. We weren’t expecting you. We were just getting ready to leave.” He gazed at me for a moment. “What, what’s wrong?” He held the door open. “Come inside.”

  “No, not yet.” I gestured for him to close the door as a warm tear ran down my cheek. “Please, come out here and close the door,” I said as I wiped my tears with the back of my hand. I felt like I was going to vomit at any moment. The bile was creeping up my throat.

  Joseph glanced over his shoulder. “All right.” He stepped outside and pulled the door closed quietly behind him.

  I stood there, trembling and feeling nauseous. “Where’s my mom?”

  “She’s in the house, Fritz. Tell me what’s wrong. You’re obviously very upset.”

  “Yeah.” I began to sob.

  With concern carved into his face, he reached over and put his hand on my shoulder. “What is it, Fritz?” he asked gently. “What happened? Is it Valerie? Is she all right?”

  I nodded. “It’s Martha, Helen, and Travis. They’re… they’re… dead,” I replied, overflowing with anguish.

  “What?” Joseph asked, shocked, staring at me with disbelief for a moment as he brushed his fingers through his dark, greased-back hair. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded. “Yes,” I said, shivering.

  “How?”

  “They were murdered,” I replied faintly as flashes of their corpses lying on the floor bombarded by mind.

  “Did someone tell you?”

  “No,” I wept. “We found them.” I wiped the tears streaming down my cold cheeks as I stood, trembling. “Merle, Matt, and I left the store to get Martha over at Helen’s. Cliff’s radio show was about start. All of the Wilsons’ doors and windows were locked. We smelled smoke, so we broke in… and… and… we found their bodies in the bedroom. They were shot. And there was a pile of burning linens on top of them.”

  “Someone shot them… and set them on fire?” Joseph asked.

  I nodded. “We broke in through the back window.”

  “Jesus, this is awful.” He leaned over the side of the porch and took a quick look in the window. “This is going to devastate your mother.” His rosy face had turned almost white.

  “I know. Along with everyone else in Linden.”

  “I haven’t received a call or anything.”

  “It just happened. I packed some clothes for my mother and drove here as fast as I could. I don’t want her to go back there. Three police cars were just pulling up to the house when I left.”

  “That was smart thinking. I don’t want her to go back home.” Joseph hesitated for a moment and took a deep breath. “All right, we have to go inside and tell her.”

  I nodded, wiped my eyes, and tried to compose myself. I turned toward the porch railing and spit out the sour bile that had made its way into my mouth. I saw it land, yellow and garish, next to the snow-covered bush.

  “We can both tell her,” Joseph said as he placed his hand on the gold handle and opened the door. “Somehow.” His voice faded.

  I entered the foyer and set my mother’s small chest to the right of the doorway so that she couldn’t see it. I glanced up at the grand stairway that led to the second floor where the bedrooms were located—a bedroom that my mother would be sleeping in. My mother was sitting on the cream colored sofa next to the fireplace, talking to Joseph’s mother and father.

  “Fritzy?” My mother looked over at me. Her eyes were wide. “We weren’t expecting you.” She looked at me, puzzled. “We were just about to leave. Is something wrong? You look like you’ve been crying; your eyes are all swollen.”

  Joseph shook off his coat and set it on the back of the sofa. He walked over to my mother. “Here, let me take your coat for now.”

  “All right,” she said softly. Mom stood up. Joseph helped her slip her coat off from behind, and then they both sat down.

  Joseph’s mother, a nicely dressed, white-haired woman, gestured to her husband, Dr. O’Hara, a tall white-haired man with a wide waist and wire framed glasses, to have a seat in the chair opposite the sofa to make room for me to sit down on the other sofa.

  The phone rang. “Hold on.” Joseph briskly walked into the kitchen to answer it. I tried to listen to what he was saying, but he was being too quiet. A couple minutes later, he came back into the room and nodded at me. I knew that the phone call confirmed what I had told him.

  I could feel my bottom lip begin to quiver.

  “Fritz, I can see you’re upset; what is it?” Mom asked nervously.

  “Something terrible has happened.” I began to sob loudly.

  “That call was one of the attorneys at the office,” Joseph said as he sat back down next to my mother. He grasped her hands that were sitting on top of the knitted scarf that Helen had made her. “I… I don’t know how to tell you this, but there’s been another murder in Linden,” he said gently.

  My mother’s eyes widened. “What?” she asked and began to fumble with her scarf. “Who was it?”

  My tear-filled eyes met Joseph’s for a moment as I was just about to say Martha’s name, but I hesitated for a second.

  Joseph gave me a quick glance and turned to my mother. “There was more than one this time,” Joseph said calmly, still holding my mother’s hands. “Ella, I’m so sorry to have to tell you this, but it was Martha, Helen, and Travis.” His words fell from his lips like a black feather that painted the entire room with darkness.

