1971.

Seduced by the Mask spent more weeks on The Titan Gazette bestsellers list than any book before it. Its depictions of the Crimson Wraith being a closeted homosexual when not waging his unelected war against crime captured the general imagination. Citizens did not have to purchase a copy to hear about it. Newspapers, television programs, and radio shows brought awareness of its allegations to the general populace. 

Edward knew the reaction would be bad, but there was one particular aspect he could not have anticipated. As he promised, Thomas left many details out of Seduced by the Mask as sensible precautions for his and Edward’s personal safety. Details of Finn Manor remained a total blank and the scale of their lifestyle spoken of in general terms, saying only that they “lived comfortably” or that their home had additional bedrooms for guests. Nowhere did he state that the home of the Crimson Wraith’s alter-ego had a swimming pool, indoor bowling alley, or family plot.

But when it came to the subject of their meeting, those broad statements left an unfortunate absence for imagination to fill. Thomas gave no time nor place, saying only that it happened when he was “young,” and then describing how their meeting felt:

All I knew that fateful day was that he seemed kind. He offered me the warmth of his home. I was alone and terrified, so small in such a big city. When he revealed his secret identity, I thought it sounded exciting. It was like playing dress up. I had no idea what danger to my body and soul was lying in wait. 

By not specifying that Thomas was of-age when they met, nor that their meeting occurred in 1963, nothing kept a reader from confusing Thomas James’ career as the Wily Wisp with Edward’s own. 

No one knew there had been two Crimson Wraiths and two Wily Wisps. So, those who believed what they read in Seduced by the Mask projected its allegations back across the Crimson Wraith’s career, to the late 1940s where what appeared to be a young boy appeared in the Wily Wisp’s costume. 

Forensics experts began debating just how old the Crimson Wraith and Wily Wisp must be. The first image of the Wily Wisp came from 1949, when Edward was seventeen. A reporter caught his and the Crimson Wraith’s silhouettes as they escaped the flames devouring a warehouse that had been part of mobster “Sawtooth” Malone’s dope smuggling ring.  

The last came from 1969 where Tommy, as the Wily Wisp, was helping defeat one of the Puzzle Prince’s riddles by playing a game of chess with oversized pieces that had stray cats and dynamite strapped to them. In that photo, he was twenty-four years old. 

The experts analyzing the latter photograph agreed the Wily Wisp could not have been more than thirty at the time, which meant that in the first photograph, the Wily Wisp could not have been more than ten. 

And so a narrative arose that the Crimson Wraith had groomed the Wily Wisp for a sexual relationship as a child. Eddie had never imagined the publication of Thomas’s book would result in the Titan City coming to believe he had sexually abused himself.

The conflation of homosexuality and pedophilia created a fervor that authorities could not ignore. After so many years enjoying shared popularity with the Crimson Wraith, Mayor Kelly Winchester, felt the need to publicly repudiate the vigilante. He publicly claimed that the Crimson Wraith had threatened him with violence. That did not keep him from being voted out of office the next term. 

TCPD vice squad intensified its raids harassing private clubs that catered to gay community, shutting down establishments like the Innocents Club. Riots erupted in response. Those being arrested for simply living out their lives did not always allow themselves to be taken peacefully. 

Public morality groups called for the arrest of the Crimson Wraith and held mass burnings of children’s merchandise with his image. Sometimes, Edward attended these displays. It seemed important to know what they were saying about him if he was going to figure out a way to move on from Seduced by the Mask. 

Gripping the snakewood cane his father had once employed, since crime fighting acrobatics had taken their toll on the cartilage around Edward’s knees, he watched for as long as he could. The higher the flames rose, the more the images of his and Tommy’s smiling, masked faces charred to ash, and the more those gathered cheered. No way forward revealed itself.

Soon after Seduced by the Mask made its impact, he noticed the change in how his adversaries responded when the Crimson Wraith emerged from a cloud of smoke. They didn’t fear him. Some laughed. Some even tossed epithets his way. 

The outcome of each combat may have been the same, with Edward victorious and his opponents bound for collection by TCPD, those victories came less easily. Edward found himself working harder for each fight.

Then came the gray and chilly day in the dark of February when a couple of bank robbers grabbed a seven-year-old boy when making their escape from the vaults. Edward heard the announcement on the police radio and hurled himself into action. 

Hitting the streets in the Crimson Wraith Roadster once more was out of the question. Detective Goodman had confidentially warned him that TCPD wanted to bring him in for questioning. So, Edward went the old-fashioned way, in a plain white van, like the one Chubby had driven for him and his father, except that Edward had to drive himself. That meant donning a prosthetic nose, false moustache, and glasses to hide his identity.

