Cal’s smile faded. It was replaced by a pained looked on his lined face. He moaned a little at his long ago memories.
“That’s when we saw them. The two bodies. Face down near the goalpost. They were so still and peaceful like. His arms were at his sides and the girl looked as if she’d been posed. Her skirt was up a little above her knees, and her arms were out at her sides. At first, I thought it was someone kidding around. That maybe they saw us there and were playing a trick, trying to scare us, you know. But it was no trick. Deadly held the flashlight and shined it up and down the two of them. Then he yelled for me and Billy to turn the bodies over.”
The investigators perked up. This is the first time they heard the names of the other boys involved. They took notes as they listened.
Cal’s gaze became fixed as if he was seeing it again as he did on that fateful night.
“I couldn’t answer him. I just stood there, scared to death and unable to move. I couldn’t even answer him.”
“Billy bent down and one at a time he rolled the bodies over. We could see right away it was Shirley Adams and Joey Beck. This was no trick. They were dead alright. Even from where I was standing, I could see something dark staining their clothes. It was blood. A lot of it.”
He shifted his meager weight on the bed in an effort to get comfortable.
“I didn’t want the others to know it, but I was scared to death. My knees started to knock together and I couldn’t move. Deadly and Billy, callous good-for-nothings, didn’t look frightened at all.”
Shelly interrupted Cal to clarify his story.
“Do you remember the full names of the boys with you, Cal?”
“Sure I do. They were two bad ones, those two. I was no angel either, but they made me look like one, some of the things they did.” His face darkened at the boyhood memories he could not dismiss.
“Tell us their full names.”
“Who could forget them? John Deadly and Billy Davis.”
Sheski whistled. He turned to Mike. “John Deadly.”
“I heard him.” Mike said. “John Deadly. John Deadly’s involved in this.”
“Shut up, you guys,” Pat yelled. “I’m trying to hear. Be professional for once.”
Paul, obviously annoyed, stopped the recording. “Let’s run it again. And no further outbursts from you two. We’ll discuss the details when it’s finished.” He replayed the scene, starting at Shelly’s question.
“John Deadly and Billy Davis” came out loud and clear again.
Mike and Sheski stared at each other. They recognized both names. John Deadly was a serial murderer they’d put behind bars some years back. He ended up hanging himself in his cell. Billy Davis is William Davis, Jr., son of then Chief of Police Bill Davis. William Davis, Jr. is now a respected, retired teacher who volunteers at the high school.
Cal continued. “It was horrible. Blood all over them. And that beautiful Adams girl was pale. And dead. So was Joey.” Tears welled up in his moist eyes and rolled down his bony jaw line.
The policemen were touched by his distress in having to retell the story.
Cal coughed and wheezed uncontrollably. He looked exhausted, propping himself up on his left arm to facilitate his breathing. He tried to get a tissue to his lips to wipe them.
Shelly informed the listeners Cal needed a break. She said she’d stop now and restart the interview after Cal got some rest.
The screen went blank for a few seconds then Shelly was restating the information she’d given at the beginning.
Cal Kelly, propped up with pillows, appeared more rested.
“When we last spoke, you were telling us about finding the teen lovers,” Shelly said to the prisoner.
“Yes. I’ll never forget that night. All that blood. Shirley and Joey. Two good kids. She was beautiful and a really nice girl.” His voice faded a little. “Everybody liked her. Everybody. And they all liked Joey, too. He was well-liked.” Cal appeared to be sorrowful and spoke haltingly.
“That rotten no-good Deadly had no respect. He reached down and touched Shirley on her chest. When he did, a pin, a silver “S,” came loose from her sweater. I told him to knock it off. That he was a pervert. He just snickered and said it wasn’t the first time he touched her. We didn’t believe the liar. A girl like Shirley would never have anything to do with the likes of him. We knew it and so did he. Then he picked the pin up, locked the clasp and threw it to Billy. Billy laughed and caught it and put it in his pocket. ‘A little souvenir,’ Billy said. The two of them went through Shirley’s purse and Joey’s pockets. Shirley’s pocketbook was lying next to her. It was this leather bag with a long strap. I think the girls called it a ‘hooch’ back then. Shirley and Joey only had a couple of bucks on them and Deadly and Billy divided it. They didn’t offer me any of it and I wouldn’t have taken it if they had. Blood money. That’s what it was. Disgusting.”
