“Oh come on, Joey,” Iago cajoled, “Hero can come too.  I thought you said you wanted to be a detective when you grow up?  Detectives like to find things don’t they? To go on adventures??  Well, trust me, Joey…this will be a big adventure.  And we’ll be back before Frank even knows we’ve gone!”

Feeling his resolve waver, the blond child couldn’t help but grin – he did like the idea of an adventure….

Iago drove for what seemed a very long time until he pulled in through heavy black gates. Joey watched in awe as they drove past a big old house and further into a wooded area. The pavement became gravel and the car shook slightly now.

“I love off-roading!” the nine-year-old smiled as he scratched behind one of Hero’s ears, just the way the big dog liked it. Hero looked up at him adoringly as he turned his head into the scratch.

“Oh…wait until you see my secret place, you’re going to love that even more,” Frank’s coach assured him.

Joey looked back out the window in anticipation until the car finally stopped somewhere deep inside the property. Looking through the front windshield, the child saw a run down old shed and asked the coach, “Is this it?”

“Yup”, said Iago, undoing his seatbelt, “Come on.”

As he got out of the car, the child noticed another car there. “Is that your car too?” he asked.

“No,” Iago said, coming around and waiting for the large dog to get out of the seat before closing the door behind them, “it belongs to a friend of mine.”

The child frowned – a stranger? He suddenly didn’t feel so good about this at all.

As if sensing the change in the boy, the coach added, “He’s a really nice man.  And he loves dogs!”

“Oh, that’s good.”  Joey wasn’t so convinced, though.  However, he did let Iago put a hand on his shoulder and start to guide him towards the shed. Hero padded placidly beside him.

When they got close to the door, the coach stopped and looked down at the boy.  “I think it might be better if your dog stays outside – there isn’t much room in there and I want to show you something very special.”

Joey hesitated and the man persisted, “You can tie him to that tree. He’ll be okay – I promise!”  Joey did as he was told and then followed the man inside the shed.

He saw two other men, although he couldn’t really see the second man very well, as the first man was mostly blocking his view. Instinctively the boy tried to back away but his retreat was stopped. He recognized the first man as Mr. Smuff – he worked with Daddy sometimes.  Joey had always thought he was kind of funny but Mr. Smuff didn’t look too funny right now…in fact, he looked downright scary.

Turning, he looked up at the coach.  “I want to go now,” but the man just shook his head – his face looked sad.

“I’m sorry, Joey,” he apologized, and that sent a lancet of fear through the child – what was he apologizing for?

“I – I want to go home!” the child insisted, trying to get past Iago, but the big man grabbed him.  Joey panicked – he’d been hurt by adults before – his body was shaking with an uncontrollable fear.  “No!” he screamed and tried to twist out of Iago’s grip.  “Let. Me. Go!”  But it was no use and the man easily held him, trapped against his much larger body; his arms firmly wrapped around the boy’s slight frame.

Outside the shed, Hero started barking…

“Hold him,” Mr. Smuff growled and Joey felt the coach’s grip tighten – he could hardly breathe…it was hurting him!

He still tried to twist away when Mr. Smuff caressed his cheek and whispered, “This is going to be fun…”

“NOOOO!” Joey jerked in Iago’s grip, almost getting away!

The dog was growling and barking furiously now.

“Shut it up, or else I’ll permanently shut it up,” Mr. Smuff growled, grabbing his hair and giving his head a vicious shake.

“H-hero, quiet!” Joey stammered, fighting back tears, and immediately the huge dog was quiet.

Smuff released his hair…laughed and reached out to stroke his cheek again. “Good boy,” he said, and then slapped him, hard.

Joey started to cry now – it hurt.  His chin was grabbed, roughly and he was forced to look into Mr. Smuff’s face as the bad man whispered, “My precious little lamb – have you ever seen a grown man cry?”

His body almost convulsed with fear as he managed to shake his head – no.

“No?” Mr. Smuff grinned, “Than you are in for a real treat, ‘cause not only are you about to see a grown man cry…you are about to hear him scream…”  He moved away, giving Joey his first good view of the other man – the third man – and Joey was shocked.  He had never seen anything like it. The red-haired man, his shirt removed, was tied hand and foot to the ends of a small cot in the back of the shed. The man was gagged and struggled futilely to get away.

Mr. Smuff then pulled out a large knife and approached the cot; he looked at Joey and finished, “And watch him die…”

Ripping the gag from the man’s mouth, he raised the knife – the man’s screams filled the air and the child’s own screams added to it as Mr. Smuff relentlessly sliced at the bound man – the blood, so much blood.

“Stop it!” the child screamed, “Stop it – you’re hurting him!”

“Make me stop!” Mr. Smuff challenged him, “It’s up to you, Joey! Make me stop!”

Joey tried!  He tried to get away from the powerful grip holding him. But he couldn’t and Mr. Smuff kept hurting the other man.

“Say the magic word Joey!” the man laughed, “You can stop me – but hurry up, I don’t think he’s got much blood left!’

“Please!” the child screamed, “PLEASE STOP!”

Smuff moved quickly towards the child and pressed the tip of the bloodied blade against the slender chest.  He leaned in close and whispered, “Too late.” Then he strode back to the cot and with one final, swift, movement, slit the red-haired man’s throat.

