Free Wild Thing: A Novel by Josh Bazell Page B

heard there’s a monster. I’ve never heard it was called William. Or that it killed people.”
    Which means they
have
to be fucking with her. If there had been deaths at White Lake, Reggie Trager’s letter would have mentioned them, as advertising.
    She pushes her empty beer bottle toward the bartender. “Second off, I need another one of these.”
    “If you’re opening the fridge anyway,” the guy on the stool says.
    “You people are so full of shit,” Violet says.
    “Well,” the bartender says, digging through the refrigerator, “yes and no.”

    Len unrolls a T-shirt on top of the bar. Len is the bartender. The guy on the stool is Brian. They all traded names before Len went back to the storeroom for the shirt.
    It has a cartoon of a lake monster on it. Kind of an apatosaurus-plesiosaur mix, but with a smile and one raised eyebrow. Text underneath the creature says “Ford, Minnesota.” A speech bubble next to its head says
“I’m a BILLiever!”
    “You can keep it,” Len says. “I’ve got tons of these pieces of shit. I should use
them
for coasters. Just don’t wear it around Ford or you’ll start a riot.”
    “Why?”
    “People around here think that somehow agreeing to do the hoax caused all those people to die.”
    “What do you mean, ‘all those people’?”
    There’s a pause. “There were, uh, two other people who died too,” Brian O’ the Stool says.
    “At White Lake?”
    “Oh, no,” Len says. Like
that’s
ridiculous. “Chris Jr. and Father Podominick got shot. Around here.”
    “So what does that have to do with it?
I
almost got shot around here today. Ford’s a dangerous place, Mr. Mayor.”
    “I’ll relay your concerns to my chief of police.”
    “Seriously: what does that have to do with White Lake?”
    Brian says “The two guys who got shot—Chris Jr. and Father Podominick—were kind of the ones who had the idea for the hoax in the first place. And they got shot only five days after the kids died.”
    Violet says “A
priest
had the idea for the hoax?”
    Maybe there
is
a reason Reggie Trager chose to not get into this squalid shit. Four dead bodies, and anything at all having to do with a priest, and it starts to get creepy.
    “Also, Chris Jr. was Autumn Semmel’s father.”
    “Wait. What?”
    Violet’s a bit drunk. That’s the joke about Violet Hurst: she’s a lightweight. Partly because of the antidepressants, which even if they don’t do shit else for her are worth it for that reason. She suspects, though, that right now she’d be confused even if she were sober.
    Brian says “Autumn and Benjy died, and right after that Father Podominick and Autumn’s father got shot. So it did kind of seem like there might be a connection.”
    “Yeah. I can see why it would.”
    “You have to understand, though,” Len says, “the whole thing started out as a
joke
. I mean, look at the T-shirt.” He’s got a beer in his hand where the glass of Diet Coke used to be. Violet didn’t see the change.
    “But the two guys who got shot,” she says. “If Debbie thoughtthey were responsible for the hoax, and that her son somehow died because of the hoax, then why doesn’t everyone just assume Debbie shot them? Or had her Boys do it?”
    Brian taps the side of his nose. Len, seeing it, says “Hey—come on. That’s just hearsay.”
    “Doesn’t mean it isn’t true,” Brian says.
    “Doesn’t mean it is.”
    “Is it?” Violet says.
    Len doesn’t answer.
    Brian says “Don’t ask me. I’ve been shamed into silence.”
    “I don’t think it is,” Len says finally. “She definitely didn’t have the Boys do it. She didn’t have them yet when it happened. And it’s kind of hard for me, at least, to picture Debbie doing something like that by herself. Plus, the person she
really
blames for the hoax is Reggie Trager. And as far as I know she’s never tried to kill
him
.”
    “Why Reggie Trager?”
    “Who knows? I’m sure he was involved—the whole
town
was