Cruel Justice
Page 42
“No.”
“Benjamin, be reasonable!”
“If my father had wanted me to—”
“Ben, you don’t know what you’re talking about!” Her head snapped back suddenly, as if she herself was surprised at the sudden intensity of her voice.
“I’m sorry, Mother.” Ben looked down, pushing away the money. “No.”
She sighed heavily, and for the first time Ben thought he saw all her sixty-six years etched in her face. “Well, if you won’t change your mind, I guess there’s nothing more I can do for you.”
She lifted her luggage and started to go.
“Wait.”
She stopped.
Ben reached out to her. “There is something.”
She turned. Her eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yes.” Ben put down her bags, took her trembling hand, and guided her to a chair. “Tell me about my father.”
Acknowledgments
ONCE AGAIN I HAVE been fortunate to draw on the expertise of others in writing this novel. I want to thank Linda Barry for sharing her wisdom gained from years of experience working with developmentally disabled children; Judge Thomas S. Crewson, for telling me about the real Leeman Hayes; Walter Booker Martin, Jr., Gang Specialist for the Midwest City Police Department, for putting me in the know and in contact with Oklahoma youth gangs; and Arlene Joplin, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, for keeping me straight on criminal procedure.
I want to acknowledge my sources for much of the historical background material in the book: “The Court Martial of Johnson C. Whittaker” and “The Blacks in Oklahoma,” both by Burkhard Bilger and both published in the splendid regional magazine Oklahoma Today, edited by the incomparable Jeanne Devlin; and Death in the Promised Land, by Scott Ellsworth and published by the Louisiana State University Press.
Thanks to Cecil Adams of The Straight Dope for bringing autoerotic asphyxiation to my attention. What a sheltered life I’ve led.
Thanks also to Michael Stipe of R.E.M., who incidentally was born on the same day, same year, that I was. A fateful day in history.
I want to thank Gail Benedict for her help with the manuscript; Kathy Redwood for her nonpareil secretarial skills; and Drew Graham and Esther Perkins for agreeing to read and comment upon an early draft of the manuscript. Finally, I have to thank my family, Kirsten and Harry and Alice, for putting up with the days Daddy spent on the road, the nights Daddy spent staring blankly at a computer screen, the three A.M. feedings during which Daddy held the bottle with one hand and revised his manuscript with the other, and so forth.
Any cyber-savvy readers who would like to drop me a line are encouraged to do so. I’d love to hear from you. My e-mail address is: willbern@mindspring.com.
By the way, Christina really did buy Ben a brick at the zoo. It’s by the elephant house. Check it out.
—William Bernhardt
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
copyright © 1996 by William Bernhardt
cover design by Jason Gabbert
978-1-4532-7715-7
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