by Mark Porto
Georgia recommends he not talk to the police unless she’s present. “I know about the pressure they’re experiencing in Black Meadows and Tappan County in finding the killer, I know about this information through various channels. Also, Richards’ killing was in the County Courthouse where many judicial officials are worried.”
Johnny reiterated the question about his dog; Georgia says she’ll file the order and he gets his dog by the end of today or tomorrow. His voice sounds chipper. “That’s so great; I don’t know how to thank you.
Georgia says he won’t feel that way after sending the bill, they laugh, while accepting the reality. “I’ll try to go easy on the bill.”
Johnny left to run an errand for his mother.
When he returns a half an hour later, Sal grabs his arm asking if he was involved with those slayings of those convicts. Johnny whisks his arms away asking why.
Sal’s face is red, he pauses for a moment, roughly rubbing his temples, “Look, I understand what you’ve been going through since Doreen died...”
Johnny takes a deep breath, “Pa, she was murdered. Secondly, I knew these guys in prison, they abused people both in and out of there and it could’ve been anybody. I knew one guy there who threatened to kill that bunch, a hundred times a day. So, before you cast a shadow on me, please think about what I said.”
During that time, Anita walks into the room, wondering what they were discussing.
Sal tells her about the argument Johnny had with Martinelli, “I think he believes Johnny killed those three men.”
Anita walks up to her son asking if he was responsible by grabbing his arms and looking him in the eye. Johnny looks at her to deny any involvement.
Johnny ran from them to his car and drives to the cemetery in Londonderry to visit Doreen’s grave. After saying a prayer, he sits down with his hands in front of his face; the serenity of the ossuary gave him repose. “My darling, I’m so sorry, I got you into this, I hope you have forgiven me.” He begins crying.
The strong winds from the north wiped the tears from his eyes, but more came as he focuses on her name that was carved into the tombstone. Before leaving, he places a white rose on the stone.
About a week later, “Wild Willy” Dickenson is driving down the city’s main road and parked in a public lot, he was dressed in khakis walking into the City Bank of Black Meadows, looks around before standing in the middle of the lobby, pulls out a sawed off shotgun and shouts, “This is a hold up, everybody down!”
The sounds of screaming and scattering and panic are heard as “Wild Willy” shoots a bullet into the ceiling. Shortly thereafter, he points the shotgun at everyone.
During the chaos, he grabs a pregnant teller by the hair ordering her to open the safe. He lets her go in order for her to get the combination; she sweats and hyperventilates while trying to turn the knob as quickly as possible.
“Wild Willy” points a gun to her head shouting, “Come on, lady, open it up!” He utters several expletives getting in front of her to open the door.
He pushes her inside ordering her to fill up the large sack with as much money as possible; the bag has a strap which fit over the shoulder. “Wild Willy” puts his arm around the pregnant woman’s neck with the gun to her head. When the alarm was tripped, it summons the police, they arrived with several cars, and the officers automatically had their guns drawn toward the main entrance of the bank.
The bank robber sees them and opens the window, shouting demanding a car and safe passage to the airport.
During this time, Johnny sees the commotion, but stays away from danger. He was going to go into the bank to run an errand for his father. He asks Patrolman McTerry what was going on, he orders him to stay away, because there was a robbery and hostage situation in progress.
While Johnny’s face is bright crimson when he hears “Wild Willy’s” voice as he watched the pregnant bank teller sweat and pleaded with her eyes for her life.
Johnny left the scene walking over to a Rent-A-Jacoby Place. His car was kept on a road just outside the city; the bank was about a half a mile from the city boundary. He, behind the bank puts on a wig. At the place, he uses an assumed name, David Baker, with a British accent.
Upon leaving the establishment, he spent a little time with the car; he took off the wig and put it in a bag. He returns to the hostage scene telling a patrolman he had the car.
