What perplexed the cops was the knife and the glass. They decided to look at Stan Taylor, but how would Stan have access to Billy's knife and glass? The answer to that was easy. Stan had been to Billy's house, when they were working on the proposed book. Stan could have taken the knife and glass, leaving the glass and putting the knife back when the deed was done. He knew where Billy lived, he could have scouted out open doors, and knew Billy's schedule. He could have taken Billy's key and had one made. Or Stan could have gone back to the house recently and gotten the items. It was all plausible.
Stan had motive to get back at Billy. The cops were a little unsure about Stan taking the knife and glass at a time when he and Billy were supposedly on good terms, but when they dug a little further they saw that Stan had once been Billy's rival. There were tensions and baggage that went back 20 years.
Billy's fingerprint on the glass was a little too obvious. If Billy had done it, would he have been stupid enough to take a drink from a glass and touch it with his fingerprints? No, they figured, Stan had gotten that glass after Billy touched it, at some point, and used it to set up Boswell for a fall.
Stan was questioned separately for four days. Then a week passed, and he was arrested and charged with murder. The cops had gone to work, and their spokesman, Lt. Dan Herlihan, summed it up for the media:
“We believe Mr. Stan Taylor had motive and opportunity to kill Ms. Desiree Boswell on the night in question. He has admitted he was there. He had access to the glass with Billy Boswell’s fingerprints, and we believe he removed it from Mr. Boswell’s house, either surreptitiously, or perhaps when he was dealing with Mr. Boswell on a proposed book.
“It was that book project which was the impetus behind Mr. Taylor’s motive. He stood to make a great deal of money writing a book with Mr. Boswell’s authorization. When Mr. Boswell decided not to do the project with Mr. Taylor, instead choosing to do it with a black writer named Larry Wishborn, Mr. Taylor became enraged, and his racial prejudices made him even more enraged.
“We have uncovered Mr. Taylor’s previous writings, and found that there is a strain of ultra-right wing, anti-black sentiment that runs through his philosophies regarding America’s involvement in the slave trade. Mr. Taylor has been involved with pornographers, and his ex-wife discovered this and took his child away from him. He had lost his job with the Los Angeles Times and his marriage, scheduled for November, 2001, was canceled. He moved back in with his parents and was unemployed. Enraged that he was now placed in this position, he decided to set up a black man who had bested him in every area of their lives, a man who had been his rival since childhood, a man he was obsessed with and hated. He decided to discredit Billy Boswell by killing Boswell’s ex-wife and make it look like Boswell had done it. Mr. Boswell has a credible alibi.”
Dan and Shirley came to visit Stan at the Los Angeles County Jail.
"Stan," Dan said to him, "just tell me the truth."
"Dad," he replied, "I did not do this. I don't know if I'm being set up or what, but I'm totally innocent."
"That's all I needed to hear," said Dan. "We love you, son."
"We love you, Stan," said Shirley.
"I love you, too," said Stan. "I love Kaitlyn. I miss her so much."
Stan started to cry.
The press dug further, and the cops happily painted a picture for them of the obsessed, racially prejudiced killer who had killed this floozy white woman who had once had such low self-esteem that she had at one time married a black. Stan was international news. His photo flashed everywhere.
Matt Hobli could not believe the way everything had unfolded. The unfortunate Stan was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then there was that fucking cock hound Jill Jackson, turning up as Billy's alibi. Matt could not care less about Stan Taylor's welfare, but his great plans of ruining Billy Boswell had gone down the shitter.
On the other hand, had Stan not turned up as such a perfect suspect, maybe the cops would have looked at him. They felt the glass with Billy’s fingerprints, which was Matt’s the most important part of the set-up, had been too convenient. As it was, Matt never made their radar. He laughed.
Fuck Stan Taylor, he thought to himself.
