Letters From the Grave

something.”

  The word amongst the guards was that he’d killed a Trooper and gotten away with it. He wasn’t convicted, but the guards all figured he was guilty anyway. He was being punished by them for a crime he beat in court. It wasn’t fair. Anyway, he could last ten months, even if they thought they were getting to him. He didn’t mind the stalls that much, but he had to complain to avoid getting worse assignments.

  He avoided the other prisoners and stayed in his cell before lights out in the evening. He read westerns, but mostly just thought about getting the gold back.

  Happy

  Her drive back to Mineral Wells was full of memories of the last five days in Lafayette. Jake was really special to her. Was she just compensating for her grief as a rebounding widow? Maybe he was just another guy with superficial intentions. There’d been a few after Paul died. Jake wasn’t like the other men she knew, mostly men married to her friends. He was the kind of man with deep passions, nothing superficial about him. They liked doing the same things. It was more about “doing” than reading constantly or watching TV. He wasn’t good at passive activities. He was a doer who enjoyed life and lived closer to the edge than most people. Flying over the Gulf was something he enjoyed, and she had experienced some of that joy, but it was also dangerous. Pilots died in his profession. Jake had a career doing life-threatening things balanced by extreme personal satisfaction. It was this intensity about him that she loved. Her phone rang, and she glanced at the display. Gail was her best friend. “Hey, gal. How are you?”

  Gail answered, “Okay, tell me all about it. Was he still the guy you liked so much when he’s back on his native soil?”

  “Hum. How to say it? Yes, he’s wonderful. He took me up in his helicopter. I think he wanted me to understand why he does it for a living.”

  “I’m jealous. You went for a ride in a helicopter?”

  “Yeah. It was great, hours along the Texas Coast. We stopped on the beach for lunch -- God’s view of everything. It was wonderful, but mostly, it was being with him. He makes me feel good anywhere.”

  “Oh--oh. You sound like you’re falling for him.”

  “Maybe I am.”

  “So, when do you see him again?”

  “Soon, I hope.”

  They talked about local gossip then agreed to have dinner during the week. A short time later, Wendy called and most of the story was retold. That routine continued most of the way home. Julie never felt alone in the car. She never really had time to think about a future with Jake, driving back to Mineral Wells.

  For weeks after Julie’s visit, they talked almost every day on the phone. He thought frequently about asking her to marry him, or live with him. What do people in their circumstances do?

  When he wasn’t pondering their future, he was trying to untangle the mysteries surrounding Callie’s entry into his life, and Julie’s. How had she known about all of them: him, Julie and Bobby? More importantly, how had she put together the emotional connection they shared? It was one of the things that Jake and Julie started discussing after getting to know each other better. It allowed him to divert away from the marriage question whenever they exhausted all other topics. In their latest discussion, Julie said, “Jake, there’s one way you might get the answers.”

  “What’s that?”

  She answered, “Think about it. The one person who knows, or should know, is Ryan. You could try to talk to him. Maybe he’d tell you something.”

  Jake dreaded the thought, but after his next flight rotation, he admitted to himself that it was worth a shot. He did some on-line research then called the prison about possibly visiting Ryan at Angola. They didn’t schedule appointments in advance, but he could come during visiting hours and ask to talk to the prisoner. There was no guarantee that the prisoner would want to meet. It was a crapshoot. He had to try.

  Ryan was resting lazily on his cell bunk at ten o’clock in the morning on Sunday, a day that he only needed to eat with the block, but otherwise had no work assignments. It was boring, but at least he wasn’t shoveling shit. His cell door was open when the guard appeared, “Ryan, get dressed. You got a visitor.”

  “What? Who is it? I don’t want to talk to no cops or DAs”

  “I don’t know who it is, just get dressed and come with me. You know how it works.”

  Ryan scowled, but decided not to argue with the guard. He was a short-timer and didn’t want any trouble. Ten minutes later, he was let into the “visit” room, which was a series of chairs with partitions between and Plexiglas, separating the visitor from the prisoner. He was told to go to stall 3.

  Jake was startled when he saw Ryan with shoulder-length hair and new tattoos on his forearms. His unshaven face gave him a menacing look overall.

  Ryan reluctantly sat down. “What do you want?”

