Page 42 of His Virgin Vessel

Chapter Sixteen

Asa

In the morning, we showered together as we had the night before. Corinne knelt down and took me into her mouth, running her hands up and down the backs of my legs, until, finally, I pulled her to her feet, turned her round, and we had energetic sex against the wall of the shower.

It was a good start to what was going to be a make-or-break day. Though neither of us said it, we both knew that there were two very different ways in which today could end, and both were equally probable.

We filled up with gas and then headed back the way we had come. Though I tried not to let Corinne notice, I was constantly on the alert for anyone following us. I had a hunch that, if the Mafia had been on our tail, we would have known about it by now, but it was better to be on the safe side.

# # #

Just after lunch, we arrived at the home of Deputy Porter Crucero. Although, anyone who had seen him arrest me the other night wouldn't necessarily have guessed it, Porter and I went way back. In high school, we had been friends, and were damn near inseparable. It was safe to say that, since then, our lives had taken dramatically different courses, but I figured that if I was going to be turning myself into anyone, then choosing someone who might have some residual good feelings toward me was probably best.

From the look on his face when he opened the door, Porter Crucero had not been expecting the town's most wanted man to arrive at his house with his boss's daughter in tow.

"Asa," was all he said.

"Hey, Porter, how's it going?"

"I suspect better for me than it has been for you," Porter said. Then he looked at Corinne and added, "Or, then again, maybe not. Would you like to give me some idea of why you're here?"

"I'm turning myself in."

If his face had looked surprised when I arrived, then that was nothing to how it looked now. He recovered himself and shook his head.

"Well, I didn't have anything else planned for my day off so, what the hell, let's do this."

"Can we talk before you take me down the station?"

Porter shrugged. "That's not normally how we do things, but 'normal' is not a word I would use to describe any part of this."

We sat down at Porter's kitchen table, and he made the three of us coffee. I'd have to say it was the most surreal experience I could have imagined.

"Before we start, Asa," said Porter, setting down the coffee in front of us and seating himself, "I think I need to make some things clear."

"Fire away."

"I hope it won't come to this, but ..." Porter paused, wondering how best to explain himself. "Look, do you remember Artie Reed?"

I nodded. Artie had been another of our little circle of friends. He had gone bad in a big way after school and was currently serving a life sentence in prison, having narrowly escaped the death penalty on a technicality.

"You know what happened to him? Where he is now?"

Again, I nodded, wondering if having Corinne in on this little meeting had been a good idea.

"You know who put him there?"

I nodded again. "Rumor tells me that it was you."

"Rumor is right," Porter said. "I loved him like a brother when we were in school, but I sent him down, and, when I did, I fully expected him to end up on death row. And beyond."

"Well," I acknowledged, not liking the general trend of this conversation. "He did some bad things."

"And you're going to tell me that you're all sweetness and light?"

"No," I said, firmly. "But I think we'd both agree there's a difference between what Artie did and what I do."

Porter held up his hands. "No doubt about it. I wouldn't be asking for death for you. But I saw that book, Asa, before your boys stole it back. I know you're guilty."

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