Race with Death

by Gilbert, Morris

  “What if she’s not?” Savage rubbed the scar over his eyebrow, and then came away from the wall, pausing before her. “Look, I know you’re jealous, but—”

  “Jealous!” Dani slammed her pen down on the desk, and glaring up at him grated out, “You are the most egotistical man I’ve ever known!”

  “Why are you so mad?” Savage demanded. “You think I don’t know what’s going on inside you? From the minute I told you I’d spent the night in Sunny’s apartment you’ve been like a bomb with a short fuse.” He leaned over, putting his fingers on her desk, adding, “Why would it be so hard for you to admit that you’re jealous? When you were letting that long-haired guy from the D.A.’s office take you out, I was jealous, wasn’t I?”

  “That’s different! I wasn’t spending time in his apartment in the middle of the night!”

  The argument grew hotter, and once when it reached a crescendo, Sunny Sloan looked at Angie Park and asked nervously, “Do they shout at each other like that a lot?”

  “Only when they’re upset,” Angie responded. She ripped a sheet of paper out of her typewriter, looked over her shoulder, and raised one eyebrow. “This one is a pip. Did you do anything to set it off?”

  “Why, no!” Sunny smiled slightly, her eyes half-lidded. “I think Miss Ross resents me.”

  Inside the inner office, Ben was making exactly that point. “Look, Dani, there’s nothing between me and Sunny. And I don’t agree with you about the danger she might be in. There’s guys in Baton Rouge who’d take her out for a glass of beer.” He made one final appeal, “Look, what if you let her go alone—and she gets killed. You’d have a hard time living that one down, wouldn’t you?”

  Dani was weary of the argument. She nodded, saying, “All right, Ben. You’re going to go with her whatever I say. Go on and do it then.”

  Savage was disturbed. He hated arguments with Dani, and even though he had won his point, there was something in the set of Dani’s shoulders and the tightness of her lips that told him it had been a costly victory.

  “I’ll be glad when this mess is over,” he said morosely. “I don’t like to fight with you.”

  He turned and walked out of the office without saying anything else, closing the door with just a fraction more force than necessary. “Come on, Sunny,” he said glumly. “Let’s get going.”

  Sunny said brightly, “Oh, Ben, I’m glad she let you go with me.”

  Angie waited for a signal from Dani on the intercom, but nothing came. Two hours later, Dani came out, her coat on and her purse in her hand. “I’ve taken care of the papers, Angie.” She had a dissatisfied look on her face and her tone was not lively. “I’m going to Angola to see Eddie Prejean.”

  “Will you be back this afternoon?”

  “I don’t know yet. I’ll call you if I have to go anyplace else.”

  After Dani left the office, Angie shook her head. She’d never seen Dani so disturbed, and it bothered her. She fixed a cup of coffee, and when Al Overmile came in to ask for Dani, she said, “Out for the morning.” She sipped the coffee thoughtfully, thinking hard, then with a worried look on her face, added, “I’m worried about her, Al.”

  Overmile’s meaty face took on a look of surprise. “The agency’s doing good, isn’t it? More cases than we can handle.”

  “The agency’s doing fine—but the Boss Lady is stumbling a little.”

  Angola had not improved since Dani’s last visit. As she parked her car and made her way toward the section where Eddie Prejean was kept, she sensed again the aura of gloom and desperation that hung over the prison like an invisible shroud. She had always been skeptical of stories of how a place could take on the nature of its inhabitants, though there had to be something to it. She had been in homes that reeked of the anger of couples, and in homes that had radiated peace, which she had attributed to the character of a loving family.

  But something about Angola—an almost palpable pressure—seemed to press against her as she crossed the yard. She thought of the thousands of men cooped up with all the frustration, fear, and rage that could come to an imprisoned human being and knew that the canopy of gloom that pressed against her was not her imagination. She wondered what it would be like to be put in such a terrible place, to hear the key click in the steel locks and know that every aspect of her life was in the hands of others. She shivered as fear laid a frigid frost on her nerves, and she tried to put on a better face as a guard led her to Prejean’s cell.