As soon as he arrives, “Wild Willy” storms out of the bank with his hostage. He shouts at the top of his lungs, “Where the –, “uttering an obscenity, “is my car?!” His eyes were dilated as the woman writhing in his grip. “Wild Willy” further yells, “I’m getting --,”uttering another expletive. “I want the damn car!” He cocks the hammer while his hostage shivers.
The police try to appease him, “We just got one.” Johnny hands the keys to the police officer, who, in turn gives them to “Wild Willy.”
He shouts that he’s taking her with him and drags her toward the car when Johnny steps forward smiling at him asking if he remembered him. The police tell him to stay away. “Wild Willy’s” morose face turns abominable, releasing the pregnant woman. She flees crying to an officer, who takes her to a doctor.
As “Wild Willy” is driving the car, he smiles, “Man, I didn’t believe you and I would ever see each other again. Now, I have a million in cash and a hostage I don’t like.” He says holding the steer wheel tight.
Johnny nearly bursts out laughing, “Oh, it’s a shame you’re so joyful, because pal, you haven’t got long!” He begins whistling the tune of The Funeral March.
“Wild Willy’s” smile quickly evaporates turning turns to him, “Man, what are you talking about? I’m driving and you’re the hostage.”
He puts his hand on the dashboard, “Oh, no, I’ve got the upper hand, you see, “Wild Willy”; I killed Troy Grayson, Carl Lucero and Tommy Richards.” His lips were straight as his mood match the fierceness of his eyes.
At first, “Wild Willy” is laughing, but a moment later, Johnny saw his frown with enlarged eyes. “Man, you ain’t kiddin’, are you?” Johnny’s head oscillates while “Wild Willy” starts breaking out in a drenching sweat.
“Not a chance in hell.” Johnny puts his hand on the money bag, “And you, ‘Wild Willy’ are next.” yelling, “You’re the one who killed Doreen, you son of a whore!” He pounds his foot on the accelerator prompting the car to take off on the highway at speeds reaching 95 miles an hour, passing close to Johnny’s car.
As Johnny and “Wild Willy” battle for control of the car, they are nearly hit by a Mack truck then Johnny manages to steer the car onto a back road and drive down for another half a mile, it is by a meadow, where Johnny grabs the money and jumps out. It takes seven hundred and ninety-five feet before he was able to stop. “Wild Willy” looks back, puts the car in reverse and briskly drives towards him; “Wild Willy” was breathing fire and brimstone from his nose.
Johnny was barely able to get up in spite of some blood dripping from his nostrils and lip. He turns around to stare him down, taking a device from his pocket and pushing a detonator. All of a sudden, the top of the car was blown off as both ends of it explode from both directions and a ball of fire ascends from the automobile. “And now, the destruction of the fearsome lot; may you all rot in the fires of hell!”
Despite his weakened condition, Johnny manages to return to his car, which was parked about three-quarters of a mile away. He put the large sack of money in the trunk and used the less used back roads to go home. Upon arriving, he hides the money by digging a hole in the middle of the backyard, a large stick was used to designate the spot.
As he was entering the house, Anita looks at him asking what happened. Johnny sits down as she uses a cloth to clean off his face. She told him his dog was home and waiting for him upstairs. Johnny cracks a smile telling his mother he slipped down and fell on his face, for now, he wanted to go to his room and rest.
When he arrives in the room, he sees the dog resting
near his bed; Johnny gets down on his knees to plays with him. Later on, he rests next to him.
The next morning, Rev. Elijah Daniels pays a visit to the Bellow family. Anita and Johnny greet him at the door welcoming him inside. Johnny says, “How have you been, man?”
“Great, my ministry is just getting started and I’ve been asked to be a full-time assistant pastor in Knickerbocker.”
“That’s wonderful, would you like some coffee?” Anita asks while walking to the kitchen, where she remembers they had prosciutto.
Elijah has the local newspaper with him and shows it to Johnny, which stated:
NOTORIOUS “WILD WILLY” DICKENSON IS IDENTIFIED IN CAR EXPLOSION. Under the headline, there was a picture of him with a perverted look on his face.
