Page 21 of Demitrius

“They want me to go to the other prison to talk to Samuel. They said that it might be better coming from a family member. I’m not related to him.” Mandy pointed out that she was his sister-in-law, which would make him his brother-in-law. “I’m not sure it works like that. I think you’re right in how you’re related to him, but I’m not. But I’ll do it so that you don’t have to. There isn’t anyone else.”

“No, but for his kids, and I’m not sending them there to talk to him. They’re sleeping better at night now. I wouldn’t want to subject them to that again.” He told her that she was right. “I don’t know why, but if I were you, I’d take some kind of proof. Do you think they’ll have a death certificate yet? Maybe wait for it to come out in the paper?”

“That might be a good idea. But before he can hear about it through some kind of grapevine. I think that’s why they were rushing me to get there. So he doesn’t find out some other way.” He honestly didn’t want to go but knew that he couldn’t send Mandy. “I was given a number to call. I’ll call them back and ask for a death certificate so that I have proof. Not that I think he’ll recognize that as the truth.”

Demi knew that as a brother and sister, they were close. Closer he thought than he and his brothers were. They were also mean and snakes in the grass. He’d not trust either one of them with his back turned to them ever. But it had to be done, and the only thing that he could think of was that he’d have a guard with him when he got out of hand, and he was positive that the man would.

After getting off the phone the second time, the prison said that they usually expedited certificates of death so that they could be buried right away. But a postmortem had been done because of the way she’d been killed, and it would take them a day or two. Telling them that he needed something to take to her brother, the warden said that he would write up something for him that he could give to the brother. If that was all that he could get, then so be it.

His plan was to go up later today. It would take him an hour to get there, so he really needed to get a start. The warden faxed the letter that he wrote, a really good letter to his office, so that he’d have it when he wanted to leave. By two in the afternoon, he was on his way to the prison to tell Samuel that his sister had been killed and that the prison was looking into the death to see who had done it.

By the time he arrived, he’d convinced himself that all his worrying was for nothing. Samuel would be chained to whatever room he was in, and if he had to do it in a cell, then that would be between them as well. He was nervous, and he really didn’t understand why. Especially after he’d gotten there and was told how it was going to be happening.

It wasn’t as if they were going to allow him to be out and roaming around while he talked tohim. He’d been assured that there would be guards there with them. Also, since it was a bereavement call, then it would be done in a closed room. Still with a guard on duty, but it wouldn’t be scary like he was thinking. Of course, he was afraid of Samuel. He’d seen the body of his wife after he’d killed her. She’d not gone easy.

After he’d been checked for items, he was given his letter back and sent into a large room. There were mirrors on each side of the room with a table that had been cemented to the floor. On the floor were two larger-than-normal eye hooks, and one was bolted to the table. If they used those while he was in here, he’d feel much better.

Samuel was brought in, and the man looked as if he’d gone a couple of rounds with a bat himself. His lips were both busted, his right eye was swollen shut, and his hair was a mess. And he smelled. He wasn’t sure what the odor was on the man, but it was bad enough that it took his breath away.

After he was locked not just to the leg irons that were on the floor but to the table as well, he sat there staring at him like he expected him to turn over something. He asked for a beer, and Demi told him that he’d not brought him anything to drink. And beer, he’d been told, was prohibited.

“Then who the fuck are you?” The guard told him to behave, and he just stared at him before turning back to him. “I don’t know you from Adam. What do you want? If you’re another one of those court-appointed lawyers, then I got no use for you. None of you will do what I want anyway. I want a damned beer and some magazines to look at.”

“My name is Demitrius Erikson. I’m married to your wife’s sister, Mandy.” He knew who she was if the cursing was any indication. “I’ve come to talk to you about your sister Georgie Jameson.”

“She get out? I hope so. Prison ain’t no place for a woman. Especially as delicate as she is. What you have to say about her?” He told him how she’d been killed. “That’s not funny, you bastard. Coming here to get me riled up is what you’ve done. Why would you say something like that?”

“I’m not lying to you, Samuel. Nor am I trying to rile you up. Georgie was killed last night at the women’s prison she was at. They don’t know who did it, but they’ve assured me that they’re looking into it using all their resources. She was stabbed three times.” Samuel snatched the letter from him, then, after reading it aloud, he wadded it up and tossed it at him. Picking it up from the table, he tried again. “She was sent there to await her trial in the death of your parents. Someone was going to talk to you about their deaths as well.”

“She can’t be dead, I tell you. Why did someone send her to prison for? She no more deserved that than I do. And what about my kids? Where are they now that she’s been carted off to prison?” He told him that he was adopting them with Mandy. “I don’t want her to have them, you idiot. They’re supposed to be going to my sister so that we can raise them together when I get out, and you can bet that I’m going to be getting out of here too. Where is she? My sister? Where is she right now?”

