Summer of the Guns

by Justin Daniel Herman

  “I have to stick with Kelly and my sister,” I said.

  “You can’t help them,” she insisted. “They’re not going with you. You’re going to the place where they put the worst inmates. Some of them even get killed in their sleep. Don’t you know that?”

  “No, I didn’t know,” I answered. “But I can’t run away.” I felt sick inside.

  I ate listlessly, moving the fork to my mouth without tasting, although my brain was churning. She was right. They were railroading me straight to the reform school for the worst kids. There was nothing I could do except try to escape. “All right, all right,” I said. “I’ll do it. Tell your friend I’m with you.”

  “You won’t regret it,” she answered. “I’ll fill you in after we hit the sack tonight. Now just act natural like nothing’s happening.” She had a crafty smile on her face. Then she returned to her food, eating fast.

  It seemed like forever before Pat Fellows came to get me. To my surprise, he walked up behind Jackie and grabbed her arms, slipping handcuffs on her before she could react. “Now you come with me Jackie,” he said. “You too, Billie.”

  I followed him as he pulled Jackie back into the empty guard room where he forced her down into a chair. To my surprise, the female guard came in, too. She just stood there, watching us. “Go ahead, Pat. Do what you have to do,” she said, “I won’t interfere.”

  “I will,” said Pat, “but I don’t have much time. We’re due back in the hearing room. I want you to listen, Billie, and listen good. This idiot is a stooge. She’s been paid off by someone to entice you to escape. They even set it up for you to bunk by her and find an empty chair by her at breakfast and lunch. This guard here just told me all of this a few minutes ago. She heard it from a friend of Jackie’s.”

  “I don’t get it,” I said.

  “I think someone wants you dead. Once you’re outside, you’ll disappear and nobody’s gonna even care about what happened to you. Do you hear me? They’ll just write you off as an escapee. They’ll never even look for you.”

  “That’s crazy,” Jackie pleaded. “Nobody’s gonna hurt her.”

  “I don’t have time to argue,” said Fellows, pulling Jackie upright by her armpits. Jackie still had her hands cuffed behind her. All she could do was yell when Pat slammed her against the wall. Then, to my surprise, Pat balled up his fist. Jackie tried to squirm away as Pat pulled her upright. Jackie sobbed and gasped for breath, begging him not to hit her.

  “I’ll tell, I’ll tell,” she wheezed. “Some guy with a suit and tie visited me yesterday—I didn’t know who he was—some official, I figured. He told me what to do. He said the rear door would be left open tonight and he’d be waiting on the other side of the building. He said I’d get five hundred bucks if I did it, and he’d get us both outta here for good. He was gonna drive us somewhere in his car.”

  “Did he give you money?” Pat asked, threatening her with a balled-up fist.

  “No, of course not,” Jackie said weakly.

  Pat threatened her again.

  “He gave me a hundred,” she finally answered. “It’s in my shoe.”

  “Then take it off and show me,” Pat barked. Jackie did what she was told after Pat removed the handcuffs. Sure enough, Pat pulled a hundred dollar bill out of the shoe. He held the bill up for us to see, then handed it to the female guard. “Okay, Lil. You take it from here. And make damn sure all doors are locked tonight.”

  “Well now you know, Billie,” he said to me. “I don’t understand what’s going on, but it stinks to hell.”

  Just then the bell rang and we heard the clatter of feet outside as inmates left the mess hall. “You go on, too,” the female guard said to Jackie. “I’m keeping the money for evidence.”

  “We may just catch us some mighty big fish,” said Pat. Then he turned to Jackie and yelled. “Put on your damn shoe and get out of here. You don’t know it, but I probably saved your life. If they killed Billie, they’d have killed you too.”

  When Jackie was gone, Pat sat down for a moment to get his breath. “I just talked to Cora on the phone. She called me during the break to ask what was happening, and I damn sure gave her an earful.”

  Then Lil, the guard, spoke up. “Cora will help.” Lil was a hard looking woman with a scarred lip.