  “Hello, Eddie,” she said as brightly as she could. “How are you?” The inanity of the question struck her, and she shook her head, her lips pressed together tightly. “Excuse me. Stupid question.”

  “It’s okay, Miss Ross.” Eddie was thinner, it seemed to her—at least the bones of his face seemed more prominent than when Dani had seen him last. “One of the guards always says as he goes off duty, ‘Have a good day, Eddie.’”

  “I hate that expression,” Dani responded. “Those words mean absolutely nothing.”

  Eddie motioned to the chair beside the cot. “I guess lots of words are like that,” he said quietly. “If we stopped using them, it would cut down on most conversations quite a bit.” He leaned against the wall and studied her carefully “Not good news,” he murmured.

  Dani was startled, but realized at once that he was intelligent enough to pick up on her lack of spirit. “No, not really,” she said slowly. “I’ll tell you what I’ve done, then we can go from there.”

  Prejean’s face was still, his brown eyes half hooded as Dani quickly sketched what she had been doing. There was a shadow on him, Dani saw, that was growing darker. Even as she spoke, part of her mind was ranging ahead—despite her will—thinking, In a few days, he’ll be dead if something doesn’t change. His blood won’t be rich and red. He’ll be cold and stiff, cut off from whatever life might have had for him.

  She broke off finally, shaking her head wearily. “I’m sorry I don’t have better news, Eddie.”

  “I didn’t really expect it, Miss Ross.”

  Dani looked at him quickly, and said with a sudden burst of emotion, “Don’t give up, Eddie!”

  Prejean held her gaze, but there was no light in his dark eyes. “No sense wasting more of your time on me, Miss Ross,” he said quietly. His tone before had been keen and edged, but now he let the words fall without life in them. “If there was a chance—something I could do, I’d do it. But the dice are loaded.” Cynicism and doubt ran deeply through his words, and bitterness curled the edges of his lips. “Don’t know why I ever expected anything else. The big fish eat the little fish—and the little fish eat mud.”

  Dani yearned to give the young man some sort of comfort, but found it almost impossible to find something to say. “I know it looks dark, Eddie, but we’ve got to try!”

  Prejean stared at her for a moment, then cocked his head to one side. “Why are you so anxious to help me?” he asked. “You don’t even know me.”

  “I don’t think you’re guilty,” Dani said. She looked down at her hands, searching for the right words. She’d always disliked Christians who poured Scriptures down the throat of those who were in an impossible situation. It had seemed somehow unfeeling, as though the believer was saying, “Look, I can’t do anything for you, so let’s read the Bible instead.”

  Dani knew the power of the Bible to bring comfort, but she understood as well that a person had to be open, willing to receive what God had to say. A temptation came to avoid using the Bible, but she knew deep down that there was nothing else for Eddie Prejean.

  “Eddie,” she said quietly, “I don’t know what you think about God, but I believe that he loves every one of us. I know,” she said quickly, holding up her hand as he started to interrupt, “you’re going to say that it sure doesn’t look like it. And I can’t answer all the questions people ask. Why does an innocent baby die in a fire if God loves him? Why does a young woman die of cancer at the age of twenty-five, when her life is just beginning? How could a loving G
od let such terrible things happen?”

  When she paused, Eddie said, “Well—how could he?”

  Dani wanted to give this man hope, and she prayed intently for wisdom, for the right thing to say. “Eddie, the world you see is not the world God purposed.” She took the small Bible she’d bought from the Christian bookstore and opened it. She spoke quickly of the fall of man, reading verses from the Book of Genesis. As simply as she could, she explained that the world had been lost by sin, but that Jesus came to win it back, by his blood and by his death.

  Eddie listened carefully, then asked, “Why didn’t God make Adam and Eve so they couldn’t sin?”

  “Adam and Eve were made in the likeness of God, Eddie,” Dani said quickly. “Not that they looked like God physically—but they had spirits that responded to God. No other part of creation has that quality. No matter how intelligent some animals might be, they can never know God in their spirits. But along with their spirits, Adam and Eve were given free wills. They were free to choose. If they hadn’t been created like that, Eddie,” Dani said urgently, “they would have been robots. And God wanted his creatures to love him voluntarily.”

