Shadow by the Bridge

by Suzanne Zewan

  “Yes, we’ve met a couple of times.” I nodded.

  Harrison turned to his wife. “This is Fritz, Ella’s son. Our mothers were close friends.”

  Claire reached out her hand to shake mine. “Yes, I remember meeting you. Thank you for coming,” she said softly.

  After we said our condolences to all of the family, I scanned the room for open seats. As I looked around the room, I saw Leon walk up to the open casket alone. He turned around and glanced over his shoulder as if he was looking to see who was watching him, but he didn’t see that my eyes were bolted on him. His face was pale, and he looked anxious. As I watched him, my pulse quickened as I thought about what Joseph and I had talked about in his office. There was something about his behavior that disturbed me.

  The words “the last one to see Travis alive” lingered with me for a while. The more I thought about what Leon was telling people, the more it began to bother me, and it made me a little suspicious because he wasnot at the store that night—and he was supposed to be. At that moment, Senior stood up and gestured for us to come over to him and Mertie at the back of the room. There were three seats, one for my mother and the others for Valerie and Uncle John. Joseph and I let them sit down, and we stood against the back wall. I watched Leon turn around and head back to his seat. When all was quiet, Pastor Daly began to speak.

  My eyes moved throughout the parlor, noticing that Merle was leaning against the side wall, taking note of the Chapmans sitting two rows behind the Morgans as Leon sat down next to his brother Felix. I didn’t see Felix’s wife in the room. Anton and his wife were to the left of us, along with all of our neighbors. Then I noticed District Attorney Keller, Detective Dawson, and three men in plain clothing who were still official in appearance standing near the kitchen doorway.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off Leon. He sat there and kept running his fingers through his hair. As I stared at him, a sick feeling began to grow in the pit of my stomach. Then he whispered something to his brother. Felix shook his head and stared straight ahead. I glanced over at Keller and Dawson to see if they were looking at Leon, but they weren’t looking at anyone in particular.

  Senior turned back to me. “Have you seen Junior?”

  I leaned over to Senior without taking my eyes off of Leon. “No, I don’t see him. But I’m not surprised.”

  Valerie turned to her father. “Dad, you know he doesn’t attend funerals,” she whispered adamantly.

  I turned to Joseph for a moment. “They’ll probably try to arrest him this time,” I said. Then I glanced over at Leon and Felix, wondering exactly where they were on the night of March 11th at 6:30.

  Joseph pressed his lips and nodded. “Keller is serious about solving this case, so it would have been in Junior’s best interest to attend his neighbor’s funeral.”

  Pastor Daly performed the second service, once again, without a mention of the horrific event that brought us all together. As Daly ended the service with a prayer, I gazed at the bowed faces around the room. Leon was not bowing his head, and his eyes halted on mine as he noticed me staring at him. I couldn’t help but glare at him. He quickly looked away. The prayer ended, and everyone began to stand up. My eyes followed Leon as he stood and made his way through the people rather quickly.

  Valerie rose from her seat and stepped toward me. My heart began to pound as I watched Leon swiftly walk out the door.

  Joseph looked over at me. “Your mother wants to stop at the house on the way out to pick up a few more things.”

  “Okay, I’ll catch up with you outside,” I said and grasped Valerie’s hand for a moment. “Ineed to talk to Leon for a minute.” Then I ran out the door and saw Leon standing across the road in front of the Mill smoking a cigarette.

  “Hey, Leon,” I said as I traipsed through the melting snow toward him.

  Leon gave me a slight nod as he dragged on his cigarette. “What’s going on?” he asked as the smoke seeped out the corner of his mouth and disappeared into the cold air.

  “You looked like you were in a hurry to get out of there.” I shoved my cold hands in my front pockets.

  He dragged on his cigarette and stared at me out of the corner of his eye. “I was… Why?”

  Thinking fast, I replied: “I just wanted to tell you that we’re moving to Batavia.”

  “I heard.” Leon flung his cigarette onto the ground. The orange tip sizzled for a second on the pile of muddy snow and then turned black.

