The Killing King of Gratis

The Killing King of Gratis Read Free Page B

Book: The Killing King of Gratis Read Free
Author: Jay Jackson
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hysterical and he had a hard time making out a word she said. He heard the words “Peck” and “Meg” and “damn swamp” through her crying.
    Anna wasn’t one to get upset and it unnerved Delroy as he jumped into his old, pre-soccer mom, Suburban to go to her house. He had no idea whether the children had gotten into more trouble or had gotten hurt going off in that boat. Either way he knew he was in the middle of
it
.
It
, whatever it was, sounded worse than usual.
    When he pulled into the drive, Anna was outside with Meg beside her. They were crying and calling for Peck.
    “Anna, what’s going on?”
    “I don’t know,” she croaked, and kept yelling for her son.
    Delroy turned to his neice. “Meg, tell me what’s going on, now.”
    Meg looked up at her uncle, took his hand, and led him to the back of the house. Once there she pointed at an empty bird bath. On top of it was a package wrapped in a rag.
    “There,” she said, “it’s in there.”
    This was something new to Delroy. Not the package on top of the birdbath so much as the fear in Meg’s eyes. She was not a fearful child. Delroy realized he was watching her get hit, really hit, by life for the first time. His own fear amped up, he asked again, “What’s going on? What is that?”
    “It’s in there,” was all Meg could say. He decided not to ask again.
    Delroy hated this. He blustered or consoled people on a daily basis about the horrors affecting their lives. If a parent was dying, Delroy made sure their children got the details of the funeral ready. If a child was looking at jail time, he sat with the parents and told them what they needed to hear. He let them know they weren’t alone.
    The thing about giving counsel was that Delroy could erect a wall between himself and his clients. He watched from the outside looking in, an invisible screen shielding him from caring too much. This was different. This was family. He knew them too well and loved them too much.
    When Anna or the children went on long trips he worried about them until they arrived. He had to fight off daydream terrors about the pain they would experience before they died in some violent car wreck. The first time Peck went to a sleepover was even worse. Delroy imagined he was being invited over so some of the crueler boys could hurt him in some way. His mania was such that he drove over to the boy’s house that night.
    He walked around the house, making sure there were no strange noises or cries coming from inside. As he was leaving the porch light came on and he jumped into bushes at the back of the house. Looking up he saw the mother come out and look around. She was in curlers and had a frumpy look Delroy approved of.
This woman doesn’t look like a child hurter.
Comforted, Delroy crept out of the bushes and went home after she went inside.
I might be a ridiculous but at least everything’s okay.
    Still, he feared the mundane turning horrific. He imagined holes opening up everywhere and the children falling into them. His hole opened up that day he went home and found his wife cheating. That hole came from nowhere. It almost killed him when he wasn’t looking.
    He walked up to the rag Meg showed him. It looked newly greased, like someone used it to change their oil.
But that’s not oil.
It was heavy and soaked reddish black. He opened it, slowly pulling the ends back until he saw what Meg was crying about.
    There, sitting ragged and bruised, was an ear. It looked as if it had been torn from the head of its former owner, not sliced. Long, thick pieces of skin were still attached to it. In the lobe was a single earring set with three green stones.
    Emeralds
. That was all he could think until he realized it must have been a woman’s ear, an earring this nice. His next thought almost made him sick.
Someone is tearing off women’s ears in Gratis.
Quickly he closed the rag and again said to Meg, this time louder, “where is Peck, tell me now.”
    “After we got home he

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