The Necklace

by Matt Witten

  Susan watched Curt. She thought, This is the moment I’ve been dreaming of for twenty years. I helped make it happen. He was looking up at the two windows facing him, and his eyes caught something in the other window. The way his face softened and he smiled, Susan guessed he was seeing his sister. He gave her a wave.

  Then Curt looked through the window into Susan’s viewing room. His eyes roamed the small crowd until he found Susan.

  He looked at her steadily, unblinking.

  She found herself unable to look away. She couldn’t read him, had no idea what he was thinking.

  She flashed back to how his face looked twenty years ago when she spoke at his sentencing. She remembered her exact words: “I hope you get raped in prison. But life in prison isn’t enough for this man. I demand that he be sentenced to death!” The fury in his eyes had been so powerful, it felt like a physical attack.

  Now his eyes looked … intense, like he was boring a hole into her heart.

  One of the COs in the execution chamber said something Susan couldn’t hear, and pointed Curt toward the death chair. Curt sat down and stretched out his legs, getting comfortable. The COs buzzed around him, strapping him in. They blocked his eyes from Susan’s, which she was grateful for.

  A prim-looking woman in her forties, dressed in a white uniform, came into the chamber. Pam leaned down to Susan and Danny and explained, “That’s the nurse.”

  “Thanks, I was wondering,” Danny said. “This whole thing is so professional.”

  “We do our best,” said Warden Tomey.

  God, these people are all acting so laid back, thought Susan. Especially Danny. She couldn’t understand why he wasn’t more emotional, witnessing the death of the man who had killed his daughter.

  Warden Tomey stood up and said, “Excuse me, folks.”

  He walked out of the viewing room, carrying a piece of paper with an official-looking seal on it. Pam said, “Shall I turn on the volume? Like I said, we’ll hear them, but they won’t hear us.”

  She hit a wall switch, and now Susan could hear what was going on in the execution chamber. Mainly it was rustling and clicks, as the COs finished with the straps and the nurse went over to the medical cart and took instruments out of a drawer. Curt, his face still hidden by the officers’ bodies, was silent.

  Warden Tomey entered the chamber from the hallway and nodded solemnly to Curt and the COs. The officers stepped back, and Susan was able to see Curt’s expressionless face as Tomey began reading from his document.

  “In accordance with the sentence arrived at in Federal Docket #10347, the defendant Curtis Jansen …” Here Curt closed his eyes, and Susan wondered if he was praying or just in fear about what was going to happen minutes from now. “… having been found guilty of aggravated kidnap across state lines, aggravated rape of a minor, and homicide in the first degree with special circumstances, will now serve his sentence, which is: death.”

  Tomey lowered the document and turned to Curt. “Mr. Jansen, do you have any final words?”

  Curt opened his eyes. “I do.”

  Susan watched as Curt turned to the other viewing room and took a deep breath.

  “Chaplain Davis,” Curt said, “I want to thank you for everything. You’re the best thing about this place. Your wise words and your kindness have really helped me a lot.” He paused, then said, “And go Red Sox! We’ll win it all next year!”

  Susan watched, spellbound, as Curt moved his head and eyes and found his sister.

  “Lisa,” he said, “you’re my rock. I love you. I never would’ve made it this far without you. Please, promise me you won’t be bitter.” He gave his sister a soft smile, then said, “I’ll see you on the other side, Lisa.”

  Now came the moment Susan had been hoping for, and dreading. Curt turned and looked straight at her. What the hell is he thinking?

  “Ms. Lentigo,” he began, “I do want to say, I didn’t kill your daughter.”

  Susan’s heart sank, and she realized how deeply she had been hoping that he would finally, for the second time, confess to her daughter’s murder.

  Curt continued, “But there’s no hatred in my heart for you. I think you’re a good person who’s gone through incredible pain. I know you really believe I killed her, and that’s why you’re doing this. So that’s okay.” Susan thought she could see Curt shrugging his shoulders under his straps, to emphasize it truly was okay.

