A Gift of Time

by Beth Flynn

  Bill swiped his arm across his face and sighed loudly. With slumped shoulders, he looked at Grizz. “Of course, you know I’m not in here reading.”

  Grizz nodded. He’d wondered how Bill had arranged this special privilege and was surprised they hadn’t run into each other before that first night, but then he remembered he hadn’t been visiting the library during his usual time.

  Bill then filled him in on the progress he’d made hacking the different law enforcement agencies that might have had Grizz in their systems.

  When they were done, Grizz stood to leave. He retrieved the book he’d selected to take with him.

  “See you in here Thursday night,” he told Bill.

  The next day, Grizz sat with his men in the chow hall. He never held court in public, but this was something he wanted to get to the bottom of immediately, and he didn’t have time to use their coded form of communicating. Not one of them had heard anything about the rat incident.

  Grizz looked over at the chow line. “Which one is Joker?”

  After they pointed Joker out, Grizz got up and headed toward the food line. As was the norm, the other inmates in line cleared a path for him. When he got to Joker, he whispered, “In the kitchen. Now.”

  In an attempt to impress Grizz and without missing a beat, the man behind the food line with Joker piped up, “Go ahead, man. I can handle this alone.”

  The guards turned the other way as Grizz followed a shaking Joker back to where the meals were prepared. As soon as the kitchen inmates realized who was following Joker, they looked away and went back to their work. It behooved them to not show any curiosity.

  Joker stopped at the walk-in freezer and turned around to look up at Grizz. Before Grizz could ask or say anything, Joker spoke up, his voice low.

  “I know why you’re here, man, and I can explain.”

  “Talk,” was all Grizz said.

  “They came to me because I owed them a favor. I told them assholes not to do it. I don’t know you, but I know of you. I know that just by messing with Pretty—uh, I mean, Bill—they were asking for trouble.”

  “Did you or did you not cook his rat and put it in his hamburger?” Grizz narrowed his eyes.

  “They wanted me to, but I didn’t. I knew better, and I can prove it.”

  Grizz raised an eyebrow at this.

  Joker turned around and opened the big freezer door. Grizz watched as he walked to a shelf and retrieved a brown paper bag. When Joker came out of the freezer, he opened the bag and showed Grizz what was left of Buddy in an airtight freezer bag. No head. No limbs. Just a rat torso.

  “This is what they brought me, man. I’m not stupid. I’ve been in here long enough to know you’d find out and come looking. This is the guy’s pet. I never put it in his burger. Psycho and Bender don’t know it; they think I did it, but I didn’t.”

  Joker could still be lying. The prison was full of rodents, and the man could’ve gotten a hold of one just for this very purpose. Grizz would need proof. He told Joker to wait in the kitchen while he went out to ask Bill something.

  Grizz returned minutes later. “If that torso doesn’t have a missing patch of hair where the rat was burned on its left side, then I’ll know you’re lying.”

  With trembling hands, Joker turned over the clear plastic bag containing Buddy. Just where Bill had said, Buddy was missing some hair. Joker’s sigh of relief was audible.

  “Pack it back up,” Grizz told him.

  Joker put Buddy’s remains back in the brown bag and handed it to Grizz.

  Grizz nodded, and without saying anything else, left the kitchen.

  **********

  Less than a week later, the prison warden sat at his desk and reviewed the prison coroner’s report for the two inmates known as Psycho and Bender. He laid it on his desk and reached down and opened his lower left-hand desk drawer. Was it too early for a shot of whiskey?

  After pouring himself a jigger, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes as the burning liquid made its way down his throat. It soothed his belly that was jutting out almost to reach the desk. Maybe one more.

  After his second shot, he pondered these last two prison deaths. He shook his head as realization seeped in that he was no longer running this prison. He’d thought this might happen after Jason “Grizz” Talbot had received the death penalty and was sent here to sit on Death Row. In the almost two years Talbot had been at the prison, he’d managed to do something unheard of. There were several gangs in this prison, each one with their own boss. Talbot had not only wrested the prostitution and contraband business away from the inmates who’d been running them, but he’d managed to establish himself as the authority over all of them.