Billy and I told Deadly we didn’t believe he’d been with Shirley. He just sneered at us. Said we didn’t know the half of it. That’s when he told me to run to the police station and get help. ‘And don’t stop along the way,’ he said. I asked him why I couldn’t just go to one of the houses nearby and call Chief Bill.”
Gurgling sounds came from Cal’s throat and he made a feeble effort to reposition his oxygen tubing. He continued. “Deadly grabbed me by the throat.” Cal paused for air. “And said ‘No way. Just do what I tell you,’ He could get real nasty sometimes. I was afraid of him. Still am. Everyone was.”
Sheski and Mike knew just how nasty John Deadly was from their Stone Haven case.
More coughing and gasping for air from Cal.
“Are you alright?” Shelly asked.
“Sure, I’m okay, Shelly.” He managed a weak smile at her. “I want to get this off my chest. Deadly said he and Billy would stay and guard the bodies while I go to the police station. He told me I was a coward and he didn’t want me around there. Billy told me later the two of them really screwed up the crime scene for the cops. Said it was fun.” Long pause.
“They dug around in the grass and repositioned the bodies. He thought it was really funny. You know Billy’s dad was Chief of Police in town, don’t you?”
The question was directed at Shelly who indicated she wasn’t aware of that.
“Well, he was. Anyway, I hightailed it out of there to get help. I didn’t know what Deadly would do to me if I didn’t follow his orders so I did exactly what he told me. I ran the whole way to the Police Station.”
Cal got quiet.
“Do you need time to rest?” Shelly asked.
He nodded ‘yes.’
After the break, the interview began again.
“You were telling us about going to the police station,” Shelly said.
“I was frightened and out of breath when I got there. Chief Bill and his brother Harris were sitting at the table doing paperwork. All us kids in town knew the policemen. And they knew all of us back then, too. Knew our parents and where we lived.”
This is not what the chief reported, thought Sheski. He’d documented he was alone when he heard the news.
“I started telling them my story and they asked me if I told anyone else. I hadn’t so I said ‘No.’ Then I told them to hurry because Deadly and Billy were alone down there with those poor dead kids. Well, they didn’t hurry. They made me retell what I’d seen. Then Chief Bill went over to his desk and made a telephone call. He turned his back to me and talked low, but I could hear a little of what he was saying.”
Cal was visibly tiring again, He chose to continue and waved a mottled hand at Shelly to indicate he was okay.
“Chief Bill told whoever he’d called that something had happened. He said ‘I’ll be up to talk to you later. I’m taking care of it.’ Then he looked back at me with this strange expression on his face and I began to get even more scared. He and his brother exchanged looks and I didn’t like what I was seeing. Then Harris got up and told Chief Bill he wanted to check someone in t
he drunk lockup out back in the alley. He said he’d be right back. The chief was getting ready to hang up the phone and that’s when I decided I wasn’t hanging around to find out how this was gonna end. I got out of there before anyone could stop me. I went back down to the football field to tell the other two that help was on the way. That’s when Billy told me they’d had some fun, messing up the crime scene. He said I’d better not tell anyone anything if I know what’s good for me. By then I was really in a panic. I left town right after that and never went back. I should’ve, but I didn’t. My life didn’t improve from there. I ended up in trouble all over the place and finally here I am, awaiting execution. If I live long enough.” He repeated an earlier stated phrase. “Dumb with silence, I held my peace.”
There was a stillness. The only thing audible was Cal’s coughing and gasping for air.
“Can I get you anything, Cal?” Shelly asked.
Cal indicated ‘no.’