  Eddie was interested. He came and sat down on the cot, thinking hard. “I guess I can see that.” He stroked his cheek with a thin hand, adding with a slight smile. “Wouldn’t be much fun having a bunch of puppets around, would it?” A thought came to him, and he added, “I saw that Disney picture, Pinocchio, when I was a kid. It was about this old guy who wanted a son. I forget how it happened, but he made one of his puppets come to life.”

  “And at the end of the movie Pinocchio became a real boy,” Dani said eagerly. “And as a real boy, he could give the old man love and devotion—and that’s all that God wants from us, Eddie. I’ve read the Bible through many times, and despite all the things theologians say, all God wants is for us to love him!”

  Eddie seemed intrigued by the earnestness in Dani’s tone and in the flush that had come to her cheeks. “You really believe that, don’t you?”

  “Yes!”

  Eddie said wistfully, “I’m glad you do—and I wish I could.”

  “Can I tell you how I found God, Eddie?” Dani asked quickly. When he nodded, she sat for half an hour, telling him about her life. She was unaware of the surroundings, so intense was her desire to see Eddie Prejean come to know Jesus Christ.

  Finally she finished, saying, “. . . and so from the moment I asked Jesus Christ to come into my life, Eddie, everything’s been different. And it’s not just for me—it’s for everybody.”

  “Are you saying if I get saved, I’ll get out of this place?”

  “No, I’m not saying that. Many of God’s people have been put to death. I may die on my way home from here. The Bible says, ‘As it is appointed to man once to die—but after this the judgment.’ God wants you to love him for eternity, Eddie, not just for a little time on earth. I’m praying that we’ll get you free, but if you were set free from the charges that are against you in court here, what about the judgment when you stand before God?” Dani took a deep breath and whispered, “Eddie, you may not understand this, but if I had to choose between the two, I’d rather see you become a Christian and be executed, than to see you set free and go out to meet God unprepared in thirty or forty years!”

  Eddie looked down at his hands as she spoke, and when she began to speak of the death of Jesus, he grew tense. Dani had seen this before. It didn’t disturb people to talk about God, but the name of Jesus had the power to stir people. Some it offended, but others heard it with a hope that nothing else could bring.

  Finally Dani said, “Eddie, the last thing in the world I want to do is to force someone to become a believer. I don’t think that’s even possible. All I can say is, I had no peace until I found Jesus Christ. And now he’s with me every day. Oh, I still have problems. My father was murdered recently by a hood—and what I wanted to do was hate the man who killed him. If I had done that, I’d have become a bitter woman filled with hatred. But Jesus is in me, so through his power I was able to forgive my father’s murderer. Day by day I have to give up what I want, because when I became a Christian, I gave all my ‘rights’ to Jesus.”

  “That sounds hard!”

  “Not as hard as becoming bitter,” Dani countered. “Not as hard as becoming a drug addict. Not as hard as dying and being cut off from the love of God forever.”

  For the next few minutes, Eddie threw questions at Dani—harder questions than her professors had ever given her. But she knew that they were not malicious questions, for Eddie suddenly had become alive, his face quick with interest. Finally he paused, then asked, “Can I borrow that Bible?”

  “I brought it for you, Eddie,” Dani said at once. “Are you ready to give your life to God?”

  “No,” he said bluntly. He turned the Bible over in his hands, staring at it. “I’ve always been a guy who wanted to know what he’s getting into. Never was able to jump into things without thinking it over.” A shadow crossed his face, and he added, “I don’t have much time, but I want to read about Jesus. I don’t know anything, really. But I’ve got twenty hours a day to read.” He tried to smile, and failed. “I hope what you’re saying is right, Miss Ross. Guy in my situation, he needs something solid.”

