The seasons turned and autumn finally came with cooler temperatures, trees changing colors, and shorter days. It was a brisk early evening when Maria Menendez left the office building with her friend Sally. The pair of women headed towards the parking lot. While they walked, Sally asked, "Did you get the restraining order?"
"Yes," Maria answered in a tired voice. The past few months had aged her ten years.
"That's good," Sally said. She paused to light a cigarette while wondering if Maria would like to go to one of the local clubs for happy hour.
"It will just piss him off," Maria said. She hoped that the restraining order worked, but she didn't have faith in the system. The order to keep her ex-husband away only helped after he violated it. She was terrified that it would be too late by then.
Sally exhaled a cloud of smoke and then said, "Honey, you'll get through this. Why don't you go with me to the Black Hat Bar tonight?"
"I wouldn't be good company," Maria said.
"You need to get laid. That will get your mind off your pending divorce to that asshole," Sally said. Her answer to all problems was to engage in no strings attached sex. It might not solve her problem, but she was usually a whole lot less stressed after a good time in bed with a well endowed man.
The friendly exchange came to an abrupt end when Maria reached her car. Her ex-husband, Victor, stood up from behind another car waving a pistol in her general direction. She screamed upon seeing the gun in his hand. All of her worst fears were coming true. In a slurred voice, he said, "You slut. You tell everyone that I'm violent. I'll show you violent."
Sally took one look at the huge man standing in front of her. He looked small compared to the gun in his hand. If asked, she would have described it as being a cannon. She turned and ran away from the scene shouting, "He's got a gun!"
Standing a dozen cars away, Julia Powers had just finished searching through her purse for her car keys when she heard a woman scream. Startled by the scream she dropped her key ring. Looking up, she saw a woman running in her direction shouting, "He's got a gun!"
"Oh shit, Samuel Reynolds has finally flipped out," Julia swore. Despite the passage of several months since meeting him she was unable to forget looking into those dead eyes of his. He had become the boogie man in her nightmares. She ducked behind her car and tried to look small while trying to locate her keys.
Samuel walked out to the parking lot having finished a long day of work. As usual, he walked along staring at the ground ten feet in front of him. He stopped when a woman screamed. Looking up, he heard another woman shout, "He's got a gun."
From a distance of less than twenty feet, Samuel saw a large man strike a Hispanic woman with the back of his left hand while waving a pistol in his right hand. The woman staggered back with an expression of terror on her face. One of her hands went to the side of her face where she had been struck. Her other hand was outstretched as if she could hold the huge man away from her. She kept backing away from him on legs that barely responded to her brain's commands.
Taking a step forward, the man shouted, "I should kill you, bitch."
Having heard the shouts, Jeff stood by his car dialing 911 on his cell phone. He knew that the police would arrive too late to prevent a disaster, but there was no way that he was going to take on a man carrying a gun. Watching the disaster unfolding in front of him, he swore, "Answer the fucking phone."
The operator came online just in time to hear Jeff mutter, "What in the name of hell is Samuel doing over there?"
"What is happening?" the operator asked.
The man reached back to strike the woman a second time. He was posed to backhand her with his pistol. He paused upon finding that he was facing a man all of a sudden. He growled and said, "Get out of the way. This isn't any of your business."
Samuel didn't say a word; he just stared the man in the eyes without blinking.
"Someone is about to die. We need police here right now," Jeff said into the cell phone. He couldn't believe that Samuel had intentionally stepped up to a man waving a gun.
The huge man looked in Samuel's eyes and a chill went down his spine. The dull flat expression in those eyes did not demonstrate fear, confidence, or concern. The only thing he saw in those eyes was death. For a short time he was paralyzed on the spot until he remembered that he was the one with the gun. He started to point the pistol at the much smaller man. Without changing the passive expression on his face, Samuel exploded into action. Seconds later the large man was curled in the fetal position on ground with Samuel passively standing over him.
Samuel turned to the Hispanic woman and, in an emotionless voice, he said, "Leave."
The single word from Samuel snapped Maria out of her terrified paralysis. After grabbing her purse from where she had dropped it, Maria ran to her car. There was a beep beep when the car door unlocked. She threw open the door and climbed into the driver's seat. She fumbled with her keys for a moment to get the key in the ignition. Barely able to think, she managed to get the car started. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she drove away without looking back.
As a result of the cars between him and Samuel, Jeff could not see what had happened to the big man. All he could see was Samuel staring down at the ground. Shocked by the violence he had witness, he said, "I think Samuel killed him."
"Would you repeat that?" the 911 operator said.