“Is there anything else you want to tell us?” Shelly asked.
Cal rolled over to face her, gave a sad smile and said, “I’m sorry I didn’t stay and tell the truth. Maybe someone could’ve gotten to the bottom of it and caught the murderers right away. Back then, I didn’t know anything about doing what was right. I had no conscience and neither did the other two. Now that I’ve found God, I’ve suffered for my silence. He kept chasing me down until I ended up in a corner where I had no other choice but to beg His forgiveness and try to make amends. I know He’s forgiven me, but forgiving myself has been tougher. Those poor kids. Shirley and Joey. Their bodies and their justice was at the mercy of me, John Deadly and Billy. And their killer, whoever that was. I feel better now that I’ve had a chance to tell what happened that night. Shirley and Joey’s families deserve the truth and much more. They were nice people with nice kids. They didn’t deserve what happened to them.”
Cal turned away from the interviewer and stared at the wall. His breathing was shallow and rapid, his facies was a flat mask, but his consciousness was no longer rooted in the present. His mind went back to that night, back to the athletic field. He began to reminisce into his microphone, unaware of what he was saying and unaware it was being recorded.
Cal’s ramblings went on, “It was dark out, and fog was trailing in from the river. It wasn’t enough to hurt our vision, just enough to make us squint a little. We wanted to be able to see, to make sure no one was watching us. John Deadly was leading as usual, him being the bully that he was. Billy Davis, always so full of himself, was telling stupid jokes and bragging about all the girls who wanted to be with him at Guillamas soda fountain the night before. What a liar. I told Billy the only ones who wanted to be with him were the clerks who were afraid he’d walk off with some of their home-made candy or anything else he could get without paying for it.”
Cal quieted, then started again. Still in a semi-conscious state, unaware others were listening.
“Deadly was smoking, passing cigarettes out to the rest of us, then he stuck the pack in his sock.” Cal coughed. “We each took one, lighting up off the end of Deadly’s smoke. We thought we looked cool and sounded grown up, smoking, talking about girls.”
Cal continued his recollections. He told of all the energy they had back then, and how easy it was to stay up late and hang out like they did. How, after checking out the stands on the Home Side of the field, they stood around for a few minutes, lit up more smokes and ran up and down the stands before walking toward the Visitor Side.
“We moved away from center field and walked the grassy footpath toward the other end.”
Cal remembered them laughing and joking around, telling stories to scare each other.
“The fog was lifting a little and it was easier to see. I was really glad about that. I always feel uneasy when I can’t see what’s around me.
Deadly was ahead of the group until he fell behind us. He leaned against the wooden bleachers to finish his smoke. ‘Go on ahead,’ he told us. ‘I’ll catch up with you.’ ” Cal spoke the last line as if he were John Deadly.
Cal saw the events as if they were happening now. How Deadly turned on a flashlight and motioned for his two companions to get going. He shined one streamer of light for them to follow to the Visitor’s side, seemingly in a hurry to get his friends out of his way.
Cal reflected on the ease with which Deadly was able to order them around and assume he was in charge. “He always assumed a lot. Everyone knew Deadly was no good. His parents were nice people, but they couldn’t control him. He told me once he knew the Deadly’s weren’t his real parents. He said he didn’t know who his birth mother and father were. ‘Probably criminals’ he’d said.”
Cal’s mind was remembering those events crisply and he was engrossed in the ghostly scenes that were replaying themselves in his memory as the past unfolded again and again. A past that was haunting him. He paused at times in the telling to cough or catch his breath. A tear rolled down his face.
“Billy and me just did as we were told,” Cal remembered aloud. “Mostly me, though. Billy was big and did have a mind of his own, but Deadly was the strongest and most aggressive of our group. He fought when he wanted to and never lost a fight. Even if the attacker was bigger. Because he was nastier.” Cal mumbled how they committed petty thievery against local merchants and sometimes families. He mumbled how their gang couldn’t go anywhere near a store without being trailed by a clerk. Cal didn’t blame them. “We weren’t to be trusted. Not since we were old enough to steal.” he said aloud.
