all the rights of this insurance money now goes to her guardian which is you.” The man looked at the amount and counted the zeros closely. “That’s…five million dollars.” He looked over his glasses and smiled and raised his frail body out of the chair and extended a hand for Presley to shake. Presley stared at him.
“What?” He couldn’t say anything else. Presley’s heart fell into his boots. All that money and Michelle could have lived for years. “I could have kept her alive…I could have kept her alive for years.” Presley couldn’t breathe, his voice cracked.
The lawyer frowned and shook his head. “I am sorry sir but we had strict orders in this will that the money for Miss Abigail was not to be exposed until after Michelle’s death. My advice sonny,” He looked at Presley watching him through teary eyes. “Take this money, find that little girl and do what Miss Michelle wanted you to do, and that’s take her daughter and give her a better life. Now get out of my office, I am late for bingo. Your check will be in the mail but sometime they are extremely slow.” The man gathered up his papers and Presley’s legs wobbled raising him to his feet. He knew exactly what to do with this money and it would fold into his plan perfectly well.
Jacob
Sometimes I can’t believe what I’m looking at. Michelle said it was my child, but the little chicken-head keeps running in front my TV like she possessed. Not to mention her crying is about to make me clock her with the remote. I keep telling Vera that if she doesn’t tie the little girl up, I’m gone’ beat her silly. She don’t listen, a house full of women then’ outnumbered me months ago. All these kids in here know when to stay away, but nary one of them want to tell Abigail to obey, so it’s up to me to set her straight.
And you know what? The funniest thing happened today. There was a man outside my house, he thinks I don’t see him but I do. I been seeing him for the past two years, scaling my house out here like he gone arrest me for all the things I have done, but can’t anybody prove it. Yesterday I got an anonymous mail from a mutual friend of Michelle and me, hadn’t seen him since the day we split at the bar and he was all up Michelle’s friend behind. But he sent me this nice little piece, a beautiful Smith and Wesson masterpiece that I keep close to my night stand. The man with the clean cut in that car better not try to jump stupid, I will ware him out.
But today was something different. I was just in my house peeking out the window like I usually do and out of nowhere up come that crazy fool Presley. That old jackrabbit that nearly killed me at the hospital two years ago had the nerve and audacity to come to my house with a bat. If I didn’t believe what I was seeing then my doubts became pretty clear when he lifted a big Timberland boot to my door and knocked it in. He looked mad and crazy and I just knew he was coming to kill me. He charged right at me threatening to hit me with the bat.
I shouldn’t have dropped those charges on him two years ago. But I knew they would need my information and eventually arrest me for all the tickets and selling I had been doing, and I didn’t want to go to jail so I let his ugly butt slide by. But now he was asking for it! He grabbed Abigail and charged right back out the house. I tried yelling after him but I just wasn’t loud enough.
It’s alright though...I got something for him! I went to my little table and popped my trustee full of bullets and ran out the house wobbling my fat butt to his car. He was stuffing Abigail in the backseat when I called his name. He turned right to me and I squeezed the trigger into his chest.
He lay on the ground and I didn’t unfreeze myself till I saw thick red blood pouring from his back. I killed him! But I wasn’t going to jail. It was like they all knew I was going to do it! All of a sudden police came out of nowhere and jumped me. I was on the ground, gun out of my hand and my underwear scraped the ground collecting mud like a slave caught running for freedom. They had me…They had me and I was going to jail. It all went by so fast I couldn’t stop for regrets before they transferred me from one jail house to another.
Time had no stamp on me, and when they told me I had been locked up for two years I couldn’t believe they cared enough to tell me how long I was rotting. I went to court date, after court date, and they kept dragging me along like the worthless trash I seemed to be. Michelle’s whole family was there, at every single trial and it seemed like Abigail, my own flesh and blood was laughing at me for being dumb enough to kill poor Presley. Daddy gone’ get the big sentence for who knows what. They said the gun had been traced to so many murders, my girl Vera claimed to have no relation to me or her own children.