The general population of the L.A. County Jail was 40 percent black, 50 percent Hispanic, and 100 percent bad. The guards were indifferent to the plight of the inmates. Three inmates ruled the roost.
James "Cuff" Whiley was a 6-2, 230-pound Crip gang leader who had murdered nine men, but had never been convicted. He was in jail on drug charges.
Jaime Medina was an ex-Army Ranger who had been kicked out of the service for pulling a knife on an officer. He had served his time at Leavenworth, and once back in "world," took up with a Hell's Angels gang that pushed meth in the desert. He was doing time for raping his brother-in-laws wife, and improbably had taken up with a small group of the Aryan Brotherhood, which made up the small group of whites in the jail.
Roland Jones had played basketball at West L.A. Junior College but had gotten into trouble, and was now doing time for armed robbery.
Whiley, Medina and Jones all were baseball fans. In particular, they were fans of Billy Boswell. They read the sports page, which were filled with details about Stan Taylor, the "white motherfucker from P.V. who killed Billy Bos's old lady to fuck The Bos," according to Cuff Whiley.
Stan's reputation preceded him when he entered the general population.
His attorney had requested that Stan be kept separate from the main population, for his own safety, but the judge was a liberal Democrat who felt that "justice must be administered fairly to all, regardless of race."
When Stan made his appearance, everybody had their eyes all over him.
"Honkey muvafucka."
"Yo gonna die, white boy."
"Fuggin' muvafucka."
"Yer ass is mine, asshole."
"Feel good, white muvafucka?"
Stan turned to a guard.
"I think I'm gonna get harmed," he told the guard. "Can you keep your eye on the situation? Is that good enough for government work?"
"If you can't do the time," said the guard, "don't do the crime."
Very original, Stan thought.
"Hey," he said to the guard, "G. Gordon Liddy sends his regards."
"Huh?" said the guard.
Dumbellionite, thought Stan.
On his first day, a little Mexican inmate assaulted Stan. Stan kicked and pushed the bastard away until the guards pulled him off him.
"You gonna die, motherfucker," said the little pissant.
Motherfucker, thought Stan, now there's a hell of a word.
On his third day, two blacks tried to rape Stan in the shower. Stan fought them off.
"Guard, guard, guard, guard, guard, guard, guard," Stan kept yelling. They were standing outside the door, but it took them two minutes to come in and pull the animals off of him.
"Glad to see you people are earning your pay," Stan told them.
"We're not your personal security, asshole," one guard told him.
"Just hope you're never an innocent man in jail," said Stan.
"Innocent my ass," said the guard.
When Stan saw his lawyer, he got straight to the point.
"You have to get me out of here," said Stan. "Any place but here. They think I'm a fucking Klu Klux Klucker in here and I'm dead if I stay in the general population. Any place but the general population. Put me in solitary with a pen and notepaper, I'll write a book. 'A Slice of the Writer's Life'."
Dan and Shirley came every day.
"Did you get in touch with Kaitlyn," Stan asked.
"Karen won't let us," said Shirley. "She hangs up the phone if we call."
"I think she's ecstatic that this is happening to you," said Dan.
"Great," said Stan.
Another week passed, and every day more "Stan Taylor stories" hit the L.A. Times. Larry Wishborn wrote endlessly about his "racist former colleague," and Stan's friends from high sch
ool were found and told about "Dan Taylor's racist rants."
"It runs in the family," wrote Wishborn. "The lesson from all of this is that evil can hide behind blue eyes and a beach boy's smile."
Michelle was found and spread all over the newspapers. Her father discovered that his daughter had been a XXX gangbang porn star. The papers portrayed Michelle and Stan as wild fornicators, obsessed with wild, swinging sex.
Dick Maslin and Elrod Miller were both quoted saying that they never trusted Stan.
Brad Cooper, Walt Coleman and Mac told the papers that they did not believe a word of it.
Dan hired a private investigator to catch the real killer.