  The air between us became uncomfortably silent.

  “That’s probably a good idea for you and your family,” Leon said calmly, without making eye contact with me, and then shoved his hands in his front pockets.

  I nodded. “Yeah, with all that’s happened…”

  Leon stared directly into my eyes. “Yeah, they make it easy to get away with murder ’round here… don’t they? And Martha’s death was just… just unlucky.”

  “And what the hell do you mean bythat?” I could feel the heat of my blood rush through my body and up to my face.

  He stood there staring at me with his eyes widened and his mouth slightly opened as if he’d said too much.

  “Did you have something to do with this?” I blurted out, raising my rigid voice. My chest tightened. “DidyouandFelix have something to do with their murders?”

  Leon nodded his head with a bold stare. “I’ve already been questioned, Fritz… I was over at my brother’s house before the fire,” he replied in a steady, calm tone. “I helped him kill the skunk in his hen house.”

  I felt the fire raging through my veins. The wordkillrang loud in my ears. It was as if he was giving me a metaphor or something. “What did you do?” I yelled as flashes of Travis, Helen, Martha, and Flo’s dead bodies flooded my mind. The next thing I knew, we were on the ground, and I was on top of his chest, socking him across the face over and over again.

  “Get off of me,” Leon yelled as he tried to push me off. His face was covered in blood.

  Then I felt two strong arms pull me off of him.

  “Stop it, Fritz! Stop it!” Joseph shouted as he pulled me away from him. Blood was pouring out of Leon’s nose, and his bottom lip was cut. He slowly pushed himself up from the ground. His trousers were soaked. Small chunks of ice were stuck to his trousers and coat.

  “Are you all right, Leon?” Joseph asked.

  Leon reached up and wiped his nose. “What the hell is wrong with you, Fritz?” He shook his head, gave Joseph a quick look and a slight nod, and then walked away.

  Out of breath, my eyes fastened on Joseph’s. “That son of a bitch did it. I know it! It was him and his brother.”

  Joseph stared into my eyes. “How do you know that?”

  “Fritz,” Valerie cried out.

  I turned and saw Valerie and my mother standing at the edge of the road. Valerie was crying. My mother was staring at me with questions in her tear-filled eyes. Uncle John had disappointment etched on his face as he shook his head.

  “That’s what my gut is telling me, and… He just told me that he was over at his brother’s house helping him kill—”

  “Kill what?” Joseph asked, staring into my eyes.

  “A skunk in the hen house, but that’s not what he meant!” I replied. “It was thewayhe said it,” I said, clenching my teeth. “Iknowwhat he meant. And Iknow what he was trying to say.” I took a deep breath and looked down at my bloody hands.

  Joseph shook his head with disapproval. Then he glanced back at my mother, Valerie, and Uncle John. “We’ll be right there.”

  I walked over to the step of the Mill and picked up a wad of snow and cleaned off my hand, which was starting to hurt.

  “It takes more than a gut feeling and the way someone answers a question to convict someone of murder, Frtiz,” Joseph said, and then he shoved his hands into his long, dark coat pockets.

  “Yeah, I’m sure it does,” I said heatedly as we started to head toward my mother and Valerie. “But he was also thelast one to see Travis alive. He’s
telling everyone that to taunt us… He was taunting me! And he’s taunting the authorities! Don’t you see that? Doesn’t Keller see that?”

  Joseph stopped, his eyes fastened on mine. “In a criminal case you need evidence that will hold up in court. Keller can’t act on his theories and win the case without proof! That’s how the justice system works, Fritz!”

  I just stood there staring at him, feeling the fire pump through my veins. “They’re going to get away with it,” I said under my breath.

  “I don’t know what else to tell you,” Joseph said, calmly.

  We walked in silence for a moment. Then Joseph turned to me. “How’s your hand?’

  I fanned out my fingers and made a fist. “It’s a little sore, but worth it.”

  “What are you going to say to them? They saw the whole thing.”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Valerie and my mom know how Leon is. I’ll just tell them he had it coming.”