  He was basically the bosses’ boss.

  The fact that Talbot had kidnapped a fifteen-year-old and married her should’ve meant isolation and mistreatment from the other convicts. Instead, the man commanded with authority and demanded respect—and he got it. The warden shook his head.

  And it was no mystery as to who was behind the canine and prisoner rehabilitation program. The warden was certain that Talbot was going to use the dogs to transport some of the smaller, but more potent drugs. He was a smart son-of-a-bitch. And to make matters worse, if the warden shut down the dog ministry, he’d look like the bad guy to all the human rights activists. They’d accuse him of depriving the inmates a chance for rehabilitation.

  As far as the warden was concerned, nobody in this prison deserved a chance at rehabilitation. Hell, even more than half his guards were being bought on a daily basis.

  Eighteen months until retirement, the warden told himself. Less than two years of this hell, and I’ll retire with a pension that will make me comfortable for the rest of my life. Hopefully, that bastard will hit the electric chair soon.

  His thoughts were interrupted when Officer Headly entered the office without knocking.

  “Have you signed off on the report, sir?” Headly asked the warden.

  The warden reached for a different set of papers that had been sitting on the right side of his desk. He sighed as he handed them to Headly.

  Without saying anything, Headly started to leave the office. He was almost out the door when he turned around to look at the warden.

  “I’m sorry, sir, but I think you gave me the wrong report.”

  “No, I didn’t, Headly. It’s what you’ll turn in.”

  “Sir, this says that it was a murder-suicide. That’s not—”

  “I know what the fucking report says, Headly. I signed the damn thing, and it’s what you’ll put on file. Understand? Psycho got a hold of a shank and stabbed his boyfriend, Bender, in the shower. He then went back to his job in the laundry and hung himself with a sheet in the back room. A murder-suicide. Got it?”

  “But, sir, the families will want to see, and have the right to review the medical examiner’s report.”

  “And they will see one, Headly. They’ll see the one you’re holding. They just won’t see this one,” the warden replied as he picked up another set of papers from his desk and swung his chair around so his back was now facing Officer Headly. The high-pitched whine of a shredder resonated through the small office as the warden reflected on Talbot's brutality. He didn't know exactly what had happened, but this was extreme. If anybody in the prison had ever thought about crossing the death row inmate this would surely cause them to think twice.

  Headly just shook his head as he took the falsified coroner’s report and quietly left the warden’s office.

  Maybe it was better this way. After all, what next of kin wants to hear their loved one died from choking on pieces of a rat carcass?

  Chapter Twelve

  Tommy

  1999, Fort Lauderdale

  Tommy just stared at his daughter as she left the den. Then he looked at Ginny.

  “She took that better than I thought she would, Gin,” he said quietly. “I have to be honest, I wasn’t sure I agreed with you that we should tell her about ou
r early years with the gang. I think we could’ve kept it to ourselves until she was older. Maybe she never had to know about our past at all.”

  They had just returned from the police station, where they’d spent more time waiting to speak to the detective than they’d spent being interviewed. Moe’s remains had been recently unearthed, and after positively identifying her through DNA testing, police had called in Ginny and Tommy for another discussion. It was uneventful and lasted less than an hour. They told the detective the same thing they’d told the authorities so many years ago when Grizz was arrested. Moe died from an overdose.

  Tommy reluctantly agreed on the way home that maybe they should tell Mimi a little bit about their past. They didn’t go into details about Ginny’s abduction or her life with Grizz, just that they had been part of an unsavory crowd in their younger days. They wanted to prepare her in the unlikely event it was brought to the attention of the media. So far, nothing had surfaced, but Ginny felt it was time to start filling Mimi in on some of their history. But the teenager hadn’t seemed fazed at all by what her parents told her.

