"What do you want me to say?" Roger said.
"Just tell me what happened," the Captain said. "Starting with Mr. Bolton and Margie Todd."
"Is he going to go to jail, too?"
"We're going to do everything we can to get him there," the captain said.
That made Roger feel better. He didn't want to be the only one. He didn't want to suffer alone.
"Okay," Roger said. "One day, Mr. Bolton came to my house..."
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Diana ran into Deborah in the hallway outside her mother's room. Deborah wore a big smile and an extra set of bracelets that jangled as she talked.
"What a treat," she said. "Two days in a row. And you're lucky. We're having a good day today. Your mom's wide awake and alert."
Diana smiled. She didn't have the energy to speak, and she knew if she stayed for any length of time, she'd fall asleep in the chair next to her mom's bed. She was so tired that the prospect of giving herself over to sleep didn't worry her. She didn't know if the visions would stop now. She didn't know what the future held. She had no job, no lover, and not much of a life. But she still had a mother. And at least she'd done something to change the lives of others.
Her mom smiled when she came in.
"Hi, Mom." Diana moved over to the bed and squeezed her mom's hand. "Do you know who I am, Mom? Do you recognize me?"
Her mom's smile grew wider. "You're my daughter," she said.
"That's right, Mom. I'm your daughter. And I'll stay as long as you need me."
About the Author
David Jack Bell is the author of The Condemned, which was released by Delirium Books in 2008. His short fiction has appeared in or is forthcoming from Cemetery Dance, Western Humanities Review, Backwards City Review, and many other journals. He is an Assistant Professor of English at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky where he lives with his wife, Molly McCaffrey. You can visit his official website at www.davidjackbell.com.
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