Having spent twenty-five years chasing men like this through Titan City, Edward knew just which shadowy side-streets they would be likely to take as they fled the flashing blue lights, and which derelict buildings offered the most enticing hiding places. When the police radio told him they had lost the vehicle, Edward kept going. On the third potential hideout he searched, he found them. 

It was an abandoned jewelry shop. The gravel in its driveway looked recently disturbed. The sun had begun setting as Edward drove past, and he had the cover of darkness by the time he parked the van in a nearby alleyway and approached on foot, once more wearing the cloak and mask of the Crimson Wraith. 

Sure enough, he found the getaway vehicle hidden behind the building, hidden under a tarp, and after swiftly dealing with those inside, Edward phoned the TCPD. 

“You’ll find today’s bank robbers at Schwartz Jewelers, sealed in the walk-in safe. The stolen cash is here as well. I’m taking their hostage to his parents.” Then he turned to the boy. “Are you ready to go home?”

“My mom says I can’t play with your toys anymore,” said the boy. His words struck harder than any blow Edward had taken in the fight just before.

He tried not to let it show in his voice. The Crimson Wraith is supposed to soothe the frightened soul, just like his father had done during his kidnapping. “That’s fine,” said Edward. “But I need to get you back to her. What’s your name, son?”

“Ricky.”

“Hi, Ricky. In order to get you home, I need us to play a little game.” 

Since Edward had worked alongside his father, back when the Crimson Wraith avoided the public eye, protocols had been developed for providing care to the public. These were intended to keep victims and bystanders from being placed in a position of possibly being coerced — either by law enforcement or criminal organizations — to reveal details that might lead to the masked vigilante’s true identity. 

“The game is called ‘Trust’,” said Edward, “Do you think you can play that game with me?”

“How do you play it?”

Even as he began to speak, Edward could imagine what those he’d seen at the burnings would think of his words. 

“What we do is I hand you a blindfold and ask you to tie it over your face. I need you to do that before I can give you a ride to see your mom and dad again. People aren’t supposed to know the secrets of the Crimson Wraith, you know.”

Ricky nodded.

Edward pulled out a blindfold from his belt pouch. “Will you play Trust with me, Ricky? Please?”

The boy thought about it. He scrunched up his face to show just how seriously he was thinking. Then took the blindfold and tied it as asked.

Edward recognized the unmarked police cars in front of Ricky’s home. Maybe they had been there since earlier in the day, awaiting a ransom demand from the kidnappers, but he suspected they’d been informed he was coming with the boy. 

There was no doubt in his mind what would happen if those TCPD got a hold of him. It would not be at all like the escort he and Tommy received to apprehend the Troubadour. His mind drafted back to his father being questioned by the Committee on Community Accountability. For Edward, though, there would be handcuffs, there would be charges, and there would be unmasking.

Edward parked around the block, and they made their way on foot through the neighbors’ backyards to the rear of the house. Ricky remained blindfolded, and Edward wore the mask and cloak of the Crimson Wraith. 

“I have to pee,” Ricky whispered.

“It’s ok,” said Edward, “you’re almost home.”

Letting Ricky see him in his driving disguise would create a connection some gifted investigator might follow all the way to Finn Manor. Edward would say his goodbye when they were close enough to Ricky’s house, and the boy would have witnessed nothing that would put him at risk.

When they reached the edge of Ricky’s backyard, Edward knelt to remove the blindfold. “You are home. And you did such a good job. I am very proud of you.”

The backdoor of Ricky’s home opened, and a woman whose face wore the pain of a day’s worth of crying stepped out. She had a pack of cigarettes in hand, lighter at the ready. At the sight of her son, she cried out, “Ricky? Oh, my God, Ricky!” 

Then, turning to Edward, she said, “The Crimson Wraith… What have you done to him? Get away from him! Phillip, come quick! It’s the Crimson Wraith! The Crimson Wraith has our son!”

Before her husband came out the door, followed by two TCPD detectives with guns at the ready, Edward was already running, leaping over fences and ducking through driveways. 

He heard the detectives calling out. “Stop or I’ll shoot!” Then warning shots fired into the air. But Edward kept on. Finally, he spotted a loose storm drain and slipped inside. 

As he heard them run past him, Edward crouched in the muck, shaking with silent rage. The horror on Ricky’s mother’s face was more terrible than he could have imagined. To Ricky’s parents the Crimson Wraith seemed more dangerous than the men who kidnapped him. They did not want him around their son. And they weren’t alone.

Edward left his costume there in that storm drain. He knew he could never wear it again, even if he could not imagine his life without it.