  Then Curt said, “I did hate you for a long time, but now I love you.” He smiled at Susan, but then his brow furrowed. “And I’m sorry for your loss. If you ever find out the truth about what happened to Amy, don’t blame yourself for what happened to me. You truly thought you were doing the right thing. I forgive you, and I’ll see you on the other side too.”

  Susan could barely breathe.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4, PRESENT DAY

  CURT LEANED BACK in his chair, still watching Susan. The same soft smile he had given his sister now played on his face.

  “What a crock of shit,” Danny said. “This asshole doesn’t have the decency to admit it even when he’s about to die.”

  Susan eyed Danny. He looked disgusted, but his face was red with some emotion she couldn’t place. Excitement, she thought.

  Then she heard Warden Tomey, down in the execution chamber, ask, “Do you want the hood?”

  “No thank you,” Curt said.

  “God be with you,” Tomey said, and stepped out of the room.

  Danny turned to Susan. “God will fucking send him to hell.”

  In the execution chamber, Curt gazed up at his sister. He made a kissing gesture with his lips. His hands were tied down, but Susan saw him wave to Lisa with his fingers.

  Then Curt looked back at Susan, and once again she felt overwhelmed.

  She felt her left hand being held, and started to recoil until she realized it was Robert holding it. He squeezed her hand.

  Susan couldn’t stand it. How am I supposed to feel?

  She stared down at Curt Jansen and tried to picture this man hurting Amy. She had to remember Curt looked very different back then, twenty years ago. He was thick-lipped and surly, in the mugshots at least, his face swollen from too much drinking.

  She shut her eyes and pictured Curt sitting in his car on that last Friday afternoon, while Amy came out of school wearing her necklace.

  Amy skipping out of school, saying goodbye to her friends, looking around for her grandma’s yellow car with the red stripe. Curt sits in his old Ford across the street—

  No, Susan corrected herself, on the same side of the street, close enough to see the necklace.

  He’s unshaven, half drunk, his hands down his pants—

  Oh God, so gross. He’s been here twenty minutes, watching kids. He recognizes Amy, from seeing her play basketball in her pink dress. Maybe he even heard me call her name to come inside. Suddenly, on an impulse, no thought, he pulls up in front of her. He opens his mouth and smiles. Yellow teeth. “Hi Amy, get in the car. Your mom sent me.”

  Amy is confused, pouts her lips. “But my grandma’s picking me up.”

  “Your grandma’s working. I’m supposed to take you to her house. Come on, she’s got ice cream.”

  He opens the door.

  Amy gets in …

  Maybe, thought Susan. That could be what happened. But her mind kept churning.

  Amy skips out of school, saying goodbye to her friends and looking around.

  Danny sits in his Honda, drinking beer and waiting. He sees Amy and waves.

  She runs to him. “I thought Grandma was picking me up.”

  “No, it’s me today. Hop in.”

  He opens the door. Amy gets in. Danny looks all around, makes sure nobody’s paying attention to them … and drives off.

  And then—

  “If you wanna see this, you gotta open your eyes,” Danny said into her ear.

  His voice was jarring. She looked at him like he was a stranger, then watched t
he nurse preparing the IV line. Curt was watching the nurse too, and Susan could feel the panic rising in him.

  She couldn’t take this. They were about to kill this man! Was he really guilty? She closed her eyes again.

  Late afternoon. The woods. Curt holds Amy’s hand firmly as they walk toward the river. Nobody else around.

  Amy whines, “I want to go home.”

  It felt right to Susan. But then again:

  Danny holds Amy’s hand as they walk toward the river.

  “Daddy, I’m cold. I want to go home.”

  Then what? Oh God, the lean-to.

  Curt shoves Amy to the wooden floor—

  Danny shoves Amy—

  Susan shook her head violently. No, she couldn’t go there.

  On her left, Robert squeezed her hand again. She ignored him.

  Amy runs from the lean-to, Curt chasing. She looks behind her, trips, falls headlong into that sharp rock. Her forehead bleeding, dizzy, she rolls and gets up. But Curt grabs her.

