Is He Dead? Read online

  “All right. Come on, let’s get in the truck and go home,” Tom said as if nothing had just happened.

  Amanda and Melissa got back into the truck, still crying and upset. Amanda looked out the window. It was dark and all she saw was her own reflection. She stared at herself for five minutes or so and made up her mind at that moment, “I am going to kill that bastard. I have had enough, that motherfucker is dead.”

  Forty-Three

  Amanda didn’t have many friends. Tom was extremely possessive and strict with her. His attitude around her friends usually scared them off, but Amanda met a young lady who she was able to befriend. Her name was Bridget Edwards. Bridget lived with her mother, Patricia Langley, in a mobile home on the banks of Shingle Creek.

  They had similar personalities and many of their likes and dislikes were the same. Amanda and Robert from time to time would hang out at her house. Robert enjoyed going up and down the creek in Mrs. Langley’s canoe.

  Amanda had never confided to Bridget about her problems at home, but Bridget could tell when something wasn’t right. If Amanda came to her house acting depressed, Bridget would press her to tell her what was wrong, but Amanda would just brush her off.

  One night, Bridget was spending the night with Amanda and Tom started testing her to see how far she would permit him to go. He was poking her in the ribs and putting his arms around her in an overly-affectionate way. Amanda knew what he was doing and called him on it. She asked Tom if she could talk with him in private.

  “What are doing? That’s my friend!”

  Tom looked at her, grinning, “What do you think? You think maybe I could get some from her?”

  Amanda walked out of the room and took Bridget into her bedroom where they remained for the rest of the night.

  After that incident Amanda didn’t bring Bridget home with her any more.

  On August 29, 1984, Amanda was visiting Bridget at her home.

  “Do you know anything about guns?” Amanda asked Bridget.

  “I know a little bit. My Dad is a hunter and he has lots of guns.”

  Bridget asked why she was asking questions about guns. “It just don’t seem right for us not to have a gun in our house for protection,” Amanda told her. “Does your Mom have a gun?”

  “Sure! She keeps it right next to her bed,” Bridget said.

  “Really? Can I see it? I mean, can we look at it?” Bridget said, “Hmmm, I don’t know. Mom doesn’t allow me to handle her gun.”

  “She’s not home right now, so let me look at it,” Amanda said persuasively. She got up and started walking back to Bridget’s mom’s bedroom. “Okay, all right, you can look at it, but don’t touch it,” Bridget warned.

  Bridget and Amanda went to her mother’s room and Bridget opened a drawer in her mother’s nightstand. Bridget picked up a Bible from the drawer and there was the gun.

  “What kind of gun is that?” Amanda asked.

  “I’m not sure, but I think it’s a 38-caliber Chief’s Special. My Dad bought it for my Mom for our protection.” Bridget put the bible back in its place and closed the drawer.

  That night when Amanda got home, she told Robert what she had learned.

  “We can shoot Tom with that gun and it will all be over.

  “I don’t think a 38-caliber is big enough,” Robert said. “I think we need a 357-magnum or a 44-magnum to make sure it does the job.

  Amanda told him it was all they were going to be able to get. We just have to steal the gun when nobody’s at home.

  On September 1, 1984, Amanda was chatting with Bridget on the phone.

  “We’re going skating tonight,” said Bridget. “Do you and Robert want to go with us?” Amanda asked who was going and Bridget said that she and her little brother and Mom. “What time are you going?” Amanda asked. “The session starts at eight o’clock, so we will get there at 7:45 on the dot,” Bridget explained. Amanda told Bridget that she would like to go but would have to make sure it was okay with her parents.

  When she hung up, she ran into Robert’s room and said, “We go tonight. Get ready. Bridget and her Mom are going to the skating rink at 7:45. I want you to go to the rink and wait and as soon as they arrive, call my beeper from the pay phone.”

  Robert and Amanda lived directly behind the skating rink, so Robert walked over just before 7:45 p.m. Amanda drove towards Bridget’s house and parked in a wooded area next to a power station not more than a half mile from Bridget’s trailer.