  After Mimi’s nonchalant departure from the den, Ginny sat up straighter and faced Tommy.

  “Just the fact that they found Moe’s remains has made it obvious to me that we can’t ignore our past.” He started to say something, but she held her hand up to stop him. “Besides, if finding Moe doesn’t bring the reporters out, Grizz’s execution next year certainly will. And we need our children to be prepared. She now knows we were part of it. I’m a little surprised she doesn’t seem to care, but she’s a teenager and completely absorbed in her own life. She has finals next week. She has her piano recital coming up. She wants to learn how to drive, even though she’s not even old enough to have a permit yet. I don’t know, Tommy, you heard her. She thought what little we shared about our past was the coolest thing she’d ever heard. But that’s today. Tomorrow, it’ll be something else. Maybe we aren’t as interesting as we thought we were. I mean, to her, we’re boring old Mom and Dad.”

  Tommy sighed. “I guess you’re right. Usually, I’m the one telling you you’re reading too much into her behavior. Maybe we’ve both been wrong. Maybe we’ve built it up in our heads to be this monumental, horrible secret past, and yes, it is horrible, but it is our past. And it’s so far removed from how we live our lives now that it’s almost as if it never existed. And another thing—what about Jason? With Grizz’s execution scheduled for next year, should we tell Jason anything? Do we need to prepare him?”

  Ginny had to ponder this for a minute. She was certain the lack of interest Mimi displayed would be the total opposite of how her son, Jason, would react. He was nine years old and curious about everything. And heaven only knew how much he’d want to tell his friends.

  “I think I’d like to take a chance on the press leaving this alone,” she said finally. “Finding what was left of Moe hasn’t seemed to have drawn a lot of attention. That gives us a year to decide if we need to tell Jason anything. And you’re right. Grizz is scheduled for death next summer, but he’s received so many stays, there’s no telling how long before he’s actually put to death. This could go on for years.”

  She shifted uncomfortably on the sofa and wouldn’t meet Tommy’s eyes. She didn’t like this subject. Never had. Never would.

  She stood. The conversation was over.

  “I have to get started on my baking for the church cakewalk tomorrow night, and I told Carter I’d stop over later to help her exercise her horses. I was going to bring home takeout for dinner. Do you have a yearning for anything? Chinese? Mexican?”

  Before Tommy could answer her, she quickly added, “Why don’t you come with me? It’s Denise’s day to get Jason after school and take him to practice with Max, and she’s taking him along to her mother’s for dinner.” Denise was the mother of Jason’s best friend, Max. “Lindsay is supposed to come over and do homework with Mimi. Come to Carter’s with me. Let’s go now and I’ll make the cakes after we come home later.”

  Tommy made a face.

  “Oh, c’mon, Tommy. I know you don’t have to go back to work for the rest of the day. Come with me. It’ll be fun.”

  “It’ll be fun for you, maybe,” he said. “Last time I went, I got stuck shoveling the stalls.”

  “Well, that’s because you said you didn’t want to ride last time.”

  “And I said I didn’t want to ride because the time before that when I did help exercise the horses, I had to come home and put a bag of frozen peas on my balls.”

  “You’re just not used to riding. You have to give it some time,” she said with a smile.

  “No thanks, Gin. I’ll pass this time. I’m leaving tomorrow for Chicago, and I don’t want to have sore balls. I need to pack, anyway.”

  “Chicago? I thought that was next week.”

  “No, it’s been on the calendar. I leave tomorrow morning. I have an eleven o’clock flight.”

  “But the church dinner. You’re going to miss the church dinner tomorrow night. It’s our biggest night of the year. We’re having the auction and mini-carnival. I invited Alec and Paulina and the kids. We’re all going.”

