come out one day and still kill those boys.”
“I promise you I will not try to talk you out of doing anything, I just want that talk, and I will not leave you alone until I have your word on that.”
Austin was getting bored with where this conversation was heading and finally agreed.
“That’s all I wanted. Now you may leave. Megan’s parents are waiting on you in the lobby.”
Shirley was listening to the dialogue between these two men, wondering what in hell they were talking about. “You can’t tell the law that you are going to kill someone and them ask you to promise to wait on whatever you want to do until they have a chance to discuss a few things with you.” She was wondering if this was a trick on the detective’s part to lay a trap for Austin. She could not understand Rice’s motivations or feelings, but right now her main concern was the protection of Austin and Megan’s parents.
When Austin stepped into the hospital’s lobby and saw Van and Ruth waiting, looking like they hadn’t slept in ages, he felt guilty for getting some rest, even though it was not voluntary. When they saw him, they ran to him and hugged him.
“They killed my babies,” sobbed Ruth. “Why would anyone do that? My babies never hurt anyone.”
“I know, Mom. I promise you someone will pay for this.”
Van touched Austin’s shoulder gently and very softly, with a broken voice, told him he would take care of the funeral arrangements.
“Why don’t you go home and get some rest.”
“Thanks, Dad, but I don’t think I can sleep. I don’t think I can live any longer without them. They were my whole life.”
“Go home, son, and get some rest. We don’t want to hear such talk from you, and we need you. You are the only thing left of them. Don’t take that away.”
Austin did what he was told and went home. He spent the rest of the day lying on his wife’s side of the bed for a while and going into his daughter’s room and lying on her bed, trying to smell their scents, all the while crying in silence before he finally collapsed from pure exhaustion.
That night the nightmares returned, only this time they would include his wife and daughter, and at times he would actually talk to them.
”They hurt me, Daddy. They hurt me real bad,” Marina would tell him. “Please don’t let them hurt me any more, Daddy. Please stop them, Daddy.”
Austin would have the same dream several times that night and would be jolted awake every time, soaked in sweat. One time he even heard himself promising his daughter that he would stop them.
“They will all be dead. I will not let them win this, and that’s a promise to the both of you,” he heard himself say.
After catching his breath from his nightmare, he consciously made that promise to himself this time and at the same time made a promise to his wife that somehow he would live long enough to fulfill the promises.
Austin hoped he was not losing his mind when he realized he was actually talking to Megan and Marina as if they were still alive and standing right there in front of him. He knew life was not going to be easy for him.
In the days leading to the funeral, no one saw Austin leave his house, though he did talk to his in-laws on a couple of occasions. Any time he ventured out was at night and in complete stealth. On one of those occasions, he noticed someone lurking, watching his house. He even thought that person had a rifle-like object. It actually surprised him to think that the Johnsons would contemplate having him killed this soon. He thought that would really be stupid on their part, but again no one ever thought they were smart. He understood what made Detective Rice so worried and promised himself to be very careful.
The funeral was very emotional. The entire town showed up, except for the Johnsons, and that was on Detective Rice’s advice. Those idiots were actually discussing attending the funeral. It was Friday and Austin wondered why these people were not at work. He totally forgot that it was a holiday. Holidays no longer meant anything to him.
He found out later that the Johnsons actually threatened some of the residents with their jobs if they attended the funeral, but this time and for the first time ever, people didn’t care and were fed up. Those boys had crossed that invisible line; they had killed one of their own.
When the funeral was over and everyone had gone home, Austin lingered behind and sat on the ground between the two graves and wept.
“None of this would have happened if I weren’t so selfish.” He was addressing no particular grave. “I am so sorry for not going with you to the mall. I don’t know how and if I am going to survive without you but I did make you a promise. I will keep going until I fulfill my promise at least.”
This was a new era in Austin’s life. It was a day he will never forget. It was New Year’s Day, the first day of 1999.
Austin spent the whole day at the cemetery, and when he finally got home that evening, he was surprised to see a truck parked in front and breathed a little easier when he saw Detective Rice step out of it heading for the front door. He tried, without drawing Rice’s attention, to see if there was anyone else lurking in the shadows, but did not notice anything and figured whoever it was would not be stupid enough to show himself with one of Burleson’s finest there.
Austin had no idea that his little war had just started, and never would have thought that neither the Johnsons nor himself had started it.
It was all a piece of luck. As Detective Rice was approaching the Hunter residence, he could swear he noticed someone there lurking in the shadows with a rifle. He had been on his toes for a while now. He was very careful and alert to any unusual movements around him, and when he realized that the sheriff had Austin in his sights now, it was time for action. He wished that person would be the sheriff himself, but he knew better. He knew he would find some poor schmuck the sheriff somehow forced into doing this, just like the poor bastard at the hospital who poisoned the girls and was found dead the next day with a suicide note. Rice could not understand how some people could be stupid enough not to know that the sheriff would not let them live after doing his dirty work.
Rice approached the man from behind, moving like a leopard, without a sound. That was not an easy task with all the fallen dried leaves on the ground, but the detective was the best at what he does, and that poor asshole never even knew he was going to die. By the time he thought he felt someone grab his head from behind, he was dead. With one swift movement, Rice broke his neck. It was more troublesome dragging the man’s body to his vehicle.
Rice was glad he decided to drive his own vehicle tonight when he was throwing the body in the back. It was a pick-up truck with a locking cover on it. He knew that if this were an official police car, at least one of the neighbors would likely be watching.
Rice knew exactly what he had to do with the body. When it was all over, the body was buried on the ranch he inherited from his father. No one would ever find him.
No one ever knew what happened that night. The Johnsons always suspected Hunter, but had no proof and were not willing to bring the issue out in the open.
Rice never told anyone, not even Austin. To Austin it was always a puzzle how this person just gave up on the idea of killing him. He always thought that the Johnsons must have called it off.
“What
