Scattered Graves

Henry.’’
Diane had a sick feeling in her stomach. She saw Arlen and his wife reach for each other.
Tears began to flow from Caleb’s eyes, spilling onto his cheeks as he started crying. His eyes grew red and puffy. He got the hiccups, and it was hard for him to catch his breath. Frank handed him a box of Kleenex from an end table and went to the kitchen and brought back a glass of water. Caleb wiped his eyes and blew his nose. He took a long drink, almost to the bottom of the glass.
‘‘Jefferies put a gun in my hand and told me if I didn’t shoot Malcolm, they would tell Gage Shipman to kill my little brother.’’
Caleb stopped and cried again, his shoulders heav ing with the flow of tears that dripped onto his hands. His grandmother gasped and held a hand to her mouth. Both she and her husband were tearing up.
‘‘How do you make a decision like that? How do you do that? You’ve seen Henry, how special he is. He’s my brother. How could they ask me to make that kind of decision?’’
He sniffed and blew his nose again.
‘‘Mal begged me. He was crying and begging me not to shoot him. But I did. They called Shipman off and they took the gun from me. Jefferies told me I was a murderer now and that he owned me. He said it wouldn’t be too bad because I would make a lot of money. He took Mal’s watch off him and gave it to me and told me that as long as I did what he wanted, Henry would be safe.’’
‘‘So you killed Jefferies,’’ said Diane.
Caleb was silent for a long while. No one said any thing.
‘‘It’s funny,’’ Caleb said. ‘‘I wrote the virus Jefferies wanted, and it never occurred to him that I would put it on his computer.’’ Caleb looked at Diane. ‘‘I owned his network. I knew everything he did, including where he kept all his money, who he had hired, and where they worked. I had their programs. I had every thing. I had it all sent to my computer here.’’
Frank raised his eyebrows. Diane could imagine what he was thinking.
He drank the last of his water. He’d stopped crying, and his face was like stone. His eyes were mere slits, and his mouth was set in a grim frown.
‘‘Jefferies so admired Alexander the Great. Well, I knew about Alexander the Great too. And I knew what he would do to defeat an enemy. He’d cut off its head. To kill a snake, you take off the head. In this case it was more like a hydra and two more would grow back. I had to kill the others too. I shot Jefferies. I was going to kill Peeks, but someone beat me to it. I was going to get everyone who wore that stupid pinky ring. It was the only way I could make sure Henry would be safe. After I shot Jefferies, I put Mal’s watch on him. He could have the damn thing back.’’
‘‘Why didn’t you come to us, Caleb?’’ said Arlen. ‘‘We would have helped.’’
Caleb looked at his grandparents. ‘‘You would have done the right thing, and you would have been killed for it. I had no place to go for help.’’
‘‘You should have come straight to me, son,’’ said the sheriff. ‘‘I would have handled it. You didn’t have to kill them.’’
‘‘I couldn’t take the chance with Henry’s life, Sher iff, I’m sorry. You’re a good man, but there’s one of you and a whole gang of them. All of them vicious and cold-blooded. Jefferies was the mayor; Peeks was the chief of police. They’d hired a bunch of their own cops. His friend Bryce controlled the crime lab. Jeffer ies had a judge killed and was friends with the gover nor. He bragged that he was going to get someone inside the GBI. Where could I go? Who was I sup posed to go to? Who could I trust? As far as I was concerned, he had broken the social contract.’’ Caleb looked at Diane. ‘‘Are you familiar with John Locke?’’ he asked.
Diane nodded. ‘‘You no longer had to give up your right to aggressively protect yourself and your family, because the government had not fulfilled its part of the bargain. From your point of view, the government could not maintain social order. Does that sum up your position?’’ said Diane.
Caleb nodded. ‘‘What else could I have done?’’
David was faced with the same dilemma exactly, thought Diane. He dropped out and started his own investigation. He skirted the law a little, but he wouldn’t have killed. But then, David was a lot older than Caleb; he had a world more experience, re sources to use, and maturity. It makes a difference. Caleb was essentially a kid. He was