Evidence of Guilt Read Online Free PDF Page A

you scream?"
    "It wasn't a scream." The boy snapped his chewing gum. "And I was startled, not scared."
    Seemed like pretty much the same thing to me, but I wasn't about to argue.
    He dug his hands into his pockets and scowled at me over a freckled nose, then blew a bubble until it popped. "There was a lady and a little girl died here a couple of weeks ago," he announced. "Murdered."
    I nodded. "Did you know them?"
    He ignored my question. "My brother's the one who found them."
    "Really?" I'd remembered reading that the bodies had been discovered by a boy who lived in the neighborhood. I knew I'd want to talk to him eventually. "Does your brother have a name?"
    The boy gave me a disgusted look. "Of course he does." The gum-chewing accelerated.
    "What is it?" I asked when it became clear he wasn't about to volunteer the information.
    "Emmett, But everyone calls him Bongo. He's thirteen. I'm eight and three-quarters. My name's Kevin."
    "Hi. I'm Kali. You live around here?"
    Kevin gestured with his head. "Over on Ferndale, but it's close if you come by way of the creek. My brother and his friends like to hang out over here, even though they're not supposed to. My mom gets real mad about tilings like that."
    Good for her, I thought.
    "They do it so they can smoke and stuff. You know, and not get caught My mom would really get mad about that."
    "What do you mean, 'and stuff?" I asked, remembering certain less-than-sterling moments of my own youth. "Drinking? Drugs?"
    "Magazines mostly," Kevin said.
    "Magazines?"
    He drew his shoulders up to his ears, blew a bubble of pink gum, and looked at the ground. "You know, with pictures."
    I shook my head.
    "Naked women."
    "Ah, those. What about you--do you hang out here, too?"
    "Nah, not usually. It's kinda boring."
    "But you're here today."
    He twisted his shoulders in a sort of elliptical shrug. "Bongo says the place is haunted, but I don't believe it. I came to see for myself. Bongo swore to it on Mom's Bible. Says he's heard that woman and her little girl crying and shrieking like they was being torn apart."
    "Sounds like Bongo's got an active imagination."
    "He says the ghosts will come after you, even if you didn't do anything wrong." Kevin lifted his chin. "I don't believe in ghosts," he said, sounding as though he meant just the opposite.
    "I don't either," I told him.
    He looked relieved.
    "Was there anyone else who hung out around here, besides your brother and his friends?"
    Kevin shook his head. "No one except Granger."
    "Who's Granger?"
    "You know, Granger. He plays the harmonica."
    I did not know Granger, or anyone in Silver Creek for that matter, who played the harmonica.
    Kevin must have figured that much from my expression because he crossed his arms and explained further. "Granger lives in the woods. At least during the summer.
    Some nights he slept in the barn, but that was okay by Mrs. Cornell. She hired him to do work sometimes, and she didn't mind about the barn. She hardly ever used it herself. I think she was afraid of the spiders."
    "Sounds like you knew Mrs. Cornell pretty well."
    Kevin shrugged. "It's just some days she was out working in the yard or something when I'd ride by on my bike. She usually had some cookies for her little girl and she'd give me some."
    "And this Granger would help her?"
    Just sometimes, like when he dug those holes for the rose bushes. She gave him cookies too."
    "Any idea where I can find him?"
    Kevin raised his shoulders in a small shrug. "He just kind of shows up on his own." Another pink bubble, then a pop. "If I see him, you want me to tell him you're looking for him?"
    "No, that's okay." I didn't know Granger, but I thought I knew the type. Nothing would make him disappear faster than finding out someone wanted to talk to him.
    "Are you a cop?" Kevin asked after a moment.
    I shook my head.
    "Another real estate lady?"
    "Another?"
    There was one up here the other day."
    "How'd you know she was in real estate?"
    He shrugged again.