Page 47 of Innocence

“Were you able to see who wrote what?” asked Ian.

“Some, but we tried very hard to not do that. We asked them to put their initials next to theirs. Some wrote it clearly, others not so much,” said Noah.

“Well, let’s get it home.”

“That is a lot of crazy,” said Gabe, staring at the long lists. The white butcher paper was wrapped around three walls with dozens of phobias and fears. “How do these kids even function with all of this weighing on them?”

“I’m not sure,” said Rachelle, staring at the information. “I remember after the attack that I was afraid of a lot of things, but they were reasonable considering what I’d been through. I was afraid of the dark, afraid of strange men, afraid of being alone. Some of this – some of this is truly odd.”

“What are you seeing, Rach?” asked Mary.

“Like this one. Fear of cacti. Or this one. Fear of cold water. What worries me the most is that these kids need serious help. I just don’t know what to make out of any of it.”

“Well, someone on this scroll was the voice behind the acts with those two young men. They killed Tracy, and they killed Gifford. Maybe more than that,” said Mary.

“Can you imagine if this person has been doing this a while?” said Ivan. Mary turned to stare at her friend, cocking her head sideways. “What? What did I say?”

“They’ve been doing it for a while. We know there were a few murders that could potentially be linked to this, but we weren’t certain.”

“Right,” said Ian. “How does this connect?”

“School. These are young people who are in school. If we can find a connection to the university, a club, a fraternity, sorority, anything, then we might be able to trace it back to this person. Find a university that offers a similar psych study program. If we find that, we might have our connection.”

“I’ll get on it,” said Sly.

“We can’t do anything right now. Let this go for tonight, and we can just enjoy dinner. Maybe by the morning, we’ll have more clues and a clearer head,” said Mary.

Deciding to enjoy the evening on their own island, Mama Irene and Ruby used their small cafeteria to cook dinner for everyone. Red beans and rice, jalapeno cornbread, boudin, and, just to make the medical team happy, a beautiful fall salad with pears and walnuts.

“Mama, this was some of the best you’ve ever made,” said Gaspar, taking the last bite of food.

“Thank you,” she smiled. “For some reason, tonight I wasn’t feeling rushed.”

“How are our new furry friends getting along?” he smirked at his mother.

“Oh, they’re gettin’ on well enough. They like Buddy and Bob well enough.” Gaspar stopped midchew and stared at his mother.

“Buddy and Bob? They were temporary, Mama. They were supposed to be here until a bison ranch could take them. I thought they were long gone.”

“Well, now, we couldn’t turn them out. They were gonna be made into steaks and burgers. That’s just not right.”

“Mama, we’re eating meat as we speak.”

“That’s different. I didn’t name that meat,” she smirked.

“Let me get this straight. We now have six bison. Three males and three females. Am I counting correctly? Did I miss one?”

“No, no, I believe you got it right,” she smiled. “Who wants coconut cake?”

“Oh, oh! Me!” said Tailor.

“Me first! I’m your baby,” said Alec.

“You’re all my babies.”

“Mama, we’re not done with this conversation. I agreed on the four new ones because I thought the two old ones were gone. You lied to me.”

“Gaspar, I did no such thing! Not tellin’ you somethin’ ain’t the same as lyin’.” All of her children looked up at her with a questioning gaze. How many times did she tell them that withholding information was the same as lying?

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