Backtracker (67 page)

"
The cops had Billy dead to rights. They found all kinds of incriminating shit in his trailer, and they hauled his ass in.

"
He ended up spending a couple years in jail. That just took the life right out of him...what there was of it, anyway.

"
If you
'
d
'
ve seen him, you wouldn
'
t
'
ve even recognized him. He was just...he was gone. A completely different person.
"
Larry sighed and slowly shook his head; his eyes were full of sorrow as he tipped them toward Dave.

"
By the time he got out of jail, his wife and kid had gone to live with her parents. The wife didn
'
t want to have anything to do with him, but that was fine with Billy. He didn
'
t care about her or the kid anymore. He didn
'
t care about anything.

"
He couldn
'
t go back to the trailer, though. Once the wife and kid had moved out, the landlady
'
d rented it to someone else.

"
Since he didn
'
t have anywhere else to go, he ended up down in Doddsville, staying with some of his old drug buddies in the projects. He got back into the drugs pretty heavily, worse than before.

"
For money, he and his buddies did some burglaries, hit houses in Highland and Clifton. They stole cars and sold them to the chop shops. They mugged old ladies downtown on Social Security check days. Did some dealing, too, of course.

"
Finally, he fell in with a real whacko. This guy came in from out of town, and he told Billy and his buddies that he knew a way to make some easy money. Said he knew this bookie in town who had a major operation going. This bookie handled some pretty big customers...a bunch of cops, some county commissioners, the
mayor
even.

"
Anyway, the guy said he wanted to rip off this bookie. He said the bookie always had a lot of cash going through his place, and he was
really
loaded the day before a big football game. The guy said he
'
d staked out the bookie
'
s place, he
'
d even been inside, and he figured he could get out with a real haul if he just had some help.

"
Billy should
'
ve known better than to mess with this guy. If he
'
d had half a brain left, he would
'
ve stayed the hell away from the whole deal.

"
I don
'
t know. Maybe he
knew
what he was letting
himself in for, and he kind of
wanted
it. He
'
d been doing a pretty good job of doing himself in, so maybe he just wanted to finally get it over with.

"
I don
'
t know,
"
shrugged Larry, and he paused for a moment, silently stroking his goatee.

"
Well,
"
he continued, shifting his feet in the dirt.
"
They planned the job, and they went out to do it. They thought they had everything under control, didn
'
t think there
'
d be any problem whatsoever.

"
They were wrong.

"
They had a
big
problem: the guy from out of town who
'
d pulled them into the job in the first place didn
'
t just want to rip off that bookie...he wanted to
kill
him. The bookie had done him wrong somehow, and the guy wanted to blow his head off.

"
While Billy and his buddies went after the money, the guy went off in the bookie
'
s house and took care of his own business. He shot and killed the bookie, then blew away his wife and two little girls for good measure.

"
Billy and his pals blew the safe in the basement and got the money. They didn
'
t have any idea what the guy had done when he finally joined up with them again. He
'
d used a silencer on his gun, so nobody
'
d heard any shots.

"
They made a clean getaway, went out and divided up the money. They were all real pleased with themselves, and they all had a few thousand bucks to play with.

"
The guy never said a word about the extra work he
'
d done. He hung around while Billy and the others got stoned to celebrate, and then he left. Said he was going out for some cigarettes, and he never came back.

"
Well, the next day, the murders were all over the TV and newspapers. The whole town was up in arms.

"
Like I told you, the bookie had a lot of friends in high places...and believe me, they were out for blood when they found out he was dead. They went on a crusade to find the killers.

"
Billy and the others laid low. They decided to leave town and stay far away till the mess blew over.

"
They never made it out of town.

"
The guy who
'
d done the job with them tipped off the cops, made an anonymous call. He pinned the murder on Billy.

"
The guy had made sure that he
'
d worn gloves, but he
'
d gotten Billy to fiddle around with the gun and get his fingerprints all over it. Before he left town, the guy had hidden the gun in a garbage dumpster, and when he called the police, he told them exactly where to find it.

"
The cops rounded up Billy and the rest, practically sent the whole police department after them.

"
There was a big trial. Billy tried to make them believe what had really happened, but it was no use. His prints on the murder weapon were all the proof anyone needed.

