The Lost: Book Two, The Eddie McCloskey Series (The Unearthed 2) (17 page)

Bernard’
s
house was an older rancher with a long driveway and a big yard that sloped away from the house and into the woods. Ana parked between a pick-up truck and a police cruiser. A floodlight perched on the corner of the roof kicked on.

The snow was coming down in sheets now. Both the truck and the cruiser were covered.

“One thing before we go inside,” Eddie said.

She looked over at him mischievously. “And what’s that?”

Eddie smirked. “Get your mind out of the gutter. I’m going to ask to use your cell when we get inside.”

She grabbed her purse and fished for her phone. “You can use it out here.”

Eddie shook his head. “Don’t want to use it at all. But when I ask you inside, just say you forgot it.”

Her hand stayed buried in her purse. “Why?”

Eddie looked through the passenger window at the house. One of Whitmore’s men stepped off the porch and walked toward them. A man Eddie assumed was Bernard stuck his head out of the front door and peeked out at them, like a turtle coming out of its shell. Eddie waved at them and turned back to Ana.

“Better you don’t know why. It’ll make you a better actor.”

Ana tried to give him a withering look but couldn’t quite pull it off.

Eddie smiled. “I’ll tell you why after.”

She was about to respond, but then she looked past his shoulder. “The cop’s almost to the car.”

“What’s Bernard like?” Eddie asked.

“He’s … okay.”

“Don’t sugar-coat it.”

“He’s a sad sack.”

He winked at her. Then he opened the car door and smiled at the cop. “Officer, how are you?”

The cop wore a Burt Reynolds mustache. He held out a palm in a stopping motion. His other hand rode his hip.

“What’s your name?”

“Eddie McCloskey. That’s Ana Lovsky.”

Bernard came out of the door and to the edge of the porch. He cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted like they were in the middle of a hurricane. “That’s Ana! I know her!”

The cop ignored Bernard. He kept one hand on his holster and used the other to speak into a cell.

“This is Officer Toll. What does McCloskey look like?”

The cop listened for a few seconds and looked Eddie up and down. Bernard stayed on the porch.

“What kind of car does Lovsky drive?” Toll asked. Then he listened some more.

Eddie played nice and didn’t say anything. The guy was just doing his job and doing it well. And besides, Colin’s murder was probably the first the town had seen in a long time. It was impossible to be too careful if you were a podunk cop.

Toll thanked the person on the other end of the line and hung up. Then he scanned the property as if expecting to catch Colin’s murderer hiding behind a tree. When he was satisfied, he looked back at Eddie. “I’m Officer Toll. I’m going to search you now. Turn around, hands up.”

Eddie complied. Toll patted him down.

“Most you’ll find in there is a debit card and about fifteen in cash,” Eddie said.

Toll ignored him and finished the pat-down.

Eddie faced him with a smile. “Tall, dark, and handsome, right?”

Toll gave him a strange look. “Excuse me?”

“That’s how they described me to you, I’ll bet.”

Toll cracked a toothy smile. “Not exactly.”

“What did they say?”

“That you looked like a drifter.”

Eddie kept a smile in place but he was getting tired of these yokel cops giving him a hard time. Toll moved on to Ana.

”Sorry, Ana. I’ve gotta check you and your back pack.”

Toll searched her and the bag then motioned for everybody to get inside. Bernard held the door.

“Sorry about this, guys,” Bernard said. “Officer Toll is just following orders. Ana, how are you?” He hugged her, then offered his hand to Eddie.

“Under the circumstances, it’s no big deal.” Eddie shook his hand and felt the absence of a couple fingertips, reminding him of Bernard’s accident at the Mill. “I’m sorry to hear about your friend, Colin. You must be ...”

Bernard wiped the snow from his thinning black hair. “I’m okay. I’m good. Life’s good, right? I can’t complain. It’s terrible what happened to Colin. Just awful. That’s how it is, though. Shit happens all the time, there’s nothing we can do. On the knife’s edge, as they say. Bad things happen for no reason.”

He was trying to convince himself of everything he said.

Bernard went on. “Ana, how are you? You must be, what, twenty by now?”

She laughed. “Twenty-two. Old enough to drink.”

“But I’ll bet age never stopped you before, did it?” Bernard winked at her, then shot an apologetic look at Officer Toll.

The cop’s face was blank.

Ana laughed again. Eddie smiled too. Bernard seemed genuinely nice. But was it part of an act to gain their trust?

Beware the overly eager and helpful client, Tim had told him over and over. They were nice and helpful because usually they were looking for you to validate a spurious claim. Some did it for attention, some to feel special, some to add meaning to their lives.

