Samson

by Barton, Kathi S

  “I have several people willing to take a mortgage out on their home to get me the best attorney there is. When I started this, I just thought that Allie would save me so that I could murder her too. But now that I’ve gotten all this support, I feel like I really could win this shit. I know I stand a better chance than I did before.” Pacing the room, Howie bumped into the vampire twice before he moved out of his path. “You see how that works? I, a lowly human, just made this bad assed vampire move out of my way. I didn’t have to use threats or anything. You just did it all on your own. That is what the power of people thinking you’re done unjustly can do for you. Well, for me, in this case. So, why don’t you tell me why you’re here, and then I’ll tell you no, and you can go back to your lair.”

  “You’ll stop firing the attorneys that come to you.” The compulsion hit him hard, and he staggered back from it. “If you fire even one more, I’ll gladly show you how powerful you are. I will kill you like this.”

  The images made him ill. Holding onto the wall, Howie saw just how powerful the vampire was. Not only that, but just how creative he was as well. The things that he’d do to his body and to his head were things that even he, a self-proclaimed monster, would never have thought of.

  When he seemed to pause in his work, the vampire looked right at him. It was as if he knew that he was on the outside looking in. That he was somehow watching him from the past and wanted to make sure that he saw it all.

  As he lifted up his head, the one in the image, Howie saw that his eyes were open as he hung from the man’s hand. The rest of his body was strewn all over the ground, parts of himself laying so far apart from where the vampire stood that Howie was sure that he’d tossed them as far as he could. But what really freaked him out the most was that it appeared that he was smiling. Howie wanted out of this dream. Wanted to tell the vampire to go to hell.

  Before he could leave the thoughts, images, or whatever the hell they were, they stopped. Howie found himself in the cell again, his toys that he detested lined up on his bed now like an audience at a play. They were all smiling at him, and when he looked closer, he could see that they all had fangs.

  Moving back quickly, he hit his head on the wall and felt his world tilt and sway. He knew that this was his sister’s doing. But mostly he knew that there was very little he could do about it. Not yet, anyway. As he closed his eyes against the pain on the back of his head, he thought of all the things he was going to add to his list of shit he was going to do to her.

  Howie knew that his sister had loved him at one time. He had vivid memories of her taking him out in the yard to play with him. She would read him stories late at night when one of his dreams of what he would turn out to be haunted him.

  Even when he’d been in first grade, she’d made sure that he had his books with him, his homework was finished up, and that he had his lunch. She even had gone so far as to safety pin his mittens to his coat so that he’d not lose them.

  Not that his parents didn’t do the same things for him. Dad had taken him to sign up for football one year. But he’d been cut from the team when it was apparent that he wasn’t going to play nicely. They’d been at all his basketball games—right up until, again, he was cut from the team. Howie wondered now why they’d not seen what the teachers had seen. That he was a monster. A term that he loved to call himself.

  When he’d been about ten, just before he decided that he’d had enough of trying to make himself be as normal as his sister and parents, he’d gone to see a shrink. It had not turned out well for anyone. The man had told Mom and Dad that he wasn’t right in the head and said that he needed more evaluation.

  That wasn’t exactly what he said, but he understood Howie well enough to know that he was a freak of nature. Their nature, not his own. Howie had tried, hard, to be like them. Of course, that hadn’t stopped him from going outside the lines of society to do what he seemed to need.

  Killing once or twice a week was what got him through. Then it grew to being three to four times a week before it went to every night. It was something that he didn’t just crave, but he needed like one does food or air to breathe.

  Even Heath, who hung out with him more than his sisters, didn’t know about his thirst for death. No, that wasn’t right—his thirst for killing. Smiling, he thought of the way he had to satisfy this need more than he did even food or water after a while.

  Sitting up after the pain seemed to dissipate, he wondered what his sister would do when he got off. There was no doubt that he would. He was a minor, and his brother and sister had been killers and thieves long before he’d joined them. Howie knew too that the courts would take that into consideration.

  All the things that he’d done could be blamed squarely on them. It wasn’t as if they were there to dispute his word or anything. Not to mention, there was no one but Allie to say whether or not he’d done anything to their parents.

  Howie knew that he was smart. Smart enough to understand that if he did anything with witnesses that he needed to take care of them. If he killed, then make sure that there wasn’t a body just lying around for him to be caught with. Also, and this was a biggy—he needed to keep his friends close and his enemies much closer. That wasn’t his saying, but he’d used it as a measuring stick since he’d heard it.

  “Howard Sheppard? My name is Fred Benson. I’ve been sent here as your court appointed attorney to talk to you about your court date. It’s in a couple of days, and I’d like to go over a few things with you.” It was on the tip of his tongue to tell him that he didn’t want an attorney, but he paused as the man continued. “They said that we could use one of the private rooms, but I’m to ask you if you’re going to fire me first or not.”

