by JJ Gould
“Hang on a sec, Aunt Judy.” Matt pulled a portable tape recorder out of the paper sack at his feet.
“You carry a recorder in a paper sack?”
Matt shrugged. “Can I get a few quotes before you call?”
Epilogue – Claire
It was spring, and Stan and Claire were walking along the sidewalk, a midmorning ritual they both enjoyed. The air was impossibly clean and fresh. Stan’s ribs had healed, and John was able to walk, a sturdy little guy with a toddling gait. He was silent as ever, but Stan and Claire no longer worried about that.
“Meetcha at the café?” Stan nodded down the street.
“Sounds good.” Claire walked John carefully across the street while Stan stopped by the post office.
A few minutes later, he slipped in across the table and sat down, looking at the menu. The nasty cut on his right cheek caused by sliding down the radio guy wire had healed to a muted purple, giving him a roguish look. Right out of Central Casting.
Claire saw the mail. “Anything good?”
“Got a letter from Doris.”
“Yeah? Well, let’s see it.”
Stan handed the letter over, and Claire opened it:
Hey, Stan and Claire:
Hope you’re doing well. We miss you both and Little John especially. Claire, you’ll be happy to know that the place is rented, including the loft over the garage. We haven’t had a lick of trouble since no one wants to mess with John even though he is a big softy. We’ve decided to keep renting the main floor and see what happens. You probably heard that Charlie has been indicted, and I should be glad, but I am mostly sad for him.
We wish you every happiness and think of you every day. Come and visit us soon!
Sincerely,
Doris Returns From Hunt
Stan studied Claire’s face. “You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“You think we made the right decision?”
Claire looked around at the people in the café. Right or wrong, good and bad, they were the people she was closest to. “Sure do.”
Stan watched her with the same intense look he’d given her the first time she saw him walk into this same café in the small prairie town of Dansing, South Dakota. The same small thrill climbed her spine, followed by an urge to tuck a wisp of a curl behind her ear. “Whatcha want to order?”
Stan smiled. “I think I will have the biscuits and gravy.”
Epilogue 2
At sentencing, Harrison Benjamin Hall IV’s council had pleaded with the judge on point after point, losing every one. Finally, the last was a pitiful request that he not be incarcerated with the man who had implicated him, Everett Meyer.
The judge’s smile was thin and malicious. He looked at Hall’s council, shook his head, and then turned to look at Hall himself. “Sorry, Harrison.”
The gavel fell, and so did Hall, taking the long, long road down from prestige and privilege into an orange jumpsuit and onto a drab green school bus. Once shackled in the bus, he and Meyer were driven up, up, up to the Federal Correctional Institution at Sandstone, a drab, depressing place, and he got his first look at the next ten to twelve years he would spend in northern Minnesota. The food there was horrible, the weather awful, and the cinder block cells were loud with the echoes of slamming doors, profane guards, and the relentless buzz of alarms. Alarms that told you when to get up. Alarms that told you when to stand outside your cell for inspection. Alarms that told you when you could shower, when you could eat, and when you could shit. But the absolute worst punishment was psychological, and that was not carried out by the institution but by the prisoners themselves.
Hall was led into his cell, given his thin towel and blanket, and introduced to his cellmate. The beady eyes were instantly recognizable. They glittered with malignance.
Charlie Hofer spread out his arms in mock hospitality. “Welcome to the Country Club, Hallsey.”
About the Author
Fast paced plots, unforgettable characters. The post-modern crime novels of JJ Gould feature gritty, real and often humorous characters caught in gripping and unpredictable situations. readers of JJ Gould find that heroes come from all walks of life and evil can live right down the street.
JJ Gould is a professional storyteller, speaker, broadcaster, podcaster, teacher and author. He can be reached through his website, ILikeThatStory.net
