Robert Berger ran away on February 14, 1974. He was known as Bobby to all his friends, of which he had many. He was a complete burnout, spending most of his time smoking weed in his parent’s basement with his friends. He was a good kid, with a tough father and loving mother. No physical abuse, but possible mental abuse. The parents’ names were Kurt and Jo Berger.
Billy Janowski ran away on May 25, 1974. Just Billy, not short for anything. Brian Janowski had lost his job and began to drink heavily. From all that could be gathered, they were a loving family. Brian lived his whole life for his wife, Jackie, and their son. Especially their son. If anything, Jackie felt somewhat neglected because of Brian’s relationship with his son. When Billy left, presumably because of the loss of Brian’s job and his increased drinking, Brian lost it and jumped into the Monongahela River.
Then, there was the second of the Borjan children, Michael, who had run away on August 1st, the day Jack Ballant supposedly killed himself. He was supposed to go to the local drug store to pick up cigarettes for his mother, but he never made it there. Instead, he left a note and ran away. Elsa said that she didn’t see any note in his bedroom when Michael left, but that it was there later when she went and checked to see if he had returned with her smokes. She insisted that he never came back.
After doing his research, Sam headed back to his empty home. The flight of stairs that led up to the front porch got harder and harder as every year rolled by, but he’d never sell that house. It is where he spent the best years of his life with Lorraine. It was where they had their children together. It is the only thing that he had left from that old life. A warm blanket of memories enveloped him in a cozy embrace every time he walked through that door. For a few minutes he could forget about all that he had lost.
He thought about the missing children and the tragedy that surrounded the lives of the men and women who toiled away in the dying steel industry. He thought of his life in comparison. At least he knew where his children and wife were. He took the picture of his wife, Lorraine, off the mantel and carried it up to the bedroom. He laid down and stared at it for a long time. Finally, he laid the picture across his chest and closed his eyes and let the memories wash over him.
PART II
1960
CHAPTER 5
August 19, 1960
Sam and Lorraine Lucas stood outside the Penn Theater waiting for the special screening of Psycho. Sam had been looking forward to the new Hitchcock for some time. The fact that no one would be allowed to enter after the show began added a heightened sense of anticipation. Sam had requested the night off and Jack Ballant approved without hesitation. Jack was a good captain and he took great care of his detectives, especially Sam, whose arrest and conviction numbers were among the best in the city. Only second to his partner, Jimmy Dugan, and that was only because his numbers got inflated by Sam’s. Jimmy was a peculiar bastard in that he was a total bastard. If he had his way, he would skip the judicial process and put everyone down like a dog.
It was nice to be out with Lorraine. The kids were being watched by Lorraine’s sister, Dora, and her husband, Leo. Dora and Leo had three kids of their own with one on the way. Leo worked in construction, which was a big deal. If you didn’t work in a steel mill in Pittsburgh, you were considered a success, and Leo was considered the best cement finisher in the city. They all lived south of the city in Dormont, a suburban oasis for the middle class. Lorraine had been getting itchy for another child ever since Dora announced that she was pregnant with her fourth.
“What is Jimmy doing tonight?” Lorraine didn’t share Sam’s opinion of Jimmy, but then he never told her about Jimmy’s methods. As far as Lorraine was concerned, Jimmy was one of Sam’s closest friends simply because they spent so much time together.
“He’s working tonight.”
“Oh, I thought you always worked together.”
“Not always. I’ll be working without Jimmy tomorrow.”
“You know, I was thinking Brenda would be a nice girl for him.”
“Brenda? Next-door Brenda?”
“Yes. She’s a pretty girl.”
“She is,” Sam said a little too emphatically.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“I was just agreeing with you.” The thought of Jimmy Dugan dating the girl next door filled Sam with dread. It was bad enough Sam had to see him almost every day, but to have him next door every day on top of that made Sam nauseous. The lie came to him quickly. “He’s got a girl uptown.”
“Uptown?”
“Yeah.”
“What does she look like?”
“Not sure. I haven’t met her.”
“What does he say about her?”
“Not much. Just that he’s going out with her.”
“What’s her name?”
“Rita, I think.”
“You think?”
“What Jimmy does on his own time is his own business.”
The doors opened and the excited ramblings from the previous showing came echoing out of the theater. There was a lot of laughing and a look of shock in more than a handful of eyes. Sam thanked his lucky stars for the interruption in the conversation, because it put Lorraine on to a different track. Lorraine was always very interested in his work and Sam rarely spared her the details. She had a bit of a ghoulish streak to her. One of the reasons he loved her so much.
“You haven’t had a lot of work, have you?” Lorraine asked as the people streamed by them. Sam was glad for the conversation so that he wouldn’t hear anyone talking about the movie. He didn’t want to be spoiled in any way.
“Well, there’s always work. Paperwork, processing evidence, getting ready for trial and testimony.”
“I mean not a lot of murdering going on.”
She always put it like that. Murdering going on. Like it was a dance party. Not a lot of dancing going on, is there? Sam smiled.
“No, not a whole lot of murdering. The mill workers have mostly been keeping their hands off their wives recently.”
“Always with the mill workers. You don’t like them much, do you?”
“I’d like them better if they didn’t take out their anger on their wives.”
“How about that girl over in Oakland? I know it has been a couple of months, but nothing there?” Sam hadn’t wanted to bring it up. He usually waited a couple of days before he talked to Lorraine about the resolution of a case. It was hardly resolved from his standpoint, which is why he hadn’t told her yet. He wanted a confession, but so far Boris Flick wasn’t cooperating. Sam would take another run at him tomorrow. He’d get him to crack. If he didn’t, Jimmy would do some cracking of his own.
“That is an ongoing investigation.” Lorraine knew when he was hiding something. Her antenna went right up.
“You got him, sweetheart. I knew you would. Two months later, too. So how did you get him? Anonymous tip?”
“Not exactly. He was a little closer to home than originally thought.”
“The next-door neighbor?” she asked. “You said back then that you were suspicious of him. How did he do it?”
“I can’t talk about it yet,” Sam said sharply. Lorraine took the hint and changed the subject quickly.