Chapter Six
“Ryan was always the odd one out.” Gareth Lock started. “His family was poor and he always wore hand me downs, we used to call him names, rough him up you know, things kids do.”
“It was April Fools and Jay wanted to plan a practical joke on Ryan.” Lock trailed off and rubbed his palms against the fabric of his tailored trousers nervously. “We got Patti to…”
“Patti Lavelle?” Star interrupted.
“Yes, she was my girlfriend at the time.”
Star flashed Sam a raise of eyebrows. “Go on.” Sam commanded trying to ignore his sister.
“Ryan had a big crush on her, everyone knew it. Jay got Patti to invite him out to Silver Lake. Told him we’d had a fight and she needed to talk. The rest of us hid behind some bushes near the lake and Jay took his camcorder, which he’d borrowed from his father.” Gareth took a deep breath. “I swear I didn’t know what she was going to do, I would have…” He trailed off and his cheeks flushed with guilt.
“What happened?” Star prodded as the sun began its descent.
“Patti…came on to him. They kissed then she…undid his trousers.” Sam looked at Star whose eyes shut briefly. There was no worse humiliation for a teenage boy. “Ryan had problems…he couldn’t…”
“Perform?” Star snapped coldly, and Lock seemed to deflate.
“Jay couldn’t muffle his laughter...I still remember the look on Ryan’s face when he saw us, it still haunts me to this day.”
“Did you kill Ryan Small?” Sam asked quietly.
Lock visibly shook. “We didn’t mean too, I mean it was just supposed to be a joke, but Ryan got so angry. He swung for Jay who ducked. Ryan stumbled and hit his head on the pier, he fell into the water, it all happened so fast…” Gareth stared out the window.
“I watched his body sink into the dark water… I couldn’t move.”
“Did you even try to get help?” Star asked him and he nodded.
“We ran to the sheriff who is now mayor. They searched for him for two days but found nothing. They put it down to an accident.”
“They did or you did?” Sam threw at him.
“Jay persuaded us to say that he simply tripped and fell, which wasn’t far from the truth.”
“You knew he killed Jay, didn’t you?” Star said and he nodded.
“Jay had been having these dreams lately, told me he was seeing Ryan everywhere he went…”
“Have you?” Sam asked.
“Yes. But I thought nothing of it, that night often haunts me but this is different, Ryan seems so real…”
Star abruptly walked out the room and Sam followed. “Why now?”
“What?”
“This happened thirty six years ago Sam, why has Ryan waited all this time to seek revenge on his tormentors?”
“It’s Sliver Lake’s turn to hold the local swimming competition.” Lock’s wife said walking into the hallway. “The mayor had it dredged for glass and such, didn’t want any bad press.”
“And in doing so…”
“Disturbed Ryan’s watery grave.” Star finished her brother’s sentence.
“Please, help my son. He’s innocent in all this.” Star grasped her hand.
“Ryan’s hurting your son to get to Gareth, killing your husband isn’t enough. Ryan wants him to suffer.”
“Question is, how do we stop him?”