The Sin Eater

by Lee McIntyre

  “Emma’s not out yet,” Kate said.

  “What? Why not? We handed this thing to them on a silver platter. What more do they need?”

  “I know. I know. I got so upset that they sent me to the doctor, and that’s when they found the cervical incompetence.”

  “What’s their reason for keeping her? Do they know where she is?”

  “Yes. Castro said she’s where she was all along. But there was some sort of paperwork snafu about her status that delayed things. Someone at CPS said she’d already been released, if you can believe that. That’s when I lost it. Now they’re saying that since one of her parents is in jail and the other is in the hospital, she needs to stay in place. The judge wrote an order to keep her in foster care until I get out of the hospital.”

  “Son of a bitch!”

  “Believe me, I could kill someone. The only good thing is that Lisa Castro came to the hospital and apologized for everything. She said she’s going to work as hard as she can to make this right. She said that Emma’s in a very good placement. She personally vouched for her safety. And she said that now Emma can come for some visits. Castro said she’ll bring her to the hospital herself. That’s something, anyway.”

  “God, I wish I could see Emma,” Adam said. “And you, too. But what? Maybe in twenty years to life?”

  “Adam, don’t say that.”

  “Kate, they’ve investigating me for four homicides. Even with Tugg’s confession, there’s a lot to sort out. And I’ll be here till they do.” There was a pause on the line. Adam’s voice was husky when he continued. “I’m in a very dark place right now. We all are.”

  “Yes, we are.” Kate’s voice was steady. “But we are going to get through this. And, if it’s any consolation, have you heard what happened to the Governor?”

  “Yeah, he got off too easy.”

  “Impeached and arrested! Thrown out of office and jailed on a sealed indictment.”

  “What do you mean sealed?”

  “Just what I said. Nobody really knows what happened other than that it had to do with kickbacks of some kind. I always knew he was dirty.”

  “Didn’t the Indian thing come out?”

  “What Indian thing?”

  Bastards!

  “It’s too complicated to explain now. I’ll talk to my lawyer and make sure it comes out at my trial. But hey, did they get him on Rachel’s murder yet? My lawyer says that Tugg’s confession will probably get me off for the skinheads, and that those were arguably self-defense anyway. And he said that Tugg probably saved me from the one about Rachel too, but obviously it would be better if they could hang that one on the Governor or Carnap. But they caught me red-handed up at Timberline Lodge, even though it was an accident. My lawyer says that doesn’t matter. It’s still felony murder—for both of us—because we were in the process of kidnapping them. That one’ll stick.”

  The keys jingled in the lock and the door swung open.

  “Time’s up G.”

  “Damned Governor will probably try to pardon himself!” Adam shouted desperately, as the guard reached for the phone.

  “Bet he would if he could,” Kate said. “But there’s a new Governor now.”

  “That I did not know. Who?”

  Caswell retrieved the phone as Kate’s voice trailed off into empty space.

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  Chapter 78

  “Your move Caswell. I haven’t got all day.”

  “Yes you do. For another couple of months now. Then maybe longer.”

  The guard advanced his rook and captured Adam’s queen.

  “Ouch! I taught you too well.” Adam smiled. “Forfeit.”

  “Told you I was a fast learner.”

  For the thousandth time in the past few months, Adam looked where his watch should have been.

  “You got a bus to catch, G?”

  Adam shook his head. “Guess we don’t have time for another game. Your break’s almost over.”

  “Yeah, I guess I should be gettin’ back to the idiots.”

  Caswell stood up and stretched, then took a few shambling steps toward the door. What was it with prison guards? This guy was twenty-five and he moved like an old man. Lots of time probably. No one was going anywhere.

  “Hey Caswell?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Come back tomorrow? Isolation sucks. You’re all that’s kept me sane.”

  “I do what I can, Mr.G. I do what I can.”

  Adam reached down and swept the contraband pieces into a plastic bowl.

