the dead man - 14. janey

by nick nelson

part fourteen of 31

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when janey masterson was eleven years old, she took a book out of the library titled the silver valley killer, by annette walker davis, the silver valley killer was in the adult half of the small library, on the “true crime” shelf. it was the second or third “grown-up” book that janey ever read, and she was captivated by it. she did not know, and would not have cared if she had known, that both the book and author were almost completely unknown, and would remain so. the book concerned a series of murders of three young women and one young man, all of them hitchhikers, and three of them “hippies”, whose bodies were discovered beside the highway near a small town near silver valley idaho. but the really interesting thing about the book, for janey, was that the murders were solved by the author of the book, who described herself as a “free-lance journalist” and was not and never had been a policeperson! it was revealed in an afterword to the book that the killer uncovered by the author was never charged with or convicted of his crimes, because of the cowardice of the authorities, but this only added to the effect of the book on janey. imagine, solving a crime all by yourself and writing a book about it! what were perry mason or miss marple or murder she wrote on tv compared to that! just some stuff that somebody made up! next

the dead man - 13. some news

by nick nelson

part thirteen of 31

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mrs cotton, the head jailer, leaned back in her chair and looked closely at lucas. i have some news for you, jackson. yes, ma’am. any idea what it is? no, ma’am, i can’t say that i do. you know ms hester johnson, your lawyer? lucas considered the question. of course i know her, she’s my lawyer. she was my lawyer. why do you say was your lawyer? she told me she was quitting her job. you knew she was retiring? retiring? that means quitting her job. yes, she told me. i am supposed to get a new lawyer but i ain’t seen her yet. ms johnson was killed yesterday. sometime in the afternoon. you were the last client she saw. wow. is that all you have to say - wow? what do you want me to say? so you don’t know anything about it? no. she didn’t tell me she was going to get killed. mrs cotton paused and looked sternly at lucas. did ms johnson ever talk to you about her own life? what? about her own life? no, she never did. are you sure? i don’t recall that she ever did. she was all business? you got that right. always hurrying me up, saying , i got other people to talk to. mrs cotton laughed. yes, i can believe that. so she didn’t say anything about where she was going next? lucas considered. just that she was going to lunch. and she said goodbye to me. that was nice of her. yeah. look here, if you are going to be asking me these questions, maybe i should get my new lawyer in here. or perry mason or matlock or somebody. i have no more to ask you. if the police want to talk to you, i will make sure that your new lawyer, or some lawyer, will be here. thank you. you can go now. next

the dead man - 12. the park bench

by nick nelson

part twelve of 31

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the abrupt end to her meeting with lucas left ms johnson with an extra ten minutes for lunch, before meeting with her next client. it was a nice day, and she did not really feel like getting a cup of coffee, so she decided to go for a short walk in the park. the park was located across the street from the courthouse and ail, and was rather a large one for the size of the city. she found an empty bench just inside the park, but hidden from main street. she sat down on it and let her mind go blank. she fell asleep. she had a dream she had had many times before, though never on a park bench in the middle of the day. in the dream she was a can of campbell’s pea soup on a shelf of a little store in westboro missouri (the exact place varied from dream to dream). she both feared and wanted someone to come along and take her off the shelf and purchase her. disembodied hands picked other cans off the shelf - usually cans of campbells tomato soup. what was so wonderful about cans of tomato soup? a can of pea soup was just as good or better. . a creature that was a sort of combination cat and cockroach was behind her on the shelf and its name was cleveland, the city where ms johnson had been born. cleveland kept telling her she was better off not being purchased because then she would be opened up and have water poured over her and be boiled… maybe. but what did a cat/cockroach know about cans of soup? at this point in the dream a girl with pink hair behind the cash register looked up at her and told her to stop her noise… she woke up. she immediately knew she had been dreaming but it took a few seconds for her to remember where she was. then she realized there was someone sitting beside her on the bench. it was not a wide bench, but it was a wide someone. it was a man about her own age. he was wearing a brown suit that was not brand new but he did not look quite a bum. he had a big brown and gray beard that covered his face, which seemed to be very pale under the sprouting hair. it’s a nice day, the bearded man said, looking straight ahead. yes, it is, ms johnson agreed. she reached into her purse, which had been in her lap with the straps wrapped around her wrists, and took out her phone and checked the time. it’s very peaceful here, the man continued, but without turning around to face ms johnson. i am sure it is, ms johnson replied. the time was 12:30. she had a half hour before she had to get back to the jail. do you know why it is so peaceful here? the man went on. no, i do not. it was a pleasure talking to you, sir, but i have an appointment and must be off. ms johnson started to get up from the bench. i don’t believe you. excuse me? i said i don’t believe you. next