  At 7:55 p.m., Amanda received a beep. She backed her car out of the power station and drove towards Bridget’s house. It wasn’t yet quite dark, but the sun was beginning to fade. She drove through an open gate and parked next to the trailer home. She tried to act like she was supposed to be there, just in case anyone was watching. Amanda pulled on the front door and discovered it was locked. She walked around the back and pulled on the rear door. Thankfully, it opened and Amanda walked in. She had entered the laundry room. She pulled the door closed behind her and walked into Patricia’s bedroom. “This is spooky,” she thought.

  The phone rang and startled her. She opened the drawer and picked up the bible as the answering machine picked up and she heard the greeting, “Hi, this is Patricia. We can’t come to the phone right now, so please leave a message at the beep.” She saw the gun right where Bridget had shown her. She picked it up, examined it for a minute, and then tucked it into her pants. She walked out of the room and was just about to leave the trailer, but suddenly remembered she had left the Bible on top of the night table. She returned and placed it back in the drawer.

  She hid the gun under the seat in her car and drove to the skating rink. When Robert saw her he asked, “Did you get it?” Amanda just nodded her head and looked victorious.

  Forty-Four

  “Listen to me. Can you just help me find a silencer?” Amanda asked. She was talking to a young black male, Harold Michaels, who was a prison inmate on work release assigned to Denny’s Restaurant.

  “What’s up with you, girl?” He asked in his neighborhood slang,

  “You going to eradicate that bastard?” Amanda had explained to him weeks ago that her dad had been abusing her and her brother and she was not going to take it anymore.

  “Girl you don’t need no silencer, just shoot the bastard!” he exclaimed.

  “Please, shh!” Amanda looked around anxiously to see if anyone was listening.

  “Amanda, why don’t you just call the police?” Harold asked. Amanda explained that every time the police got involved things got worse. She explained about the Russian roulette game that Tom had played with her and Robert the first time.

  “Damn, girl. That motherfucker is sick!”

  Amanda looked up at Harold and asked, “Can you kill him for me?”

  ‘Whoa, wait a damn minute, girl. I couldn’t kill a fucking housefly,” Harold said. “I gotta get out of this place and killing a man sure won’t help me a bit! Look, I know a dude up in the ‘hood in O-town, he can set you up, but I need to go with ya.”

  They agreed to go the next day. If the inmate was missing for more than a couple of hours, he would be considered an escapee.

  At 4:15 p.m. on September 4, 1984, Amanda and Robert left the house. Amanda told her mother they were going to visit friends in BVL. Amanda drove up to the rear of Denny’s Restaurant. Harold was there waiting for her. Robert opened the door and Harold told him to get into the back seat. Harold sat down in the front next to Amanda.

  “I needs me a beer or two. Hey, stop at the 7-11,” Harold ordered. Amanda pulled into the 7-11 and Harold ran in and bought three cans of beer. As they drove off, Amanda asked, “Harold, do you know anyone who could do this for us?” Harold told her he couldn’t get involved in anything like that.

  They drove north on the Orange Blossom Trail until they reached Sand Lake Road. “Turn here,” Harold told Amanda. She turned left onto Sand Lake Road. “Okay, turn to the right at that 7-11 right there.” Amanda turned in and he told her to pull
over. She stopped the car and Harold got out and walked up to a group of young black males standing on the street corner.

  “They look like drug dealers,” Robert said. Harold came back to the car and asked Amanda how much money she had.

  “I got $100.00 with me right now,” Amanda replied.

  Harold opened the car door and sat down in the front seat. “Let’s go! Keep going straight until we get to the white house with red shutters. Follow that homeboy.” A young black male was running on foot in front of them.

  The black male ran up to a house with red shutters (where a drug dealer lived), and motioned for Harold to come with him. Harold and the black male walked up to the door and knocked. A voice behind the door said, “Who is it?” Then the door opened and the black male said, “This is my homeboy. He is looking for a silencer for a 38-caliber Chief’s Special.”

  “What the hell!” The man behind the door said. “Get the fuck out of my house!”

  “Come on man, hook me up! This bitch got the bread, man,” the black male told him.

  “Bring the bitch here.”