Cal became aware of his surroundings and told Shelly he wanted to continue. He seemed to have tapped a source of strength as he talked. He was telling the story out of sequence, repeating some of what he’d already said, but it was interesting, nonetheless.
“I could see Billy and me running across the field at the thirty-yard line, pretending to make game-winning plays to make-believe fans in the bleachers.” He scoffed. “Neither of us ever went out for the football team. We didn’t have the discipline the coaches required of the players. We believed curfews, practices and team-work were for losers. We hated them and anyone like them. We had other plans for our time. Plans that would get us what we wanted when we wanted it.”
Cal cursed himself for his bad judgment. “Maybe things could’ve been different for me if I would’ve studied my lessons and joined a sports team instead of hanging out with those two.”
He continued. “The flashlight beam faded and Billy and I looked back across the field for Deadly. At first we couldn’t see anything and Billy called over to him. It was dark and quiet. Suddenly, the flashlight came on again down at the goalposts. Through the haze, we could barely make out it was Deadly. He called for us to join him.”
Cal thought about the way he and Billy had walked toward the figure with the flashlight, the beam reflecting hazy, floating particles as it sliced across the damp night to a clump at the foot of the goalposts. He wondered how he could articulate to Shelly the strange look on Deadly’s face. It wasn’t one of fear, more one of resignation. It was a look Cal had seen many times when Deadly had done something he was proud of. When he was done with something, he never derived pleasure from it like others did. Instead, his attitude was more of an acceptance of whatever it was, regardless of how bad.
Cal began talking again. “When we looked down where Deadly was standing, we saw two forms on the ground. We were just a couple of feet from them. I wanted to believe it was a joke someone was playing on us. That those two bodies would jump up and laugh at us and threaten to tell others what scaredy-cats we were, but I knew better. I knew whoever they were, they were dead. I was so terrified I couldn’t talk or move.”
Shelly recognized Cal was repeating some of what he’d already said earlier, but permitted him his rambling recollections without interruption in case he added anything new.
“Deadly told Billy to turn the bodies over. I remained scared stiff, unable to take my eyes from the two figures lying so still. He ordered Billy again t
o do what he wanted, this time raising his voice, demanding action. Billy was ahead of me and reached down and one by one pushed the bodies over for us to see their faces. Looking at them, so still and grey and all that blood, I knew they were beyond help.”
Cal’s voice got quieter, becoming inaudible. He cried. Tears were shed for those poor kids and their families and for his own wasted life. If only …
“Cal, are you alright?” Shelly was gently touching the prisoner, trying to get his attention. She thought maybe he was losing consciousness.
She asked him if he had anything to add.
He sniffled and whispered “No.”
Shelly ended the interview by telling the prisoner the police would probably want to interview him as soon as they viewed this recording.
Cal nodded his head in agreement and looked away as if caught up in another scene playing inside his memory vault.
End of show.
Pat turned the lights back on in the meeting room. She stood next to Paul as if she was second-in-charge.
“Sit down,” Paul ordered her.
Sheski and Mike were huddled together, placing John Deadly, a murderer they’d gotten to know quite well from an earlier case, at the scene of yet another crime.
Both men were amazed at the amount of information Cal had given in his interview. It filled in gaps about the case and also about Deadly.
“I wish we’d known Deadly’s connection to this when we were investigating him,” Sheski said. “We could’ve questioned him about it.”
“Makes you wonder what else he was up to in his miserable life, doesn’t it?” Mike added.
“You’ll have to brief me on what you know about him,” Pat said to them.
Paul unlocked the file he was holding. It held packets, each one a typed version of what they’d just seen on the screen. He gave one each to Pat, Sheski, and Mike and kept one for himself.
“Open and read them in the meeting room only. They’re not permitted to be taken out of the building for any reason,” Paul said. “And no copying the files.”
TEEN LOVERS: Murder Along the River Page 6