  “Say hi to your sister for me.”

  Caswell stopped by the door.

  “Yeah, she’s always tellin’ me to say hi back to you.”

  “She ever get her kid back?”

  “Naw, probably won’t. You get her on your jury and you’re a free man.”

  Adam felt his cheeks flush.

  “Instead I’ll probably get the death penalty.”

  “G, I keep tellin’ you, there ain’t been no executions in Oregon since 1997.”

  “But it’s still legal. They’ve got death row in Oregon.”

  “Yeah but the Governor stopped it.”

  Adam smiled. “You forget who I kidnapped.”

  “He ain’t Governor no more!”

  “Guess again. New Governor isn’t going to help me either.”

  “Oh, that’s right. You may be screwed. You and your friend.”

  “Thanks.” Adam stood and carried the bowl over to the toilet, where he lodged it behind the rim. “My lawyer says this is a death qualified set of charges. They’re pushing pretty hard.”

  Caswell looked down.

  “Still lots of time on death row,” Caswell finally said. “A man can last years there. ‘specially if he’s got somethin’ he cares about. Somethin’ to live for while he’s inside.”

  “That I’ll probably have,” Adam said.

  Caswell shook his head slowly from side to side. “That’s not what I mean, man. Even if your friend’s there, you’ll still need somethin’ to do. Somethin’ to live for day to day.”

  Adam imagined a life waiting for the axe to fall. A life without family. Even with Tugg in the next cell, what would he have to look forward to?

  “Like what?” Adam said.

  Caswell raised his hand and knocked on the tiny window. The door buzzed and he held it open with his palm.

  “Well it sure as shit ain’t gonna be chess,” Caswell grinned. “I’m already beatin’ you.”

  Adam returned the smile. “Yeah, I guess that one’s out.”

  “So what else you interested in from before? I mean before you got here?”

  “Revenge?”

  “You’ll last two weeks.”

  Adam sat on his bunk and watched the guard casually holding the door open. That small act of freedom had never seemed like much till this moment.

  “Yeah, you’re probably right,” Adam said. “I guess what I really want is justice.”

  Caswell nodded. “That’s better. Justice for you and your friend then. And maybe for your little girl too?”

  Adam frowned. “Not just for us though. For all of ’em. All of the people who got caught up in this mess. The other families. Especially the kids.”

  Caswell swung the door wide and stepped through it. “That’s great G. Make it about somethin’ bigger than yourself. That’s how my sister’s makin’ it. But can I ask you a question then?”

  “Go ahead.”

  “In the time that you’ve been here, right up till this very moment, what have you done about that so far?”

  Chapter 79

  Adam’s heart was beating like a trip hammer as he mashed his nose against the tiny window. Where was Caswell? Wasn’t it today?

  Adam sat back on his bunk and listened for the courthouse clock in the distance. After the fifth month he’d broken the habit of looking down at his left wrist. The angle of the sun through the window was a pretty reliable hour hand and
the chimes supplied the minutes, more or less.

  Caswell was definitely late.

  Which meant that dinner wouldn’t be far behind and the whole thing would have to wait until tomorrow. Or next week. Or never.

  Adam thought he heard the dinner cart in the hallway, then suddenly the keys were in the lock and there was Caswell.

  He stepped in and bounced the cell phone onto the bunk.

  “That one’s a burner,” Caswell said. “Can’t use my phone no more. They check it and I’m dead. But you didn’t get that one from me, hear? They find it and I don’t know you.”

  Adam instinctively swept his hand across the mattress and cupped the precious contraband behind him.

  Caswell looked over his shoulder at the door.

  “Gotta go. If this thing is as big as you say it’s gonna be, I can’t hang around here so much now. They’ll investigate. And they’ll find that phone, trust me. So better make the call today. Get it done. Her number’s already programmed in. You got about an hour till supper. Make it count.”