  “I’m not.” It had been difficult for him to say that to him. He didn’t want a court appointed anything. He figured that the town would rally around him and give him the best. But no matter how much he tried, there wasn’t going to be any way that he could turn the man away. “As much as I’d like to tell you to fuck off, I’m not able to right now. What do you think my chances are to get home before the end of summer?”

  “How about we cross that bridge when we get to it? I have a list of things that I’d like to go over with you. Also, there is the testimony of your sister that we have to worry about.” Howie told him he wasn’t worried about Allie. “Are you sure? I’m to understand that she has some pretty damning information about you that could set you up for a pretty long prison time.”

  “Allie wouldn’t hurt me. She’s my older sister.” Mr. Benson asked him if he wanted to go over it, so they’d be prepared. “As I said, I’m not worried about Allie. If she does try and harm me with whatever shit she has to say, then the town will take care of her. I’d love to see her driven out of town. But so long as I can get out of here in a reasonable time, then I’m okay with whatever she thinks she has on me.”

  “If that’s the way you want to roll with this.”

  They were taken to a private room. It wasn’t much bigger than his cell, but he was out of the dreary place, and Howie was good with it. “I have some things that you have to read and sign off on. It just says that you’re going to keep me as your attorney and that we discussed the things that I gave to you about your sister. Here it is if you’d like to look it over. Also, Mr. Sheppard, you should know that as of the moment that you and I came in here, we’re being recorded with video and sound. I have a recorder on my shirt here that recorded you telling me that you weren’t going to fire me and what you explained about Mrs. Prince.”

  “Yes, all right.” Howie didn’t bother reading anything but signed the paperwork where there were little tabs. “What do we have to talk about now?”

  “As I said, there are some things that Mrs. Prince has on you that could be—” Howie told him to move on, they’d covered that. “All right. You’re here because you were arrested while in the process of robbing a bank with you
r sister, Serenity Jane Sheppard, aka Lisa Dawn, and your brother, Heath Allen Sheppard, aka Gear Head. Also for the robbery of—”

  Howie cut him off again. He thought it was funny how he’d forgotten that Heath had a name like Gear Head when he could barely answer a cell phone without messing it up.

  “How can they bring up other bank robberies when they have no proof that we were even there?” Howie nearly said because they’d killed all the witnesses, but he caught himself. Benson told him they had proof that they’d committed them. “I’m supposing that this has something to do with the shit that Allie has on me. Or what she thinks she has.”

  “Yes. That’s what I’m to understand. If they find you guilty of this bank, then they can try you for the other ones. Mr. Sheppard, they will try you for murder for those as well.” Again, he told the man he wasn’t worried and wondered what he’d have to do to convince him that he was truly not worried about what his sister had or said about him. “I don’t know what has you thinking that she has nothing against you, but there must be something in that paperwork that you should worry about. Why would they have me tell you that several times, as well as wear a camera while I was talking to you?”

  “My sister thinks she’s so high and mighty about how things must be done. I think that most of what I did should weigh squarely on her shoulders, too. If she’d not pushed me so hard not to be like Serenity or Heath, I think I might not have gone with them.” He’d not thought of that until just this moment and was proud of himself for it. “I mean, when they find me not guilty of this crap, do you think it would be possible for me to sue her for what she’s done to me?”

  “I’m doubting that, Mr. Sheppard. Your sister didn’t live at home when you left there. You’ve had hardly any contact with her in the years following. As for your childhood years, there is nothing to say that she wasn’t only trying to help bring you up in the correct way.” Howie thought it was still a good shot that he could do that. And win. Especially if it happened around here. Just to hear folks talking about Allie and how she’d treated him made him feel like he was getting in a good jab before he killed her. “There are a few things that we need to discuss.”

  As Benson went on and on about the trial and shit that he’d have to do, he thought of all the things that he was going to do to Allie and her husband. That bastard had married Allie. And if he was stupid enough to do that, then the fucker might as well go down on the burning ship with her.

  When Howie was taken back to his cell, he couldn’t remember one thing that he was supposed to do for this trial. He’d been so engrossed in his fantasies about Allie and whoever had been stupid enough to marry her. He’d just wing it, Howie thought. He’d always been really good at that, and he didn’t think there was any reason why he should do things differently now.

