Jack thought his dad would be angry, but dinner went very well. His dad gave him only a little bit of a hard time to enforce his mom’s punishment. It seemed that all was forgiven. After dinner they all watched TV in the family room and then the boys went back up to Jack’s room.
Soon after it began to get dark outside, Jack realized that they had left some food improperly stowed at their campsite. Getting permission from Jack’s parents, Jack and Ben headed out in the dusk to collect their food. When they were almost finished, Ben looked up at the trees.
“Look at that,” Ben pointed to a blue flashing in the leaves overhead.
“Cops,” said Jack. Their eyes followed the light back to its source a few doors down.
The boys dropped their food at the back door and crept around the side of the house to get a better look. Down the block and across a side street, four police cruisers were parked around Mr. Anderson’s house. He was an older man who lived next to the Vigues. Jack crept a bit closer in time to see the police leading Mr. Anderson out of his house and towards a police car.
The Vigues came out of their house and looked on for a moment before Mr. Vigue ran towards his handcuffed neighbor.
“You sick fuck — I’ll kill you,” Mr. Vigue screamed as he ran towards Mr. Anderson. Police quickly restrained Mr. Vigue and attempted to lead him back to his own house. Other officers were setting up yellow tape around Anderson’s house and a state police vehicle, a big van, pulled up in front.
Ben came up behind, and Jack nearly jumped over the bush he was hiding behind.
“What are they doing? What did that guy do?” asked Ben.
“That was Mr. Anderson they’re driving off with. The mad guy was Mr. Vigue — Gabe’s dad,” replied Jack.
“You think that was about Gabe? Wow, must have been,” said Ben.
“I don’t know. Could be,” said Jack. He couldn’t take his eyes off the white-suited police donning gear from the big van. Three of them, with coveralls and masks made their way with big white cases towards Anderson’s house.
“Totally cool,” said Ben.
“Okay boys, back inside.” They both jumped at the sound of Jack’s father.
“Jeez Dad, you scared us to death!” said Jack.
“Just go up to your room, and quit sneaking around.”
“Okay, but why did they take away Mr. Anderson?” asked Jack.
“I don’t know, son, but I’m sure the police have the matter under control,” said his father.
Jack and Ben went back around the house, grabbed their food, and went back in the house. Back upstairs, they stretched out on Jack’s bed and watched through the side window. They could see the Vigue house — every light was on and several figures moved around inside. They couldn’t get a clear look at Anderson’s place though — it was dark in comparison with all the bright lights from Vigue’s house and the police cars.
“I bet he did it,” said Ben. “Snatched that kid. Well at least they caught him.”
“Yeah,” said Jack. He turned away from the window and grabbed one of his puzzle books from his nightstand. Ben continued to look out the window as Jack concentrated on a crossword.
In the morning, Jack paused on his way to the bathroom. He could hear his parents talking in the kitchen so he crept down a few stairs to listen to their conversation.
“Jones said they had the blood team in there,” said his dad.
“So they think Bill had Gabe back at his house?” asked his mom.
“I guess so. They showed up at Vigues at the same time. Had a psychologist talking to Andy while they led Anderson out. Guess they knew he has a temper.”
“Can they do that?” she asked. “He hasn’t been convicted of anything yet.”
“Who knows. Andy Vigue has a lot of relatives who are cops, maybe they gave him special treatment or something.”
“I just can’t believe Bill would do something like that. He was the sweetest guy,” said his mom.
Jack crept back upstairs to catch Ben up on what he had heard.
Later that day Ben and Jack were allowed to return back to their freedom of camping out. They were subdued though — they couldn’t shake the implications of what they had seen the night before. The reality of what had happened to Gabe Vigue, or what had
Ben tossed out a couple of half-hearted ideas for activities, but nothing captured their imagination. They spent a while trying to devise a way to guarantee their cooler would be out of harm’s way, but in the end decided it would be easier to just store it in the basement at night. They both knew this was a lame concession; it destroyed the spirit of being independent from the house.
Jack suggested they rig up a tarp over the tent in case it started raining and that sparked a review of the entire campsite. They evaluated the likelihood that their tent was going to “swamp out” and debated moving it uphill. But there was no motivation to undertake that amount of effort. Their mode of living had moved from adventure to chore. By evening they were downright dejected and they decided to see what Jack’s mom had for dinner. Jack’s parents had a sense of why the boys had given up on camping, and encouraged Ben and Jack to return to the tent for the night. They were up late, talking and looking at the shadows the moonlight cast against the walls of the tent.
“So you think he got him?” asked Jack. Ben knew what he was talking about.
“They have to have some proof to show up and take him away like that,” replied Ben. “They must have something.”
“My mom talks to that guy all the time. He always seemed so nice.”
“You never know about people,” said Ben. “I heard my dad talking about this guy one time, he murdered a whole family and everyone thought he was the best guy in the world. He had all this money, and a perfect job, but he just snapped. Like nothing, then he killed a bunch of people and nobody could believe it.”
“Stop talking about it. You’re freaking me out,” said Jack.
“Yeah, but they got him — your neighbor, I mean,” replied Ben. “So what’s to worry about?”
“I guess,” Jack said and paused. “But if he could do that, somebody else could be the same way. Do you think people are born that way?”
“Nah, it doesn’t work like that,” said Ben. “Something bad has to happen. And the odds are crazy that you would have two of those guys in the same area. You ever heard of two sets of guys running around killing people in the same town? No way.”
“I guess,” said Jack.
“That’s weird that it was right down the block like that,” said Ben. “When I heard about it I knew it was over this way, but I didn’t think it would be right there.”
“Let’s talk about something else,” said Jack.
“Good point. Did I tell you what my dad’s new girlfriend said?” asked Ben.
“You didn’t even mention he had a new girlfriend — what happened to Ms. Broyhill?” asked Jack. Ben’s father always insisted that adults be called mister or Ms. He had dated Ms. Broyhill for six years, but the boys still called her Ms.
“He never said, but my brother thinks she was sleeping around.”
“Wow!” said Jack.
“Yeah, she was okay, but she was always making all that crazy food that nobody could eat,” said Ben. “She would make us eat snails, and dandelion greens, and then meat for desert.”
“Get outta here,” said Jack.
“Seriously, she got really weird with food. I’m sorta glad she’s gone even though I only had to see her once a week,” admitted Ben. Jack held his tongue — he despised Ms. Broyhill, but had never said as much to Ben.
“I think you’ve got the only together parents I know around here,” said Ben.
“Yeah, that’s true,” said Jack. “But they fight sometimes.”
“Not like other parents,” said Ben. “Trust me, your parents are like totally perfect for each other.”