The papers had a field day with the fact that Stan was a Republican who had worked in campaign politics. They went into the details of Dan's relationship with Richard Nixon, going back to when Nixon was a partner at Adams, Duque & Hazeltine, and Dan was a young lawyer. They made great hay out of Dan's Uncle Charles, the former Secretary of State. When questioned, Charles had no comment on whether he believed in the guilt or innocence of his nephew.
Stan was compared to Ted Bundy, the "Republican Serial Killer" who had briefly volunteered for the Washington state G.O.P. in the 1980s. They called Stan the "Yuppie Killer." Democrats invoked his name during the 2002 Primaries as an example of Republican racism.
"The word" at the L.A. County Jail was that something was coming down. Stan knew it. The attack came from Whiley, Medina and Jones in the rec room. Stan stood with his back to the wall so he could see everything in front of him, and to the sides. He was focused and constantly ready for it. His concentration reminded him of big games he had pitched.
Medina came first, with a shiv. He approached from Stan's right. Stan saw him and lunged at him. Medina stuck the shiv in Stan's side, but Stan kicked Medina's chin with his knee, knocking him backward. Medina's attack had been a diversionary attack. Jones and Whiley came at him from the other side, catching him off-guard. He was also in shock from the shiv, which had gone deep just below his ribs.
He caught the two blacks out of the corner of his eye, and used his leg to block them off.
"This is for Billy Boswell, muvufucka," said Whiley.
Stan felt a knife catch him in the thigh. Stan swung wildly and caught Jones in the face. Whiley butted him. Stan grabbed Whiley's head and twisted him. Medina came back with another shiv to his stomach. Stan punched Medina and fell.
Jones kicked Stan, and Stan used his fists to fend off Medina. Nobody helped him. Whiley picked up the knife and slashed him across his chest.
The door opened and a guard entered.
"Oh, shit," said the guard.
He shot Whiley dead.
Medina and Jones fell to the side.
Stan lay in a puddle of blood. The guard ran to him.
"Christ, Taylor," he said.
"Don' worry about it," Stan said to the guard. "It's that law they passed."
"What law?" asked the guard.
Good things don’t happen to Stan Taylor. The guard tried to stop the multiple bleeding, but it was too late.
Stan looked out, and saw black and Hispanic faces staring at him from behind the guard. Slowly they faded out, and were replaced by a brilliant light. He traveled through the light, and was overwhelmed by a sense of love. It felt like the time he hugged Kaitlyn at the airport after coming back from Marine training.
Then he saw Jesus Christ, open arms, welcoming him to Heaven.
A small contingent of family and friends attended Stan Taylor's funeral. His mother was crying uncontrollably, and the look on Dan's face was one-quarter confusion, three-quarters hatred. Then Dan's face relaxed. He and Shirley stared at Stan's casket, and the cross. A sense of realization came to them.
“I’m sorry, son,” Dan told his casket. He cried. "I'm so sorry, Stan."
From Heaven, Stan saw his funeral. He smiled because he was safe and felt only love and forgiveness – for his parents, for Larry Wishborn, Michelle, Karen, Billy Boswell and everybody who had ever trespassed against him.
"I know, Daddy," he said as his father sobbed.
"Forgive me, Stan," said Shirley. "I love you."
"I know, Mommy," said Stan, smiling.
Then Kaitlyn appeared with flowers, which she put on Stan's casket. Tears streamed down her lovely face.
“I love you, Daddy,” said Kaitlyn. "I'll love you forever and ever. Nothing will ever make me stop loving my sweet Daddy."
“I love you, too, baby,” Stan said. The most beautiful of all realizations came to Stan. This was the knowledge that his love and prayers had saved his parents’ souls. When it was their time, Dan, Shirley and eventually Kaitlyn would join him in Eternal Heaven. “I love everybody.”
“…it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he’s gone.”
--ABRAHAM, MARTIN AND JOHN
By Dion
The End.
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