Easy Innocence Read Online Free PDF Page B

this lady is going to try and help you. Her name is Georgia. Just like the state. You remember the states, don’t you?”
    “Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland...”
    “That’s good, sweetie. Very good.”
    Cam’s expression didn’t change, but his rocking slowed.
    Ruth looked at Georgia. “Sometimes when he’s relaxed—and in his own environment, he’ll answer questions. And, once in a while, I catch him smiling. But here...” Her voice trailed off.
    “He lives with you?”
    She nodded. “In the basement. It’s finished, of course. Nice carpet, paneling on the walls. Soft lights. Quiet. He likes it there. It’s a big room, and he has his own bathroom. With a shower.” She emphasized the last fact like she was proud of it.
    “What does he do all day?”
    “When he’s home, he plays games. Board games for kids. You know, like Candyland, Chutes and Ladders . Connect Four . He loves them.”
    “By himself?”
    “Sometimes I play. He watches TV, too. And he’s trying to learn how to ride a bike. But most of the time, he takes walks.”
    “Alone?”
    “Sometimes. He has a route he usually follows.”
    “Through the Forest Preserve?”
    She hesitated. “Yes.”
    “What about your parents?”
    “They’re both gone. My father died about eight years ago. Mother went a year later.”
    “Run, hide.” Cam piped up. “Papa has the belt.”
    Georgia and Ruth exchanged looks. “My father refused to—well, he never really accepted Cam. He thought he could work it out of him—make him better.”
    “He beat him.”
    “And the beat goes on,” Cam chanted softly off-key. His voice was thin, sing-song, as high-pitched as a girl’s.
    “He uses songs to communicate sometimes,” Ruth explained.
    Georgia wondered if there was some way to use that.
    “Our father was—a strict disciplinarian. He was a born-again Christian.” Ruth looked at her hands, but Georgia heard the disdain. “I’m Catholic.”
    No wonder the kid was crazy. A religious nut for a father who tried to beat Cam’s mental illness out of him. Too bad it wasn’t the kind of thing that would sway a jury. Aloud she said, “I know Cam is a registered sex offender. How did that happen?”
    Cam’s rocking sped up again.
    Ruth shrank into her chair. “It was about six years ago. He was... I already told you. He liked to take walks in the Forest Preserve. I went with him sometimes, you know? And he was fine. We’d just walk along the path, pick up rocks, things like that. But one day—I wasn’t with him—we got a call from the police. He’d been well, masturbating behind a tree, and this couple saw him. A man and a woman. They were jogging. When they told him to fuck off, he didn’t do anything. Or go anywhere. Just finished what he was doing. The woman thought that was ‘aggressive.’”
    “Because he didn’t stop or run away.”
    “It’s my fault.” A tortured look came over Ruth. “See, the thing is I knew about his... habit. I’ve known for years. But I never did anything about it. Even if I wanted to, what could I do? Despite everything, Cam is a man, with a man’s hormones... and proclivities. If he wasn’t hurting anyone, what was the harm? I doubt he understands what he’s doing. Or why. And I’m sure he doesn’t know it’s wrong.”
    Any more than the monkey in the zoo, Georgia thought.
    “But I know—I just know—he’d never hurt anyone. He’s just not capable of it. This business with the baseball bat...” Ruth’s eyes sparked anger. “Look at him. He hasn’t swung a bat since he was six. I’m sure he doesn’t know how.”
    Georgia looked over at the waifish man, rocking back and forth, lost in his own world. He looked incapable of withstanding the slightest blow. But how did his sister know he didn’t have another side? A dark, murderous side? What if he’d been in some kind of fugue state, driven by an unknown urge or rage? Could he have summoned up enough strength