  Adam held the phone up between his palms in front of him, a prayer of gratitude.

  “Thank you my friend.”

  “Yeah well, this is the Justice Center, I guess,” Caswell smirked. “So go get you some.”

  “Veronica Styles. Oregonian.”

  “Ronnie? It’s Adam. From Tektel.”

  “Yes, I know who you are Adam. Everyone does now. Damn, aren’t you still in jail? What did they finally give you your phone call?”

  “Ronnie, I’ve got limited time here. Do you still want to get out of the business section? Maybe win a Pulitzer while you’re at it?”

  Adam could hear some shuffling in the background, then keys clicking.

  “Go.”

  “So the Governor was arrested five months ago, but I’m betting no one really knows the full backstory yet.”

  The keys were clicking furiously.

  “Just rumors. Some sort of mismanagement over at CPS. The charge was public corruption, but there’s a gag order till his trial. Everyone’s going crazy here.”

  Adam could picture the scene. A five foot tall, frizzy-haired woman who’d started thirty years ago with visions of Woodward and Bernstein, only to become a galley slave writing stories about local mergers and the chamber of commerce.

  “Indians, Ronnie. Native American kids. All those kids on the reservation who were taken by CPS and ended up in foster care. There was federal money attached to them and it all got funneled to The Longlane Home. Which used to be managed by you-know-who.”

  Adam could hear a couple of guttural noises, punctuated by more clicking.

  “And you know this because…?”

  “Steve Carnap set it all up. He and the Governor were in on it together. But those kids have to go home Ronnie. Do you understand me? Those Indian kids were basically kidnapped and every day this story doesn’t get out is a day they’re separated from their families.”

  There was a pause on the line.

  “Ronnie, you still there?”

  “They’re going to crucify you for telling me this you know. Did you talk to your lawyer? How can this be good for you?”

  Adam swallowed dryly.

  “I appreciate your concern Ronnie, but I don’t give a shit. I’m baked here anyway. Promise me you’ll use this. And get those kids free.”

  Adam heard a cell door slam somewhere down the hallway. Could it be dinner already? Was Caswell coming back?

  “You understand that I’ll have to verify all this with other sources. But fill in some details first, okay? How long can you talk?”

  “Until they take the phone away. I don’t know. I was going to call Kate if I had some time left…”

  “No, just keep talking.”

  Adam saw the sunbeam creeping up the doorway and heard a couple of horns honking on 4th Avenue far below. Rush hour.

  “Okay I’ve got about another twenty minutes.”

  “A lifetime,” Ronnie said. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this story.”

  “Okay then.” Adam scooted back in his bunk and leaned his head against the wall. “What do you wanna know?”

  Chapter 80

  Adam was running down the steps of the Multnomah County Courthouse.

  Again.

  For the second time in seven months, he’d been let out of a jail cell and was moving toward his family. To make things right. To protect them.

  Was this a dream? The feeling was delicious.

  “Mr.Grammaticus, would you like to make a statement?”

  The cops were doing their best to keep the press back, but of course he could still hear their questions.

  “Do you feel that you got away with murder?”

  Adam hurried toward the taxi. “OHSU Hospital, please. Hurry!”

  The taxi leapt away from the curb and the driver banged out a left, so he could get off 4th Avenue and head up toward Pill Hill.

  Adam still couldn’t believe it.

  Everyone knew that Timberline Lodge was on Indian land, but it had never occurred to him that this might have an effect on his own life. Was this really happening?

  “Just go,” Tugg had said. “One of us had to get lucky.”

  “Tugg, I can’t really leave you here to –”

  “Yes you can. Your family needs you. Better go now.”

  Tugg was still hooked on the charges for Rachel’s death and the skinheads, and it was pretty clear that after today’s jurisdiction fiasco about Timberline Lodge, the district attorney would be in no mood to look the other way on Tugg’s confession.