  Harold motioned for Amanda to come over. Robert and Amanda hesitantly walked up to the door. The drug dealer asked what Robert was there for. Harold told Robert to get back into the car. “What you want a silencer for, bitch?” The drug dealer asked Amanda. Amanda explained that she just needed one. He told her he could get one, but would take a couple of days. “It’s going to cost you $500.00, ” he explained. “I ain’t got $500.00!” Amanda replied. “What you got?” he asked. Amanda told him she had only $100 and he told her to leave that with him and he would see if he could find something for her. “No, I need it tonight!” She exclaimed. The drug dealer told her he couldn’t help her. “Let’s go Amanda,” Harold said.

  They pulled out of the neighborhood and stopped at the 7-11.

  “Now what?” Amanda asked.

  “What time is it?” asked Harold.

  Amanda replied it was nearly 6:00 p.m.

  “You needs to get me back right away before I get in deep shit!”

  Amanda dropped off Harold and headed home with Robert.

  “What are we going to do?” Robert asked.

  “I guess we just have to do it without a silencer,” Amanda replied.

  “Okay, Dad’s not going to be home until late tonight, he has a meeting at the hotel,” Amanda said.

  When Amanda pulled her car into the parking lot, she saw Tom’s truck in front of their apartment. “Oh shit! Oh my God!” Amanda said to Robert. “He’s here already. Okay, this is our story, we went to BVL and we visited our friends okay?”

  “What about the gun?” Robert asked.

  “We’ll have to leave it in the car for now. We can’t take it in there with Tom here,” Amanda replied. “We’ll have to get it out later. Are you scared, Robert?”

  “I’ve never been more scared in my entire life,” he replied.

  Amanda and Robert walked into the apartment and Melissa was sitting in the living room.

  “Where’s Dad?” Amanda asked as she threw her keys on to the coffee table.

  “He’s on the toilet,” Melissa answered. Amanda walked to the bathroom and walked in without knocking.

  “Hey, Dad,” she said as she leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead.

  Tom looked up at her and said, “Get out of here.” He pushed her away with his hand and said,

  “Me and your Mom, we been talking. We are taking our money and getting the fuck out of here. We ain’t taking you and Robert. You are too damn deceitful. You have pushed me too far. You have been walking all over me for too long! Now get out of here before I kill you!”

  Amanda walked out of the bathroom. She stood next to the sliding glass door and then opened it quietly. “I have to get the gun right now,” she thought. Robert saw her walk out and followed her.

  “Get the gun now Robert!’ Amanda whispered. Robert walked up to the car and attempted to open the door.

  “It’s locked,” Robert said in a shaky, quiet voice.

  “Oh shit, I never locked the car!” Amanda was mad at herself.

  Amanda told Robert to stay there and she would get the keys. She opened the glass door and walked softly into the living room. “Where are they?” she asked herself. She frantically looked through the living room and the kitchen. Robert came back inside, fearing for Amanda.

  Tom came out of the bathroom wearing his work pants and a white T-shirt. He had on white socks; one had a hole near the toe. He ordered both Robert and Amanda and to sit down on the sofa.

  He looked at Amanda, “You think you’re in for a free fucking ride don’t you? You have a nice ass car. You got nice clothes and lots of spending money. What do you think this is? A luxury ride? Shit, you only work three hours a day.” Tom sat down in his recliner and continued, “you ain’t pulling your share of the whole nine yards!”

  He looked at Robert, “Why ain't you at work?”

  “They changed my schedule,” Robert replied.

  “I thought you were supposed to be there at 5:00 o’clock,” Tom said. “I am so tired of them changing your schedule.”

  Tom sat there quietly as if he was thinking about what he was going to do. Robert and Amanda stood up and walked out of the living room.

  The phone rang and Melissa answered it, “Hello. No, he is not supposed to be there tonight, his schedule was changed.”

  “Who is that?” Tom yelled.

  “It’s Robert’s supervisor. She said he didn’t show up for work tonight.”

  Tom took the phone from Melissa and said. “You people need to stop changing Robert’s schedule. He can’t make any money like this.” Robert’s supervisor told Tom that Robert was scheduled to work but he didn’t show up. She told Tom he didn’t call in either.

