Another Last Chance

by Tristan Walker

  “That is what I thought,” said Corporal Gibson, as Kevin failed to answer his question. He turned to walk away.

  “No wait,” Kevin said, stopping him. “I was just trying to remember what went on.”

  “Hmm.” The corporal shook his head. Their eyes were locked on each other. “So now you trying to tell me you can’t remember making that confession?”

  “No.” Kevin lifted his hand and started shaking his head as if he was having a nervous breakdown. “I remember making a confession, but not on anything concerning ah murder.”

  The corporal turned away and took a short breath and exhaled long and hard. He started thinking. Kevin observed him quietly.

  After a few minutes he shook his head in disappointment. “Listen, I trying to talk to you but if you plan to continue like this, having this conversation wouldn’t make any sense,” he said and folded his arms across his chest. Within a short time Kevin was beginning to feel intimidated by the way the corporal was just standing there watching him.

  “Okay, on the document you see. How much charges you saw me confess to?” Kevin asked, breaking the silence.

  The corporal waited a few seconds before answering. “About forty something, why?”

  “Because, the confession I make was only fourteen charges. I remember flipping through the fourteen pages and then signing at the back of the last one. All the information was on one side of the page and the opposite side was blank. Except for the last page.” He could tell that the corporal wasn’t understanding where he was getting at.

  “I know this whole thing sounding confusing, but I could prove that I telling the truth. I remember seeing ah camera in the room. If you look back at the cameras, you would see that I only flipped through fourteen pages, not forty like what you saying.”

  The corporal looked as though he was considering it. He was studying something for a short moment before speaking.

  “So, you saying it only had fourteen charges in your confession?” he asked in a low concerned voice.

  “Yeah, and it didn’t have nothing about any murder.”

  “Hmm, okay.” The corporal started walking away. “I have some things to organize, but I would check it once I get a chance.”

  Kevin blew out a breath of relief. He then stuck his hands through the bars with his palms together. “Thanks. I would really appreciate if you check it, because you would see for yourself and realize that I telling you the truth.”

  The corporal turned and quietly walked away. Kevin waited a while and then went to the bench and took a seat. There were a lot of thoughts going through his mind and that made it very difficult for him to focus on one thing for more than a few seconds. He was uneasy as he anxiously waited for the corporal to return from reviewing the cameras.

  About an hour after he heard someone approaching and as he hoped for the best he finally saw the corporal appear at his cell. He looked worried. Kevin got up and went to him.

  “You get a chance to look at the cameras?” Kevin spoke first.

  “Yeah.” The corporal looked at him and nodded with a frown. It seemed as though his mind was somewhere else.

  “And?”

  “Well, yeah… It really had fourteen pages.

  Kevin smiled and slapped his hand on the bar, expressing his relief. “See what I tell you? I don’t have any reason to lie for something like that. Especially to you.”

  “Yeah.” The corporal was quiet for a moment. “Something here not adding up?” he finally said to himself.

  Kevin waited a while and noticed that the corporal was in deep thoughts and was mumbling something to himself every now and then.

  “You alright?” Kevin said.

  “Yeah, I good.” He straightened up and looked at Kevin. “You have any idea why they would want to put all them extra charges on you?”

  Kevin shifted to the side and leaned his back against the wall. He was putting some thought into the situation. He understood what the corporal was asking and as much as he didn’t want to go into depths when they were back at the hospital, he knew that this was what it had come down to. He remembered the night it had all started and the incident that had led him to the drug house. He looked at the corporal who was hoping for an answer that would bring some sought of understanding to the situation.

  “Ah little while ago when you come back from watching the tape, I hear you say, something wasn’t adding up. What make you say that?” Kevin said in a low voice, trying to analyze whether he was a worthy enough person to confide in. Kevin said this without looking in his direction.

  “Because I working in this service long enough to know, police not going to throw so much charges on one person and lock him away for good unless he witness something. And, throughout my years, this is the worst I ever see.”

  Kevin was impressed by how close he was to figuring it out. “Well, in that case, you have a good idea what going on.” Kevin eyes got closer to him.

  “So… What if I tell you it have plenty corruption going on in the police service, you would believe me?”

  The corporal hesitated. “Well, I can’t deny it. But I was never in that. In fact, I get some superior officers in trouble when I just join the Service. That is one of the reasons why I is still a corporal at my age.”

  “Yeah, well, the only reason I standing here and talking to you is because of them kind of officers. The ones who would do anything and everything possible just not to get caught. They not working alone either. So it easy for them to pull it off.”

  The corporal seemed interested to hear everything that Kevin wanted to say.

  “Alright, but what kind of corruption you talking about here?”

  “Drugs…” Kevin said. The corporal didn’t seem surprised and after a while he nodded in agreement.

  “Okay, I wouldn’t doubt it. It does have a lot of rumours going around that plenty of the top heads own drug blocks in different areas.”