  She screams. Curt yells, “Shut up!” Or it’s Danny. Danny grabs her by her bloody necklace and she screams louder. Danny puts his hands around her neck and Amy gasps. Then she stops screaming. Stops moving. Danny takes off Amy’s necklace—

  “Susan,” Danny said. She opened her eyes again. “You’re not gonna fall asleep, are ya?”

  She forced herself to look at Danny, at the small black pupils in the middle of his bright, wide-open eyes … This execution had him all keyed up.

  She looked at Curt, biting his lip as the IV needle went into his immobilized arm, just inside his elbow. A little blood flowed around the edges of the needle.

  Curt runs back to his car carrying the bloody necklace … The necklace swinging in Danny’s hand … The necklace …

  Now Susan saw the individual beads in the necklace, close up. The necklace, in the plastic bag … The necklace, in Amy’s photograph … The necklace, around Emily’s neck …

  The necklace …

  Fuck! Something about the necklace! What was it?

  Pam said, “Looks like they got the IV in okay.”

  The nurse stepped away from Curt and attached the IV to one of the three clear liquids. She pressed a button on the cart and the liquid began dripping into his arm.

  Watching Curt, Susan sensed his fear of death hitting him all at once. He gulped and his chest heaved. She could hear his breath, deep and nervously quick.

  Pam kept playing tour guide. “Now they’re pumping in the sodium thiopental. He’ll be out of it in about fifteen seconds, but they’ll let it go another three minutes before they give him the lethal drugs.”

  Curt looked over at the other window and gave a weak smile to Lisa and the chaplain. Then he looked back at Susan.

  He gave her the same smile as he held his eyes on hers.

  She looked back at him, and slowly his eyes drooped and then closed.

  She kept staring at him. Three minutes and it would all be over.

  The necklace. The fucking necklace.

  Emily outside her school, wearing the necklace.

  The photo of Amy, wearing the necklace.

  The photo of Amy …

  Susan was panicky, trying to think. Robert said something to her, but she didn’t hear it.

  The photo of Amy with the necklace.

  Emily outside her school, turning to go inside, and there’s her necklace … The back of her necklace …

  The back of her necklace.

  Susan’s eyes flew open. That was it!

  The back of Emily’s necklace, inside the baggie. Black, yellow, blue, red, and orange beads, in order. The blue bead is a unicorn.

  Amy at the kitchen table stringing the beads with Susan. Black, yellow, blue unicorn, red, and orange. In order.

  The exact same pattern of beads—on the back of the necklace.

  “Oh my God,” Susan said.

  “Bye bye, Curt,” Danny said, with that same oddly excited look in his eyes. He turned to Pam. “Do they soil their pants when they die?”

  Susan was unable to sit down anymore. She jumped up and asked Danny, “How did you copy the whole necklace so perfectly?”

  Danny looked up at her, his face turning bewildered. “What?”

  “You heard me,” Susan said. “You said you copied it off that picture of Amy, right?”

  Danny shrugged. “Sure.”

  Susan felt Robert and everybody else in the room watching her as she quickly reached in her wallet and took out the picture of Amy wearing the necklace.

  She showed it to Danny. “But the picture only shows half the necklace. How did you copy the part behind her neck that you can’t see?”

  Danny opened his mouth trying to come up with an answer, but he was stuck.

  Susan said quietly, “You killed her. You killed her, Danny.”

  “Oh, come on.” Danny gave a laugh that came out sounding sickly, at least to Susan. “I remembered what the necklace looked like.”

  No more quietness. Susan yelled, “Every single fucking bead? Even the ones that were always hidden by her hair?”

  She turned to Tomey. “Warden, you have to stop this execution!”

  Tomey held his hands up. “Ms. Lentigo, calm down—”

  How much time was left—two minutes? One? She yelled into the execution chamber, “Stop it! Stop the execution!”

  Pam said, “They can’t hear you, Susan.”

  She banged on the window with both fists. The two COs who were still in the execution chamber could hear that, and they looked up at her confused.