But why would these three men—one of whom wasn’t on great terms with the other two—make up these claims at the same time? Eddie couldn’t see a reason.

“I’ve got some snacks out and I can get you drinks,” Bernard said.

Eddie spotted chips, pretzels, candy, salsa, dip, and tomato pie crowding a small coffee table near the sectional. Then he looked around the room and was grateful to find no dead animals staring back at him. So far, Bernard was giving them the royal treatment, just the opposite of how Colin had acted.

Officer Toll separated from the group and left the living room without a word. That was good.

Bernard said, “This is so exciting—how is this going to work—what I can do?”

Eddie said, “We’ll attempt to reproduce the phenomena you describe. But first we need to do background.”

“Great. Anything you want. Just let me get us all some water.”

Bernard double-timed it out of the room. Ana pulled out her notebook and recorder and set them on the coffee table next to the tray. When she looked up at him, there was a twinkle in her eye, a reminder of their newfound intimacy.

Before either could say anything, Bernard reappeared with another tray that held a pitcher of water and four glasses and napkins. “I’m low on ice right now. Sorry about that. I’d run out and get some, but you know.” He signaled toward the window at the snow that was piling up and looked from Eddie to Ana and back. “Sorry about that.”

Eddie got the feeling Bernard was the type to apologize for everything.

Everyone sat. Ana and Eddie on the sofa, Bernard on the recliner. Bernard poured four glasses of ice water and then rubbed his hands together.

“Okay, where should we start? I really want to help.”

“We should get started at …” Eddie stopped what he was saying and patted his pockets like he’d forgotten to bring something. 

“Something wrong?” Bernard asked.

Eddie looked at Ana. “Can I use your cell?”

Ana reached for her pocket. For a moment he thought she’d forgotten to pretend like she didn’t have her phone. But then he realized it was playacting.

“That’s weird,” Ana said. “I always have my cell on me.”

Eddie put on an embarrassed face and looked at Bernard. “I’m so sorry, but could I use your cell?”

Bernard shot up. “Sure. You can actually use the land line.” Bernard reached for the reading table next to the recliner.

“If you don’t mind,” Eddie said, “could I use your cell? I have to call the lieutenant and he wants everything under wraps for now. I’ll just step outside.”

Bernard’s hand retracted. “Umm, sure. Let me go find it. I’m always losing the damned thing. Always losing everything. I’m only thirty-two and already senile.”

“I’ll come with you.” Eddie got up and followed him. “I hope you don’t have one of those iPhones. I have no idea how they work.”

Bernard smiled as they left the living room. “Yeah, right. My cell phone is so old, it’s got a rotary dial.”

Eddie laughed. The guy was funny when he tried. A lot of sad sacks were.

They walked down a short hallway, passed a laundry room, and made a right into a work space. There was a table covered with tools and pieces of wood, with carvings on the floor.

Bernard went to the work table and moved some papers and uncovered his cell phone. It was big and bulky and plugged into a wall outlet behind a vise.

Eddie said, “Thanks. Let me ask you something, from one non-tech guy to another.”

Bernard unplugged the phone and handed it to Eddie. “Sure thing.”

“I might bite the bullet and buy one of these things. You know, catch up with the times.”

“Ha, yeah, I hear you. Man after my own heart.”

The phone opened sideways. Eddie eyed the tiny console. “I don’t want all the bells and whistles. You know, I don’t need a camera and all that jazz. And the last thing I need are apps for God’s sake. Apps for this, apps for that. I heard there’s an app now to manage your apps. You believe that? I just want a phone so I can call people when I need to. You know what I mean?”

“You bet I do.” Bernard smiled like he’d found a true friend, another soul who really understood him. “I don’t have any of that shit on there. It’s just a phone. The guy at the store tried to talk me into getting text messages, oh it’s great, you don’t have to talk to anybody if you don’t need to, but I told him no. I’m not gonna pay for something I don’t need. That’s like paying for tits on a bull.”

Eddie smiled like Bernard was speaking his language. He held the phone up. “So you can get a phone without any of the gadgets on it? A phone, a whole phone, and nothing but a phone?”

“Yeah. You can do that.”

“Like this one? Not a single app or any of that crap?”

“Just like that one.”

“Hey, while I got you in here, do you have a computer?”

Bernard shook his head no. “No need. If people need me, they can call me. You know, on my brand new cell.”

Eddie nodded thoughtfully and made up another story about how he was looking to buy a laptop because he traveled so much.

But he was really thinking about something else.

Eddie was thinking, Shit, this guy might be telling the truth about the cold spots in this house.

To stick with the ruse, Eddie asked where the back door was.

“Just follow this same hall here.” Bernard pointed. “The deck is covered so you don’t have to worry about the snow but the wind’ll still get you. Sorry about that.”

