the dead man - 16. gretel

by nick nelson

part sixteen of 31

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george grindell ’s only employee in his garage was his daughter, gretel. she did not work union hours. when gretel was working her often long hours in the garage she wore baggy, oil-stained men’s coveralls and kept her long hair coiled up under an old fashioned trainman’s cap. gretel was small and thin, neither good looking nor ugly. she was what an earlier generation might have described as “mousy.” she had no friends, male or female, and almost never ventured into town or anywhere else. when she was “off work” ( though subject to be ordered back to work by george at any time), she liked to let down her long brown hair, put on an old fashioned white dress, and sit in a rocking chair on the porch of the rundown house beside the garage that she and george lived in. at the time of the murders that annette walker davis’s book described, gretel passed her time on the porch lknitting, and listening to an old transistor radio, tuned so low, because of geirge’s complaints, that she could barely hear it. in her early teenage years, gretel had obtained a guitar, and would strum it on the porch. george never flat out forbad her to play it, but wore her down with constant remarks like, you play like shit, and, if you can’t play better than that you should fucking give up. when a couple of strings on the guitar broke, gretel did not replace them, gave up the guitar, and took up knitting . george’s harsh treatment of his daughter attracted the notice of the town people, and some heads, especially of women, were shaken at such old fashioned parenting. but nobody really was all that sympathetic to gretel, who was regarded as unfriendly and even “stuck up”. darker speculations as to george’s relations with gretel can well be imagined, and surfaced when george was questioned about the murders. george was never accused of anything in this regard, any more than he was about the murders, but annette walker davis in her book pronounced it “virtually certain’” that he was sexually abusing gretel. eleven year old janey had never read or heard of such things before, and was horrified. next

the dead man - 15. george

by nick nelson

part fifteen of 31

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george grindell was the meanest man in town. he lived on the outskirts of town. nobody liked him or had a good word to say for him. he operated a garage and gas station and truck rental just off the highway. almost all his business, except for the gas, was with people passing through. most of the folks in town could fix their own vehicles if they had to, and had not much use for renting his trucks, which mostly sat idle in his big lot. these trucks would later figure in annette walker davis’s investigations. george had a wrecker that he used to haul vehicles that were in accidents on the highway, and had an arrangement with the highway patrol to carry them to his garage, where he usually got to fix them himself and charge the drivers or their insurance companies for his services. much of his income derived from this activity. george’s wife had left him, naturally enough, considering what a rotten person he was, but she left behind a daughter, named gretel. gretel’s personality, and her treatment by george, were a matter of some interest and dispute by the inhabitants of the town. annette walker davis would come to some pretty definite conclusions of her own. next

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