  “I don’t believe that,” Tom said. “I am going to come down and look at the schedule right now, if that’s all right with you,” Tom told Robert’s boss. She said he could come on down and take a look, if he wished. Tom hung up the phone and there was a knock at the door. Tom had been trying to buy an A-frame house on Shingle Creek. The owner of the property was now here to discuss the sale. So Tom told Melissa to go to Burger King and look at the schedule.

  Amanda and Melissa left in Melissa’s car. When they arrived at Burger King, Amanda volunteered to go in and look at the schedule. When Amanda came back out she told her Mom that there was a pencil mark on the schedule that looked like Robert’s day had been changed. Melissa told her to explain that to her father.

  Tom was sitting at the kitchen table working on some numbers trying to decide if he could afford the house, when Amanda and Melissa got home.

  “Well?” Tom asked.

  Amanda said. “I went in and looked at the schedule, Dad. It did look like it was changed. I can see how Robert would have thought he was off today.”

  Tom picked up the phone and dialed the Burger King. Amanda asked, "Who are you calling?” Tom told her he didn’t believe her and that he was calling Burger King. The district manager picked up the phone and Tom asked her if the schedule was changed. The next thing Amanda heard was Tom apologizing, “I am very sorry, Candi. I am so sorry for this incident. Robert and Amanda both lied to me about the schedule. I am coming down there right now to apologize in person. Amanda heard that and thought, “Perfect, we can bring the gun inside when he leaves. Then Amanda heard, “Are you sure? I really don’t mind coming down.” Tom said. Amanda’s heart sank. He wasn’t going after all.

  “Robert and Amanda, come here right now!” Tom screamed. Tom ordered them both to sit down on the sofa. Amanda, you just lied to me again. That schedule ain’t been changed at all. You lie to me about such small shit and I can never trust you again. Robert, you been skipping work a lot. You just got fired, son.”

  Tom walked up to Robert and stood there towering above him. He was clicking his finger nails together. Robert’s head was down. Tom turned away, and then twirled around swinging his open hand, striking
Robert in the face. The impact knocked Robert from the sofa on to the floor. Robert screamed out for Tom to stop. “You damn liar!” Tom shouted. He reached down and picked up Robert by his hair and pushed him back on to the sofa.

  “I can’t trust you two. You are pieces-of-shit liars!” Tom yelled as he grabbed Amanda’s hair. He pulled her up to him yelling right in her face. He released her hair. Amanda was crying and pleaded with Tom to stop. He slapped Amanda in the face with his open palm, then again with the back of his hand.

  “We are going to apologize to your boss, Robert. I am a man of honor and you are going to be, too,” Tom yelled.

  Amanda was thinking to herself, “Please go so I can get the gun out of my car.” Tom then announced, “Tomorrow we will go to Burger King. I can’t believe it. Such a small thing, and you lie to me about it. It’s not about not working, it’s all about lying!’ Tom swung his hand, again striking Robert on top of his head. The impact caught Robert off-guard. He bit his lip as Tom’s hand made impact with the top of his head.

  Tom yelled for Melissa to come into the living room, “What time did these kids leave the house this afternoon?” Tom asked her. Melissa looked over at Amanda before she answered. “I thank it was somewhere around 4:30,” she replied. Tom looked back at Amanda and asked, “Now where were you for hours?” Amanda looked over at Robert and said, “We went to BVL, Dad.”

  Tom replied by spelling out the word Liar. He looked at Robert and repeated, “Where were you?” Robert’s response was the same.

  “I’ll get to the bottom of this,” Tom screamed. He ordered them to follow him into the bedroom. “We’re dead now,” Amanda thought. They hadn’t really gotten their stories together well enough to survive Tom’s separate interrogations.

  “Robert, you’d better tell me the truth this time son,” he said.

  ” I did tell you the truth. Me and Amanda went to BVL and visited Bryan.”

  Tom interrupted and slapped Robert across the face. “I want the truth, damn it!”

  “We went to BVL with that black guy from Amanda’s work!” Tom picked the iron up from the ironing board and threw it at the wall. The iron crushed through the sheetrock and became lodged in the wall. Tom’s face was red and he was losing total control. He pushed Robert out of the door and demanded for Amanda to come into the bedroom.