Page 5 of Innocence

“You saw?” repeated Vince. “I need you to tell us what you saw.”

“We just finished practice,” said Warren. “Sterling always leaves all the lights on until we’re headed home. It gets dark fast right now.” The men all smiled at them, nodding.

“That’s very nice of him. So, you left the ballpark?” asked Ghost.

“Sort of. We started to and then Edith forgot to ask him a question and wanted to go back. The big lights were turned off, but Sterling leaves the ones behind home plate on the longest. They go off at a certain time.” Again, they all nodded.

“There was a lady coming out of the woods behind the park. She only had on her bra, and she was all bloody like she’d been in a fight,” blushed Warren. “She was covered in blood.”

Now, the men were leaning forward, listening intently.

“Sterling turned around and saw her, and he was holding up his hands. She looked drunk. She was stumbling, and he caught her. We saw him pull out his phone, and we started to walk back to them to see if we could help. We’re little, but we’re strong.”

“He called 911,” said Edith. “Just like we’re taught to. Warren got scared when he saw two men in black coming toward them, so we backed up.”

“Two men in black?” asked Code.

“Uh-huh. One of them hit Sterling in the head with a baseball bat. Then they dragged the lady away.”

“Where did they drag her to?” asked Ghost.

“Nowhere. They dragged her away, then back toward Sterling. Her blood was all over him. They moved her arms around and her legs. Then they heard the police coming, and the men ran.”

“Did you tell anyone?” asked Nine.

“I tried to tell my sister, but she had a friend over, and Mom and Dad were gone. I was gonna stay up, but I fell asleep.”

“My mom made me bathe and go to bed,” said Edith. “She said I was making up stories.”

“Same,” said Warren. “They thought we were telling tales.”

“Have you talked to the police?” asked Ghost.

“Yes, sir. They came and talked to all three of us, but they said we were just kids and trying to protect our coach. We might be kids, but we’re not blind. Sterling didn’t hurt that lady.”

“I’ve got the police report,” said Code, turning to face them all. “He’s in custody at Charity Hospital under police watch. Her blood was all over him, his DNA on her.”

“On her, not,” Ian hesitated, not wanting to say the words ‘in her.’

“Right,” said Code, understanding his hesitancy. “On her only.”

“What sort of rigged bullsh-, uh, bologna is this?” asked Tailor.

“We asked our dads to help,” said Harry, “but they said the law would take care of it. It’s been three days, and he’s still in the hospital. It’s not fair.”

“You’re right, Harry. It’s not fair, and we don’t like it when things aren’t fair,” said Ian.

“So, you’ll help us? Our money is enough?” asked Edith.

“It’s more than enough. In fact,” said Ghost, opening the bag, “this will only cost you five dollars.”

“Five dollars! That’s not right. I’m a kid, and even I know you cost more than that,” said Harry with suspicion.

“You know what, Harry, you’re right,” said Ghost. “I didn’t mean to offend you. This is the kind of case we like to take. People who are wrongly accused of something. We know they didn’t do it, but, for some reason, someone is trying to make it look like they did do it.”

“I knew you’d help,” said Edith, smiling at the men. She had a big gap in the front of her smile, having lost a tooth somewhere along the way. She stood from her seat, not much bigger than before and looked at her friends.

“Where do you kids live? How did you get here?” asked Rafe.

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