I regret to say that at the time of this publishing, the DNA testing of this new evidence has not been completed but it would come as no surprise should this turn out to be an early and telling infliction by none other than Mr. Davis’ father.
L.M.
AFTERWORD TWO
Added by Fernando Puenza
It took over three months for me to get hold of Frank’s “novel” and I had to battle a Police shrink and wait for it to clear the Police evidence procedure and probably wouldn’t have gotten it at all (Burt was trying to get it by this time as well) if it weren’t for a wild note that Frank had left behind that actually said:
“If something happens to me and my wife, I want my things to go to my one and only true friend — Fernando Puenza.”
By the time I got it, the TV interviews and guest spots where I spoke about my “friendship” with one of the most scary child serial killers of all time had almost dried up but I knew that people would still be interested in more—especially since I now owned a rare X-ray of a psychopath’s mind.
It wasn’t hard to get a publisher bidding war started and by the time it was done, I knew I’d never have to work as a hospital cafeteria cook again — or anything else if I didn’t want to.
The publisher recommended that we hire a shrink to analyze the book and that it would be very interesting for the readers to see notes at the back of the book from me and him, comparing what Frank saw and what had actually happened and was true.
We boiled some of the basic facts down to this — Frank’s father was a nutcase that had his two sons, Frank and Burt (step-son) help kill his wife, their mother (Jacqueline), when they were kids (Burt’s role in this was never proven and no charges were ever brought against him). Frank’s father’s name was not Eli, rather Harvey, but many of the characteristics that Frank gave to Eli in his novel were almost exactly the same as those of Harvey. Harvey, to those that were still alive and remembered him (he had simply “disappeared” many years ago and was presumed dead) said that he was a “strange one” — a jovial prankster at times, angry and aggressive at others. Harvey had apparently gone through several periods of killing sprees, mostly children, and this usually included some gross mutilation for “trophies”. Obviously, he was never caught during his life time and the evidence wasn’t clearly linked until Frank came along. The infamous cave where a lot of the evidence was finally found had been worked on by Harvey and maybe even Harvey’s father as well as Frank over many years and lined with remains — (someone should tell the reporters it had been a cave and wasn’t built from scratch out of bones as they’ve been saying).
Whether it was from his genetics or from a tortured and sick childhood, Frank at some point took over where his father left off in the family business of (primarily) child killings. The complete story, you now already know — but the moments of insight, the trip to the church and the pleading for God’s help, even asking me to bring the police into the situation and having Burt provide a map — were, according to the consultant shrink, Frank’s “conflicted attempts at dealing with collected guilt — which eventually fractured his psyche in two — one part that committed the terrible crimes and the other part that became the hero to rescue his wife (and mother) and punish the murderer (ultimately himself through suicide).”
As a final note, I would like to say to the reader that the irony of getting rich on the back of a notorious and sick child killer is not lost on me, and although I understand that a lot of people are upset about this — They should understand I just happened to be at the right place at the right time (so to speak).
I also understand that the fact that Frank’s dream of becoming a successful novelist and writing a bestseller – now that it’s happened — is really disturbing to some. Even though he accomplished his life’s goal after his death — it makes a lot of people angry. Unfortunately for them (but not for fans of this book) — it looks like there’s more to come.
By now you’ve probably heard the rumors that because of the success of this one, there’s talk of a second book about Frank in the works — a prequel or sequel or spin-off — it hasn’t been figured out yet.
What I do know is this — I’ve been asked to write it and it’ll again be written just like the first one was —
Which means I’ll have to see life just like Frank did — and imitate the writing and do it from Frank’s twisted point-of-view — which means it’s just like in Frank’s story — as creepy as it is —
He gets to keep on speaking to us — even from beyond the grave.
F.P.
After Death Page 31
