{"id":2107,"date":"2020-12-12T19:07:06","date_gmt":"2020-12-13T02:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/?p=2107"},"modified":"2020-12-12T19:07:46","modified_gmt":"2020-12-13T02:07:46","slug":"redemption-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/12\/redemption-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Redemption Road"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

prompt: \u00a0You thought he was dead, but there he is, right in front of you on the street, smiling at you….<\/em><\/em>
available at Reedsy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first couple months after I killed Kevin Whatcomb I saw him everywhere. It was the first time I pulled my weapon in the line of duty, and the first time I ever killed someone. I made sure it was the last. I quit the force right after. Still, for a couple months I saw him everywhere.  At the grocery store, in line at the theater, riding the bus, driving the car next to mine. He wasn\u2019t really there, of course, my mind just kept inserting the object of my guilt on everyone I saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then I\u2019ve worked road construction. The hot, hard work combined with a couple years of therapy pushed Kevin out of my waking consciousness, and reduced his appearances to the odd nightmare. Until that day. He was standing with a bemused smile in the middle of the road I had just closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were getting ready to rip out a section of the main road into the Redemption Acres development in preparation for new sewage and water lines. As the lead laborer I was one of the first on the site, setting up the detour signs, placing the cones, and making sure the equipment had room to maneuver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had just placed the last sign when I saw him. My first thought was that it wasn\u2019t real. I looked away, counted backwards from 100 by sevens, then looked back. He was still there. He hadn\u2019t changed into someone else or disappeared completely. My heart began to skip and thud, and I felt the waves of a panic attack trying to build.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I closed my eyes, crouched down, and forced myself to breathe slow and deep. Maybe I\u2019d gone off the anxiety meds too soon. Didn\u2019t seem likely, as I\u2019d been doing fine for over a year without them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m terribly sorry,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I\u2019m looking for Alan Tate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The voice was not<\/em> Kevin. He had a British accent and a far calmer disposition. I could hear Kevin yelling in his drug-fueled delirium, \u201cI\u2019ll gut this little bitch!\u201d I clapped my hands over my ears hearing it all again, seeing him standing with a knife to seven-year-old Maisy\u2019s throat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll gut this little bitch afore you c\u2019n pull that damn tri\u2026\u201d BANG! The dull clatter of the knife on the wood floor, then Maisy\u2019s scream. She was cut, but only superficially, where he had held the knife tight against her neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre you unwell?\u201d the man asked. \u201cShould I ring for an ambulance?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be okay,\u201d I answered. I wiped my tears with shaking hands then slowly stood. As my vision cleared I saw him, right there. It was him, but it wasn\u2019t. \u201cSorry. You just\u2026 reminded me of someone. I\u2019m Alan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI presume then, that I remind you Mr. Whatcomb.\u201d His smile fell and he looked at me with a mix of sympathy and shame. \u201cI\u2019m Charles Dumont, although I\u2019ve found out recently that I\u2019m also a fair number of other people as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI ran my DNA for grins, and found that I am wanted in South Africa, a person of interest in Slovakia, an officer in the Russian Army, a dead criminal in the states, and at least four other people on ancestry sites.\u201d Charles sighed. \u201cIdentical DNA match to all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know you\u2019re not Kevin,\u201d I said. \u201cI tried to help him, lots of times, but\u2026.\u201d There really wasn\u2019t much to say. \u201cI, uh, killed Kevin,\u201d I said. \u201cAnd then I was the only one to show up at his funeral. I wish it could have gone differently. I wish I\u2019d talked him down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe way I heard it,\u201d Charles said, \u201cyou saved a young girl\u2019s life. But why would you attend his funeral?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew him from patrols,\u201d I said. \u201cWhen he wasn\u2019t using he was a sweet guy, if not the brightest bulb on the porch. I was trying to talk him into going to rehab, and I thought he might be ready. That last meth bender, though, he lost it. He was neck-deep in conspiracy theories about mind control and all sorts of weirdness.\u201d When I finally looked at Charles again I saw he was writing in a pocket notebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid Mr. Whatcomb say anything about orders? That he was getting orders from somewhere?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike what?\u201d I asked. \u201cThe devil made me do it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, more like,\u201d Charles pursed his lips for a moment, \u201cstrange orders coming from shadowy figures or in dreams?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNever heard anything like that,\u201d I said. \u201cAlthough, if he had I would\u2019ve chalked it up to the meth. It can really mess with your head.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thank you for your time, and I apologize. It appears I\u2019ve caused you distress and learned nothing at all about Mr. Whatcomb.\u201d Charles turned to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWait,\u201d I said. \u201cIf you want to know more about Kevin, I might know someone who can help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSplendid! When and where should I call on you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you have a business card?\u201d I didn\u2019t want to give out someone else\u2019s contact info without their okay. \u201cI\u2019ll check with them, and if they feel like they can help I\u2019ll pass their info on to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He produced a plain, off-white business card with his name and business contact information number and scribbled a US number on the back. \u201cThat\u2019s my cell number while I\u2019m traveling in the states.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll let you know, either way.\u201d I stuffed the card in my back pocket and went to my truck to steady my nerves and start the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the last dump truck load of broken asphalt left the job site I headed back to my truck. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check my messages and saw the card stuck to it. Okay, this is weird, but I said I\u2019d ask.<\/em> I flipped through my contacts, found the one I wanted and sent a text. \u201cmeet @ pp @ 7?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The affirmative reply was almost instantaneous. I hopped in my truck and headed home. After a quick shower I drove to the Pizza Palace and walked in. There were few customers on a weekday evening so I had my choice of tables. I picked our usual and sat down. When I saw her walk in I waved her over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHi, Alan!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey, Maisy!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood to see you! Are you coming to my graduation?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course I am. What do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we haven\u2019t been here in three months. Maybe you\u2019ve got a new girlfriend keeping you busy or something?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, nothing like that. I\u2019ve been working mostly down state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know, you told me last week. So what\u2019s up?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before I could answer Maisy turned waved at one of the wait staff. \u201cAnnie! We\u2019ll have our usual, please!