In the Light of Day

by BobA. Troutt

  *****

  In the Light of Day

  Sugar Creek

  Hickory Point in 1970 was a small town about thirty-five miles west of Fayetteville, Tennessee. It wasn’t far from the Tennessee and Alabama border in Bradley County. Jack Richardson, his wife, Irene, and their daughter, Beverly, had lived there for about six years. Jack was the district attorney there. The Richardson’s moved there from Cigger Hill, Alabama in 1965 when the D.A.’s job opened up in Hickory Point. Jack had been the D.A. in Cigger Hill for fifteen years when he was offered more money to relocate to Hickory Point. His wife, Irene, was a homemaker. While Jack took care of things at the courthouse, Irene took care of things at home. Beverly, their daughter, settled in at school and was a very popular senior; she had made many new friends since she had been there. Connie was one of her best friends. They spent a lot of fun times together, double-dating, partying and hanging out. Connie was from a smaller town about twenty-two miles from Cigger Hill. They were both from Alabama, around the same area, but hadn’t met each other until they met at school in Hickory Point. Connie’s mother died when she was fifteen. Connie and her brother was being raised by their grandmother. She never talked much about her dad or her brother. Beverly and Connie was so wrapped up in having fun, all of that didn’t seem so important.

  Phillip Brawner stood outside the prison gates of the Alabama Correctional Facility just outside of Birmingham. He had just been released after serving twelve years of a twenty year sentence for murder. Phillip was found innocent after doing twelve years for a crime he didn’t commit. After all those years, a break came open in his case and the real killer was found. Phillip was wrongfully accused of murder. He was an innocent victim of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Thanks to a lot of hard work form his lawyer and a private ye hired by his lawyer, the real killer was found. Phillip stood at the front gates of the prison waiting for his ride. When the car pulled up, he got in and they drove off. It had been a long time since Phillip had breathed in some fresh, clean air and it felt so good to be free again. The past twelve years in prison had been hard on him. He was a bitter and angry man inside. Twelve years of his life had been taken from him and he could never get those years back. He was an innocent man, a victim of a flawed society. The law left a bitter, twisted hate in his heart that nearly drove him over the edge. Day after day, night after night, Phillip laid in wait for the truth to come out so he could finally be set free. As the two men drove on, they came upon a beer joint not too far from the prison where they stopped and enjoyed a few cold beers; the two drank and talked. Phillip had nearly forgotten how good a beer was. It was such a joy to his taste buds, he ordered two more. He leaned back and enjoyed a cigarette and took another sip of the cold beer.

  “It is so good to be out,” he said. “It’s been a long twelve years.”

  “I’m glad you’re out,” replied Billy Joe, the other man. “I’ve missed you.”

  “You know,” he said. “I had a lot of time to think about the things I wanted to do when I got out. The main thing I want to do is make things right.”

  “Me, too,” replied Billy Joe.

  Phillip turned up the bottle of beer, took a long drink, sat the empty beer bottle down hard onto the table, crushed out his cigarette, blew out the remaining smoke and said, “Billy Joe, you stuck with me all those years. You never gave up on me. You came and visited when no one else would. You being there for me really helped me during my most troubled times.”

  Billy Joe just looked at him and took a drink of his beer.

  “Do you want to play some pool?” Billy asked.

  “Sure,” agreed Phillip. “It’s been a while but rack them up.”

  Over the next few hours, the two men shot pool, drank, smoked and talked about making things right. Phillip called for the eight ball in the side pocket. He moved the pool stick gracefully between his fingers and struck the eight ball into the side pocket. About that time, two women approached them at the pool table.

  “Good shot,” said one of the women to Phillip.

  “Not bad at all,” replied the other woman.

  As Phillip and Billy Joe placed their pool sticks back into the rack, the two women went with Phillip and Billy Joe over to their table. Phillip called for a round of drinks for everyone as he lit the two women’s cigarettes. The foursome drank, talked and had a good time. After they left the beer joint, they went to the Dreamaway Motel not far down the road.