  Kevin shook his head. “I wouldn’t doubt the drug blocks either. But what I talking about plenty bigger than that. Is not just a simple block I talking about. Is a whole drug house.”

  The corporal eyes widened and he cleared his throat with a cough. He had a worried look on his face as if he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to hear anything else about it. He worked his hands through his hair in a frustrated way and then glanced up and down the corridor to make sure there wasn’t anyone eavesdropping on their conversation.

  “Okay… I understand what you saying. But tell me something. How you manage to get tie up in all of this? I mean, from where it start?”

  Kevin looked at him and studied whether there were any risks in telling him everything that he wanted to know. Then he reminded himself that they had deliberately altered his confession and because of that, he was scheduled for a lifetime behind bars.

  No matter how personal his encounter had been, he knew it would be worth it to find that one person who would be willing to get their hands on the truth. It was then that he’d made up his mind to tell him all the important details from where it had all started to the moment they’d met at the hospital.

  Kevin signaled him to come closer and he began to fill him in as quietly as possible.

  During the conversation the corporal would stop him at certain points and check the corridor and the other prison cells to make sure they were not being overheard.

  It took Kevin almost forty-five minutes to relive his experiences without being interrupted by any questions. When he was finished the corporal had left to check on his officers in the charge room and he’d returned about thirty minutes later with a cup of coffee and a large bottle of water which he’d given to Kevin. Kevin thanked him and started drinking the coffee while it was hot.

  He just couldn’t get a grip of it. Kevin allowed him that time to think.

  When the coffee was finished Kevin crumpled the cup and threw it into the sink, and as if it was a cue, the corporal spoke.

  “Right… I now remember where I know them of
ficers at the hospital from.” He seemed proud that he had collected his thoughts. “Them is ASP Ferdinand boys.”

  Kevin had no idea who he was speaking about, but he was glad that they were getting somewhere. Even if it meant he’d have to go to prison and someone in authority would be able to see the video sometime in the future, Kevin couldn’t ask for anything more.

  “He not easy though!”

  “What you mean by that?” Kevin became a bit concerned.

  “He have a lot of complaints filed against him of abusing his authority and he was on trial once for murdering two brothers. Nothing never come out of that, though.”

  “How come?”

  The corporal looked at Kevin.

  “The one and only State witness was murdered before the case did finish.”

  Kevin’s eyes strayed from the corporal’s. He was becoming worried. Not because of the murders but because of the fact that the asp knew his way around the system. It was only then that he realized his stomach was starting to feel irritated by the coffee. He opened the bottle of water and took a long drink. It was like he’d been confident throughout the entire conversation until now. He was beginning to realize that he wasn’t going up against any regular group of officers. They were possibly the most notorious within the service.

  They were both quiet for a while.

  “What about the other officers? You ever hear anything about them?”

  “Yeah, I know the one with the tattoo on his neck too. Everybody know him. His name is Marlon Davis. He on suspension a few years now though.”

  Corporal Gibson was also looking disappointed with his results.

  “That whole crew you talking about is ah set of rejects. No wonder they causing so much chaos.”

  Kevin could understand the corporal’s concern now.

  The place had gotten quiet for the longest time since they had started talking and although the corporal was standing right there his mind seemed distant. It was like he was already willing to give up before even attempting to help. He looked at Kevin with a face filled with regret and disappointment and then looked at the time on his watch.

  “Yuh know, as much as I would like to help, you get yourself tie up in something real big here. You have no idea. Plus, the hardest working officers in Police Complaints couldn’t stop them, much less a nobody like you, or a small fries like me. Sorry to say.”

  “Yeah, that might be true, but… that memory card is good evidence and all I really need is some kind of help to get it out there.” Kevin stuck his hands through the bars as he pleaded with him.

  “You don’t understand. It not that simple. You would need all the help you could get…”

  “I know, but you could help me. I would tell you where it is and you and some of yuh officers could get it and show it to somebody who could help.”

  “No.” He shook his head. “That is not even a good idea.” Within that moment he quickly apologized and told Kevin that he wouldn’t be able to get involved and started walking away.

  “Yeah, but I need some kind of help. They going to put me away forever. I don’t deserve this.” Kevin said as tears started to fill his eyes. He cleared his throat.

  As much as he wanted to shout out to the corporal, he’d maintain that respectable amount of privacy that they had shared earlier. The corporal was already at the beginning of the hallway.

  “Corporal, I don’t deserve this. I done plan to change my life… I swear.” Kevin held onto the bars. “Corporal…?”

  The corporal stopped.

  “Corporal, please…”

  The corporal stood there for a while and then he started walking again.

  Kevin continued begging until the corporal’s shadow and the sound of his footsteps had vanished from eye and ear.

  Kevin sat on the floor. His face was already covered in tears and his eyes and throat were beginning to feel sore.

  That was the first time since he had accepted the confession statement from the investigator that he had thought about what he had done. And the sudden change was because of thoughts of being separated from his unborn child.