  I sobbed violently, thankful and relieved that Joseph had taken the reins and told her.

  My mother sat there, stunned for a few moments. “No, you must be mistaken. How could… how could… No, there must be some mistake. I just saw them at the store this morning. And we just listened to Cliff’s show. Martha invited everyone to the store tonight.”

  I glanced over at Joseph’s father, who was shaking his head. He seemed to be speechless.

  “Maybe there’s been some mistake,” Joseph’s mother said softly while standing at the back of the other chair.

  I looked over at her. “I was there. We found them,” I said softly.

  Tears filled my mother’s eyes, and she began to sob quietly. Her sob grew into an animalistic wail, as if someone was ripping her skin from her body. “No! Not them… Not them!” She fell into Joseph’s
arms, crying.

  Watching her agony was too much to bear. But I had no words to ease her pain. My bones shook.

  “How could someone hurt them?” she cried. “They’re good people. They’re good to everyone.” She wept into Joseph’s shoulder as he held her.

  “I know, I know,” Joseph whispered as she continued to sob.

  After a little while, she pulled away and tried to gather herself. “I’m just sick for Gerry, and their boys, and Martha’s mom.”

  “We stopped Gerry from going into the house. And Senior stayed with him, and I’m sure he’ll help him tell Grandma, Cliff and Harrison.”

  She looked over at me. “Tell me what happened.”

  “Martha left the store just after 6:30 to get the milk. And it wasn’t but fifteen to twenty minutes after she left that we headed over there to see what was keeping her. Merle didn’t want her to miss any of the show. She was only gone a short time… I’m thinking that she must have walked in on whoever did this.”

  “So you think whoever did this was after Helen and Travis?”

  “I don’t know. It looks that way to me. If Martha didn’t leave the store for the milk when she did, she’d still be alive.”

  Joseph’s mother wiped a tear that was running down her face. She opened the drawer of the end table and pulled out two hankies, then walked over and sat on the other side of my mother. Mom turned to her, and they hugged. After a moment, my mother sniffled and wiped her nose.

  “Ella, we want you to stay here tonight, and for as long as you’d like,” Joseph’s father said. “We’re your family now. And we have plenty of room.”

  “Mom, I brought some of your clothes so that you could stay here. I didn’t want you to go back home tonight.”

  “Thank you, honey.”

  “And Fritz, you’re welcome to stay, too,” Joseph’s father said.

  “We don’t want you to stay there alone, either,” Joseph said.

  “Thank you for the offer, but I’m staying with the Kesslers tonight.”

  “We know how important Valerie is to you; you can bring her back here, too. We have four empty bedrooms upstairs. And we only use the two downstairs,” Joseph’s father said. “We can finally make some use of the empty bedrooms.”

  “Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”

  The phone rang again.

  “Excuse me,” Joseph said as he stood up and headed to the kitchen to answer it. A few minutes later, he came back. “I have to go to Linden.”

  “Now?” Joseph’s mother asked.

  “I didn’t expect that either. Ron is on his way there now, and he wants some assistance,” Joseph said as he sat back down next to my mother and turned to her. “But I don’t want to leave you.”

  “I’ll be all right here with Fritz and your parents.”

  “Mom, I don’t want to leave you either,” I said. “But remember, I told you I was going to stay with the Kesslers tonight. Before I left, I told Valerie I’d be back. But I can call her and tell her I’m staying here.”

  “No, no… Yes, you did say that,” my mother said. “And Valerie does need you. So, yes, it’s okay. Stay with them tonight.”

  I nodded, “Yeah. Valerie’s terrified.”

  “What about Mrs. Adleman?”

  “Her son was coming to get her. Senior didn’t want her staying there alone—and neither did I.”

  “No, you go stay with the Kesslers. You need to be with Valerie.”

  My mother began to sob again. “I can’t believe that they’re gone. I feel like when I go back home, they’ll… they’ll be there at the store drinking their tea, stopping by the house, walking to the post office.” My mother tried to speak through her tears.

  “It’s going to take some time,” Joseph whispered as he reached his arms out and held her.

  A few minutes later, my mother pulled away from Joseph’s shoulder, sniffling. “Listen, I know you have to go. I’ll be all right here with your parents.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. There’s someone out there that needs to be caught and punished for this!” my mother said as her anger bled into the room. “I want Ron to find out who did this! He needs to!” she cried.

  “We’ll stay up with her,” Dr. O’Hara said. “Go on, son.”

  “Yes, of course we will,” his mother nodded as she rubbed my mother’s back.

  “All right.” Joseph stood up, slipped on his coat, and then leaned over and kissed my mother.

  My mother turned to me. “Fritzy, you go too. Valerie’s waiting for you. And after you leave, I’m going to call John to tell him.”