Eddie thanked him and went out back and pretended to dial and pretended not to get anybody.

When he was done with his fake phone call, he found them in the living room. Ana still on the couch, Bernard across from her on the love seat, Tolll standing by the front door.

Eddie handed the phone to Bernard. “Okay, let’s get started.”

An
a
cracked her notebook and asked Bernard when he first noticed the cold spots.

“They started … hmmm, well I first noticed them about six months ago.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“It was the weirdest thing. I remember the first night because Marty Kindler stopped by with his …” Bernard looked awkwardly at Ana. “… you know, with his two girlfriends.”

“You guys are friends?” Eddie asked as casually as possible.

Bernard raised his injured hand and splayed his three-and-a-half fingers. “We had a falling out, I’m sure you heard. But since then we’ve made up.”

Eddie couldn’t have disagreed more. Some things were worthy of a lifelong hostility, like the cold-blooded murder of his brother.

Eddie said, “So he came over with his harem?”

“Yeah. Just stopped by. We just shot the you-know-what for awhile. Had a few beers. It was good. Like old times.”

“What exactly did you do?” Eddie asked.

“Why? You think it has something to do with all this?” Bernard frowned as if Eddie were intruding on a private matter.

“Probably just a coincidence, but him stopping over was out of the ordinary, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Your buddy who’s not really your buddy swings by, and then the activity starts? Could be connected.”

Bernard went silent, as if trying to remember that night six months ago. Toll padded across the living room and checked one of the side windows.

Bernard said, “Not much to tell. He came over and we jabbered for awhile. Got to talking about the Mill. I don’t hold grudges, so I’m sad to hear the place is shutting down. The Mill’s a symbol of this town. When the symbol dies, you know …”

“Did you talk about fourteen years ago?” Eddie asked.

Everyone, even Toll, watched to gauge Bernard’s reaction.

“It came up.”

Bernard looked anxiously around the room.

Toll hooked his thumbs in his belt and leaned against the threshold to the hallway.

“That’s no surprise.” Eddie wanted to relax Bernard. “You guys don’t see each other for a long time, I figure one of the most important events in your lives is gonna come up.”

“Yeah.” Bernard looked sideways at Ana.

“So what did you say?”

Bernard pursed his lips. Looked at the cop suddenly like he wanted the guy out of the room. “We just talked about that day, you know, what went down.”

Bernard’s head swiveled side-to-side. He looked mortified. “Sorry, poor choice of words.”

Ana gave him a warm smile. “It’s okay.”

“So, uh, we talked about what happened.”

“And what did happen?” Eddie asked. “I’ve heard this, that, and the other thing, and the police report says something else.”

Eddie could feel Toll’s eyes on him.

“There’s not much to tell. If you’ve heard already, then—”

“But in your words,” Eddie said. “I want to hear it in your words.”

“Why?”

Eddie kept that friendly smile painted on his face. “Because we never know what piece of information is going to help us do our job.”

Bernard expelled a great sigh. Looked over at Ana. “You sure this is okay to talk about?”

She nudged her glasses back up her nose. “Yes. It’s why we’re here.”

Bernard took a sharp breath. “Okay. Well … I told Marty how memory plays tricks on you.”

Eddie could feel the center of gravity in the room shift closer to Bernard. Toll’s head turned and he too watched Bernard.

Ana scooted forward on the sofa. Did a pretty good job at hiding her excitement.

“I still remember that day like it was yesterday. But the weird thing is, when I talked to Marty about it, it’s like I was remembering something totally new.”

“How so?”

“We badgered Mike. Totally shamed him. We all did it. We all tormented him. I don’t know why. He didn’t deserve it. Nobody does. It was just like the group agreed he would be the guy getting picked on. And we just fell into our roles.”

“Situational attribution,” Eddie said. “You ever hear of the Stanford Prison Experiment?”

Bernard shook his head no.

“College students did this experiment where they assumed the roles of guards and inmates in prison. Pretty soon, they started acting just like real guards and inmates do. Exactly like them. They were all filling roles they thought needed filling, even the inmates who were getting dumped on.”

“Yeah … don’t get me wrong. We weren’t that bad, we weren’t horrible to him …” Bernard looked away. His eyes told a different story.

“You weren’t?” Eddie said.

“I guess we were. He just wanted to be one of the guys but he was the scapegoat. He thought by making the basketball team and playing with us, he’d be in. But that didn’t change things. No matter what he did, we picked on him. He was tall and big and kind of oafy.”

Bernard took a deep breath. Toll took his cell phone out and left the living room.

“We pushed Mike onto that ice.”

“Literally?”

