J. Gonzalez - Back From The Dead

“And what’s really happening, Gordon?” Detective Andrews asked.

All eyes centered on Tim.

Tim felt his breath draw in, felt his nerves getting frayed the way they always did when all the attention was focused on him. He glanced around the conference table at the people assembled here — Mom, Dad, Doug Fenner, Officer Clapton and Detective Andrews and the two people Tim had never seen before. One of them was a slim, attractive woman dressed in a burgundy suit with dark hair pulled back from her face. She smiled at Tim. “Hi Tim, I’m Diane Keller with the District Attorney’s Office.” She reached across the table to shake his hand.

Tim shook her hand as she introduced him to the man seated next to her, who was older with graying hair and a ruddy complexion. “This is Pat Brown, my associate.”

Tim shook Pat’s hand and then Doug Fenner said, “We’ve all discussed your case prior to coming here to talk to you. We want to hear the truth of what happened, Tim. Like your mother said, your arrest warrant is going to be revoked this morning. You aren’t in any trouble.”

“What about for any so-called future crimes Gordon and Scott decide to frame me for?” Tim asked.

“The Lancaster County Prosecutor’s Office is well aware of the history of harassment leveled against you,” Diane said. “We’re already looking into filing criminal charges against Gordon Smith, Scott Bradfield and possibly others for making false statements to police and for filing false criminal charges against you.”

Tim glanced at Doug Fenner, who nodded. “She’s correct,” he said. “Go ahead, Tim. You’re among people you can trust now.”

Tim could feel that this was the truth. For the first time in years he felt things were finally turning his way. He glanced at each person in the room. Officer Clapton nodded at him, his features open and kind, ready to listen. Likewise, Detective Andrews had lost that hard-assed edge he’d possessed last night. And his parents didn’t look angry the way he thought they would.

“Some of you are going to think this is pretty crazy,” Tim said.

“After what I saw a few hours ago, I think I can believe anything,” Officer Clapton said.

“John Elfman’s body parts moving around?” Tim asked him.

“Yep.”

The adults weren’t laughing at this. They appeared to be taking it quite seriously.

“So he told you about that?” Tim asked them. “About John Elfman being found in pieces? And that his body parts were moving?”

Nods all around the table. Even his parents nodded, their expressions grave. Diane said, “Yes, he did.”

“And you believe him?”

“What Officer Clapton saw was backed up by his partner and several other officers,” Pat Brown said. “I’m not inclined to disbelieve several credible witnesses at this point, especially in light of other events that have happened this morning.”

“What else happened?” Tim asked.

Detective Andrews cut in. “In a minute. For now, whatever you have to say, please tell us. It can’t be any crazier than some of the shit that’s been going on.”

“Before I go any further, I need you to do something.” Tim turned to Officer Clapton. “Can you send somebody to Chelsea Brewer’s house to watch over her and her family?”

Officer Clapton nodded and rose to his feet. “Give me her address.” Tim rattled off Chelsea’s address and phone number and Clapton exited the room. He returned a moment later. “Done. I’ve got a squad car heading there now.”

Tim breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks.”

“How exactly did Gordon Smith threaten Chelsea?” Detective Andrews asked.

“He said if I told you anything about what was really happening that he would kidnap her and feed her to the zombies in Scott Bradfield’s guesthouse.”

Despite the weirdness of the threat, none of the adults in the room appeared taken aback by it. Only Pat Brown seemed surprised. He glanced at Diane, then turned to Tim. “Zombies?”

“Please start at the beginning, Tim,” Diane urged.

So Tim did, beginning with the day Gordon Smith approached him that afternoon at school about the novel he was reading, how he’d only seemed interested in the scene where the protagonist utilizes a black magic spell to raise the dead. He touched on some of his past history with Gordon, Steve, David, and Scott, then brought the narrative to the Reamstown Cemetery incident. “Gordon told me last night that he did rob that grave, but that he hadn’t intended to drop my book there. He said that was an accident.”

“You don’t have to defend him,” Mom said.

“I know.” Tim looked at the prosecutors. “Gordon told me he needed the remains for a ritual. That’s why he was so interested in my book. He and his friends have some weird idea that this novel, Back From the Dead , is real. That’s kinda what started this whole thing.” He gave them all a brief recount of that long ago first assault when he was in sixth grade, how they’d equated his reading interest with who Tim was personally. As he talked, Diane frowned. Pat Brown gave a slight chuckle, his features displaying astonishment. “Anyway, he thought Back From the Dead was real. And he must’ve thought if he utilized the black magic formula that’s described in the novel for what he wanted to do, well…” He glanced at his mom, who nodded. “He said that he and…Scott and those guys…were involved in some pretty heavy stuff.”

“What kind of heavy stuff?”

Tim told them. About the trips to Philadelphia and Harrisburg to kidnap homeless people, how they were transported back to Scott’s house and tied up in the abandonded guesthouse on the property and beaten and tortured until they died. Mom and Dad looked surprised and shocked by these allegations, but the prosecutors and police weren’t. It almost seemed like they’d expected something that twisted to come from the mind of Scott Bradfield.

It wasn’t until he got to the part about the spell being used to reanimate the dead homeless people so they could be put through more abuse that gasps of shock went around the table.

“Gordon told you this last night?” Officer Clapton asked.

“Yes sir,” Tim said. “I saw them, too.”

“What do you mean you saw them?”

Tim told them about Gordon’s visit to the house yesterday morning and his proposition, the blackmail attempt. As he related this, Mom and Dad became visibly angry. Mom turned to Officer Clapton. “So it’s okay for Gordon Smith, Scott Bradfield and the creeps they hang out with to threaten and psychologically abuse my son and get away with it, but the moment some religious nut gets a hair up their ass about a harmless horror novel he’s reading, you throw him in jail? Tell me what rationale you use to justify the actions of your department, Officer Clapton? I’d really like to know.”

Officer Clapton didn’t acknowledge Mrs. Gaines verbal barb. His attention was focused on Tim and his testimony. “What was it Gordon told you? What did he threaten you with?”

“He said if I didn’t help him get out of the situation Scott and the others were involved in, that he would plant evidence that I robbed that grave. He also said he’d make it hard for me to get out of it.”

“Hard to get out of it?”

Tim shrugged. “He…he made it sound like he had an in with you guys. With the police. You know, because of my reputation and all the shit that’s happened.” The words were tumbling out of his mouth now. “I can’t say I blame him. If I’d gone through life pushing a guy around that always got in trouble for fighting back, I’d think I could get away with it, too.”

“Gordon convinced you that you wouldn’t be believed if you went to us?” Detective Andrews asked.