  “We make a pretty good team, don’t we, Lil?” Pat said smiling, “But it’s a good thing she chickened out. I never would have hit her, you know.” Then he frowned again. “Cora managed to get through to Jessie,” he said.

  All of a sudden, my hopes shot up. I remembered the governor’s daughter from when she’d come to the first hearing, right after my father was arrested. I could tell she had a good heart, even if Ace didn’t like her father.

  “Only Jessie didn’t have time to hear the story,” he went on. “She was in a meeting or something. She told Cora to come to the governor’s mansion tomorrow. But that will be too late. Cora plans to bust into that meeting today, by God. She’ll do it, too! She’ll force Jessie to go to her father.”

  “You really think the governor will help us?” asked Lil.

  “Well, it’s anyone’s guess. But this involves his daughter. I heard she cares about these kids. She doesn’t want them to go to an orphanage.” Pat stood up and smiled, then he looked at his watch. “Back to reality,” he said to me. “Let’s go on in there. They’ll be waitin’ for us. When this is over, I’m gonna fix it for you to stay in an isolation cell tonight so nobody can get to you.”

  I got up and started toward the door, but it opened before I reached it. Jim Parsons stood there with a solemn look on his smooth face, like a preacher at a funeral. “We’re trying to do something about all this,” he said. “Whatever happens today, we won’t let it stand.”

  Pat told him what Jackie had said about a man waiting outside tonight, then asked Parsons to keep a watch out for him.

  “You’re damn right we will,” came another voice from down the hall. It was Detective Riggs. He placed his hands on my shoulder, then knelt down so we were face to face. “You’re right in the middle of all of this,” he said, “Listen, Billie, there’s things going on here that I don’t like. I need to ask you a couple more questions before you go back in there. Try hard to remember. When I questioned you earlier, I had a feeling you were holding out on me.”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” I responded.

  “We went over to Ace’s place and searched for where you said the papers were hidden,” he went on. “We found the hollow place under the linoleum tile, but not a single paper was there. Nothing but dust.” He seized my shoulder in one of his sweaty hands while Pat and Jim Parsons looked down at us intently. “I need to know what those papers were about. Do you remember anything more than what you told me earlier? Search your memory.”

  “It had somethin’ to do with insurance,” I sputtered. “Like I told you before, Ace got in trouble on his job selling insurance. Then he got fired. Ace complained to the governor and Mr. Horne, but Mr. Horne just blamed it on Ace and said if Ace ever tried to do anything, they’d send him to jail. Ace backed off, only he said he’d stolen some papers from a government office. Maybe Ace moved ‘em somewhere else. That’s all I know.”

  Riggs was gripping my shoulder so hard that it hurt. I couldn’t understand why he was asking these questions again. They had nothing to do with me going to Fort Grant.

  “You’re absolutely certain you have no idea where the papers are?” continued Riggs. “I can’t help you if you hold out,” he went on. “Some other people are searching for those papers, too. We found the place ransacked when we went to get your clothes and look around again.”

  “That’s when you got this ugly blue dress?” I asked. I was trying to change the subject.

  “Don’t be smart with me,” he answered. “Whoever it was that ransacked Ace’s house should’ve already known the lock box was gone. Ace Kelly took that. They weren’t after the lock box. They were after Ace’s papers. I’m afraid they’re
going to come after you next, Billie, if they think you know where they are.”

  “They’ve already tried,” Pat Fellows cut in. “Some suit and tie guy came down here and paid an inmate to lure Billie into an escape attempt tonight. The guy was gonna meet the girls on the other side of the hospital with money and a car. Lil got word to me during lunch break, and we nipped it in the bud.”

  “Good Lord,” said Riggs. “This is something big. I don’t know what’s up, but we’ve got to protect Billie.”

  “Well, you better believe it,” said Pat. “Billie’s in serious danger. If they put her in the reform school, well...well we just can’t let ‘em do it.”