  “Okay. Tell him that I do plan on being there in the morning. And are you sure that you want me to go?” I asked.

  “Yes, I’m sure.” She paused. “Where’s your gun?”

  “It’s in the car.”

  “You’re going to be keeping it with you, right?”

  “Yes. And I’m sure we’ll all have our guns clutched in our hands all night.” I stepped over to my mother and gave her a long hug. I pulled away and looked into her swollen, bloodshot eyes. “I’m so sorry. It was just a few minutes. If only we left sooner…” My voice faded.

  “No, no! What if you walked in on him? I’d hate to think…” She fell apart again.

  I reached over and hugged her again. “No, there were three of us. I guarantee he wouldn’t have made it out of the house breathing.” I felt her nod into my shoulder as she cried.

  After a couple more minutes, my mother gained her composure. She dabbed her eyes with the hankie and kissed my cheek. “I love you, honey.”

  “I love you, too.” I turned and walked out the front door behind Joseph.

  “It is going to take some time, but I think she’ll be all right. She’s strong,” Joseph said as we walked down the porch steps.

  “I hope so.”

  “I know. We’ll just have to take it day by day.” He nodded.

  As we stood on the sidewalk, I looked at him. “Thank you for telling her,” I said. “When it came time, I froze.”

  Joseph placed his hand on my shoulder. “You’ve been through enough tonight. I thought it would be better for you if I broke the news to her.”

  With my lips pressed together, I nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Thank you.”

  Joseph pulled me close to him and gave me a hug. “We’re going to get through this as a family. I will take care of both of you; I love you like my own son.”

  I nodded as tears pooled in my eyes. I was overcome with emotion as I realized how much I needed to hear those words. And I realized that I also loved him like a father. He deeply cared for us and loved us. It was the first time since my father died that I felt secure. I was no longer the only one protecting my mother. “That means a lot to me,” I said as our arms fell to our sides, and I stepped back.

  “I mean it. We will heal and move on.” He patted me on the back. “Listen, I need to get going. I’ll see you in a little while, all right?”

  “Okay. Valerie is probably wondering where I am.” I turned and began walking to my car. “Joseph,” I called out as I opened my car door.

  He turned back to look at me. “Yeah.”

  “They need to catch this madman!”

  Twenty-Four

  It was well after 10:30 when I arrived back in Linden. A hint of moonlight reflected off of the parked cars on both sides of the road. I parked my car on the far right of my driveway, next to Joseph’s car. I grabbed my shotgun and traipsed through the icy snow. As I walked up Valerie’s driveway, I saw Senior looking out the front window. The porch light switched on, and Senior opened the front door. His eyes were puffy and red.

  “Come in, Fritzy,” he said as he locked the door behind me. “I hate to ask, but how’d it go telling your mom?”

  “It was awful. I’ve never seen her cry so hard; the word devastated is hardly enough to describe what she’s feeling right now,” I replied softly. “I’m just glad that I made it over there in time. Th
ey were about to leave. She’s also going to be staying there for a few days.”

  “Good. She doesn’t need to be here to see all of this.”

  “No, she doesn’t,” I said as I stamped off my icy boots and set my gun against the wall. “Did you see all the cars?”

  “Sure did. There’re sheriffs, troopers, and reporters all over this place. Keller is already here. He’s been taking statements over at the store. Matt came to get me after he gave his statement ’bout an hour ago. I just got back about ten minutes ago.”

  “Hey, Fritzy,” Junior said as he walked into the parlor from the kitchen, eating a piece of bread.

  “Hey, Junior. You staying here tonight, too?”

  “I might,” he replied as he sat down on the sofa.

  “Where were you when all this was happening?” I asked.

  “I was in bed. I ain’t heard a thing ’til Pa came and knocked at my door.”

  “Lucky for you.” I glanced around the room and listened for any noise in the kitchen. “Where’re Valerie and Mertie?”

  “They’re lying down in our bedroom. Valerie didn’t want to sleep alone. I told them to stay in there, and that you and I would stay out here and keep watch,” Senior said as he glanced over at Junior. “And Junior too, if he decides to stay.”

  I grabbed my shotgun again. “I’m going to head over to give my statement. Joseph must be over there helping Keller.”

  “I didn’t see him, but he might be there now. Keller has a list of people he wants to talk to. After I talked to him, I got the feeling he ain’t leaving here tonight until he talks to everyone.”

  As I headed up the hill, I made my way through all the cars parked in front of Morgan’s store. When I walked in, I could hardly move. The store was chokingly warm. The room was filled with people, few of whom I knew. By the looks, many of them were reporters, with their pencils and notepads in hand. Through the smoky haze, I saw Merle standing behind the counter. His eyes were bloodshot and puffed-up. He gave me a quick nod and signaled me over.

  “What the hell? The news spread fast,” I said.