The Guardians

A fingernailed threat cut through the dust. And written not on the outside of the glass, but on the inside.

Sleepwalking. Is this another Parkinson's symptom, one of the rarer ones to be found near the bottom of the list? How about sleepwriting?

I shuffle over to the window and wipe away the boy's graffiti with a baled-up T-shirt. When I'm done, it leaves the house across the street in greater clarity. I don't watch it for long for fear of seeing the awakened thing I can feel moving through its rooms.

To avoid any direct view of the house, I return to sit on the edge of the bed. It's stil early. The house, the town outside, everything stil. There is time to kil before Mrs. McAuliffe gets up and I can get into the shower without disturbing her, so I have another go at Ben's journal. More pages of his take on nothing.

I turn another crinkly page and come across something so unexpected I wonder if I am in fact awake at al.

A Post-it Note. On it a message dated two months before Ben died.

TREVOR—

If you have read this far, you deserve to know.

Look behind the vent under the bed. Read only if you feel the need to.

Otherwise, burn it all and don't look back.

PS. Don't go in. No matter what. Don't go in.

The grile easily puls away on the first tug. I stick my hand in and feel around the duct, sliding under the bedframe far enough to slip my arm down al the way to the elbow. I pul out a soft bundle.

It's another diary. This one bound in pliant leather, slim and easily folded into a rol, bound tight by a strip of silver Christmas ribbon. I untie it and open the cover to find not more pages of Ben's handwriting, but clippings and smudgy photocopies. No notes, no accompanying explanation.

The first is a story cut from a tea-coloured page of The Grimshaw Beacon.

GRIMSHAW YOUTH VICTIM OF GRISLY ATTACK

ELIZABETH WORTH

Born January 27, 1933. Died November 12, 1949.

Tragedy visited the home of foster parents Paul Schantz and his wife, May, this past week when one of their charges, Elizabeth Worth, was found murdered in the home. Miss Worth was only sixteen years old.

'We loved her so much. She was a lovely child, so bright and kind. We have some difficult young people come through these doors from time to time, but Elizabeth wasn't one of them. It's heartbreaking to know she had the best of her life ahead of her,' commented Mr. Schantz, who has been running the foster-care facility at 321 Caledonia for the past several years since purchasing the property from James Thurman in 1941. Prior to Miss Worth's passing, Mr. Schantz and his wife (who have no offspring of their own) had four children from four separate birth families under their care.

Mr. Schantz was not in Grimshaw at the time of the murder, and police have stressed that neither he nor his wife is a suspect in their investigations. As to alternative leads, authorities admit they are currently without clear directions.

Miss Worth's body was discovered by Mrs. Schantz in an upstairs bedroom early on the morning of November 12. While police are not publicly disclosing the details of the crime, the Beacon has learned that it was a brutal attack, the weapon being a wood plank bearing a nail or screw at its end. This weapon was used in fatally striking Miss Worth several times.

A memorial service for Elizabeth Worth is to be held at McCutcheon's Funeral Home on Thursday, November 17, 2 P.M. Any gifts of remembrance are asked to be made to the Perth County Family Services, which administers the guardianship of orphans such as Miss Worth.

Paul Schantz. The old man we'd visited in the Cedarfield Seniors Home. The one who'd warned me about the dead coming back.

Next, an inky carbon copy.

CORONER'S REPORT-SUMMARY STATEMENT

Perth County Coroner's Office

Dr. Philip Underhill, B.Sc., M.D.

Deceased: Elizabeth Worth

Age: 16

Report Release Date: Friday, November 18, 1949

Cause of Death: Brain hemorrhage from head trauma. Circumstances involved repeated strikes to the skull (numbering 8 to 12) by a wood board. A three-inch screw affixed to the board creating an open fracture in the cranium, likely in initial strike. Subsequent blows using same instrument cause of fatal cerebral injury.

Autopsy (Summary Remarks): Homicide (see above). Upon examination, deceased showed indications of recent sexual battery and physical struggle (likely the result of resistance to attack). Nature of injuries consistent with non-consensual intercourse.

A short piece in The Globe and Mail.

'Not Our Man,' Police Say