Double Dead

by Gary Hardwick

  His good eye began to focus, and soon he saw shadows in the room. He tried to move his arm and couldn't. He was restrained. And then he remembered: He was going to jail. No matter, he thought. He would grow strong there, and one day he would get out and continue his work against God.

  “When he's lucid, we can read him his rights,” said a voice.

  Cane saw a shadow approach. A light flashed across his vision.

  “Doctor, his eye's responding.”

  Cane watched as another shadow walked over to what looked to be a wall and reached up. The window opened, and sunlight filled the room.

  Cane yelled with anger. He tried to free himself from the bed, but he was too weak, and the restraints held him fast. People rushed to him in the hospital bed and began to grab at him, yelling medical terms.

  Cane continued to scream as someone shoved a needle into his arm. Soon he felt a numbing wave pass over him, then another stronger than the first. The waves continued as his strength waned. He stopped his struggle, turning his head slowly to the side, away from the terrible sun.

  18

  Promises To Keep

  Jesse sat on his sofa like a condemned man as he waited for Connie. He'd been spared the task of facing Connie last night. Williams and the FBI had needed him, and he had managed to stretch the meetings and news interviews out all day. But now he had to face her. He had to tell her that he could not marry her.

  Jamerson and the DEA had taken their drug courier, a man they called Minnesota, on the river. The coast guard and the DEA had trapped the yacht containing enough heroin to get the whole city high. They had made arrests all around.

  The arrests of Louise Yancy and Brownhill were all over the newspapers. Brownhill maintained his innocence for a while. He might have made it a hard-fought trial, but when Jeffrey North, his hired assassin, turned state's evidence, Brownhill cut a deal, confessed everything including bugging Karen Bell's phone and Louise Yancy's involvement. Jesse's phone had not been tapped by Brownhill or anyone. He had just been paranoid, he guessed.

  Ira Hoffman had called Jesse and apologized for his remarks in the press. Jesse forgave him. Ira just hadn't known him well enough to believe he was innocent.

  Mayor Crawford tried desperately to distance himself from Brownhill. He had just given a speech calling Brownhill a visionary, and now Brownhill was in prison for murder. Brownhill's partners Margaret Blue and Willie Gibbs were not implicated with Brownhill. They promised that the New City Project would go on. Crawford promised that the 1982 bonds would be honored.

  The pro-casino forces were winning a vote on a state initiative in the elections. Despite the best efforts of Mayor Crawford and the MACs, legalized gambling was coming to Detroit.

  D’Estenne was still in the race for county prosecutor. The polls showed that he was winning by a good margin. The Yancy case had embarrassed him, but with Crawford's endorsement, he was projected to be the winner.

  Jesse had voted against him.

  Richard Steel announced his retirement from the prosecutor's office. He would be joining Chapel, Swiss to start a white-collar crime practice. He offered Jesse a job and floored him with the starting salary. Jesse didn't know what to do. He still had his job at the prosecutor's office. He was also reinstated to the bar since all charges against him and Ramona were dropped. But he didn't give Richard an answer. He was mulling it over.

  He'd taken a moment to visit his sister. Bernice's house was beset with reporters, but he had to talk with her. She was still in rehab and doing fine. She even looked like she'd gained a few pounds.

  Jesse talked with Bernice for a while, telling her not to give any reporter a story unless she was paid for it. She would need all the money she could get. Jesse left, but not before he gave Bernice some money. Bernice cried. She knew what it meant. He believed in her again.

  Ramona visited her sister, Cheryl, and celebrated her freedom. Ramona told Jesse that she hadn't talked to her mother, and didn't plan to. She had given up on that relationship ever working.

  Ramona didn't question him about Connie. She understood that Connie had no way of knowing what had happened to Jesse on his adventure. But Ramona didn't offer to make love to him, and he didn't ask. She was waiting for him to end it. He respected her for that.

  There was a knock at the door. Jesse answered it, and Connie stood in the doorway, looking radiant in a fur coat. She hugged Jesse and kissed him passionately. Jesse pulled her away, a little too soon.

  “Something wrong?” Connie said.

  “Sit down, Connie,” Jesse said.

  Connie took off her coat and sat next to Jesse on the sofa. Jesse looked at her and didn't know where to begin. No matter what he felt in his heart, Connie would see it as a betrayal, and he guessed that she would be right. Ramona was special to him, but he had made a promise to Connie, one that was sacred even if people didn't treat it that way anymore. Connie took his hands in hers and smiled.

  “I've got so many things to say to you, Jesse.”

  “I know, Connie, but let me talk first-”

  “I never stopped believing in you. I knew you didn't kill anyone. I lost a lot of friends over that, but I don't care. No one knows you better than I do--”

  “Connie, hold it for a minute,” said Jesse. He squeezed her hand firmly. “Let me talk. I don't want you to misunderstand me here.”

  “I'm sorry,” said Connie. She put her hand on his face. “It's just that-- I'm very excited and all.”

  “I can't marry you,” said Jesse.

  Connie looked dumbstruck. She regarded Jesse as if seeing him for the first time. Her hand trembled on his cheek. She pulled it away, as if embarrassed.

  “I don't want to lead you on,” he said.

  “It's her, isn't it, that woman? Like the newspapers said. You love her. I didn't want to believe it.”

  “It happened after I ran away-- Connie, it doesn't matter when it happened, but it did.”

  “And what about me, Jesse?” asked Connie. “I love you too.”

  “I know. Connie, listen. You and me have always been an odd match. Our backgrounds are worlds apart. This woman--Ramona, is just like me. We both walked out of a bad world and into a better one; only she never forgot where she started like I did. She gave me back something, Connie. She gave me back myself.”

  Connie started to cry, and Jesse's heart crumbled. He knew it would be painful, but tears always got to him.

  “Are you going to marry her?” Connie sniffled.

  “It hasn't come up yet. I know it sounds old-fashioned, but I need you to release me from my promise to you.”

  Connie was silent as she wiped a tear from her eyes. “I'm leaving, Jesse,” said Connie. She stood up. “I should be mad at you, but I'm not. I don't want to be with a man who doesn't want me. I'm just disappointed in you.”

  He didn't know what to say. There was no good way to break someone's heart. He thought of several comforting things to say, but they all sounded insulting at this moment.

  Connie grabbed her coat and went to the door. She opened the door and stopped. With her back to Jesse, she said,

  “I release you.” Then she left.

  Jesse buried his face in his hands. The last thing he ever wanted to do was hurt Connie. But he had to follow his heart, be true to himself. It seemed that was all he had left. He'd watched families crumble all his life. He couldn't start one with Connie based on a lie.

  Jesse felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up into Ramona's face. “I know you asked me to stay in the back, but I couldn't,” she said. “I heard it all.” Ramona wiped a tear from her eye.

  “Why are you crying?” asked Jesse.

  “Because I feel bad for her-- and because I'm happy.”

  Jesse stood and embraced her. He kissed her passionately and felt some of his guilt slip away.

  “I'm going to be a wreck for at least a month,” said Ramona.

  “Come on,” said Jesse. “I know what can cheer us both up.” He
pulled some coats from his closet and led her out of the apartment.

  They went to the top floor. Jesse led Ramona to a door that read roof. They opened the door and took the stairs to the roof of Jesse's building.

  The sun was setting. It swept over the city skyline in a glorious wave of light.

  “I come here when I need to remember what's really important,” said Jesse.

  “It's beautiful,” said Ramona.

  She moved closer to him as the cold November air chilled her face. Jesse embraced her as they watched the sun's rays bounce off the river, reflecting its light into their eyes.