The child screamed, and screamed and screamed.

Mr. Smuff continued, frenzied, dismembering the dead man as Joey, hoarse and traumatized, just watched – too terrorized and exhausted to even scream anymore.

“Need a hand?” the man asked sadistically, holding a horrific offering. The child turned his head and sobbed.

“Guess not.”  Mr. Smuff let the hand drop to the floor then he moved swiftly back to the child, grabbed his shirt and pulled Joey’s face to within an inch of his own, “If you ever tell anyone what happened here today, I will go to your house…gut your brother like a fish and wear his skin as my coat....” He released Joey.

“Like a coat…”’ he repeated and then started to laugh.

The madman then said something to Iago and left…

The coach slowly released the traumatized child, and knelt down in front of him. Joey was in too much shock to try and run; he flinched as he felt the coach put his hands on his shoulders.

“Listen to me, Joey, and listen good,” the man said, his voice was low, “Forget what you just saw…forget that you were ever here… forget that this ever happened.”

Joey just stared at him uncomprehendingly, his mind seared with the images of the brutality he had just witnessed, and the guilt that he had not been able to stop it.

“If you don’t – my friend will kill your brother and everyone else you love.”  He stood up and started to walk the child outside. Hero was standing anxiously at the end of his tether and Joey moved towards him, but the coach stopped him.

“Leave the dog.”

The child looked at him, too badly shaken to formulate words. Coach Iago finished, “He stays with me. If you ever tell anyone about me or Oscar, I will kill him, slowly, painfully and because of you. Do you understand?”

Joey looked at his dog, his blue eyes filled with tears as they met the doleful brown ones watching him, so trustingly. Iago gave him a little shake.  “Do you understand?”

“I – I understand,” the child managed to whisper, “Don’t tell – forget everything—”

“Good boy,” the coach said, sounding relieved, “Now come on, we need to hurry, or else Frank will start to get worried…”

As the car pulled away from the shed, Joey twisted in his seat and stared out the back window, his heart breaking. “Hero”, he whispered and then started to sob, “oh my Hero…”

Hero stood, puzzled, watching him leave.

* * *

When he could no longer see his beloved friend, the child sat back down in his seat and cried broken heartedly…a part of him forever left behind in that secret place…

Don’t tell…forget everything. 

* * *

Smuff moved with a speed that no one would have ever thought possible from him; grabbing Joe’s arm and savagely twisting it behind his back as he covered the boy’s mouth with a sweaty hand.

Totally overwhelmed as his mind was flooded with the memory, Joe wasn’t able to react fast enough, not even to get a shout out for Sam! “One sound and I break it,” the murderer hissed in his ear, twisting the arm just a little bit more for emphasis.

Smuff manhandled Joe out of the kitchen and into the backyard. He whispered threateningly, “You try anything and I will shoot you and then anyone who tries to help you. You understand?”

The teen barely managed to nod, still locked in the memory and uncomprehending to what was being said. The detective prodded him towards a silver car where Damian Iago was waiting.

“Drive,” Smuff hissed at the coach as he pushed open the back door, shoved Joe inside, and then got in with him.

“Where to?” Iago asked, already starting the car and quickly pulling away from the curb.

Smuff looked at Joe and smiled.  “To our secret place…”

* * *

Come with me to my secret place…the words swirled around Joe as his heart pounded and he slowly shook his head – he couldn’t go back there. Not there and not again. He couldn’t!  “No,” he whispered, his face colorless and his body cold. Smuff’s hand on his arm felt searing hot and he was overwhelmed with such a need to get away, that it overrode all logic!

The horror of eight years ago was fresh in his mind – and so was the fear. “No!”  He tried to pull his arm away but Smuff just gripped it more tightly.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he hissed, glaring at the teenager. Joe stopped struggling and just stared directly at Oscar Smuff, his eyes wide in his stark-white face.

I will go to your house…gut your brother like a fish and wear his skin as my coat.... 

“NO!”  Suddenly Joe screamed and swung wildly with his free hand, connecting solidly with Smuff’s chin!  The detective grunted in pain and reflexively let go of the boy!

The car swerved as the teen, frantic and consumed in panic, bolted across the seat, grabbing for the door handle as Iago glanced back to see what was going on.

“Just drive!” Smuff yelled at the man as he lunged after Joe.

Driven by the adrenaline of intense fear, Joe struggled as Smuff fought to try and pin him down, pulling him back away from the door!

“NO!” Joe’s cries were muffled as he felt a crushing weight pushing him down against the backseat; savagely Smuff pulled his arm behind his back, again.

“I warned you,” he heard the man hiss, wrenching the boy’s arm beyond its physical limits!

Joe struggled, grunting in pain but there was nothing he could do, and when the arm gave a sickening crack, he cried out, stiffened and then went limp!

“What the hell was that?” Iago asked twisting back around again.

Smuff sat back rubbing his sore chin and breathing heavily from the exertion of the scuffle as he eyed the unconscious teen. “Nothing,” he looked up at his partner, his lips twisted in a feral grin, “I just give the kid a break…”

Iago swallowed hard and continued to drive – he couldn’t let this happen. Not again.