the dead man - 11. free at last

by nick nelson

part eleven of 31

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what? i asked, ms johnson repeated, do you want me to get you out of here or not? i am sorry, lucas said, i guess my mind was wandering. what else is new? ms johnson said to herself. and then, she thought, five more hours. five more hours, and all this will be a dream. i thought i knew that guy, lucas said. what guy? the guy on the end of the line. lucas nodded his head to show that he meant the end of the line on his left. on the other side of the glass, ms johnson looked to her right. do you mean the lawyer or the prisoner? the prisoner, lucas said. why would i know the lawyer? i don’t know, maybe he was your lawyer before. how would i know? what, do you think i am in and out of here all my life, like i do this sort of thing on a regular basis, like i am some kind of hardened career criminal like jesse james or pretty boy floyd or somebody? i am sorry, i did not mean to imply anything negative. why don’t we get back to your case? five more hours, ms johnson said to herself. five more hours. four, not counting grabbing something for lunch. aren’t you going to ask me where i thought i knew that guy from? does he have anything to do with your case? my case? no, he’s just a guy i knew. i thought he was a guy i knew. oh. where did you know him? back in the day. of course. where else would you know him? but let’s get back to your case. i was in this bar in baton rouge louisiana and this guy came in. he had a package in his hand, you know, a package like you’d mail something in. he sat down and we got to talking… we only have twenty more minutes, lucas, don’t you want to talk about your case? what about my case? lucas asked. assistant district attorney marlowe has offered to let you off with time served - that means you get out right away - i know what time served means. i may not know much but i know what time served means. of course. district attorney marlowe has made this most generous offer if you just - i ain’t ratting out my friends. are you sure about that? i am just trying to help you here… then i guess there isn’t anything more to say. i guess not. i’ll get an early lunch then. maybe get an extra cup of coffee. enjoy. you know this is my last day on the job. ms williams will be taking over your case from here on. yeah, you told me that before. ms johnson stood up. goodbye, lucas. it was a pleasure working with you. it was just an expression. goodbye, lucas. goodbye. enjoy your lunch. next

the dead man - 10. billy brown

by nick nelson

part ten of 31

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when lucas was in first grade he made the acquaintance of billy brown. billy brown was one of those people who are born knowing how the world works. he had not been in the kindergarten class with lucas, but he was in the first grade class. all the other children noticed him right away. the girls hoped he would like them and pay some attention to them. the boys had to decide whether to challenge him or accept his superiority,. if they did not challenge him, should they accept his leadership or try to pretend it did not exist? of course there was the worst fate of all, to be deemed unworthy of notice by billy or even earning his contempt and therefore be effectively an outcast. and billy had to make his decisions as to whom to admit to his favor, and in what sort of favor. ms perkins, the first grade teacher,. recognized billy immediately. there was a billy in almost every class. billy fastened on lucas as someone who could be a toady of the lowest class - one who would be totally loyal and obedient and totally grateful for notice. next

the dead man - 9. the rabbit

by nick nelson

part nine of 31

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time went by. the kindergarten year was over. lily mae could have chosen to keep lucas in “summer school” , preparatory to entering first grade, but she had mercy on him and did not do so. for this, lucas would always be grateful. lucas spent the summer mostly hanging out with joe. they went for long walks together into the abandoned lots of the town, sometimes even approaching the city limits. there was a little hill at the entrance to the interstate highway, and lucas liked to stand or sit on it and watch the traffic, especially the big rigs, go by. but joe would get bored, and express his desire to get away. one day, an old bum, or maybe he was just a slobby old man wandering around loose, saw lucas and joe hanging around on the little hill. “you better keep an eye on your dog, young fellow,” the old man said. “plenty of dogs get excited and run out on to the highway and get pulped. you better keep a good eye on him.” no one had ever suggested before that joe belonged to lucas. joe did not seem to mind. “he’s not the excitable type,” lucas told the old man. the old man nodded and went on his way. on some days, joe was not around for whatever reason, and lucas would wander off by himself. one day he was mooning around in an abandoned lot that was so overgrown with scrubby grass and plants that it could almost qualify as a “woods” - when he saw a rabbit! it was the first one he had ever seen in real life, although they had been common in the picture books in school. the rabbit stared at lucas for one and a half seconds and bounded away. lucas was intrigued by the encounter and resolved to return the next day. the next day he filled his pocket with some stale fruit loops, which he thought he might offer to the rabbit. accompanied by joe, he went back to the little abandoned lot/woods the next day. but the rabbit was nowhere to be seen. the next day it rained, and joe was not to be found. but lucas, who did not mind rain, and actually enjoyed it except that lily mae made him change his clothes when he got home - even if she were not there, she made it clear he was not to hang around in wet clothes and get other things wet - went back to the lot alone. and the rabbit was there, scrunched up inside a broken wooden box. it froze when lucas approached it. lucas took some of the fruit loops out of his pocket and tossed them on the ground in front of the broken box. next

the dead man - 8. the ogre's lament

by nick nelson

part eight of 31

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when the old woman looked more closely at the ogre standing over her, she saw that he was crying. why mister ogre, exclaimed the old woman, whatever is the matter? what has caused such a menacing and ferocious creature as yourself to weep helplessly like a little child? i am being done wrong, said the ogre through his tears. in what way? ms johnson asked the ogre. sheriff john brown is on my trail, wishing to arrest me for doing something i didn’t even do. and what was it that you didn’t do? ms johnson asked. what difference does that make? the ogre asked, if i did not even do it. at this point n the narrative lucas’s mind began to wander. he noticed that the duck, the cow and the pig had all wandered away, probably to shoot at tin cans on the fence in the schoolyard with the new guns they had bought from jose… and lucas was left alone with ms johnson and the ogre, and the ogre turned to lucas and said, it wasn’t me, man, ii was not me who ratted you out… and ms johnson said to the ogre, it was not i who ratted you out, darrell, not not me who ratted you out,,, lucas got up and walked out of the schoolroom past old mrs williams who was drawing pictures with a bunch of girls… pictures of blue skies…. and a big green park with trees and park benches… and a little dog running across the green park under the blue skies… i think your mind is wandering again, lucas, ms johnson said. do you want me to get you out of here or not? next