Back! Disclaimer still applies, I'm only updating so much because it's the weekend. And welcome SailorSedna052, thanks for following!
All day Lily kept a special eye on Paul, whose sudden recovery meant only one thing in her eyes.
"What?" John caught her staring at him with a mix of disapproval and admiration. "You know what." She accused him, "You helped him didn't you?" John looked down, knowing that Lily didn't like it when he healed people not on the brink of death, due to the strain it put on him. "I took it back…" he rumbled and Lily's stern face melted into an understanding smile. "John…" she sighed and rubbed his hand through the bars. "Just…. Don't take more than you can handle. Promise?"
John nodded and she smiled, "good"
"Hey"
Lily frozen and her soft face hardened like Ice covering a pond. The bastard across the block had only been there for four hours and she already disliked him…No hated… NO! Loathed completely!
"Hey!" He whistled from the other side of the block, "Come on sweetheart, why the cold shoulder?" Lily didn't dignify his calls with response, being the only female on the block made her the primary target of his jibes. However she wasn't the only victim because when Lily refused to react to his lewd jokes he caught Percy Wetmore in his crosshairs. The only two things that kept Percy from going off on the criminal was Lily's constant assurance that the redneck wasn't worth it and pure, petrifying fear.
"Awe, Come on kitten." Bill called, "don't be like that, why don't you come and pay Ol' Billy the Kid a visit?" Lily cast him a smoldering glare and flashed him a certain colorful gesture involving a single finger. "Oh now thas not very nice" Bill laughed and Lily turned back around. "you'll come 'round." He assured her.
"Don't pay him no mind Miss Lily." John told her. "Wasn't plannin' on it." She sighed and sat in front of the bars. "so I've been stayin' with Mr. Howell." She informed him, unsure why she hadn't told him yet. John thought and Lily paused, "And it's not what it sounds like" she added quickly. "what's it sound like?" John inquired and Lily froze. Even after all these years John would surprise her with things he did and didn't know, in some areas he would have extensive knowledge but in others he would know next to nothing. And sometimes one day he would Know nothing of a subject and the next he would be an expert
"Uh…" She drummed her fingers on her knee, "you know what, never mind. Pretend I didn't say anything." She waved it off and John nodded willingly. Del sat on the floor of his cell with his back pressed against the edge of the cot, tossing the spool gently and grinning as Mr. Jingles rolled it back. The skittering of the mouse recalled Lily's memory and she stood up and made for the Front desk, careful to say away from the Bill's Cell.
"Brutal?" she whispered, "Did you remember the… thing?" she whispered and Brutal looked up slightly from his work, "Huh?"
"You know…" she jerked her head back down the Mile, "The Thing"
Brutal's face was totally blank and Lily rolled her eyes, " the thing. The thing for the mouse! That Thing!" she repeated in a loud whisper and Brutal's eyes widened with realization, "OH yea yea, it's uh…" he gestured to his lunch bag, "Perfect" She grinned and pulled a battered cardboard cigar box from the brown paper sack. Lily had bugged Brutal about it until he gave in, if only to get her to shut up.
She held the box in box hands and made for Del's cell, careful to avoid Wild Bill's outstretched hand, which for hours had been trying (and occasionally succeeding) to grab her skirt and pull on it as she passed. "Del." She whispered and the Cajun looked up from his caught, Mr. Jingles on his stomach.
"Brought you somethin'" she slipped the box through the bars and Del grinned, "Oh Merci, thank you kindly." He expressed and his eyes shined, "Now Mr. Jingles will be havin a place to sleep now." He slowly sat up and cupped his hand around the mouse. Del then looked at her curiously, "may Qui, Miss Lily. Bit ago, John Coffey, he grab Boss Edgecomb like he was hurtin'im. But after Boss was jus' fine. What John Coffey do to him huh?"
Lily looked around, "John is Special Del, he can do things. He can help people, sick people and people who are hurtin. Mr. Edgecomb must have been hurtin, because John says that he took away whatever was hurtin' him. Now he's all better." Del looked dumbfounded. "How he do dat?"
Lily shrugged, "I don't know."
Del hummed and nodded, "well, merci for the box, Miss Lily, Mr Jingles he thank you to." Lily nodded, "you're both welcome."
(The Next Day)
"I am going to Kill that Red Neck son of a…."
"Oh would you shush!" Lily sat in a chair in the side off and watched Percy pace the floor with (Considering his stature) long, angry strides. Will Bill's taunts just kept coming and Lily had to give Percy credit for not throwing a major hissy fit in front of the other men. But that didn't stop him from doing it in front of the only woman.
After the first five minutes of ranting Lily had gotten pretty damn sick of it and eventually she threw aside the thin short story booklet she had in hand and stood up. The only reason she was in here was Brutal and Dean were out unloading a truck of supplies, John and Del were still asleep, and Percy once again refused to allow her on the mile without supervision. Frankly she didn't want to go out there right now anyway due to the fact that Wild Bill was the only inmate awake.
Of all the days for Paul to call in sick.
"Where you going?" Percy asked as she brushed past him, "to get some air," she replied shortly, and away from you she wanted very badly to add but figured that pissing him off any more could only end worse for her. The one good thing was he couldn't follow her because he had to stay and guard the Mile.
The morning was humid and the air was so thick with moister it was hard to breath But that didn't stop Lily from taking a deep breath as soon as she exited the building. Dean and Brutal worked just below where she stood on the elevated brick platform which led to the ground via a straight set of stone stairs. "Having fun boys?" she called down and Dean peered up at her, blocking the morning sun rays with his hand. "What are you doing out here?" He asked and Lily looked back at the now locked door.
