Chapter 5 A Gruesome Discovery

jerome, unable to concentrate on his work, meanderingly shuffles through the paperwork on his desk. There's a knock at his office door.

丨,Come in."

The door opens slightly, and his secretary leans in. "Mr. Lazinski."

"Yes, Joyce?"

"Mrs. Lazinski's here to see you. She and your daughter are in the reception area; would you like me to bring them in?"

"Yes, please, Joyce; show them in."

"Yes sir."

When Joyce returns, only Emma is with her.

jerome goes over to Emma, kisses her cheek.

"Where's Anna? Joyce said she was with you? Is everything okay?"

"I told Anna to wait out there. The girls at the desk said it was alright. I need to talk to you, jerome...And no; everything's not alright."

"What's wrong?" jerome holds her hands "Did something happen at the house?"

"No. Maybe. I don't know. We weren't home today."

"Good," jerome says with relief in his voice. "So what's wrong?"

Emma explains, "I went out to try to find out about the house."

•'Any luck?"

"If you want to call it that." Emma voice softens. "I met this waitress, Delilah, at the

diner; and I tried to see if she knew anything about our house...which I think she does, but wouldn't say...not yet anyway. I'll have to try talking some more with her another time. What she did do was write me a clue on a napkin."

"A clue on a napkin?"

"Yes. It said Woodland Falls."

"Woodland Falls? What's that mean? I don't get it."

"I didn't either; at first. But, then I got to thinking; it kind of sounded like a name of a place."

"Yeah; it does."

"It is."

"So; what does it have to do with our house?"

"jerome; remember the other morning when you said you didn't even know if

"Yeah"

"jerome; it isn't."

"It's not?"

"Nope. Let me show you."

Emma pulls out an old road map from her purse and opens it. jerome looks at her, smiling. Emma smiles back.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing." He playfully teases, "You always keep a road map in your purse?"

"If you must know; I picked it up at the library after finding out what Delilah meant by Woodland Falls, Smarty Pants! Anyway...look here." Emma starts to point at an area on the map, "Beaver Ridge should be about here on the map; right?"

"I suppose."

"Read that." She points to the name on the map.

jerome looks down at the map. "Woodland Falls?"

"Woodland Falls. That's what the town was called before they changed the name to Beaver Ridge."

"So; why the name change?"

"Ah; that's the question. Or at least, it was the question. I looked up Woodland Falls in the library's periodical section. jerome, you're not going to believe this."

"Emma, at this point, I'm open to anything being possible. What is it?"

"jerome; from 1947 until 1961, there was a serial killer in Woodland Falls. Whoever it was managed to slaughter thirty-two families over those years; then one day, the killings just stopped."

jerome's complexion turns pale. After a

brief absorption of Emma's discovery, jerome finally responds, "So; then I guess you were right, Emma."

"About what?"

"This town does have a deep, dark secret they weren't telling us. Crazy, huh?"

"There's more, jerome." Emma takes a deep breath, looks up to the ceiling and then back at jerome.

"Why do I get the feeling I should sit down for this?"

Emma's momentarily silent; then, takes a breath and tells him...

"The last recorded killing was September 18th, 1961. jerome, that murder took place in our house. It was a family of three; a father, a mother and their daughter - Mary ElizaEmma Howell."

2 AM arrives, and Emma can't stand thinking to herself anymore. It's time to break the

silence.

"There's got to be more to it?"

"More to what?"

"It still doesn't make sense."

jerome rolls on his side to face Emma. "What doesn't make sense?"

Emma rolls on her side now to face jerome. "The price we paid for this house."

"Christ, Emma; with all you found out today, you're still hung up on the price?"

"jerome, those killings stopped in 1961. They kept the killings quiet all this time; so why sell this house so low?"