"
He got the big one. The death penalty.
"

Rubbing the thin, sandy hair of his goatee, Larry stood frowning in the trench; he looked confused and distraught, as if
he'd
heard the startling words for the first time just as they had left his lips.

At length, he cleared his throat. He opened his mouth as if he were about to speak...then closed it once more. He brought his hands together, kneaded them nervously, shuffled in the dirt.

At last, he managed to continue; his voice was low, taut, somewhat hoarse.

"
The big one,
"
he said slowly, head bowed.
"
No way out. Billy had finally made the deal to put himself out of his misery.

"
While he waited on Death Row, he did a lot of thinking. He didn
'
t
want
to think, but there wasn
'
t much else he could do.

"
He thought about his life, about all the things that had led him to that point. He remembered all the good times he
'
d once had, the good guy he
'
d once been, the girl he
'
d once loved.

"
He remembered how he
'
d lost his love, ended up married, had a son who was just too much of a burden. He remembered how he
'
d failed at the steakhouse, how he
'
d gotten into drugs and gone to jail.

"
He remembered everything. As the hours and days slipped away, he remembered all his bad luck and mistakes...and all he could say to himself was
'
If only. If only I
'
d done things differently.
'

"
The more he thought about it, the more he wished he could
'
ve changed things, turned himself around somewhere along the way. He saw that there had been chances, lots of chances to put things right...but he
'
d thrown them all away.

"
As time went on, all Billy did was lay in his cell and wish that things had been different. He went over it a million times, figured out exactly how he would change things if only
he had
a chance. He wished that he could go back, back to the start to undo all the mistakes.

"
Day after day, he lived in the past, fantasized about going back and putting his life on the right track. He even started praying, begging God to let him wake up, let the past years have been nothing but a nightmare.

"
More and more, he lost touch with reality, shut out everything except his memories and his prayers. The only thing that was real to him was what was in his head, what was in the past.

"
As hard as he prayed, though, he couldn
'
t leave his cell, couldn
'
t go back. He was stuck on Death Row, and the clock was ticking, and as much as he tried to ignore it, he knew he was going to die soon.

"
Finally, the week of his execution arrived. He was going to the electric chair on Friday...coincidentally, or not so coincidentally, the anniversary of the day when he
'
d screwed the girl who
'
d cost him his true love.

"
On the night before his execution, he pleaded with God one last time, and when nothing happened, he finally gave up hoping.

"
That was the most terrible night of his life. There
was nothing
left to do but wait and wonder what death would be like.

"
It
'
s the worst feeling in the world,
"
Larry said somberly.
"
Knowing you
'
re going to die. In just a few hours, it
'
ll all be over...and you don
'
t know if there
'
ll be anything after that.

"
All the people you
'
ve known are going on with their lives...and there you are, about to end yours. You
'
ve done some awful things, and if there
'
s a Hell, you might be headed right for it.

"
It was terrible,
"
said Larry, and his voice trailed off, sifting into silence. For a long moment, he was quiet; he just stood between the stone walls of the rift and stared into space.

He covered his face with his hands then, rubbed his eyes as if
he'd
just awakened from a deep sleep. When at last he slid his hands from his face, he revealed an unexpected expression; a small smile had appeared, replacing the despairing, desolate look which had darkened him during his woeful tale.

"
Then came the miracle,
"
he said, and there was a strange new jump in his voice.

"
Late that night
-
I
'
m not sure when, exactly
-
Billy drifted off to sleep. He
'
d been determined to stay awake all night, live out his last hours with his eyes open...and
he hadn't
thought he
could
fall asleep...but he finally just nodded off in a corner of his cell.

"
I don
'
t know how long he was out,
"
shrugged Larry,
"
but when he woke up...
God
,
when he woke up!

"
He thought he was
dreaming
,
"
crowed Larry.

"
He was
out
of his cell!

"
Can you
imagine
that? One minute, you
'
re on Death Row, and the next, you
'
re somewhere else! There
'
s no way out, and then you
'
re out!

"
Before he could get his bearings, though, he...get this...he fell right into a
lake
!
"
Abruptly, Larry threw his head back and laughed, cut loose a joyous, thundering roll.

"
Damn
!
"
he hooted, wagging his head gleefully.
"
And they say the Good Lord doesn
'
t have a sense of humor!