  It was a few days before spring break when Beverly and Connie were talking about going to the upcoming concert in Hickory Flatts. Beverly and Connie had planned a weekend getaway to attend the concert along with their friends. While the girls were laughing and talking about the concert, Connie noticed a young man nearby who appeared to be listening to their conversation. After a few minutes, the young man got up and walked away. Connie didn’t think any more about it. The girls talked on; they were looking forward to the trip and the concert. Beverly and Connie left for the concert a few days later. The girls left Thursday evening and they were so anxious to get there they couldn't wait. Hickory Flatts was about forty-eight miles across the Tennessee Alabama border in Jenkins County. Connie had been driving for about 30 minutes before it began to get dark and a thunderstorm rolled in. The rain was coming down hard, making it almost impossible to see the road. The sky was lit up by the lightning as the thunder roared. Finally, Connie had no other choice but to pull over to the side of the road for a minute and hope the storm would let up so she could see to drive. It took about fifteen minutes for the storm to let up a bit and then Connie pulled back onto the road. About six miles down the road, the girls came upon a detour. The bridge was out due to work so Connie took the detour onto Harris Lane and drove on. It had almost stopped raining but the wind was so boisterous it made a crying sound. The girls would have been there but the detour had put them behind. About three miles down the road, they came upon another sign that read Sugar Creek, 2 miles. As they drove on, the girls listened to their favorite radio station, WLS in Chicago and sang along with the songs on the radio. About two miles later, they arrived in Sugar Creek.

  The town, back in the 1930’s was a striving community. However, through the years it had nearly died out. It was mostly an abandoned town with a gas station, a market and a few houses scattered about. The town was noted for its fields of sugar cane that grew along the creek’s bank. That’s how the town got its name.

  They needed to fill up with gas and use the restroom. When they pulled up at the gas station and market, they saw a young man running toward the market trying to get in out of the rain. He looked like a hitchhiker. The young man spoke to them when they went in to pay for their gas and use the restroom.

  “Hi,” he said.

  “Hi,” they both replied in unison.

  A few minutes later the girls came back out and was headed to the car when the young man asked, “Are you going to the concert in Hickory Flatts?”

  “Yes,” replied Connie.

  “Could I catch a ride with you?” he asked.

  Connie looked over to Beverly and then said, “Sure.”

  “Thank you,” replied the young man. “It’s so late and I’m not sure the storm is completely over. I don’t think I’ll be able to make it on foot.”

  “Come on, get in,” Beverly said.

  They all got into the car and pulled back onto the road.

  “What’s your name?” Connie asked.

  He replied, “Billy Joe.”

  “Are you from around here?” Beverly questioned.

  “No, I’m not. It sure is a bad night to be out.”

  “It sure is,” Connie agreed. “It shouldn’t take us much longer to get there.”

  Beverly began to sing and move her head from side to side when her favorite song came on the radio.

  “I love that station,” said Billy Joe. “They play all the good music.”

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p; “I agree,” replied Connie as she looked at him through the rearview mirror.

  Not far down the road, the car started to act up. Connie pulled over to the side of the road. Little did the girls know, while they were getting gas and using the restroom, Billy Joe had tampered with the car. Neither of the girls knew anything about cars. Luckily for them, or so they thought, Billy Joe was with them. He knew a few things about cars. Billy Joe and the girls got out of the car. He raised the hood of the car to see if he could find the problem. The rain had started to fall hard again so the girls got back inside the car while Billy Joe checked the engine. As he fooled around with the car, the lightning lit up across the dark sky and the thunder roared.

  “Try it!” he yelled.

  Connie turned the key but it wouldn’t crank.

  “Hold on!” yelled Billy Joe. In a few minutes, he yelled out again, “Try it!”

  Once again, she tried it but it wouldn’t crank. After several attempts, they finally gave up. Connie suggested they could walk back up the road to get help.

  “I remember seeing a farmhouse not too far back,” she said. “Maybe we can get some help or at least get in out of the storm.”

  Beverly replied, “Maybe they’ll have a phone I can use to call my dad.”

  They all agreed and started walking back toward the farmhouse. When, suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck a nearby tree, nearly scaring them to death. They took off running toward the farmhouse and didn’t stop until they reached the porch. It was a creepy old weather-boarded house tarnished with gray. Drenched from the rain, they knocked upon the door. A light came on and the door opened slightly.

  “May I help you?” a man asked from behind the door.

  “We had car trouble down the road.”

  The man was hesitant but he opened the door and let them in.

  “It sure is a nasty night to be out,” he said.

  “Do you have a phone I can use to call my dad?” Beverly asked as she looked about.

  The man replied, “The phone is dead. It was knocked out by the storm. There is nothing you can really do until the storm lets up. Besides, it’s late. The storm is supposed to be over by early morning and then I will go out and see if I can get your car running,” he stated. “You’re welcome to stay here until morning.”

  “We really appreciate this,” replied Beverly.

  “Yeah,” said Connie.