  Technically, Adam wasn’t off the hook either. Just a day? Maybe two? The tribe’s attorney had argued that the kidnappings and Carnap’s death had occurred on Indian land, so they needed to take Adam and Tugg into custody and try them in their courts. Of course, whether they refiled the charges might be another matter. But Adam couldn’t wait around for that, today of all days.

  “Say, you’re the guy, right?”

  Adam looked up at the eyes regarding him in the rear view mirror. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

  The road snaked up the hill and Adam slid from one end of the back seat to the other.

  “So I was listening on the radio before. Are you an Indian or something?”

  “No, not really,” Adam said.

  The driver took a hairpin turn, then looked at him again in the mirror. “Then you’re one lucky guy.”

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  The driver pulled up to the curb. “Too bad about your friend.”

  No reporters were in the lobby, thank God. Adam hurried down the corridor toward the nurses’ station on 6 North.

  Was she going to be all right?

  Was she in pain?

  After court, he’d had time for only a quick word to Tugg before the guards hurried him out a side door, and Adam found himself standing there, a free man, unsure of what would happen next.

  His lawyer had slipped him a cell phone. Two minutes later he got a text message from Mrs.Nguyen: Univ Hospit, hurry!

  He hoped it wasn’t too late.

  Chapter 81

  Adam arrived at the nurses’ station and looked in every direction.

  All the halls looked alike.

  “Excuse me, I’m looking for the maternity —”

  “Daddy!”

  The sound came to him like an angel. Adam wheeled around and saw her standing at the end of the hallway.

  He’d heard that Emma could come home, but the reality of her presence was almost too much for him. Was this another dream?

  As Emma bolted toward him, Adam’s eyes flooded with tears. All the troubles in the world dissolved as he knelt down and held his arms wide open.

  Emma ran into him so hard that Adam collapsed back like a punching-bag clown. They both fell to the hard linoleum floor, crying and laughing at the same time.

  As Adam lay on his back, he held Emma’s face in his hands and looked at her. “Baby! Sweetie! Are you all
right?”

  “Daddy! I missed you!”

  Adam pulled Emma toward him and hugged her so hard he thought she might break. Then he rolled up into a sitting position and she scrambled into his lap.

  “I’ve been looking for you,” Emma said.

  She’d been looking for him?

  “I was looking for you too,” Adam said. “A lot.”

  Adam reveled in the smell of her hair. In her bony little arms. She squirmed around and refused to let him get off the floor.

  “When can I see my baby brother?”

  “I don’t think he’s born yet. Honey, are you okay?”

  “Yes. My hair is longer.”

  Adam felt like jumper cables had been attached to his heart.

  Emma frowned. “Why does everybody keep asking if I’m okay? Mommy’s the one who’s been in the hospital.”

  “I don’t know, sweetie. But how did you get here? Where’s your Mom?”

  “They’ve been letting me see her sometimes. I cried a lot. Then today they said I didn’t have to go back to the other house anymore and I could just stay with Mommy till the baby was born.”

  “Are you here alone?”

  Emma held up the sleeve on Adam’s polo shirt. “What’s this?” She ran her fingers across the tattoo. “That’s my name! When did you get it?”

  “When I was out looking for you. It helped to remind me. Do you like it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you think your mom will like it?”

  “No.”

  Adam looked up and saw a figure approaching down the hallway.

  “Don’t worry, Dad. We’re friends now. She’s the one who’s been bringing me to see Mommy. She’s not going to take me back now that you’re here, is she?”

  Adam lifted his hands to his daughter’s face and smoothed away the worry.

  “No, never again,” Lisa said. She towered over the two of them. “But we’d better get your father off the floor and over to the maternity ward. He still hasn’t seen your mother. I can stay with you while he’s in there, if you like.”

  Emma took Lisa’s hand, then her father’s, and lifted her feet as she swung on their arms while they walked down the hallway.

  “It’s a high-risk delivery and they’ve already started,” the nurse said.