  Dani saw that it was not time to press Eddie, so she said, “We all do, Eddie. I’ll pray for you to find the Lord.” Then she took a deep breath, and said, “And I haven’t given up on getting you out of here.” She smiled at him, wanting to give him some hope. “I’m a very stubborn woman, Eddie. I hate to lose! So now, give me everything you can think of. Give me an angle. Who can I see? What can I turn over? Eddie, sometimes it’s a very small thing that breaks a case—so tell me again, and don’t leave anything out.”

  Eddie was willing, and for the next hour he spoke steadily. Finally he put his hand on his forehead, saying, “That’s all I can remember, Miss Ross—except about the ring. I’d almost forgotten that.”

  “What ring?”

  “A big ruby ring that Cory had gotten. Had to be from a rich man—which meant Russell. I told her he’d want payment, but she just laughed and told me she could handle him. She wore it all the time, never taking it off, but it wasn’t on her finger when she—when they found her.”

  “What did it look like?”

  “Big, maybe two carats or more. And the band was like a golden snake, even had two small rubies for eyes.” He dropped his hand and met her eyes. “Anything in it for you?”

  Dani had listened intently, trying to pick up on something that might help. She picked up her purse, saying, “I’m going to go back to where you were found, Eddie. Go over the area with a fine-tooth comb. Then I’ll go talk to Cory’s family.” She put her hand out and took his firmly. “I’ll see you soon, Eddie. Don’t give up!”

  Prejean held her hand, his eyes fixed on hers. “Thanks for coming, and thanks for not giving up.” He dropped her hand and riffled the leaves of the small Bible. “I’ll read this. Gotta be something in it if it makes folks like you, Dani!”

  Dani left the prison, got into the Cougar, and drove out of the parking lot. She knew that nothing had changed—at least not insofar as Eddie Prejean’s fate was concerned. The date of the execution was moving inexorably closer. She had no new evidence to take to the courts. The governor was not going to give a stay or a pardon.

  All seemed dark and gloomy, yet in her heart she felt that something had changed. Nothing she could talk about to anyone. It was one of those very private, intimate certainties that came to her from time to time. She had no name for it, yet it was a sort of peace that forced all doubts and fears to flee. It was as if a light had gone on in a dark room, forcing all the darkness to flee.

  As she drove down the narrow highway, Dani wondered what God was up to. She felt more keenly alive and aware than she had since she’d first taken the Prejean case. The burden lifted. She wished she could always have the sense of lightness that enveloped her, the certainty that no m
atter how dark the way, or how hopeless the circumstances, all was in strong hands. Hands so strong that she could rest from worry and care.

  It was a good feeling, and it made the trip to Angola seem right. As she drove along, she began to sing, the joy spilling out of her. She was happy and filled with joy. She broke off singing long enough to say, “Thank you, Lord, for being God!”

  11

  An Unexpected Treasure

  * * *

  No one had put up a marker to identify the spot where Cory Louvier’s body had been found. As Dani drove carefully along the abandoned logging road, she tried to keep one eye on the map, while at the same time looking for one of the landmarks she’d been given by a reluctant sergeant at the Baton Rouge police station.

  Taking her eyes off the road, she dropped one front wheel into a cavernous rut left by a logging truck, the blow snapping her jaw shut with a distinct click. She gunned the engine and the Cougar roared, shattering the silence of the grove. A flock of doves flew up, their long slender bodies and delicate necks outlined against the cool blue of the sky. Gaining control of the bucking car, Dani wound around between stands of second growth pine and scrub oak. At one point, a deer crossing in front of her gave one startled look, then exploded into that most graceful of all motions as it seemed to alternate between an earthbound run and a floating glide that quickly took it out of sight.

  The road narrowed until the Cougar had to squeeze through the scraping branches, and Dani wondered who would back up if she encountered another vehicle. But none came, and finally she reached one of the landmarks the sergeant had given her.

  A rough wooden bridge spanned a small creek, and on a tree beside the small structure, a peeling sign hung by one corner from a thick sweet gum tree. The metal sign was so badly peppered with bullet holes that it took Dani a few moments to decipher the words—No Hunting!