  Riggs was silent a while, then looked up at the ceiling like he was talking to God or something. Then he turned to me again, focusing his water-blue eyes through thick glasses. “Okay,” he blurted. “Pat, you better get her into that hearing room right on time today. And you’ll have to guard her tonight. Not only is she in danger, but they’ll be watching her like a hawk. They won’t try to send her to the reform school until late tomorrow. The next bus won’t arrive until afternoon to pick up the new kids. By then maybe we can do something about all this.” Then he turned to Jim Parsons. “Jimmy, I’m gonna need your help. As of now, I’m temporarily transferring you to detectives. I’ll do the paperwork later, but they won’t have reason to stop it.” I saw Jimmy Parsons brighten up as Riggs continued. “The Chief already gave me permission to do it. It’s about time I had an assistant anyway.”

  “Count me in, Detective Riggs,” replied Parsons. “I been waitin’ for a chance like this. Will the transfer be permanent after I’m processed?”

  “Damn right,” Riggs answered. “I’ve got to have somebody with me I can trust. First thing we’ve got to do is get over there to Ace’s place and find those papers. They’ve got to be there still or they wouldn’t be after Billie.”

  At two p.m. sharp, we returned to the courtroom. The reporter for the newspaper was there, and so was Lacy Horne. He stood close to the reporter, talking into his ear. I thought I noticed a glimmer of surprise in Horne’s eye when he saw me. He said something to the reporter that I couldn’t hear. The reporter nodded and frowned. “I wonder what that’s about,” said Pat. Then the judge walked in carrying some papers.

  “All right,” he said good-naturedly as he stood behind the table. “Back to work, folks. The hearing is resumed. Everybody settle down and be quiet.” Then he sat down and spread out his papers in front of him. “After reviewing what’s happened so far in this hearing, I’ve changed my mind a little. I’d decided to make my decision on the basis of the evidence in hand. Doing it that way, however, would be unfair to Ms. Moran. She deserves a chance to speak in her defense. Billie, I want you to come up here and tell us what happened in your own words.”

  “But Judge,” Lacy Horne protested, stepping toward the table. “This is a little irregular. You told me yesterday her testimony wouldn’t be needed. This is just juvenile court.”

  “I’ve changed my mind,” said the judge impatiently. “Now step up, Billie, and put your hand on the Bible.”

  I did what he asked. After I swore on the book, he spoke in a kindly voice. “We just want the truth, Billie,” he said. “I’ll do the questioning. You can sit down, Mr. Horne.”

  Horne was red-faced. He sat down hard and whispered something to Mrs. Sykes, who was right behind him. They both looked angry, as if the judge had crossed them up. For the first time, I began to hope that things were going to work out. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Pat Fellows smiling at me.

  Then Judge Baines started to question me. He told me to tell my story in my own words, and not to fear what Mr. Horne or anybody was gonna do. I was so surprised that I had to think hard to even find words.

  I started out by telling how Lenny had beaten up Kelly, and how there was a restraining order on him. Then I started talking about finding my dad and Jessie Atkins at the rest stop, and how Lenny and Tommy had come looking for Sara and me a little earlier. “I object, Your Honor,” blurted Lacy Horne. “This has nothing to do with the break-in or the murder. She’s just making up a big story.”

  “Sit down, Lacy!” the judge said firmly. “I’m asking the questions.” He turned to me and smiled, only the smile wasn’t genuine. It was like he was forcing it so everyone would think he was being friendly to me. “Billie,” he said, “Mr. Horne’s right. We only want what actually happened at the Wells house and at the Kelly house when the shootings took place. Now start at the point where you and your friends broke into the Wells house. Just tell us what happened.”

  I had no choice but to tell how we’d gotten in and how Kelly had stayed outside as a lookout. Then I got to the part about having to hide in the bedroom while Tommy and Lenny talked. “Tommy Sykes said what was in the box could get them ‘fried,’ whatever that means,” I said sheepishly. I knew what it meant, but I didn’t want to act too smart. “He said if Jack Wells, Lenny’s brother, seen it, they might have to fix him.”

  “Judge Baines,” shouted Horne, “you can’t allow gossip. Hearsay is not testimony.” He was furious.

  “You’re right, Lacy,” said the judge, “this time.” His smile was completely gone. “What you’re saying, Billie, is that you broke into the house and hid when others came in. Is that correct?”

  “Yes sir,” I said, “but there’s more.”