"I think Samuel killed him," Jeff said. He was still stunned by the speed and aggression of Samuel's attack on the big man. Samuel had moved so fast that he hadn't been able to see the moves.
The 911 operator said, "The police are almost there."
The sound of sirens filled the air drowning out a long low moan uttered by the big man. His jaw was throbbing and there was a ringing in his ears. After a while his awareness of the pain shifted to his right hand. He was able to open one eye and saw that his hand was a bloody mess. He had no idea what had happened to him.
Julia had finally found her keys and unlocked the door of her car. Not having heard any shots, she peered over the hood to see if the coast was clear. She spotted Samuel standing between two parked cars. He was just standing there looking down at the ground. Trying not to become a target, she opened the door to the car and climbed inside trying to keep low. She drove away feeling guilty about fleeing the scene. She pulled out her cell phone and made a call to the police that Samuel had a gun in the parking lot. She added in the fact that he was a convicted murderer out on parole.
Chuck Scherl was the security guard stationed at the employee entrance to the building that evening. It was his job to make sure that anyone who entered the building through the door was an employee. He was unarmed and had been spending most of his time telling people to have a good night while they were leaving. His attention had been diverted when Sally ran into the building shouting something about someone having a gun. He looked over at the surveillance cameras and couldn't see anything happening.
Sally was quite hysterical and kept poking her cigarette in his face while explaining that Maria's ex- husband was in the parking lot waving a gun around. Chuck kept glancing between her and the monitor failing to see anything that supported her story. He picked up his radio and called into the security center the story that there was a report of a gun in the parking lot. By this time, a police car was turning into the parking lot.
It took some time for the first two officers on the scene to locate Samuel. They found him standing over the battered man on the ground. They immediately took charge of the scene. Based on the 911 calls that had been received, the initial information clearly identified Samuel as the guilty party. Upon determining that Samuel was the man still standing, they searched him for weapons, cuffed his hands behind his back, and arrested him. More police cars arrived on the scene followed by an ambulance for the injured man.
Having been read his rights, Samuel sat in the rear seat of the police car with his hands cuffed behind his back. He stared out the window watching the activity without emotion. After ten minutes, two policemen got into the car and headed for the station. The officer riding shotgun turned in his seat and asked, "Did they read you your rights?"
Samuel nodded his head. The officer said, "Speak to me when I ask you a question. Did they read you your rights?"
"Yes," Samuel answered. It was the first word that he had uttered since telling Maria to leave.
"Tell me what happened," the officer said.
"No," Samuel replied while staring out the window. He listened to the police officer ask questions, but didn't say a word in response.
The trip to the police station didn't take long. Samuel was led to a holding cell. One of the police officers changed the handcuffs so that his hands were cuffed in front of his body rather than behind his back. He had stood there passively through the process and then sat down on the hard bench to wait.
Back at the scene of the crime, the police were busy trying to sort through a dozen different versions of what had taken place. By this time, there were people swearing they had heard gunshots. It took some time for them to discover that one of the key witnesses wasn't present. An officer was dispatched to locate Maria Menendez. Based on the stories it was basically impossible to determine who had original possession of the gun. It wasn't until Chuck mentioned that they had the events captured on video tapes before a clearer understanding of what had happened was achieved.
At the station, Samuel was led into an interrogation room. Detective Stafford said, "You have a right to have an attorney present. Do you want one?"
Staring at the table top, Samuel shook his head and answered, "No."
"Tell me what happened," Detective Stafford said. Now that he was on record for offering legal counsel, he went to work trying to get a confession from the primary suspect.
"No," Samuel said.
Detective Stafford said, "Look, it will go easier on you if you just tell me what happened. Why were you there with a gun?"
Samuel stared at the tabletop without answering. Seeing that Samuel wasn't going to say a word, Detective Stafford said, "I know you were convicted of killing your wife and two kids. If you don't cooperate you're going back to prison for a very long time."
Lifting his head, Samuel stared at the detective. Seeing the dead eyes and blank expression, Detective Stafford felt a chill down his spine. Convinced that he was staring into the eyes of a cold blooded killer, he asked, "Don't you feel any remorse for what you've done?"
Samuel shrugged his shoulders and lowered his head to stare at the tabletop. Detective Stafford asked, "How did you ever get paroled?"
"Overcrowding," Samuel answered.
Detective Stafford glanced over at the mirrored window wishing that the video camera wasn't rolling. This was one of the few times in his career that he really felt like beating the truth out of a suspect. He sat back in his chair trying to decide how to get a confession out Samuel without resorting to violence.
