Warrick released his grip, Two bounded happily forward, and Ricky thrashed.

“Okay, okay! I’ll tell you!”

Warrick took hold of Two’s collar, pulled him back a little.

“You’re responsible for the mural on the wall, aren’t you?” said Linda. “You’ve got some serious artistic chops there, Ricky. Whatever happened to that?”

Still glaring at Two, Ricky said, “I grew up.”

“Debatable. But the way you drew him … it was like you’d seen him with your own eyes. Is that what happened?”

“Why?” Ricky asked. “Why are you asking all this? Do you have any idea what you’re getting into?”

“Why don’t you tell us?” said Kelly.

Ricky sneered. “And ruin the surprise? No way.”

“Tell us about the time you saw him.”

“I didn’t know what I saw, all right? I was thirteen. I was stupid. I was a kid. You know how stupid kids are. Duh, I’m a kid!”

“That’s a great impression of a kid,” said Kelly.

“And I was half asleep, for Christ’s sake. I woke up in the middle of the night and …”

“And what?”

“It was a dream,” said Ricky.

“What did you see?”

“I dreamed that I saw him standing over my brother’s bed.”

“The Narrow Man?” Ronnie pressed. “The figure you painted on the wall?”

“Yeah,” said Ricky, “him. Only it wasn’t him, I found out afterwards. It was someone else. A drifter. He came in and took my brother, and I was half asleep and I thought it was a monster.”

Kelly frowned. “He took your brother?”

“It was a homeless guy, a vagrant, passing through town. We get a lot of those here. He snuck in through the window I’d left unlocked.”

“Was he found?” Linda asked. “Your brother?”

Ricky shook his head.

“What about the vagrant?”

“Chief Novak caught him a week later,” Ricky said. “He was burning bloodstained clothes, up in the hills. He confessed, told him he’d take him to where he’d buried the body, but then he ran at the Chief and the Chief had to put him down. Had to put him right down.”

“But the person you saw taking your brother,” said Kelly, “it wasn’t a homeless guy, was it?”

“I was dreaming that,” said Ricky. “You understand? It wasn’t the goddamn Narrow Man. It was a frickin’ homeless guy. The Narrow Man is a kids’ story. I was a kid, I didn’t know what I was seeing – that’s how my mind interpreted it. All of this was explained to me later.”

“Why did he go after your brother?” Warrick asked.

“How the hell should I know? He was sick in the head. Probably saw us out playing and made his choice. World is full of perverts.”

“What about the voting?”

Ricky glared.

“Did your brother get many votes that year?”