The Unwilling(125)

Reece shook his head, still struggling. “Who are you?”

“I work for the warden, if that makes a difference.” She offered a sealed envelope. “Will you accept the letter or not?”

He took it with numb fingers, and she left with a final glance of disapproval. The envelope was thick, creamy, and expensive. It terrified him. Reece broke the seal, and removed a single page. He tried to focus, but the crowd was growing restless and very loud. Near the front, people began to push and shove, to actually shout. The noise spread like a wave. It rose, crashed, and spilled, in seconds, to the place Reece stood.

There would be no execution.

The prisoner was gone.

Rumor? News? Reece couldn’t know, but he stumbled back, as if from an imminent, physical threat. He found a place between two cars, but the chaos only grew. People were pushing and fighting. Others stood in stunned disbelief. Reece tried to read what he’d been given, but his hands were shaking so hard he had to crouch between the cars, and put the letter on the ground.

He read it twice as a dark stain spread in his lap.





Epilogue



LANESWORTH PRISON

May 18, 1972

My Dear Reece,

Or should I call you Teddy? That is your name, isn’t it? Theodore Small, born forty-two years ago in Fairhope, Alabama? It was your mother, I believe, who liked to call you Teddy. And curl your hair, I’ve been told. And dress you in lace.

But I digress …

The point I wish to make is achingly simple. I have broken no promise—I never would. It was Jason French who came for you, and he did it gratis.

But I digress again. Strange how that happens once there are so many thoughts to fill the mind …

Specifically, Teddy, my thoughts are of you, and of what might happen when next we meet. They are such deep and lovely thoughts, an endless parade. And I must thank you from the bottom of this bottomless heart. Before you made me so angry, I had little reason to feel or care or live. Now I burst with purpose …

I imagine this is disconcerting to you, but do take comfort from my other solemn vow. Once I am dead, you are perfectly safe.

Until such time, I remain yours,

X