  “Ginny, I can’t help that my biggest client set this meeting up with me six months ago. This is a big deal, and you’ve known about it. It’s been on the calendar forever. Don’t act so surprised. And before I forget, I need to tell you it’ll just be Alec and the boys. Paulina has some big yoga thing she’s doing.”

  “Yoga thing? You know what, don’t even tell me. She’s even busier than me with all of her activities.”

  “Well, I hadn’t planned on telling you because I don’t know anything other than it’s a yoga thing.”

  Ginny stood over him and, bracing both hands on each of his shoulders, she planted a kiss on the top of his head. He looked up at her, and she got very serious.

  “I think I’ll leave for Carter’s now, Tommy. Instead of baking. I need to…to…you know.”

  She was trying to tell him she needed to escape their earlier conversation. She needed to be on the back of a horse, the wind in her hair, the sound and smell of horse and leather attacking her senses and obliterating her thoughts. She may have sounded brave and tough when she talked about not being able to bury their past, but her insides told a different story.

  Sensing his wife’s delayed reaction to the conversation about Grizz, Tommy stood up and hugged her.

  “I’ll come with you. I’m not getting on that beast Carter calls Comanche, but maybe I can play with the dogs or something.”

  She looked up at him with a grateful expression. “Thank you, Tommy. Thank you for coming with me.”

  **********

  Later that night, after watching him for a few minutes, Ginny poked her head in Tommy’s office. He was sitting at his desk and hadn’t realized she was there.

  “When are you coming to bed?” she asked, yawning. “It’s after midnight.”

  He looked up. “Oh, hey, Gin. I just have a few more things, and then I still have to pack. Go to bed. I’ll try not to be too loud when I come up.”

  “I know you’re sitting here now because you came to Carter’s with me. You didn’t tell me you had to do some work for your trip.”

  “It’s not your fault. The unexpected visit to the police this morning to talk about Moe threw me off schedule.”

  She leaned against the doorjamb and cocked her head. “But you’d be finished if you hadn’t come to Carter’s with me. Why didn’t you just tell me you had more work?”

  He stood up from his desk then and walked toward her, pulling her close and resting his chin on top of her head.

  “Because I knew you were trying to be strong and that talking about what’s supposed to happen next summer was weighing on you. I just wanted to be with you, Ginny. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. To be with you. No matter where you are or what you’re doing. I love you, Gin.”

  “I love you too, Tommy.”

  She looked up at him then, an
d he kissed her gently on the mouth.

  What started out as a small gesture of affection quickly turned into something more. It wasn’t obvious which one of them deepened the kiss first, but before either one of them knew what was happening, they found themselves naked. Ginny was bent over the leather sofa as Tommy thrust himself inside of her from behind.

  He reached around and found the spot that caused a loud moan to escape her lips. He brought her to a quick and powerful orgasm.

  The moment he felt her softness clenching him in spasm, he found his own release.

  “Oh fuck, Gin. I didn’t expect you to come that quickly. It felt like you had me in a vice.”

  “You’re not complaining, are you?” she asked him breathlessly as she started to put her nightshirt back on.

  He watched as she retrieved her panties and started to slip into them. If he wasn’t mistaken, she was avoiding eye contact.

  “Ginny, look at me.”

  “What? What’s wrong?”

  He smiled at her. “Honey, I think you’re blushing.”

  “I am not blushing, Tommy. For goodness’ sake, we’ve done that a million times. Why would I be blushing?”

  “I don’t know, but your face is all red,” he said grinning even more.

  “Well, maybe all the blood went to it because of how I was hanging over the back of your couch with my butt up in the air.”

  He started laughing then and told her she’d just drained him of his last ounce of energy.

  “I’m almost finished here. I’ll be up soon, and I’ll just pack in the morning.”

  “You don’t have to get up early. I already packed for you. Goodnight, Tommy.”

  **********

  The next morning, he was awakened by the sound of stomping in the hallway. The bedroom door flung open, and Jason and Mimi stood there looking at him in bed.