They took all my money, not like I even had any and they didn’t even care when I told them the gun wasn’t mine. No one believed me, all they gave me to survive on was their looks of hate and disgrace. Once I was given the final verdict the judge cracked the gavel and I was on my way to the big hole. They did strange things to me in there, and I know that as far as I am concerned, whatever I had done in my life wasn’t really worth all the trouble I am in now. I tried to pray this morning for a little bit of comfort, but instead all I got was silence, I know God heard me but that didn’t mean he was impressed with my sudden hypocrisy. Then one day the guard told me I had a visitor, and it seemed like my whole world stopped when I got to that glass and the little white phone holding all the answers while the man in front of me stared, completely pleased with seeing my agony.
It was Presley. “How?” He said and chuckled a little. Jake tried to get out his seat and point to him, telling the guards I had been set up. They all laughed at and said “Sure, like we don’t hear that every day,” and forced him back into the chair.
“How did I do it?” Presley asked again and Jake stared at him speechless while his voice poured through the little white phone. “Why don’t you ask yourself Jacob Matthews? How did I end up here? Was it because of the stolen gun of a mass murderer that went missing out of evidence in a closed case? Was it because of my stupidity living with a woman who didn’t even care enough about me to give a false statement to the police to save you from prison? Or maybe it was the fact that you left the mother of your child to die and rot on a machine when all you had to do was get over your fear and selfishness?” He looked at Jake and I admit that all I can do is look stupid.
“The next time you go to your happy place Jacob, think about Michelle and how she will be in heaven smiling over her daughter while she grows into a vibrant and healthy young lady. The next time you look into that dirty mirror across from your one bed, one toilet, and one-yard-long apartment in a maximum security facility, consider how much time and effort was put into your hospitality,” Presley said and smiled.
It had been a long road with the investigator Marcus who had spent a lot of hours watching Jacobs home and reporting back to Presley what he found. Presley had spent two years planning Jake’s decent and the money that Michelle provided him with was more than enough to supply his revenge. After constant back and forth Presley realized that Jake was not worth the trouble and he gave up. Then Marcus found some dirt on Jake and called Presley informing him of his findings. Jacob Matthews was no saint indeed; he was at the end of two open-end murders that his friend had been put away for.
Courtesy of Michelle’s friend Nancy who was dating Jake’s friend from the bar she was able to tell them all the dirt that Jake had done in his past. Presley found new determination to catch Jake; the only thing left was a murder. Presley would plant the perfect gun from Nancy’s apartment and mailed to Jake which Presley was positive Jake would use if his life was threatened. It was all about perfect timing and now Presley could live happily ever after with Abigail and never has to deal with the likes of Jake again.
“Think about Abigail, and how she is going to live her life with the evidence of your retribution knowing that your life is in her hands and testimony. Consider the fact that she alone holds the rights to your survival as a free man, and then think about how she is going to feel knowing that you’re the reason her mother is dead.” Presley leaned back in the chair taking a deep rela
xing breath. Jake couldn’t help but cry and slam the table. He set me up! Now he is laughing at me?
“Look man, you won’t be in here forever, it’s like I said. Abigail has the choice of letting you go or making you stay, and when she comes of age I will be right there making sure she makes the perfect decision. How does it feel to know that your life…” He leaned close to the window. “Your life is in someone else’s hands. And you can’t do a thing about it.” He slammed down the white phone and Jake screamed in desperation.
“I’m going to find you Presley! I’m going to get my life back! I didn’t kill her! I did what I had to do!” Jake kept screaming until the guards hit him over the head with a long stick knocking him senseless onto the floor. Presley was right.
Jake did see him and Abigail in his dreams. They had left the country, her and Presley with Michelle’s mom and dad and best friend. They all lived under new names far away from their past. Presley had a happy ending with Abigail, just the two of them and there was no room left for Jake’s sorry regrets.
I knew Presley was a man of his word, I know he told Abigail that she had the evidence