  He had given away his freedom and now Shantel and his baby would be the ones who’d have to suffer the consequence of living without him. It was a feeling that was destroying him from the inside out. A feeling that was making it hard for him to concentrate on anything else beside the baby’s little face. Or at least what he believed their child would look like.

  As time passed and silence filled the room, Kevin’s mind drifted and he imagined himself holding his baby in his arms as Shantel stood in the kitchen preparing the bottle of milk. They both seemed happy and relaxed as they smiled at a joke that was said sometime before his imagination took him there. From there his thoughts went to his child as a toddler. Running and playing in the park with him giving chase. Shantel was lying on a picnic blanket a distant away, laughing at the way the little child was controlling Kevin’s footsteps. It was a beautiful day, with big white clouds and blue skies.

  Kevin came back to his present situation. He remembered yesterday morning having a similar atmosphere and then he realized that it wasn’t just the day that was beautiful. It became obvious, that compared to everything he’d been through, he hadn’t had a dull moment in the past. Circumstances would definitely make someone appreciate the littlest things in life, and although he might not have the opportunity to correct what he’d done wrong, he was appreciating the life he once had, more and more every second.

  He opened his eyes, distracted by an odour that was circulating the room. It was the scent of all the previous prisoners that he hadn’t yet got accustomed to. It was at its strongest every time air came through the vent.

  Kevin got up and went to the bag taking out a change of clothes and then went to the sink to freshen up. When he was finished he returned to the bench.

  The newspapers that covered the bench were now cold and the smell reminded him of a wet stray dog.

  He removed as much as he could and threw it in a corner of the cell. He then used another set of clothes from inside the bag to spread on the bench like a blanket and lay down, hoping to get some rest until they were ready for him to organize for court in the morning.

  Kevin heard someone calling his name and he turned around towards the bars.

  He immediately sat up, surprised to see that the corporal was standing right there in front of him. The place was still dark, and he was a little disoriented, but because of his shoulders and joint pains from lying on the bench, he was sure that it wasn’t a dream.

  Kevin noticed that the cell gate was wide open and when his eyes met with the corporal’s face he recognized that same concerned look that he had earlier when he’d figured out who the officers were.

  Kevin had no idea what was taking place. Whether he was about to have his freedom, or the opportunity to talk to the person who could make it possible.

  The corporal was quiet and hesitant, and he seemed as if he was having two minds about whatever he was deciding to do.

  As much as Kevin wanted to say something he kept quiet, afraid that breaking the silence would cause the corporal to change his mind.

  “You know,” the corporal said after a few moments had passed. “You would never find another officer who willing to risk everything for a so-called criminal. And, to make matters worse, a stranger.” The corporal slowly shook his head. “But no matter how hard I try to get this situation out of my head, it just there making me uneasy.”

  He was staring at Kevin straight in his face, and Kevin was trying to figure out exactly what the corporal had in mind.

  The corporal turned to the open gate and then looked back at him.

  “I going to help you get that footage in the right hands,” the corporal said in a whisper, and there was already a trace of regret in his voice. “At the end of the day, is your choice. The gate open. All you have to do is go down this corridor here.” He pointed to the corridor which was the opposite direction from the c
harge room.

  “Don’t worry, it have two cameras over yuh head, but none of them working.”

  Kevin looked at the gate and started to contemplate his choices.

  “But, let me tell you something. Once you walk out that gate it not going to be easy. The service going to come after you with everything they have, from k9 to helicopters, and even soldiers.”

  The corporal waited a while, giving Kevin a chance to absorb everything that he had just said.

  Kevin appreciated what he was doing and as much as he wanted to be free, he was worried about the corporal’s safety.

  “What about you?”

  The corporal shook his head. “Don’t worry about me. I in this thing long enough to know that shit happens. You is ah important prisoner, but this is not the first time a prisoner escape, and it wouldn’t be the last. Plus, I don’t have long again to go. I retiring in three months time after thirty-three years of service.”

  Kevin felt a lot better. He started to think of all the bad things that could happen to him before retrieving the memory card.

  He knew he had come a long way, but on the other hand he also knew what the corporal was saying was true, and once he decided to walk out of the station, he’d have to step up his game.

  He was holding a piece of paper in his hand and he gave it to Kevin. Kevin opened it and saw a news reporter’s name and the address for the news station which was located right here in Port-of-Spain. Kevin was familiar with seeing her appearing on the news.

  “Me and Corbett-Smith is good friends from way back. I would call and tell she everything, so she would be expecting you. Just make sure and get that memory card, okay?”

  “Yeah, okay.”

  Corporal Gibson gave him directions on how to reach the exit at the back of the station and reminded him that once he decided to leave there was only two possible ways that it would end. Either with him being killed, or with him getting the footage to the reporter who would broadcast it on live tv, and then there was no telling what would happen.

  The corporal gave him a hundred-dollar bill and Kevin thanked him for everything and before leaving the cell he assured him that he would thank him again when everything was over.