Bernard shrugged. “It was just us being us. We didn’t mean anything. Or maybe we did. Maybe we were just rotten to him because we could be. He was standing on the bank, and somebody started nudging him toward the ice.”

“Who?”

Bernard licked his lips, rubbed his chin. Looked at Ana. “Tessa. She started shoving him.”

Ana’s eyes went wide but she continued to scribble her notes.

“It wasn’t just us guys making fun of him. She did, too.”

Eddie watched Ana closely, waiting for a challenge to Bernard’s version of the story. Her pen stopped moving, but she didn’t look up.

“Why didn’t this get into the police report?” Eddie asked.

“Because she died. None of us wanted to speak ill of her. Even now, it’s tough to tell the truth.”

“Because I’m sitting here?” Ana said.

The room went cold.

Were they experiencing a true cold spot, or was it his mind imagining it?

He got up and went to the thermostat. It had a fancy digital display. The temperature was set to 70 degrees.

“This thing new?” Eddie asked.

“Only a year. I got a new heater.”

Eddie turned back to Bernard and Ana. The pair of them sat five feet from each other, but they acted like they were miles apart.

“Are you okay?” Bernard asked.

Eddie waved him off. “Oh yeah. So why are you uncomfortable? Because Ana’s right there?”

“That’s part of it. But it’s not just that.” Bernard pressed his palms together. “I don’t want that to be everyone’s last memory of your sister. That moment shouldn’t define who she is. She was … decent.”

Ana’s body was wound tighter than a two dollar watch. She dropped the pen and pushed away from the couch. Went to the front door and looked out the side window. Her shoulders shook.

Eddie realized she was crying but he needed Bernard to let them in completely.  “What happened next?”

Bernard kept his eyes on Ana’s back. “Eddie, maybe right now isn’t …”

“There is no good time for this, Bernard. Things are moving fast. Colin’s dead. We have to move forward.”

Bernard nodded. “Tessa got into it. The teasing. Pretty soon it was just her.”

Ana’s head dropped to her chest. Eddie wanted to hold her more than anything, but they couldn’t lose this moment with Bernard. It finally felt like they had momentum.

“Did she push him onto the ice?”

Bernard nodded.

“All the way?”

Ana whirled. “He was a foot taller and had a hundred pounds on her. You’re telling us she pushed him out there?”

Bernard blushed. “He was physically stronger than her, but … weak-willed. He didn’t put up much of a fight. He was in a bad spot. Here was his girlfriend, calling him a coward in front of all his friends. He couldn’t very well man-handle her. He’d look even more like a loser. Guys can’t win when a woman gets physical.”

Ana’s face shone with tears. She wiped under her eyes and smeared her mascara.

“I’m sorry,” Bernard said.

“Don’t be. It’s the truth.” She looked at the floor. “I always heard she could be a bitch.”

“Look, if she had known what would happen … if any of us had …”

Eddie went to the couch and grabbed Ana’s pen. “What then?”

“She shoved him onto the ice, with all of us laughing at him. God.” Bernard shook his head. “How emasculating that must have been. To have your only friends and your first love do that to you.”

“Then what?”

“They were on the ice together. He ran back to the shore when she let go, but she stayed to shame him. Then the ice cracked. Everybody panicked. Mike didn’t want to go out there because of his size, nobody knew what to do.”

“And she went under?”

In the corner of the room, Ana stifled a sob.

Bernard nodded.

Eddie put the pen down and sat back. His head was swimming with possibilities. “Did any of you try to save her?”

“We panicked. She went down so fast, there was no chance. The ice was just a thin sheet ready to come apart.”

Ana’s sobs turned into real tears.

“It was awful,” Bernard said.

Eddie saw guilt everywhere. In the tone of Bernard’s words. In the slump of his shoulders. In the way his eyes couldn’t quite hold anybody’s gaze. Tessa might have died fourteen years ago, but for this man, it had happened yesterday. All of Bernard’s self-deprecating humor and his incessant apologizing were signs of a deep depression.

Eddie said, “You ever reach out to Mike? Ever talk to him since?”

Bernard nodded. “Recently, actually. I wrote him a letter.”

“Did you hear back?”

Bernard shook his head no. “I had to take the letter to his old man. I didn’t have Mike’s address so I asked him for it. He wouldn’t give it to me, said he’d mail it himself.”

“What did the letter say?” Eddie asked.

Bernard gave him a look like that was none of his business, but Eddie stared the man down. It wasn’t hard. Bernard caved.

“Just about how sorry I was. Am. And … I knew we shouldn’t have gone out there.”

“You were young,” Eddie said.

Toll suddenly came back into the room. His gun was out. “Ana, Eddie, get in the kitchen right now. Bernard, you stay right there.”

His tone left no room for argument.