  As we approached my mother, Valerie, and Uncle John, I glanced over at the Morgans’ porch. Leon was cleaned up and standing by the door talking to Felix. I locked my eyes on Leon, waiting for him to look over at me. I could feel the fury burning in my blood. Felix caught my stare and nudged Leon. He gave me a quick look and turned away.

  I knew that was the last time I’d see either of them—by choice.

  Before Uncle John left to go back to the farm, he warned me not to let other people get the best of me. Then he gave me a hug and stepped into his car. He always gave me great advice.

  On our way to the house, I thought about what Uncle John said, and I wavered between guilt and satisfaction for socking Leon. What bothered me the most was that they had to see it. I explained to Valerie and my mother that Leon had it coming for a while, and he said something that didn’t set well with me, which was nothing new to them. They were just glad that I wasn’t hurt. My mother believed that all that had happened over the past few days was just too much for me, and I took it out on Leon. She just wondered if Leon was okay. I assured her that I saw him talking to his brother when we were leaving, and he didn’t look like he was in too much pain, which made me wish Joseph wasn’t there to pull me off of him.

  As soon as I stepped into our cold kitchen, I started a fire inside the wood stove. My mother and Joseph headed straight to her bedroom to pack. I placed the remainder of my modest belongings into a small crate, and set it on the floor next to my father’s shotguns that I brought up from the basement. I then sat down at the kitchen table, tired and drained.

  Valerie followed me in from the parlor, carrying my mother’s sewing basket, and set it on the counter. From behind, she put her hand on my shoulder. “I was really scared when I saw you on the ground socking Leon. What did he say, anyway?”

  I reached over and placed my sore hand on top of hers as she leaned over, wrapped her arms around me, and kissed my cheek.

  “He told me that when the fire started at the Wilsons’ he was over at his brother’s house, and I just started socking him. I knew he was lying. And I think he wanted me to know.”

  “Do you really think—” Valerie sat down across from me and reached for my hand.

  “Yeah, I can’t explain it, but yeah, I think he had something to do with it. I know he never liked the Wilsons and neither did Felix. And he said that Martha was justunlucky. What the hell was that supposed to mean?”

  “I don’t know… But that doesn’t mean he killed them,” Valerie said. “I’ve known them all of my life, and I don’t believe—”

  “Well someone we know killed them and Flo! It is someone here, and Leon heard what Anton said!” I could feel the heat inside me start to flare up.

  “What did Joseph say? You told him what he said, didn’t you?”

  I nodded. “People don’t get convicted on gut feelings.”

  Valerie took a deep breath. We sat there in silence for a minute. I could hear my mother and Joseph walking around upstairs.

  “Maybe,” I said. “I don’t know… I was watching him standing by Martha’s casket too. I know him, and he wasnot himself. It all added up in my mind.”

  “Try not to read too much into all of it. Aren’t we all on edge?”

  I stared at the table and nodded. “Yeah, I guess,” I replied quietly.Was I reading too much into Leon’s behavior? Deep down, I didn’t think so. I knew exactly what he was telling me.

  “So much loss, all at once—even this house.”

  I looked around the kitchen. “I’ll miss it here. It’s all just so sad.”

  “Do you want to stay?”

  “No, not with an arrest record of zero out of five!” I said as I imagined Leon and Felix walking toward a police car, handcuffed. “I guess we’re lucky to have another place to stay.”

  “I know what you mean by sad. But we have a lot of great memories to take with us.”

  I nodded. “We do.”

  “We’re going to be city folks!” Valerie said with a little excitement, changing the subject.

  “We’ll have to find a new waterfall.”

  “Yes, we will.” Valerie grinned.

  I smiled with the realization that, after all that I had been through, a new start was exactly what I needed. I thought back to one of my conversations with Joseph. The idea of attending college began to interest me. I imagined myself blowing the dust off the shelves and the books inside my head and pulling them out.

  Suddenly, I saw an image of a man wearing a bowtie and glasses holding the last book I read,The Great Quest by Charles Hawes. He set the book down on his podium, fumbled with some papers, and looked up at me. “Let’s talk about the book, shall we.”