  Night soon passed as the morning arose with the sun resting on the horizon; the storm had moved out. The two girls waited at the farmhouse while Billy Joe and the man left to check on the car. Beverly checked the phone but the line was still dead.

  “I wonder what’s taking them so long?” asked Beverly. “They’ve been gone for a couple of hours now.”

  Connie replied, “It’s an old car. It could be anything.”

  “I wish we would have taken my car,” Beverly said with frustration.

  “Yeah, me, too,” Connie replied.

  Shortly afterwards, the two men returned. They had gotten the car started but they took and hid it in an old abandoned barn not far from the farmhouse.

  “I’m afraid we didn’t have any luck,” said the man as he and Billy Joe came back in the house. Hold on just a minute,” said the man. “Let me introduce myself. I am Phillip Brawner and this is my son, Billy Joe and my daughter, Connie.”

  Puzzled, Beverly looked at him, then Billy Joe and finally Connie.

  “What’s going on, Connie?” cried out Beverly.

  Billy Joe grabbed Beverly’s arms and twisted them behind her back.

  “Your dad put my dad in prison for something he didn’t do,” he explained as he tied her hands behind her back. “It’s time for revenge.”

  Beverly screamed and tried to break away but she couldn’t. Billy Joe threw her down onto the couch. She started kicking wildly at him so he had to tie her feet together. Connie walked over to the phone, pulled out the table and connected the phone cord as Beverly squirmed on the couch and screamed.

  “You can scream all you want,” said Phillip. “We are so far away from everyone, no one will hear you. You should be worth a lot of money to your daddy. A hundred thousand dollars should make up for those twelve years in prison he cost me.”

  Phillip went over to the telephone to make a call; Beverly watched him with tears in her eyes.

  “Hello,” answered Beverly’s dad.

  “Can I speak to Jack Richardson?”

  “This is he,” he replied.

  “Mr. Richardson, I have your daughter, Beverly. You will never see her again unless you pay me one hundred thousand dollars.”

  “Daddy!” Beverly screamed.

  “Don’t you hurt her,” Jack pleaded. “I’ll get you your money. Who is …?”

  Phillip slammed the phone down before he could finish his sentence. A few hours later, Phillip called Jack back and told him if he called the police he would never see Beverly alive again.

  “Okay, just don’t hurt my daughter. When and where do you want the money?”

  Phillip hung up and all Jack heard was a dial tone.

  A few days later when Connie was fixing Beverly a bite to eat, Beverly cried out, “Connie, why are you doing this?”

  Connie replied, “My mother grieved herself to death after your daddy put my daddy in prison. Day after day, I watched her go down as my daddy suffered in prison. I made a promise to her on her death bed that I would get even for her.”

  “But…but, Connie,” she said. “I didn’t have anything to do with that.”

  “Shut up, bitch,” replied Connie. “Little miss goody two shoes, your daddy destroyed my home and family,” she said as she slapped her across the face.

  Phillip walked over to the phone, called Jack again and told him where to drop off the money. However, he didn’t tell him when. Jack asked if he could talk to his daughter but Phillip hung up on him.

  Unbeknown to them, Jack had already involved the police and FBI. They tried to trace the last phone call but Jack couldn’t keep Phillip on the line long enough. While Jack and Irene waited for another call from the kidnappers to tell him when to deliver the money, the police and FBI searched for Beverly. The FBI researched Jack’s last five years while he was in office in Hickory Point to see if they could get any leads but came up short. So, they checked old files and cases when he was in Cigger Hill but it took a while because there were so many. The FBI eventually found out Phillip Brawner, who Jack prosecuted twelve years ago, had been released from prison. When they told Phillip, he couldn’t recall him or his case. Court records stated that Phillip Brawner had threatened Jack on the day of his sentencing hearing. He told Jack he would pay for what he had done. Immediately, the FBI contacted the Alabama police and began a statewide search for Beverly.