“I know being a minister, I have to take the high road, but I’d love to meet the person who is responsible for his demise.”
Johnny smirks, I know who it is, and you’re talking to him, but I’ll never admit it. “I don’t know are you going to officiate at his funeral?” He tries hard to suppress a snicker.
Eli though, laughs aloud while holding his middle to contain his excess laughter, “That’s funny, “Wild Willy” probably never entered a church in his life, he, I know is going to be buried in a boot hill style cemetery.”
“When we were in school, I heard from just about everybody he was bad news.” Johnny remarks while laughing with Eli.
Eli continues, “When we were in seventh grade, he was in the eighth, he used to treat the incoming seventh graders like pledges in a fraternity. He would bully students, both black and white; there he would steal lunch money from them. At the same time, he would skip class and hide out in the bathroom for hours at a time, smoking cigarettes or pot.” Johnny asks if he ever got caught, Eli comments, “Oh, sure, a few times, but the principal, you remember him, was an idiot. He was one of those ‘60s radicals who believed that looking the way at such things was the best policy.
“I’m curious, why did he like to victimize pregnant women?”
Eli leans forward, “Man, I’ll admit it, but this is bizarre.” He explains when “Wild Willy” was a senior in high school, “God only knows how he got that far, there was a very pretty young woman who just lost her husband in the Vietnam War who lived in an apartment complex on the other side of Black Meadows.”
About four months before he was to graduate, “Wild Willy” was courting her. At first, she was having an affair with him for a while, but she discovered she was pregnant, he went berserk by subjecting her to countless tirades and a few times, he struck her. “This resulted in a few male relatives beating the daylights out of him. He was warned if he ever went near her, he’d better have a will.” Johnny asked what happened to the woman, Eli concludes, “She felt town with her male relatives and I heard she gave away the baby, she was sure it was ‘Wild Willy’s.’”
Anita comes out with the prosciutto and coffee asking what they were discussing. Eli said he was telling “Wild Willy’s” story. She shakes her head, sits down to drink her coffee. “You guys are funny.”
Sal came in from a brief walk from the post office. He greets everyone, sits down and has some coffee. He says he ran into an old friend who wanted to get together for a basketball game, two weeks from this Saturday. Anita wasn’t too crazy about sports, but Sal says his old friend from when he worked at a produce warehouse many years, would be picking up the tab for the evening. While Eli couldn’t make it, Anita said she would go.
That night, Johnny suddenly awoke around two in the morning, his dog, “Sparky,” was sitting by his side and he pets his dog for a while.
Suddenly, Johnny hears a car pulls up along the street and a couple of voices could be heard, which sounds as if they were walking up to the front door. Sparky goes to the window and starts barking. Johnny quickly walks to it, opens up the storm and screen windows to hear the sounds, more clearly. Upon hearing two men pushing the front door, Johnny yells, “Get the hell out of here!”
In the shadow of the streetlight, one of the men drew an object, which appear to have a nozzle and a handle.
Johnny made sure the dog was out the range, immediately got his 12-gauge shotgun, came back to the window. He sees one of the men trying to pick the locks. The other man was acting as a lookout with the object still in his hand. Johnny yelled demanding for them to leave.
The man points the weapon and warns him to better get back or he’d get hurt.
Suddenly, Johnny points the gun outside and fires a bullet that barely misses the man who serves as a lookout. Both men quickly rush to their car, which was still running, and drive off at a high rate of speed.
Within a matter of minutes, all the lights in the neighborhood were on and the sounds of sirens permeated the atmosphere. The Bellow family congregated in the living room; they watched several of their neighbors come out and answer police questions.
Johnny says to his parents not to say anything to the police, because even though, it was self-defense, they’ll arrest him. His parents wanted to know what to say if the police ask those questions, he gives them a plausible story.
