Chapter 13 - It's the Small Things That Can Kill You! - They Become Strays

 Chapter 13 – They Become Strays

Weatherwise, it seemed that the month of September was a bit irregular during the week the Warriors played the Tigers. There was unusually heavy rainfall two days after the game. It left underpasses flooded for nearly forty-eight hours. This was followed by a 4.5 scale earthquake in northern Illinois. The quake was felt in Kildeer and discussed at the local café and other gathering spots. The primary topic that week, however, was the murder investigation of a local man, James Cody.

This is my way of saying that the ballgame between the rival teams went on as scheduled. After sunset on the evening of the game, Martin Gayner, a local farmer, had noticed that a car was parked in a wooded area on a dirt road leading into his property. He parked his truck next to it and checked the doors of the vacant vehicle. They were unlocked. He walked a path that was familiar to him and his sons. It led to a tree stand that the family used during deer season. It was there that he discovered Cody’s body. Two weapons were found near the body. The police investigation indicated that Gaynor must have arrived about thirty minutes after the murder took place.

After hours in our Men’s Anxiety Treatment Group, four of us walked over to my dad’s diner. We talked about the night before. Clara had helped Mikey take Frank back over to Happy Meadows where he went willingly back to his room. I rode in the back seat with Frank. It was an unremarkable ride except for a single moment. During the ride over Frank had a one-sided conversation from the back seat with Clara. She turned around in her seat to focus on Frank as Mikey, who probably shouldn’t have been driving, pulled into the rest home parking lot.

Frank squinted at Clara and mumbled “Joey, we need to talk tomorrow. There was a shooter in the woods near the ball game tonight. Have one of the boys post up outside this hotel. Get some rest yourself. Right now, I need to sleep some more. My head feels fuzzy.” Clara reassured him that she would visit him in the morning. He smiled at her and patted her hand.

 I didn’t think much about what Frank had said except that it was just more evidence that he was going in and out of reality. Just another manifestation of his dementia. We arrived at Happy Meadows and escorted Frank inside. Mikey still smelled of beer, so he stayed in the car. Clara and I helped Frank to his room. Clara introduced herself to the receptionist as Frank’s niece Joey.

The police investigation didn’t take place until after the game was over. The force at the time consisted of only Chief Buddy Marx, officers Jenning and Davis, and Sally Tillings, a part-time dispatcher that worked most nights. It was Tillings that Max Gayner spoke to that night. Chief Marx announced that police suspected foul play and there was an ongoing investigation the next morning.

The next morning Clara went to see Frank again. Considering the recent announcement by the local police I couldn’t help but wonder how Frank knew about the shooter. The fact that he had picked up on some information that an entire crowd of people missed baffled me. But it was something Rico had said last night that I had dismissed at first that now sent chills down my spine every time I thought about it. Rico had said the dead man’s name.

I need to explain a bit about Rico. Rico has always claimed to have the ability to see spirits. When we first met, he wouldn’t talk much about it. I noticed that when we rode together and came across roadkill, which was frequent during he summers in rural Illinois, Rico would cross himself. He had told me that he was raised in a very strict Catholic family. He eventually told me that he did it so the spirit of the animal that had died on the highway would depart. Dr. Knivens' conviction surrounding this behavior was that it was an extreme manifestation of Rico’s obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Knevins also believed that Rico suffered from the occasional hallucination.

Be this as it may, the simple truth of my world was that Rico had looked up last night and said the dead man’s name. He claimed that he momentarily saw James Cody. While Rico wasn’t friends with Cody, he did know him and thought he was attending the ball game like we were. He nudged me as he waved at the apparition and said the dead man’s name. Then he realized he had waved at a spirit. This seemed to bother him a bit. 

The news released by the police of a possible murder investigation also had Rico Gonzales twisted up psychologically. Clara and I invited him to Larue’s Diner to celebrate the Warrior’s victory last night over the Tigers.   

After we got out of group therapy, Clara walked her bike next to me. Fenton and Rico walked behind me. “Okay, how did Frank know?” I was beside myself with curiosity.

Clara was positively vibrating with excitement. “Well, first, Frank really wasn’t watching the game. Everyone was excited, but Frank was sedated, remember.”

I bobbed my he in acknowledgement.

“He told me that he kept watching the horizon to the west. He saw a glint that could have been binoculars or the scope of a sniper rifle.”

“The police said that Cody’s body was found beside two weapons. One of them was a rifle.” I replied incredulously. “But why didn’t we hear the shot?”

“Because the killer didn’t shoot Cody with his own rifle. The rifle was fully loaded and hadn't been fired.” Fenton answered. “He was shot with his pistol. The police believe that the shooter found the pistol in Cody's car and used it to kill him. What was he going to do with the rifle?" 

“It was the pistol shot that Frank heard. Frank heard the shot because he was listening for it. He said he heard it because it was so familiar to him. It was a police caliber .38 with a noise suppressor.” Clara reminded us that it was Frank’s preferred weapon when he did a hit for Tony Accardo's organization. “Frank said it was a stroke of luck that he heard anything, but it was during a lull in the game.”

“That was way away from the game. Way out there. He heard a pistol with a silencer on it?" Fenton said.

“They shouldn’t have started using the name silencer for suppressors.  They still make plenty of noise. Also, Cody was at the edge of the woods. The sound echoed across that field. People around here complained about the noise during deer season for years.” Clara reasoned.

“Rico, did Cody say anything to you?” I inquired.

“God no Jax! It doesn’t seem to work like that. Spirits don’t talk to me. They appear and then if I ignore them, they go away.” Rico seemed uncomfortable talking about this. So naturally, I persisted.  Dr. Knivens and I are working on this during private sessions. Unfortunately we haven’t gotten it completely hammered out.

“So, what happens if you don’t ignore them.” I asked.

“They will follow me home. They become strays.” Rico said through tightly closed eyes.

“You mean like a stray cat?”

“Sort of. Jax, I really don’t want to talk about this anymore.”