  “Hi, Will. I just wanted to ask you some questions about Callie.”

  Ryan moved back from the voice box on the window then leaned forward saying, “I got nothing to say, man. Same’s I tol’ the police and the prosecutors. I ain’t sayin’ nothin’ about that bitch.”

  “Will, I’m not here to get more crap on you. She, she was good around me, and I just want to close it all out.”

  “She give you a blow job every night for bedtime?” Ryan had a smirk on his face that infuriated Jake.

  “Look Ryan, that’s not what I mean, and you know it.”

  Ryan smiled at his reaction. “Yeah, I guess she was just daddy’s little girl around you, huh. Too bad, you missed out on some prime girl flesh.”

  Jake gritted his teeth. “You know, she was a decent person deep down. It was being around shit like you all her life that disguised it. You really helped destroy her.”

  “Oh yeah. You didn’t know her at all. I picked her off the streets and give her a home.”

  Jake clenched the desktop. “You don’t know what a home is. She was a good person. Not in your low-life league. She was smart and could have turned around if given a chance.”

  “Well, that ain’t gonna happen is it? She weren’t so smart you know.”

  Jake relaxed slightly. “She could run circles around you.”

  “Oh yeah! How’d she fool you? How’d she fool that lady up in Texas? You think she was smart. I did all that. She was my tool, and I used her to perfection.”

  Jake finally got Ryan in a defensive mood. “You’re not smart enough, or know enough, to pull any of this off. It had to be her plan, and you were just a tool.”

  Ryan pushed the chair back and leaned with both hands on the desk, spitting his words into the voicebox on the glass, “How’d you think she knew about your guilt trip, and how’d she find those letters? I tol’ her! I figured it all out, and she did what I tol’ her, or she woulda been whupped!”

  “You didn’t know about any of that. You couldn’t!”

  Ryan smiled. “Oh no, then how about I fill you in on your new romance with your new lady friend. Julie, isn’t it?”

  Jake flushed. “What do you know?”

  “Well, Jake. I know everything. I got x-ray intelligence working here, boy.”

  Jake lost his train of thought and didn’t know what more to say. Somehow, Ryan knew more than he should.

  Ryan continued. “Tell you what, pard, we’ll have more discussion when I get out. Maybe I’ll go have a nice chat in Mineral Wells too.”

  Jake was flushed. “What are you talking about?”

  “Well, the way I figure it, you owe me some gold afta’ my debt to so-ciety is paid.”

  “I don’t owe you shit, and you’re going to stay away from me or anyone special to me. Do you hear me you shit bird!”

  Ryan smiled. “Oh my, Jake. Swearing doesn’t become the Great One at CHI. I’m surprised at you.”

  “Don’t think you can fool with me, jailbird. I’m capable of taking you out any day and would enjoy every minute of it.”

  “Oh, Ja
ke! Are you threatening me? I been survivin’ all my puny life against real criminals. I ain’t scart, and if I was you, I’d think about protecting my lady. And you just think about how you’re gonna re-ward me with you gold when I get outta here in a few weeks. Think of it like a life insurance policy on you lady.” Ryan smiled and walked away. “Guard!”

  Jake sat stunned for a few moments then pushed the chair back.

  On the way back to Lafayette, he processed what Ryan was saying – not the threats, those were clear, but the things about Jake’s past. He knew too much, and it wasn’t “x-ray intelligence.”

  There were no major roads between Angola and Lafayette. Jake steered down two-lane back roads trying to follow the reverse route he used coming up. The statements made by Ryan kept rattling around in his head. The conclusions caused him to be sick. He pulled his cell phone from his pants pocket and hit speed dial #2. The voice answered, “CHI, how can I direct your call?”

  “Let me talk to BJ.”

  He heard someone yell in the background then he answered, “This is BJ.”

  “BJ, it’s Jake.”

  “Hey, Jake, what’s shaken?”

  “I’ve had an interesting morning.”

  BJ responded in a softer voice, “Tell me about it.”

  “I just visited Ryan at Angola.”

  There was a perceptible pause. “Why’d you do that?”

  “I wanted some answers.”

  “Did you get them?”

  “Maybe. I’m coming in, BJ. I want to talk to you when I get there in an hour.”

  “I’ll be here, Jake.”

  The tone