"Percy was talking my ear off and I figured that if I didn't get out of there soon you'd have one new inmate and a dead body to deal with." Brutal looked up, "Well, as long as you're out here, wanna make yourself useful?" Lily shrugged and jogged down the stairs.
"what do you need?" She asked and Brutal picked up a clip board, "Dean and I'll Unload the truck, and I need you to make book on all the supplies." Lily nodded and took the clip board and pencil and wrote the name of everything the boys unloaded, sitting on the tail of the truck and occasionally ducking and moving so something could get out.
"Do you think it's really a good Idea for Percy to be alone on the Mile?" she asked suddenly and dean shrugged, "I don't reckon he can get into too much trouble." He responded, "Besides, there's any screamin' we'll hear it from here." Brutal grunted as he straightened his bent back after unloading a heavy box of something or other. "Did you hear Paul is thinking about putting Percy out front for the next execution?" he inquired and Dean nearly dropped a box of files.
"You're kiddin'" he gawked, "I think that bladder infection of his has spread to his brain." Lily frowned, "how can you do this job?" she asked, "even if they are the worst kind of people, they're people none the less." Brutal sighed and wiped his forehead, "Well, it does come with it's sleepless nights. But it's a job." Brutal said casually.
Lily bit her lips and scribbled on the pad, "have you ever had to execute someone you thought was innocent?" she inquired and Dean shook his head, "No."
"Say, if you did…" Lily followed up, "If you thought or better yet knew a man on death row was innocent, would there be anything you could do?" Brutal looked at her and mulled over the odd question, "I don't think so, nothing less than a pardon from the governor can get a man off death row." Lily swallowed as her stomach turned ice cold. She wanted to tell them, she wanted to scream that John wouldn't hurt a fly much less two little girls. But she forced herself to remain quiet.
There was no point, if they couldn't do anything about it what was the use in telling them a man they would have to kill in the future was innocent of all charges. What was the point in making them feel that kind of guilt on their soul for the rest of their lives?
There was none.
And so she remained silent.
(Meanwhile)
Paul had traveled to Trapingus County to pay a visit to a Mr. Burt Hammersmith, who had been John Coffey's legal representation during his trial. The Visit drew to a close and Paul felt no better than he did when he arrived. Even if John Coffey hadn't done the crime, with this Lawyer it wasn't surprising he was found guilty. "Mr. Hammersmith, only last thing."
"Hm?" the man looked up from his chair on the back porch, "What can you tell me about Coffey's lady friend, Miss Devereaux?" Burt smiled a little, "Not much…" he Stood up. "After meeting her, I tried to get as much information on her as I could, figured if I did that I'd find more on Coffey."
Burt motioned for him to follow and led him into the house and into a back room office, "There was nothing in the Louisiana about on a Lily Devereaux, but then I tried the national registry" He opened his large wooden desk drawer and pulled out a slim envelope. "And found a missing persons report on a Miss Lilian Mary Devereaux of Wetmore Kansas, tiny tiny little town. Only about 600 people living there. Lived on a horse farm with her Mother, seven siblings, Mother Doris Liken, and Stepfather Henry Liken. The Mother reported to police that Lilian went missing on her eleventh birthday. Case was eventually closed ruling the girl as a runaway."
Paul cracked open the file and clipped to a case report was a black and white photograph of ten people in the back was an older looking woman next to a wiry, rat like man. There were three brawny teenage boys, two identical twins, and in the middle a young girl with an infant on her hip and a younger boy in hand. In pen a circle had been drawn around the Girl in the middle, her large eyes staring out at him, almost too big for her face and her small heart shaped mouth pulled in a frown.
"And you think this is Coffey's friend?" Paul inquired and Burt shook his head, "Not think, know" He bit his lip and tapped the file. "Look in the back, after the Family left the station the oldest son brought the youngest boy, William, back down. He told the police he saw something the night she went ran away."
Paul flipped the pages and came across a transcript from an interview with the youngest child, William Killian.
Police Interview conducted by officer Shmit, Wetmore Police station, May 5 1928
OS: William, do you know the difference between a truth and a lie?
WK: Yes
OS: You told your brother you saw something the night your sister ran away.
WK: Yes.
OS: What did you see?
WK: I Saw Lily and Daddy in Lily and Avi's room.
OS: What were they doing in the room William?
WK: They were on the bed, Lily was crying.
OS: Did you hear them say anything?
WK: Lily said Daddy was hurting her, Daddy told her to be quiet or else mama would hear.
OS: Do you know why Lily was Crying William?
WK: She was hurt, I saw blood.
OS: Where was the Blood?
WK: On the Bed sheets, and on Lily's Nightgown.
OS:…William, can you tell me exactly how Your daddy and Lily were on the Bed?
WK: Lily was on her back, Daddy was laying on top of her. The bed was squeaking and that's why I looked.
OS: How did you see? Was the Door open?
WK: No, I looked through the key hole. Daddy does it all the time.
OS: Did you say anything to your Daddy after this happened?
WK: Daddy said they were playing, Lily had a bad dream and he was taking care of her.
The Transcript ended and led on to an arrest Report on Henry Liken for the Rape of his step daughter, he was sentenced to Life in Prison. Paul nodded, "Thank you Mr. Hammersmith. Thank you very much." He began to hand it back to the Lawyer but he shook his head. "Keep it."
The two parted ways and Paul returned home around five o'clock, File in hand and mind on the transcript inside.
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