You Can't Hide Theresa Sneed (top 10 non fiction books of all time .TXT) 📖

and then bursting into elation. “Incredible. Wicked incredible. Wait ‘til I tell Becky.”

“Becky? Are you two back together?”

“She just dropped me off.” John’s voice softened. “And, yeah, after you died, we both decided life was too short . . . uh, but, wait. You didn’t die. Wow.” He grabbed him again for a second hug.

Louise called from the porch. “Sam?” She pointed toward the path and jerked her head forward.

“What’s up?” John asked.

“Elle went looking for her parents. They took a walk and haven’t come back yet.” He started toward the path, then turned back toward his car. Reaching inside, he removed the Motorola. “You can call me on this. FBI has one, too.”

“Oh? Ah-yuh.” John scratched his head. “Hey, you want me to go with you?”

“Nah, I’m sure they’re on their way back right now. Go inside and see how much Sally has grown.”

“Sally? Oh, my, gosh, Sally.” John grinned wide.

Sam gave him a quick wave and disappeared into the woods.

Nancy took Winnie by the hand and they followed the agents down a narrow hallway, back to the room she had been in earlier. The chaplain looked up as they came in. Two more people were there, but they both had prison badges. The curtains were still closed on the windows into the adjoining room where they would perform the lethal injection. A row of phones hung on the wall. She had read that that was for a last minute call from someone in authority to stop the injection.

The chaplain turned in his seat. “Ah, y’wanna know how he’s um, gonna . . .?” He gestured toward Merrick.

Nancy’s eyes widened. No, formed on her lips, but before she had a chance to say anything, Winnie spoke up.

“Yes. Every gory detail.”

Nancy swallowed. She understood Winnie’s disdain. Merrick was the beast that killed her real son. She didn’t need to how Merrick would die, but supposed she could cover her ears, if it got too—in Winnie’s words—gory.

The chaplain continued. “First, they’ll give him an anesthetic, sodium thiopental. It’ll put him in a deep sleep.”

Nancy perked up. She didn’t want him to fall into a deep sleep, not until he’d seen her eyes.

“Then they’ll give him a saline solution to flush the intravenous line.” He sighed and stared at the drawn curtain. “Finally, they’ll give him a paralyzing agent, pancuronium bromide, it’s ah, a muscle relaxant.”

Muscle relaxant, thought Nancy. That didn’t seem too bad. Though he was a horrible person, she didn’t want him to suffer.

“The dose stops breathing by paralyzing the diaphragm and the lungs.”

“Ew.” Nancy grasped her throat. That was too much information. Her head swam, and she felt faint.

“Are you, okay?” The chaplain took her hand. “Mrs. Snyder?”

She stood. “Please, excuse me.” She stumbled toward the door.

“I’ll go with her,” Winnie said, in a soft voice. She turned back and glared at the FBI agents. “Don’t start without us.”

“No, ma’am.”

“I remember you,” Sally said, once Sheriff Higgins stopped hugging her. Her eyes moistened. “You’re the man who saved my dad.”

“Well, little lady, that’s mighty kind of you, but actually, your Uncle Jack had a lot to do with it.”

She turned to Louise. “Did Jack go on the walk with my other grandparents?”

Louise nodded, and then she turned back to the window. “I don’t know what could be keeping them.”

Sam Sr. looked out the window. “Well, you know, that waterfall is a long walk, if that’s where they went.”

Louise groaned. “I sure hope not. Those falls are a good hour’s walk away. But it’s probably what they did. Jack was anxious to show them to his parents.”

“Well, Sam has that portable radio with him.”

“Will that work way out there?” Louise asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” Agent Thompson said. He was on one right then and glanced up at Sam Sr. “They’re about to start the injection.” He pointed toward the screen, which flickered, and then came into view.

Everyone went quiet. The small room was in view, but the curtains blocked Merrick.

“Do you want to go into the other room?” Louise said, stepping next to Sally. “I made some cookies.”

Sally held her stomach.

“No, of course not,” Louise said. “We could go for a drive, if you’d like.”

Sally looked into her eyes. “Maybe.”

“Well, okay.” Louise fumbled through her purse and pulled out her keys. “Just let me know.” Movement in the small room on the screen brought their eyes back to it.

“Hey, wait,” Sally said, squinting at the screen. “What’s my mother doing there?”

“Yeah, I thought Nancy was away somewhere,” Louise chimed in.

On the screen, Winnie led Nancy to a chair.

“And that’s my Grandma, Winnie,” Sally said, in a hushed tone, pointing at the monitor.

Louise wrapped her arm around Sally’s waist. “They probably just needed to be there, Sweetheart.”

The curtain opened, revealing Merrick strapped in a gurney, his head covered and slightly raised.

Nancy groaned. “Oh, no, I need to see his eyes.”

“The prisoner requested to have his head covered,” the chaplain said. “He’s a dying man and that’s his last request.”

Nancy slapped her hands on her legs. “But, I need to see him . . . for closure.”

He studied her eyes. “Sometimes, we forget the living suffer long after the dead are gone.” He picked up the phone and called into the adjoining room.

Two guards hovered over Merrick. Both were busy attaching IV’s to his arms. One stopped and picked up a nearby phone. Looking out the window at them, he gave a quick nod, and then stepped behind Merrick.

Elle went deeper into the woods. The path was dense, lined with thick trees and broad canopies with tiny new leaves that concealed the sun in places. Most of the snow had melted, but traces lingered where the branches weaved together like lace shadowing the snow. Had it been summer, the sun would’ve been blocked by thousands of fully grown leaves, but the young leaves allowed some sun to filter down onto the worn path.

Elle had wanted to call