Page 68 of The Hardest Part

The day dawned just as cold as the day before, but the sun shone. Not a cloud to be had in the bright winter sky. He buttoned up his shirt, tucking it into his best blue jeans, and pulled his hair back in a queue. It was likely the whole town would be there, except for Emily, that is. She was taking Arien and Benjie to Jackson for the day. Pregnant with twins, Kellan and Tanner didn’t want her witnessing any of this shit.

Jake tapped on his doorframe. “Ready, bro?”

Billy put on his hat. “Yup.”

Victor and Justin waited in the kitchen. Impeccably dressed, as they always were, they sipped on coffee, scrolling through their phones. He went to pour himself a cup. “Where’s Ma?”

“She woke up with a headache this morning.” Glancing over at him, his father put the phone down. “Gave her some Tylenol so she can sleep it off.”

“It’s time,” Justin said, tapping on the face of his Movado.

Billy gulped down his coffee in one swallow. “Yeah, okay.”

The short walk to the town hall was a silent one, but then what was there to say? A man’s fate would be determined today. And it had been a long time coming.

Like sardines in a tin, folks packed themselves into the hall. Billy stood off to the side with Griffin, Tyler, Deke, and theothers who lined the wall, waiting to fulfill their duty. The proceeding itself was brief. Two men brought Jacoby to stand before the members of the council, his brother among them. He’d never been so proud to see Jake up on that raised dais.

The Lewis attorneys presented the evidence. The syringes, empty insulin vials, photos of footprints, and the recording of a figure in Benjamin’s room. His father testified to what he’d found, and to Jacoby’s eventual confession.

When asked if he had anything to say, Jacoby only said this, “It isn’t me you should fear.” Then he half-turned, and pointing a gnarled finger at Matthew Brooks, he cackled like a madman. “This is the end of my story.”

And the hall fell silent.

After a moment, the chairman stood, and looking at the men on the wall, he nodded. “Take him.”

Surrounded by the older women, Maizie quietly wept as they led Jacoby away. Billy and the others followed, the townsfolk filing out right behind them.

There’d be no hanging. No lethal injection, firing squad, or electric chair. Brookside has its own way of doing things.

With no food, no water, and wearing only the clothes on his back, they brought Jacoby far beyond the treeline, to the top of the snow-covered, craggy peak. And there, whether from starvation, the elements, or a wild animal, the mountain would decide how and when he’d meet his fate.

Matthew Brooks, his sons, and the townsfolk watched their trek from the lake far below.

Jacoby stood there, a maniacal grin on his face, and waved.

Then he did the craziest thing. He turned around, and spreading his arms wide, fell back off the icy ledge.

“Holy fuckin’ shit.” Griffin scrambled toward the edge, and lying on his stomach, looked down into the rocky gorge below. “I don’t see him.”

“C’mon.” Jake gave him a hand up. “Ain’t nothin’ to see here.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Deke said, hooking his arm around Griffin’s neck. “He’ll turn up downstream somewhere.”

But he never did.

Weeks later, Billy saw him in a dream.A goddamn nightmare. Battered and bloody, his broken limbs disfigured, Jacoby hobbled up to him and laughed in his face. “You should fear me, boy. It’s not my story that’s over, it’syours.”

It was so vivid and real that he woke up breathing all heavy and clutching his chest.

Some dreams have meaning, so he went to Justin about it. “Jacoby’s end was a hard thing to witness, I imagine. It’s bound to mess with your head a bit.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Billy shrugged, stabbing a fork into his steak and eggs. “They never found his body, you know.”

“That’s what’s really fuckin’ with you, ain’t it?” He sat back with a sigh. “I’m not surprised it wasn’t found.”

“Where’d it go, then?”

“It’s amusing how y’all think two hundred pounds of flesh and bone can tumble ten thousand feet down a mountain and land at the bottom all in one piece. I doubt he even made it that far.”

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