  In the meantime, Beverly had managed to free her hands. She continued to lay on the couch with her hands behind her back and waited for the right time to get away. As Phillip and Billy Joe sat in the kitchen talking, Connie was asleep in the chair. When no one was looking, Beverly slowly eased up off the couch, tip-toed over to the door and eased out. Crying, she took off running through the woods and fields. She was scared to death of what would happen to her if they caught her. A few minutes later, Connie woke up and realized Beverly had escaped. Quickly, she jumped to her feet and hollered for Phillip and Billy Joe. As soon as they ran into the room, they saw that Beverly was gone. All three of them ran out the door looking for her. Phillip told Billy Joe to go up by the creek and for Connie to look through the woods while he checked the fields. The three of them combed the area around the farmhouse but there was no sign of her anywhere. At the same time, the FBI and the Alabama police were on the lookout for Phillip Brawner; they had put out a statewide alert for him. Phillip and Billy Joe jumped in his truck and took off for the main road. Connie stayed behind just in case she returned to the farmhouse. Phillip and Billy Joe drove along the road searching for her but
couldn’t find her. Until, suddenly, they spotted her running up the road in front of them. She saw the headlights, turned and saw it was them. They got out and ran after her but Beverly quickly disappeared amongst the sugarcane beside the road. Phillip and Billy Joe lost sight of her in the field. Frustrated, the two split up and continued look for her. Luckily, Beverly was able to get back to their truck. Unfortunately, though, the key was gone. She jumped out and took off across to the other side of the road toward the creek. Desperately, she ran for her life. She ran along the creek and headed back to the farmhouse where she thought she would be safe until she could get some help. Phillip and Billy Joe returned to the truck, got in and headed up the road to the gas station and market. But, they didn’t find her there either. Not far from the farmhouse, Beverly found the old abandoned barn where they hid Connie’s car. The key wasn’t in the ignition but, luckily, Beverly remembered where Connie kept a spare key. When she looked above the sun visor, the key was there. A little while later, Phillip and Billy Joe returned to the farmhouse empty handed.

  “Did you find her?” asked Connie

  “Does it look like we did?” Billy Joe replied.

  “We have let our hostage and money get away,” stated Phillip.

  “What now?” Billy Joe asked.

  “Get in the truck. We’re getting out of here,” Phillip instructed.

  Hurriedly, Phillip, Billy Joe and Connie took off in the truck.

  Now far down the road, Connie yelled out, “Dad, that’s my car!”

  Phillip stepped on the gas and tried to catch up with her. Beverly looked through her rearview mirror and saw the truck coming; it was moving in on her fast. She gripped the steering wheel and mashed the gas pedal to the floor. Suddenly, the truck rammed in to the back of the car and almost knocked her off the road. She sped up as the car weaved from side to side. Once again, the truck rammed the rear end of the car and Beverly almost lost control of the car but she was able to keep it on the road. Then, out of nowhere, she heard a helicopter. She looked out and saw it hovering above her. The truck rammed the back of the car again and knocked her off the side of the road. But, when Phillip saw the helicopter getting lower, he quickly turned the truck around and headed back the other way. When the helicopter landed in the road, a couple of officers jumped out and ran over to the car where Beverly was. Quickly, they got her out as black smoke started coming out from the rear of the car. The car exploded right after they put Beverly in the helicopter. The helicopter pilot notified the authorities that Beverly had been rescued and he was headed back with her. He also gave them a description of the truck the suspects were driving. The helicopter took Beverly to the hospital in Hickory Point where her dad and mama eagerly waited for her arrival. In the meantime, Phillip, Billy Joe and Connie had disappeared. The FBI and Alabama State Police put out an APB on them with a description of the truck but they were nowhere to be found. Fortunately, the main thing was that Beverly had been found and she was okay.

  A few days later, the police found the truck in an empty warehouse in Birmingham not far from the bus station. The police didn’t know if they had taken a bus somewhere of if they were trying to make it appear like they had. After checking the bus station logs, they came up with nothing. No one remembered or recognized the three suspects. Somehow, they had vanished. The search went on for months and months but the trail went cold.

  It wasn’t until two years later that Connie was spotted in Fort Lauderdale. Two officers in a patrol car spotted her coming out of a market and followed her. She led them to a motel outside of town; Phillip and Billy Joe was with her. Within an hour, the FBI and Florida State Police surrounded the motel. As they were easing up to their motel room door, Phillip saw them and realized they had been caught. When the FBI told them to come out with their hands up, Phillip started shooting at them. Quickly, one of the officers kicked the door in. Phillip turned to shoot him but the officer managed to shoot him first, killing him. Billy Joe and Connie immediately dropped their guns and held their hands up. The agents handcuffed them, put them in the police car and took them to jail. Several days later, they were expedited back to Alabama to stand trial. Three days later, Billy Joe was found hanging in his cell; he had committed suicide. He left a note for Connie telling her he could not go through what their daddy had gone through when he was in prison and that he was sorry he let her down. Connie later stood trial, was convicted and sentenced to life without parole.