An officer stuck his head in the room and said, "Detective Stafford, I need to talk to you for a minute."
Appreciating the chance to take a break, Detective Stafford left the room. Once the door to the interrogation room had closed, the other officer said, "Let him go. He didn't do anything wrong."
"What do you mean?" Detective Stafford asked. He was convinced that he had a guilty man in that room. An innocent man would have protested his innocence by this point in time.
The officer said, "According to Detective Daniels, Samuel protected a woman from her ex-husband. The ex was the one with a gun. The guy in there may have saved her life."
"You're kidding," Detective Stafford said while looking back at the door to the interrogation room. The man inside wasn't acting like an innocent man.
"The cameras in the parking lot showed the whole thing," the officer said.
Thinking there may have been a mistake, Detective Stafford said, "I've got to talk to Detective Daniels."
Ten minutes later Detective Stafford entered the interrogation room. He looked across the table at Samuel for a full minute. Having heard Detective Daniels' description of the events, he wanted to get some kind of emotional reaction out of Samuel. Finally, he said, "We have video of you and Victor Menendez. We know what happened there. Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
Samuel shrugged his shoulders and stared at the tabletop. Unable to understand Samuel's behavior, Detective Stafford said, "The video shows that you protected the woman from her ex-husband. You may have saved her life."
Without changing expression, Samuel shrugged his shoulders. Disgusted, Detective Stafford went over to Samuel and removed the handcuffs. He gestured to the door and said, "You're free to go."
Samuel rose from his chair and left the room. Detective Stafford watched him leave before going to get the tape of the interview. He wanted to watch it later. Something didn't feel right to him and he wasn't going to let it rest.
It was twenty minutes later when Detective Stafford went into the front room of the station. He found Samuel seated in a chair staring at the floor. Curious, he asked, "What in the hell are you still doing here?"
"Waiting for a taxi," Samuel answered without looking at the detective.
"Shit." Detective Stafford turned to look at the duty officer and said, "Get a patrol car to take this man home."
An hour later Detective Stafford and Detective Daniels were in a conference room watching a tape of the events in the parking lot. When it reached the point where the police were taking Samuel into custody Detective Stafford said, "You can stop it here."
"It is a pretty open and shut case against Victor Menendez," Detective Daniels said stating what the tape had obviously demonstrated.
Raising an eyebrow, Detective Stafford asked, "Do you think so?"
"Sure."
"Watch this," Detective Stafford said while putting the tape of the interview with Samuel into the video player.
The pair of men watched the interrogation without saying a word. When it ended, Detective Stafford asked, "What do you think?"
"Weird," Detective Daniels said. He sat back in his chair and thought about it for a minute. Shaking his head, he said, "There is more going on here than meets the eye."
"Do you think he's Maria's lover?" Detective Stafford asked. Romantic ties often led to situations like this.
"I don't know. I think we need to ask some more questions," Detective Daniels said.
Detective Stafford said, "I can tell you one thing. He's not going to answer any questions we might have."
"You're right," Detective Daniels said. Thinking about how much a fuller investigation would cost, he said, "We had better talk to the chief tomorrow before we put any resources on this case."
At the same time Detective Stafford and Detective Daniels were meeting, Maria Menendez was hiding in her darkened apartment with a heavy chair shoved against the front door. She cowered in a corner when there was a knock on her door. She ignored the voice identifying the visitor as police. She was too scared to accept that a real policeman was at her door. Visions of her ex-husband busting through the door with one of his friends kept flashing through her mind.
In her shock by the unexpected violence she had experienced, Maria did not realize that her ex- husband had been rendered incapable of harming a fly before she had fled. She wondered about the identity of the mysterious man who had saved her from her husband. She hoped that the man was still alive, but she doubted it. Her husband was much larger and would kill him without batting an eye.
At the same time Detective Stafford and Detective Daniels were meeting, Samuel arrived home after getting a ride to his car and stopping by a burger place to grab a late meal. He ate the meal in his truck in a dark corner of the parking lot. It had been twenty-four years since he had eaten a fast food hamburger.
Upon arriving home, he picked up his mail and took a few minutes to pay his gas card bill. Once that was done, he stripped down to his underwear and began his evening exercise program. He went through the entire program despite the late hour. He took a shower, spent ten minutes writing in a notebook, and then went to bed. He was asleep within five minutes of laying down.
It was many hours later before Maria cried herself asleep in the corner of the room. She did not have a restful sleep. Each little noise woke her. Nightmares interrupted her sleep.