  “All we need to know now is whether or not you removed something from the house—something that wasn’t yours. Yes, or no?”

  “Well, yes, we took that box. You already know that.”

  “And did it contain money and a diamond ring?” demanded the judge.

  “Yes, it did, and other stuff, too—important stuff. There was a note...”

  He cut me off abruptly. “I only asked about the money and the ring,” he said loudly. “We don’t need to know about any other contents at this time. Now tell us who took the money after you forced open the lock box.”

  “There was a note inside saying Lenny killed Jenny Garcia,” I blurted.

  “She’s trying to throw you off!” shouted Horne. “It’s a lie and it’s inadmissible!”

  The judge frowned at him and shook his head, then turned back to me. “Billie, just tell us who took the money from the box.”

  “Oaf,” I said. “I mean Earl Smith.”

  “And did you keep the ring?” the judge continued, his brows pinched together with concentration.

  “Yeah, I mean yes sir, but not for myself,” I said. “It was for evidence. Ace and I figured it was probably Jessie’s ring. They stole it from her at the rest stop.”

  “Yes or no!” yelled the judge. “I’ll not have this court made into a mockery with lies! If you have stories to tell, you can tell them to the police after this hearing is over.”

  “Well, yes,” I said. “I kept the box. The ring was still in it.”

  “That’s enough about your burglary,” the judge said, smiling again and seeming pleased with himself. “Now tell us about the shootings.”

  I started to tell the truth again—how Tom and Lenny had broken in and threatened our lives, but again he stopped me. “All we want to know is how Tom Sykes shot Mr. Kelly,” he said. “Did he shoot while being pushed to the floor?”

  “No,” I said, “he fell back when Ace pushed Lenny against him. But then he fired point blank at Ace. He did it purposely, not on accident. He pulled the trigger twice.”

  “I think you are making this up, too,” said the judge. “Leonard Wells testified that it was an accident. A tragic accident.”

  “No!” I yelled. “No accident! He killed Ace on purpose and he was gonna kill Sara and me. He said he was gonna make me watch Sara die first. I had to do what I did. I had to!”

  “Enough of this!” bellowed the judge. “Mr. Fellows, come and get this girl. If she won’t quiet down, take her out of the room.”

  Pat got up, put his arm around my shoulder, and led me back to my chair. “Stay calm, Billie,�
�� he said. “I don’t know what’s going on,” he whispered, “but just sit and stay calm.” I started to cry again. Pat took out his handkerchief and gave it to me. The judge just sat there behind the table, glaring at me. Then he put on his kindly smile again.

  “I’m truly sorry, Billie,” he said. “I know you did what you did under duress—under great pressure. And you may have really believed that your and your sister’s lives were in danger. After all, Tom Sykes did take weapons into your home. However, we have testimony that he had dropped the gun to the floor before you fired the shot that killed him. We not only have that testimony, but also the reports of the officers at the scene, and your admission of firing the fatal shot. Then there was the burglary which you, Mr. Earl Smith, and Mr. Percy Kelly participated in. I have no choice but to impose appropriate punishment. Since Mr. Smith is now being held for unrelated crimes in the county jail, he will not be herewith included. However, you, Miss Billie Jane Moran, and Mr. Percy Kelly are present, and it falls to me to impose sentence under the law for the crimes you have committed.” He paused and turned his head slightly. “Mr. Percy Kelly, will you stand, please.”

  I looked over at Kelly and saw that his guard was whispering to him. Finally, he stood up. I could see him trembling.

  “Percy Kelly,” said the judge, “I hereby sentence you to be confined at the Fort Grant Reformatory for Boys until you reach age eighteen, which in this state is the legal age of maturity. Under no circumstances will you be discharged at an earlier date. You may sit down.”

  Kelly’s face contorted as he gave a kind of disbelieving wail, then the guard put his hand on Kelly’s shoulder. All I could see was Kelly’s body shaking.

  “Now, Billie Jane Moran,” I heard the judge say, “please stand and face me.” I could tell he was in a hurry to get the sentencing over with. I was crying in spite of myself as I stood up.