  Twenty-Seven

  “Fritz!”

  I slowly opened my eyes. Then I saw the small light on my desk was still on.

  “Fritz!” Joseph called.

  “Yeah,” I answered in a raspy voice while reaching into the front pocket of my trousers. I yanked out my pocket watch and waited for my eyes to focus. It read 6:40, and I realized that I must have dozed off for a few minutes. I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and shuffled over to my bedroom doorway.

  “Did you just wake up?” Joseph asked from the bottom of the stairs. I noticed that he was holding the newspaper.

  “Yeah, I must’ve nodded off.”

  “Valerie and your mom are in the kitchen making supper. My parents just left to have dinner with some friends of theirs. Why don’t you come down?” Joseph gestured with the folded newspaper. “I have something you’ll want to read,” he said in a steady, eager tone.

  The stillness of his words set off a panic in my head. My heart rate began to speed up.What? What happened now?I ran down the stairs, followed Joseph into the office, and closed the door.

  “Do you want a drink?” Joseph asked as he set the newspaper in front of the bottle and poured a glass of bourbon. Then he handed me a glass that was filled halfway.

  “For some reason, I think I’m going to need one.” My hand began to shake as I reached for the glass. “Tell me what happened.”

  “Here, sit down, and I’ll tell you. No one got hurt or anything, so you can relax.”

  A little more at ease, I sat down on the sofa. “Well, that’s good.” I brought the glass to my lips and sipped down the friendly amber liquid.

  Joseph picked up the paper sitting next to the bottle and sipped his drink as he glanced down at the newspaper. Then he swung the leather chair around to face me, sat down, set his glass on the table, and fixed his eyes on mine.

  “Someone’s lying about the gun they own.” He picked up his drink and held it near his lips. “The ballistic comparisons were completed from the triple homicide. So, anyone owning a .32 was checked for a match, and no matches were made.”

  “What’re you talking about?”

  “Here, read.” Joseph handed me theDaily News.

  My veins turned to ice as I read the headline. “Firing of a Bullet through Train Window Adds to Linden Terror.” The subhead read, “Shooting may have been another
Fiendish Act of the Murderer.” Feeling flustered with my blood pumping harder, I read the article and set the paper on the table. I took two large gulps of my drink, finished it, and handed the glass back to Joseph. My empty stomach sent the bourbon directly to my veins. Minutes later, the amber liquid did its job; it numbed me.

  “Another?” he asked, rising from his seat.

  I nodded.

  “Here.” He filled my glass, handed it to me, and then sat back down. He picked up the paper and began to read aloud. “The captain thought that it was possible, or even very likely, that it was the murderer that shot at the train, and that the fiend did it to embarrass the officials and continue to scare the residents of Linden.”

  “I guess he accomplished it!” I snapped.

  Joseph nodded. “That he did.” He set the paper down on the table between us.

  I sat there for a moment and looked over at Joseph. “That’s exactly something Leon would do! And he owns a lot of guns!” I took a drink from my glass. “It’s a game to Leon, and he’s winning.”

  “Don’t worry;he won’t be winning for long.” Joseph finished his drink and filled his glass again.

  “You’re assuming the officials will catchhim,” I said as I began to follow Joseph’s lead by not using Leon’s name because I was guessing that would turn my theory into a fact.

  “Fritz, I’m just trying to stay positive.”

  “I’m trying to stay positive, too. And the more days that go by, the more positive I am thathe or they won’t be caught.” I took another sip from my glass. My thoughts made their way through my lips more easily with each drink.

  Joseph had a blank expression on his face. He seemed at a loss for words, probably because he knew that I was right.

  “Hewas sending us all a message—he can do whatever he wants and get away with it,” I said.

  “Well, as soon as the troopers received the call, they headed right to Belknap Crossing. They probably missed him by a few minutes.” Joseph sat back down and loosened his bow tie. “It’s too bad that they didn’t find anything.” He pulled his bow tie off and reached over and placed it on the desk behind him.