  Yes, he thought. Allie was going to regret the day that she’d cut him off without so much as an I love you, or an I’m sorry. Even if that had been said, Howie was sure that it wouldn’t have made a difference in his feelings for her. Not one single little bit.

  ~~~

  Sampson went over his part of the testimony that he was going to give at the trial. He’d been a witness to the robbery and had killed two of the people during the process of it. He had wondered why he’d not been arrested and found out from Able that everyone had been so grateful that he’d ended their terror, as well as that no bank customers or employees had been killed during the attempted robbery.

  “I was wondering something. You don’t have to answer me if you’d rather not, but why on earth would this young man think anything other than he’s going to be going to prison for the rest of his long life?” Sampson laughed and told him he had no idea. “I’ve heard that your poor wife has been getting some trouble from the townspeople. Not all of them, thankfully, but a few. I’m sure that I know who those few are, and can’t say that I’m surprised by their stupidity.”

  “The Fraser family.” Able nodded and said he was sorry for it. “Yes, well, come to find out, Howie and the rest of the little group of bandits have been giving them money for some time now. The elder Sheppards had cut them off after lending them some money for their gas bill and never getting paid back. They had used the money for a little weekend trip. There was no gas bill that was behind either.”

  “Figures. People are so.... Well, they’re not very nice. Also, before I forget again, have the police found the money yet?” Sampson smiled and said that they had, just that morning. “Good for them. I’m sure it will go a long way in making sure that the people are well compensated for losing family in those robberies. I’m to understand that if there isn’t enough to settle up the lawsuits, then you and your family are going to help out. That’s very nice of you. I’m sure the papers will have a lot to say about that.”

  “We didn’t do it for any kind of kudos. I even think that when Harper was making the arrangements, she told them not to mention where the money came from. We just wanted to make sure that some of the burden of losing someone is lessened. I feel bad for all those broken families.” Able said he did as well. While they were talking about this and that with the trial, Sampson’s mom joined them. “Mom, you remember Able, don’t you?”

  “I do, indeed. While you’re here, Able, I have a question to ask of you. It’s nothing important, but it might be the closer we get to the trial. I was wondering what we should wear.” Able glanced at him then looked at his mom, both him and Able confused. “Let me explain. With all the things that are being said about Allie, I was thinking that we should go in there, showing the people that are talking that we don’t give a crapola about the rumors going around about one of our own. Or, since it’s been so recent that the other two have passed on, do we wear black to show that we’re still upset about their deaths? At least we’re supporting Allie in her grief.”

  “Are any of you upset about their deaths? Including Allie?” Mom snorted and told Able that she doubted that anyone was mourning anything about them. “Just as I thought. Allie is going to be the first, and I hope the only witness we call. You’ll be there for support to our claim, Sampson, but other than that, Allie is pretty much going to be doing the dirty work. I’m surprised, if you want the truth, by how happy she is to be doing this.”

  “She has been getting some flak since it was put out there that she left him in the courtroom without offering him any support. It broke her heart today when one of the Fraser boys spit at her. I wish I’d have had my camera out when they did it too. Allie simply looked at the boy and then let her cat take her. That kid might still be running for all I know. She sure has a lot of guts—when out in public, I mean.” Sampson asked Sara what had happened after that. “Allie went to the ladies’ room at the closest restaurant and cried. I could hear her sobs all the way in the dining area. I’m sure that most of the shifters in there did as well. When she came out, we sat down, she ordered and then pretended like there wasn’t a thing wrong with sobbing like she was. I think she got her a few protectors by not showing how hurt she was. One young man even bought our lunch, he felt so bad for her.”

  “I’ll talk to her.” Mom told him to leave her alone. She’d done well. “She’s been crying herself to sleep at night. There is only so much I can ignore, Mom. My heart breaks every time she does that.”

  “I understand that son, but she needs to deal with this on her own. She will too. When this is over, she’ll feel bad for her part in this, but it will be what she needs in the long run. To make sure that justice is served and he doesn’t get out like he thinks he will.” Sampson asked Mom if she ever thought that he would. “I don’t know. Stranger things have happened. However, Aurora is keeping an eye on things for us. She’s been helping with the bodies as well. I have to be honest with you, I would never have believed that he could have been such a person. Not with knowing his sister the way that we do. Have you seen any of the things he’s sent her?”

  “Yes, all of them. I wa
tched them with Able. He’s a sick individual, and he deserves whatever he gets out of this.” Mom stood up, and so did Able. “I’m taking her away when this is finished. I wanted to tell you that before I tell her. Allie has been concentrating so hard on the things with this that she’s not said a word about a honeymoon. I told her that we’d see the world, but I don’t think she heard me.”

  “She was sitting in her office chair earlier, and I had to snap my fingers in front of her to get her attention. Your father is going to get her to go with him today when he tries to find us something smaller to drive around. That truck we have is very nice, but it’s nothing we’d want to be caught out in this winter.” Sampson asked how that was going to work. “I told him what I wanted, and he’s going to try and talk her into helping him pick it out. Should be easy, don’t you think?”

  All he could think about was that nothing was ever easy when it came to his dad. He had a way about him that would make anyone like him, but he could screw something up so badly you’d wonder why anyone trusted him at all when it came to some jobs.

  Dad could not make a computer, phone, or anything else electrical work to save his life. Answering a phone call was easy for him, but if he had to take a picture, send something, or even look something up on one of the devices they had, you might as well have done it yourself. It would have been faster, and there would have been a great deal less cursing involved.

  When Allie returned home about an hour later, she looked beaten. Instead of asking her what was going on, Sampson picked her up in his arms and carried her to the living room. It was too hot for a fire to be going, but he still snuggled her up in one of the many blankets that were on the back of the couch. As he held her, he told her what he’d been doing all day.