29 - Caomhnóir – Manny

 

Things took on an interesting twist early that afternoon when Manny returned to work. The boys were out of class and had just finished lunch. Mr. Shadrick glared at Manny, asking why the hell he was late.

 

"Sorry," Manny replied, not meaning it although he sounded contrite enough to keep Mr. Shadrick from chastising him further. Getting him upset would just make him that much more interested in finding out who the stranger was when Keegan appeared in a couple of hours.

 

Gathering up the boys, Manny set them to doing their afternoon chores before taking them downstairs to the gym. With Gebhard still off on leave, it was Manny's job to make certain they got their exercise. Today it was a basketball game, three on three with one sitting out.

 

Jakie ended up being that one for the first half of the game. As he sat beside Manny on the bench, he fidgeted until Manny asked if there was something wrong. Jakie looked around as if making certain no one was listening, and then he said, "I swear Mr. Wyndham is around here, which ain't possible."

 

"No it's not because there's no such thing as ghosts, but why do you think he is?"

 

"It's really weird. I've heard his voice. Twice. And I saw the back of some dude that sure looked like him leaving by the alley door. Creeped me out big time."

 

Instead of pooh-poohing the idea, Manny asked him, "When did this happen?"

 

"Last night and the night before. First time I just figured it was my imagination. Then last night it happened again and I decided I'd better figure out if I was crazy or not. So I snuck out of bed and upstairs to the fourth floor. And yeah, I heard it again from his place. Well, Mr. Shadrick's place now. Then the door up there opened and I split, but not back to my room."

 

"You decided to keep playing detective," Manny said with a small smile.

 

"Yeah. So? Anyways I went down to the ground floor. Figured whoever it was would have to leave by the front door or the alley. I hid, and it was real quiet. Then I heard like tiptoe footsteps and the alley door open. Honest, Manny, I'm sure it was him, but how could it be? You saw him die."

 

Manny stopped himself from saying that he had. Instead, he told Jakie, "I saw the cabin on fire. I was sure they didn't get out. And the cops said there were two bodies in there."

 

"Oh, oh, so like maybe he got away and the other body was—was some tramp or something but he doesn't want anyone to know he's alive except maybe Mr. Shadrick. Cool. So what are we going to do about it?"

 

Rolling his eyes, Manny said sternly, "You're not going to do anything. You don't tell anyone else what you saw and heard, and that means anyone."

 

"What about you?"

 

"I'll have to decide what to do about this. But you have to promise—"

 

"Yeah, I know, keep my mouth shut. You got it."

 

"Jakie," one of the boys called from the middle of the gym floor, "get your ass out here. You're in, Sandy's out for now."

 

Manny chuckled as Jakie shot to his feet and raced away.   

 

Well. Manny leaned back to keep an eye on the game. Nice to know that Cerdic's still hanging around. This could make things a bit easier, or at least move them along faster.