Vince knew he had to be very careful when talking to Susan Reinert. Once, he’d tried to help by quietly informing her that to think of Bill Bradfield in romantic terms was futile because, confidentially, Bill Bradfield lived with Sue Myers.
Vince got verbally slammed by the former wrestler for that one. Bill Bradfield told him he had a big mouth and he was giving Susan Reinert information about his private life that was none of her business, and any information would only encourage “that pathetic mousy woman” to sit next to him at faculty meetings. And that unless she was ignored she might never stop writing those notes with the disgusting sexual imagery that had caused Sue Myers to pop her cork in the first place.
Still, Vince was a helpful and compassionate soul and eager to please everyone, especially Bill Bradfield, and he had it in his head that he should gently admonish Susan Reinert about having students deliver bags of garbage to a guy she was deluded into thinking cared for her romantically.
He was in the process of trying to explain all this when she said to him, “Vince, I understand how close you are to Bill and to Sue Myers, but I need to know, will you remain my friend?”
And the young teacher answered, “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because Sue hates me so much.”
“She doesn’t hate you. That’s just not so,” he said.
“She means to see that I’m harmed,” Susan Reinert said, and the tiny woman showed some real fear behind those oversized glasses.
“That’s silly,” Vince said. “Just plain silly.”
“And she means harm to my children!” Susan Reinert said. “And I have that on the best of authority.”
What could Vince Valaitis do about that announcement? Now he was convinced that Bill Bradfield was not exaggerating when he said that Susan Reinert was more than neurotic, that she was absolutely crazy these days, and that Vince simply should avoid her.
As usual, Bill Bradfield found out about Vince’s good intentions and the next time they were alone Vince got it again. And by now, Vince was really worried about his friend because Bill Bradfield was so intense that when he did come home he’d treat an episode of Love Boat like a bomb squad documentary as he lay motionless before the tube.
Bill Bradfield flatly ordered Vince Valaitis to stay completely away from the “demented” woman. And to underscore the depths to which Susan Reinert had sunk, not just psychologically but morally, Bill Bradfield offered the young teacher and Sue Myers a most shocking and irresistible piece of news from an “unimpeachable source.”
Susan Reinert, he told them, was secretly dating none other than old Mr. Hyde himself.
“Jay Smith?” Vince Valaitis said. “I can’t believe it!”
“I can believe it.” Sue Myers smirked. She could always believe anything about her hated rival.
“It’s absolutely true!” Bill Bradfield said. “And soon I’ll be able to tell you how I know.”
And as was his way, Bill Bradfield, when relating a story, no matter how incredible it seemed, always tossed in a little detail, like the alligator shoes.
“I can tell you this,” Bill Bradfield said. “They even have pet names for each other. Jay Smith calls her Tweetie Bird. Can you imagine? Tweetie Bird?”
And while Sue Myers rolled her eyes in revulsion, Vince Valaitis gaped in wonder.
How could she do it? There were all sorts of rumors about Jay Smith’s daughter’s disappearance and that he’d done drugs with her, and rumors of incest, even that he had a mail order business selling penis stiffeners. To Vince Valaitis Jay Smith was evil incarnate.
The young teacher wondered if he’d ever understand the intricacies of sexual attraction. Tweetie Bird. Why, it was almost as revolting as Elliot Emu.
8
In the fall of 1978 William Bradfield was about as placid as a riptide, and the riptide formed an enveloping whirlpool. It all began with a death and a dream.
The death was that of Susan Reinert’s widowed mother who passed away unexpectedly in October, leaving each of her children $34,000 in cash and half an interest in western Pennsylvania timberland. Susan was also bequeathed her mothers wedding ring valued at $1,500.
Her brother Pat Gallagher became executor of Susan’s estate and her children Karen and Michael were named as her beneficiaries. The timberland was left to appreciate, but for the moment, Susan Reinert had more cash than she’d ever had to manage before.
The dream involved Bill Bradfield, who awakened one morning sounding like Martin Luther King. He announced: “I had a dream!”
And poor overworked Sue Myers wondered if it was a wet one because they hadn’t had sex for well over a year.
“What dream?” she asked.
“It came to me in a dream,” he told her. “It’s about Doctor Smith. He’s innocent of the Sears robbery! I’ve been thinking about it and now I’m certain. He couldn’t have committed the theft because he was with me that very day last August. I saw him on that Saturday at the shore in Ocean City. So if he didn’t do that robbery, he could hardly be guilty of the other one since both crimes obviously involved the same man!”
“You never mentioned seeing him in Ocean City,” Sue Myers said.
“It didn’t seem important at the time. Now I’m sure of it. I don’t know what to do about it, though. I need to think it over.”
And then he was dressed and out the door and Sue Myers went off to work and figured she probably wouldn’t see him for another couple of days what with this new crusade to save Jay Smith.
Bill Bradfield now became even busier and more elusive. And he began having nightmares. On the nights that he was at home he frequently awakened her by crying out in his sleep. Sometimes he wept without waking. She thought he was going crazy.
Even Bill Bradfield’s beard had gone wild and tangled and shapeless. He truly began to resemble the man his faculty detractors had always compared him to. Bill Bradfield was so tormented and tense and exhausted he looked like Grigori Rasputin underwater.
Finally he let Vince in on the greatest secret yet: that he alone had the power to free Jay C. Smith.
Bill Bradfield, driving his fathers Cadillac, was taking Vince home from the art store after they’d built some Christmas displays to stimulate business.
Bill Bradfield affected his I-know-the-secret-of-the-Bermuda-Triangle voice and said, “I’ve learned something and I don’t know what to do about it.”
“What?”
“About Doctor Smith. He’s a hit man for the Mafia.”
“Bill,” Vince Valaitis said. “Bill, that is the nuttiest …”
“Listen to me,” Bill Bradfield said. “I tell you it’s true! He’s killed people. Lots of people. And that’s not all. He’s going to kill others. People we know.”
“People we know. Sure.”
“People like Susan Reinert.”
“Susan Reinert! Doctor Smith is going to kill Susan Reinert? And I suppose he told you why.”
“He says she knows too much about his trash.”
“What trash?”
“The trash at school. You know the rumors about the disappearance of his daughter and Eddie Hunsberger. Vince, he’s been … well, I think he’s chopped up some bodies and put them in the trash cans around school!”