GONE WITH THE GUN

EPISODE 24

28th January, 1995.
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Mr. Hills woke up with a start. He couldn't sleep the previous night but eventually around 4am he slept. It was a little after 9am now he woke up. He had a lot on his mind. His son Jason may actually be dead. He remembered that he counted five footsteps that day at the abandoned warehouse. Four of those were those of adults and one was that of a kid. Jason's. That is, Don Alvarez, Mr. Stacy, The Don's driver and whoever disposed of Jason's body. Four adults. Could it be that while going to keep the boy safe, they had an accident? Did the Don find out that Mr. Stacy had saved the boy and so sent someone to finish the job?
 
A lot of things. Mr. Hills got up from his bed. He went downstairs. Xavier was at the sitting room watching TV. Maybe he didn't sleep at all too. Mr. Hills was a little sorry for slapping Xavier the previous night. Well Xavier is a big boy, he would understand.

Mr. Hills walked to his bar, he took a bottle of wine and poured himself a glass. He walked with the bottle and sat down. 

Xavier spoke first

"Good morning sir"

Mr. Hills was quiet. 
"Sir, i am sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have" Xavier said. 
Mr. Hills was didn't say anything still. 
Xavier sighed. He stretched himself and sat properly as he saw what was being announced in the news.
 
"The ashes of Don Alvarez would be poured to sea this Friday. The whole city will be in mourning."
The newscaster said. 

Xavier looked over to Mr. Hills. He could see the look of anger in Mr. Hills eyes. He obviously hated the mention of the Don anywhere around him. Mr. Hills stood up and walked back into his room.

.   
30th January, 1995
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Morgan sat in the van. He was being driven to the state penitentiary. Having been found guilty of man slaughter, he had gotten 7 years with parole. He was sitting by the window seat. He looked at the man sitting beside him. He was a hefty form of a man. His face was tattooed up. On his left arm was a tattoo of a crow perched on a human skull. This was the kind of tattoo you get while in prison. This meant that the man had been in prison before now. Morgan knew this. He looked at the man again, taking more time to study him. This was going to be one of the prison inmates.

Morgan sighed, anxious. He tried to go through the events that had led him to this day. He had been arrested for shooting the burglar at the supermarket. While still in jail, it was discovered that he matched the description of the man that had escaped from the hospital. He was so sure he would be tied to the accident. One of the sergeants had asked him how he got the bullet wound in his leg and how he got to the hospital.
Morgan did not reply.

When asked where he was at 4pm of the 21st of November, he said he was sitting in the park. He however couldn't provide an alibi. Further questions were asked him but he gave no answer to any. One of the men who questioned him, Inspector Henry tried all he could to get Morgan to talk. He still didn't flinch.

When asked why he escaped from the hospital, he said it was because he didn't have money to pay for the medical bills.
 
After hours of interrogation, Morgan saw that the cops had lost all angles to tie him to the accident. They didn't even mention that there was an accident; they just asked where he was. Morgan knew that the 19th of December was the day of the accident. He suspected that the cops may have known that someone escaped from the scene but had no clue as to how the person looked like. Too bad for them.

They had paraded him and four other men as suspects. Morgan's heart was beating fast as they stood there. He was looking straight at a mirror trying to see if he could make out who was behind the mirror. He knew that he could not be able to see who was behind the mirror although the person could see him clearly. He wished and prayed that whoever was called would not recognize him. He put up a calm innocent face hoping it would help save him. He tried to think too. Who could be the one called to identify him? He hoped it wasn't Barry. Barry may be the one. It was Barry that took him to the hospital. But Barry wouldn't rat him out. Or would he? Who else could this be? Morgan tried to go through all the faces he had seen on his drive with Dave to Edinburgh. None of the faces stood out. No one had seen him when he was in the forest apart from Barry. Or was there someone else there too? Did Barry tell anyone? Did Barry take him to someone before going to the hospital? Morgan couldn't remember, he was unconscious then.

This meant to Morgan that if anyone would identify him as a suspect in the car explosion on that day, it was Barry. But when they were paraded as suspects, after standing for ten minutes, they were told to go back. Maybe the person called to identify the suspect could not remember them. Maybe it was not Barry after all. Or maybe it was but he changed his mind.

The same process was carried out three other times. Morgan wondered who and who were being called to identify the suspect. He may never know. 

Now he was going to Prison for haven shot the man in the supermarket. It was a short sentence, thanks to the man whose son he had saved. The man had pleaded on his behalf.

Morgan looked again at the man sitting beside him. He didn't like the man, his fellow inmate.

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