Two Blind Men and a Fool
by Sherman Smith
Chapter 48: An Affectation Mocking Victory
There had been no chance of escape on the ride back to Omaha. Now Elroy sat in a featureless cell and waited; his one shot in the dark was gone. Now he expected prison time. They had him tied and hamstrung three different ways with buffalo-sized cops watching his every move. Waiting was a bitch. Waiting, for what?
He had expected to be held at the Omaha hospital only a couple of hours. The cops were eager to get custody of him. He shouldn’t have pissed them off; now it would be payback time.
The thing he most regretted was giving the bitch his real name. Talk about stupid. If they linked him to the guy he had killed on the train, he could get life. Does Nebraska have the death penalty? He didn’t know.
And what about San Francisco? Did I do someone in there? He hoped it was Stella. If it was the blind man, no jury would give him a second thought.
It’s all that bitch Stella’s fault, if only she hadn’t pried into my business and stolen my money. If he ever got out of this jam, he knew exactly what he was going to do with Stella.
The door swung open.
OK, show time, he thought as he held out his handcuffed hands. It was Nurse Moldawsky, and she did not look any too happy. “Well, well,” he sneered, “don’t tell me you’re going to miss me.”
Two orderlies stood behind her. No cops. The last time he had to deal with these gorillas, they had been none too gentle. The fact that there were no cops raised the hairs on the back of his neck. Are they going to send me back to the nut house? It might be better than death row, he thought.
“On the contrary, Mr. Hawks, or Woody. We will miss you. Your dream about me being dead was in error. You’re the one who’s dead. You died by a lethal injection in San Francisco. The chief physician at the veterans’ hospital and a police officer have both certified to your untimely demise.”
She gave a curt nod to one of the orderlies, who stepped forward and roughly grabbed Elroy’s handcuffed wrists. “The man you assaulted died two days ago. Apparently there is no way to say that his death was immediately caused by your assault. There are no witnesses, and since you’re dead, all charges have been dropped. It seems that it is very difficult to sentence someone to life in prison when he’s already deceased.”
A key clicked and the handcuffs slid from his wrists.
“Good day, Woody. Mr. Hawks.”
Elroy smiled, an affectation mocking victory.
To be continued...
Copyright © 2013 by Sherman Smith