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could just make out the faint trace of a scar on her neck. I hadn\u2019t noticed it for a few years now, but today it caught my eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRegular bread sticks, or spicy, hun?\u201d Annie yelled her question across the near-empty eatery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSpicy! I like my food to have a kick!\u201d Maisy laughed and turned her attention back to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI met someone today,\u201d I showed her the card, \u201ca Charles Dumont, from a London law firm. He\u2019s trying to find out more about\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAbout dad?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is it this time? Was he wanted there too?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, uh\u2026,\u201d I wasn\u2019t sure how to say it. \u201cHe\u2026 uh, looks, exactly<\/em> like your dad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan\u2019t be that close.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, he claims that he\u2019s a 100 percent DNA match for your dad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike an identical twin?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe? He says he also matched up with seven or eight other people as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe it makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, it doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know dad was adopted. And he had this story he used to tell mom before I was born; that he was a clone soldier, waiting for orders to beam into his brain. Of course he was always drunk when he told her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReally? I never heard that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just found out about it last year. I think mom just wanted me to understand how unstable he was to start with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our breadsticks and drinks arrived and we talked about normal things for a while. School, college applications, how to swing student loans. Things that a dad would talk to their kid about. I had taken her dad away from her, and in return she\u2019d made me a surrogate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked her more about the clone soldiers and she told me everything she could remember about it. In return I told her what Charles had told me. We both laughed when Maisy suggested that maybe they were identical twins, separated at birth, with the exact same kind of crazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After I had the left-overs boxed for Maisy to take home I told her. \u201cI had another breakdown when I saw him\u2026 Charles I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre you still off your meds?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWishing you weren\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSort of. But I managed to pull it together eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll right, Mr. Alan. I\u2019ll make you a deal. Give me the doppelg\u00e4nger\u2019s number and I\u2019ll call him, if<\/em>\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you promise<\/em> you\u2019ll call your doctor tomorrow and tell her what happened. I worry about you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t have to, you\u2019re seventeen, it\u2019s not your job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlan\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOkay, okay, I promise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She took the card and moved around to sit next to me in the booth. \u201cStop it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStop what?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe talked about my dad, and you\u2019re feeling guilty all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow can I not? I took your father away from you.\u201d I couldn\u2019t have stopped the tears if I had wanted to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook, I loved my dad, and he loved me, I know he did. The drugs didn\u2019t.\u201d She lifted my arm and put it around her shoulder and snuggled in close. \u201cYou saved my life from the drugs, and I know you tried to save my dad too. The drugs took him away from me, not you<\/em>. And besides, you\u2019ve always<\/em> been there for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo now it\u2019s your turn to be there for me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe.\u201d She squeezed me once. \u201cI\u2019ll meet up with this Charles. If his DNA claim is legit, though, we may need to do some investigating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWait,\u201d I said, \u201cwhy would you\u2026? You haven\u2019t even met the guy and you want to check out a crazy clone army story?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike I said, if<\/em> his DNA is identical to dad\u2019s. Then there\u2019s at least something to check. Find their birth parents or something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had just finished putting up the new street signs on the completed road, just opened to traffic, when my phone rang. I answered, expecting a call for another job, but it was Maisy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlan! It\u2019s Maisy! Sorry I haven\u2019t called you before now, but I was waiting on DNA results and had to go to a couple college visits and\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey, hey, hey. Slow down.\u201d I kept my voice purposely calm and smooth, knowing how she gets when she\u2019s excited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh my god! It\u2019s true!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s true? Clone armies?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, maybe not that, but Charles has identical DNA to dad! He\u2019s my uncle! I\u2019ve never had one of those before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOkay. So are we thinking identical twins?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot likely. We sent samples to South Africa and Slovakia and Russia and\u2026 a bunch of other places. South Africa sent an extradition request.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWait, how are you doing all this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUncle Charles has loads of contacts. He got samples from dad\u2019s case and sent them out to\u2026 eight? different countries. We\u2019ve gotten six matches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s\u2026 really strange.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is. Uncle Charles wants to know if you\u2019d like to work for him. As an investigator. See if we can figure this all out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe what?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen are you done with work?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust finished.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMeet us at Pizza Parlor in 30?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMake it 60. I need to wash up first.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOkay, we\u2019ll see you there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWait,\u201d I said. \u201cIf Charles is your uncle, what does that make me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just tell everyone you\u2019re my other dad,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s how I see it, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll take it. It may be more than I deserve, but I\u2019ll take it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I looked up at the sign I had just placed, \u201cRedemption Rd,\u201d and hoped it was a portent of things to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

prompt: \u00a0You thought he was dead, but there he is, right in front of you on the street, smiling at you….available at Reedsy The first couple months after I killed Kevin Whatcomb I saw him …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[208],"tags":[210,217,209],"class_list":["post-2107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trunk-stories","tag-fiction","tag-mystery","tag-short-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pxT7i-xZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2108,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2107\/revisions\/2108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}