“Dead. I’m truly sorry.” Samuel sat there for so long that he thought that he’d gone into a trance or something. When he finally slammed both hands down on the table, both he and the guard jumped. “Samuel, I can have the warden come here and tell you, too. But Georgie was killed last night at the federal prison where she was at. While I don’t know how she—”

“You just shut up with that crap. There ain’t no way that she’s dead. She’s a good girl, my sister is, and I won’t be believing your lies about her being dead. No, I won’t. Now you tell me where she is, or so help me, I’m going to come across this table and slam your head into the wall until you’re dead.”

The words he said were scary enough, but it was the way that he said it that terrified him. His voice didn’t raise, nor did he move his hands in a way that made him be frightened of his movements; it was the very polite, soft way in which he said it. Like he was telling him that there was a movie on the television that he wanted to watch. Feeling a shiver of fear race down his spine, Demi backed away from the table and put his hands on his lap. It hadn’t occurred to him how close he was to him until that moment.

“There’s nothing more that I can tell you other than she was killed last evening. There will be a death certificate that I can send to you, but I don’t know if you’ll believe that any more than what I’ve already told you. She’s gone.” He stood up and stepped back when Samuel tried to stand as well. Theguard with his hand on his weapon looked ready to pull it out and take care that Samuel was dead as well, which scared him just a little too. “You have a good life, Samuel, and I hope sometime soon you come to terms with the fact that your sister is dead.”

He was out the door before he could think that he didn’t know where to go. There had been too many turns and twists getting here that he wasn’t sure how to leave. Just as he was ready to go back into the room, an officer came out of the room next to the one that he’d been in and escorted him out of the building. If he saw anyone on his way out, he didn’t know, for his eyes were on his feet to put one foot in front of the other one to make sure he didn’t fall on his way out.

By the time he made it to his car, he was sick. Leaning over, holding onto the back of his car, he threw up everything that he had for lunch. It hadn’t been much, but it was enough to make him ill for several minutes after he’d tossed it all up. Leaning against his car, he left the breeze of the afternoon blow over him, making him feel less sick now that he was out in the open and more like he’d just avoided something huge with Sameul Jameson.

He’d never go back. Nor would he allow Mandy to come and visit the man either. Samuel was dangerous, and he didn’t care who he killed or threatened to get what he wanted. No wonder he’d been beaten up. The man couldn’t be trusted to behave himself while in prison with other inmates. How would anyone think that he’d be all right getting out to rain terror on completely innocent people that had nothing to do with him?

On the way home, he didn’t feel any better about what had happened. As the miles were eaten up behind him, he thought of how it must have been for the children of his to have been around him. And poor Betsey. It’s small wonder that she wasn’t killed before she had been. Samuel was a monster and a deadly one at that.

He came to a decision while driving, too. He was going to tell the boys daily, if not hourly, that he loved them. Demi wanted them to know that he loved them no matter what they did. And he was going to tell Mandy that she was the love of his life too. Why would anyone want to have someone in their lives if they were going to do nothing but beat them down? To have them feel like they wished you were dead so that you’d not bother them or frighten them anymore. Why? Just why would you do that to another human being that had no more to do with being your son in that you brought them into the world for your own amusement? Demi felt his belly churn up again as he was thinking about Samuel and Betsey and those two little boys. And what would have happened to Martin and Teddy had Georgie gotten them in some sort of irrational way?

She would have been no better than her brother. Using them for government assistance rather than loving them because they’d only just lost their mom. He wasn’t thrilled about Betsey either. She should have done something the first time that he hit her. Or at least tried. Talking to Mandy about her, she was getting abused even before the boys came along, and knew what sort of person her husband was. Some people he only just come to realize shouldn’t ever have children. They didn’t deserve them.

~*~

Mandy was able to get this week’s class off to a good start. With Demi coming around and helping out, it seemed to flow a good deal faster, too. With the boys back in school, it was lonely around the house even though she had plenty of things to do. It wasn’t the same without them around all the time.

“Did you get the lists for the schools?” She handed the lists off, six in total, for what each class would need in the way of supplies for the rest of the year. “Good. We’ll get them water too unless that’s already on the list.”

“It’s not on all of them, but it is on the second grade as well as the fifth grade classes. If you don’t mind me saying, I think some of the teachers are asking for things that are well out of the classroom projects. Like one of them asked for fifty headphones. Why so many when the kids were to bring in one each when the school year started? Also, there are things like paper towels as well as tissues. There are more than I think necessary on the lists. Almost like each kid could take home three boxes each for the entire school and still have leftovers.”

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