  “He’s innocent!” she yelled, hoping that if they couldn’t hear her, they could at least read her lips.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Danny said.

  She banged the window again. “He’s innocent!”

  Director Williams stepped toward her. “You need to stop this. You’re hysterical—”

  “How did Danny make a perfect copy of Amy’s necklace? The only way he could do that is if he still has it!”

  Danny said, “Jesus, what the hell is the matter with you?”

  Director Williams told Susan, “We only have your word that it’s a perfect copy.”

  “I remember every bead! Amy and I made that necklace! You have to stop the execution! He’s innocent!”

  Down in the execution chamber, the two COs and the nurse were looking up at the viewing room, wondering what was going on. Susan watched as Warden Tomey motioned for them to keep going. The nurse gave him a nod in response.

  Susan was horrified. “What are you doing?!”

  Tomey said, “It’s too late, Susan. If you don’t calm down, I’ll have to ask the officers to escort you out of here.”

  “Fine, I’ll go down there myself and rip that thing out of his arm!”

  She headed for the door, but Williams grabbed her.

  She yelled, “Get off me!” and tried to break free, but then the muscular CO got between her and the door.

  She looked to the two ADAs, the man and the woman, who had barely said a word this whole time. “Help me! They’re killing this man!”

  They both looked shell-shocked. She could tell even before they said anything, they’d be worthless.

  But they never got a chance to speak, because Robert stepped toward Danny and said, “Danny—”

  Susan begged Tomey, “Please, listen to me—”

  Robert held up his hand to Susan. “Wait.” Then he turned back to Danny. “Pam said you called her. You asked her if you would be patted down.”

  Danny blinked, then tried to shrug it off. “Yeah, why?”

  Robert turned to Pam. “Has anybody ever asked you that before?”

  Pam looked confused, like she had no idea where Robert was going with this. But Susan started to get it. She watched, desperately hopeful, as he tried to work his magic.

  Pam said, “Not really. It was kind of an odd question.”

  Robert said, “Yes it was.” He advanced on Danny. “I know where the original necklac
e is. The one Amy wore.”

  Danny’s eyes widened with alarm.

  “You brought it in here, didn’t you?” Robert said.

  Danny shook his head. “Why would I do a stupid thing like that?”

  “Because you get off on danger and you’re fucking sick. You were probably sitting here playing with the necklace and jerking off.”

  “Oh, come on—”

  Robert looked closely at Danny’s right pocket. Susan followed his eyes there.

  “What’s that in your pocket?” Robert said. And now Susan saw it too: tiny little lumps several inches below his waist, where the bottom of his pocket would be. “Looks like keys, but I don’t think it is.”

  As Robert moved even closer, Danny pushed his chair backwards. But Robert grabbed Danny’s arms and held them behind his back.

  Susan broke away from Williams and the COs. She leaped forward and reached into Danny’s pocket. She dug deep—and there it was.

  She pulled the necklace out of Danny’s pocket and held it up.

  Director Williams and everybody else stared in shock.

  Susan said to Danny, “You piece of shit.”

  Then she looked at the execution chamber. The three minutes was up, and the nurse was now attaching Curt’s IV to the first lethal drug, Pavulon. She was getting set to release it.

  Susan said to Warden Tomey, “Stop the fucking execution!”

  Tomey looked paralyzed. Williams said to him quickly, “You need to stop it.”

  “Now!” Susan yelled.

  Finally, Warden Tomey jumped into action. He ran out of the room.

  In the execution chamber, the nurse was about to hit the button on the medical cart that would release the Pavulon into Curt’s bloodstream when Tomey rushed in. He yelled: “Don’t touch that!”

  The nurse was totally bewildered—but she moved her hand away from the lethal button.

  Still holding the necklace, Susan collapsed against a wall, gasping with relief.

  Robert was gripping Danny’s arms. He turned to the two COs. “Officers, could you please take custody of the suspect?”

  Danny was struck dumb, terrified, as the COs grabbed hold of him.

  Susan looked down at Danny with hot fury.