The police eventually come to the door to ask what they knew about the gunshot. Sal tells them his son; Johnny saw a couple of people outside and told them to get out. They discharged a firearm and took off. Officer McTerry asks him why he didn’t call the police. Sal tells them everything happened so fast, that by the time the gun was discharged, he heard sirens figuring someone already called them. The officer says, “If you see anyone like that again, please contact the police immediately.” With that stretch of the truth, they left.
Sal walks inside wincing and shaking his head, when Anita asks what was wrong, he says looking at Johnny, “He didn’t feel right about lying to the police.” Johnny says it wasn’t a lie per se, he asked to remember what happened when they told the police their story. “Son, I now understand, maybe it’s for the best.”
The next day, an older gentleman drove up to the Bellow residence; he was dapper in his attire and rang the doorbell. Anita had been outside asking who he is; the man took off his fedora wondering if he could speak with her son, Johnny for a few minutes. Luckily, he saw him, but didn’t make out who he was until he heard his voice and both men smile.
“Yes, I remember you, I recognized your voice.” Johnny delicately explains he’s the man who was next to his cell when they were solitary confinement. “Yes, sir, what can I do for you, today?”
The man didn’t stay long and gave him a manila envelope, Johnny asked him what it was, he would only say for him to open it and not to take too long. When Johnny asked his name, he only would say his first name, Maynard. “I’ve kept you people from your routine long enough and I have to get going.”
Johnny said he was glad he got out. Maynard thanked him telling him the reason for his stop was, when he got out a couple of years ago, he knew was right about those people at Sheffield Prison. He put on his fedora and left. “Ma, let’s take a look at what he gave me.”
They went inside to look at the information; Johnny and Anita look at different papers. Anita is shocked to know some of what was depicted in there. She looked to her son to apologize for not believing him early on. He tells her, to be honest, he didn’t want to believe what was going on either, but he needed to understand his surroundings better.
Johnny and Anita read everything after over an hour and put everything back, “I’ll put this in a place for safe keeping, but it’s not the bank. I don’t trust anyone in this town.”
The next morning, Johnny was reading the newspaper as usual, with his family. A headline read: THOMAS CROYDON TO RUN FOR SHERIFF, a sub heading reads: Sheffield Prison Warden Croydon thinks he’s the candidate to replace Sheriff Wilson.
After breakfast, he takes a walk to the park, suddenly, he sees a man wearing a worn shirt and baggy pants sitting down next to him, sweating in the mid-spring early warm spell. Johnny sits down to recognize Mr. Menden asking him what he was doing her
e.
Menden explains even though he was able to get his law license back, many of his old clients had either gone elsewhere or shunned him. “I’m sorry to hear about Doreen, I knew you were going to marry her, you would’ve gotten a sweet woman.”
Johnny asks why he lost his law license, “Was it really because you filed a complaint against Judge Courtney?”
Menden gives him a box with mounds of papers, “I should’ve given this to you in the beginning.” Johnny asks what the papers contained. Menden tells him they’ll explain why he really lost his license.
“Is this the reason why you’re in Black Meadows?”
He nods, “I’ve thought long and hard about what happened to you as well as my other clients and since I’m in a time of my life where I don’t care anymore, I know you’re going after those maggots that run this town and I thought I’d own it up to you by coming here.”
“What are you doing with yourself now?”
Menden explains his family moved to Leeds, New York, where he has a singular private practice. His wife is disappointed, because he doesn’t make the money he did once, “I make out all right, hey that’s what important.”
Johnny thanked for the information, Menden pats him on shoulder and walks away.
Meanwhile, in Albany, Attorney General Jacobson has led an investigation into some of the Tappan County officials and representatives. He manages to gather a lot of information about it and convene a grand jury. In the process, the jury hands down a series of indictments against Senator Croydon, Judges Ethan Courtney, Rex Lexington and Harold Hartnett, the Black Meadows, city court judge and two prosecutors, Odell Muir and Thomas Talbot. They were indicted on first and second-degree counts of election fraud, conspiracy, bribery, judicial tampering, jury tampering, and witness tampering and obstructing governmental administration.