Unspeakable Things(68)

I didn’t recognize any of the people. Their signs were angry, scary.

FREE GABRIEL. GOD HATES SINNERS.

They were pacing in front of Mr. Connelly’s home, back and forth, back and forth, six of them, all of them older. Watching them hate on someone they didn’t even know made me angry. I took off toward Van der Queen Park, flicking the bird at the picketers.

I found Evie swinging, same place I’d seen her last time I biked past. I jerked my handlebars so I could jump the curb, pedaling through the grass to reach the playground equipment.

“Hey, Evie,” I called so I wouldn’t surprise her.

She turned, her face calm, like she’d been expecting me. “Hey.”

I swung a leg over my seat so I balanced on one side while I coasted toward her. When I reached her, I dropped my bike into the pea rock and fell into the swing next to her. “You heard about Gabriel?” I asked.

Evie spread her hands to indicate the park, her fox nose and sharp little teeth glinting in the sun. “Everyone has.”

“They know who’s hurting the boys?” A quiver had snuck into my voice.

Evie launched her legs in front of her to begin swinging again. “Not who, but they do know where. All the boys got attacked near the swimming hole at the creek. The police asked around and found that a black car has been there a lot, but then they found out that so has a blue car and a green car and a silver car. The boys don’t know anything except they think it’s Mr. Connelly.”

Acid burned the back of my throat. “Did he confess?”

She shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“I don’t think he did it.” I started to pump my legs to get my swing to move, my voice tentative. “I have an idea of who might have.”

Evie didn’t seem impressed. She pumped harder. Her words caught up to me when our swings passed. “Then you should go to the police.”

I thought of Bauer, his words slurred. Even if you told anyone, they wouldn’t believe you, not since you stole that Cawl girl’s lipstick. No one trusts a thief. “They won’t care.”

Evie was swinging so high she looked like she could taste the sun. At her peak, she was nearly level with the top of the slide. “Then you’ll have to do it on your own,” she called out. “That’s how it is with anything important.”

She leaped off the swing, soaring with her back arched. She hit the ground like a cat and walked toward a blue duffel bag near where she’d landed.

“What do you have in there?”

“Dolls,” she said. “Want to play?”

I stopped pumping so I could see better.

“I’m too old to play with dolls,” I said.

“If you say so.” Evie pulled out a Cabbage Patch doll, a Raggedy Ann and Andy, and four Barbie doll knockoffs that had seen better days. Then she tugged out a plastic carrying case and snapped it open to reveal all sorts of tiny outfits, including go-go boots and heels.

I flew off my own swing and stepped closer.

I dropped to the ground next to her. “Can I dress up the one with brown hair?”

“Sure.” She handed her over.

We played with those dolls for over an hour. It seemed like a baby thing to do, but I couldn’t get enough of it.

“Does your mom let you play out here all day?” I asked.

Evie pointed toward a tan-colored house in the middle of a street of ramblers hugging the park. “She watches from the window.”

I couldn’t believe I’d ever thought Evie was fox-faced. Sure, she had a pointy nose and sharp little teeth, but there were worse things.

“Hey,” I said, digging into my backpack. I found the invitation I’d made for Frank and yanked it out of its envelope so it didn’t have another kid’s name on it. I handed it to Evie. “I’m having a birthday party. Do you want to come?”

Evie glanced at the invitation. “Thanks, but no.”

She didn’t use any excuses, just said it simple and straight, handing my humiliation right back to me, thanks but no thanks. It took me a minute to figure out what to do with that. I finally swallowed it. “Well, if you change your mind, it’s noon tomorrow at the Lake Corona Community Park.” I didn’t know if that was true, if we’d still get to have parties now that the army was here and Gabriel was gone. “There’ll be lunch and cake and swimming.”

“Thanks,” she said again. She wasn’t going to come.

“I better be going.”

“Okay,” Evie said. She didn’t look up from her playing.

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and hopped back on my bike. I didn’t realize I was returning to Connelly’s house until I was in front of it. The picketers had left. I biked right up to his door and knocked. I had no plans what to say because I figured he wasn’t home. I almost fell off my seat when he answered.

“Mr. Connelly!”

He looked like he hadn’t eaten, slept, or shaved since Frank and I had visited.

He stared at me like he didn’t recognize me, then looked over my shoulder, right and left. “You shouldn’t be here.”

His vacant gaze scared me. I lost my nerve to tell him about Bauer, at least right away. I’d need to work up to it. “I wanted to let you know how my popcorn sales are going.”