Nine Minutes (25 page)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Grizz
waited on death row in a prison in North Florida. It was about a five-hour ride
by car. I tried to visit him. But after the first year he told me no more. I
had to move on with my life. I had to raise our daughter. Be a good mother. Be
a good wife.

     
“Do you love him?”
he asked me one day. “It’s okay to tell me, Kit. It’s okay if you love him. He
loves you and has taken care of you and Mimi. My time has passed.”

     
“Yes,” I answered,
as I looked at my hands in my lap. “I love him.”

     
It was the last
time I saw
Grizz
until the day of his execution.
 

     
The year after
that conversation was the worst. I think I mourned
Grizz
the hardest then. There was so much emotion. There was so much guilt. Why had I
saved that stupid wallet? Why hadn’t I gotten up on that stand and told the
jury how good he was to me?

     
Because
Grizz
wouldn’t let me.
The
prosecution didn’t come near me because of the information
Grizz
gave them. It was like Christmas for them.
One present after
the other.
Other than to ask me to corroborate things
Grizz
had told them, they kept their word. I was left
alone.

     
I called him
years later to tell him I’d had another baby. It might come as a surprise that
a prisoner on death row could receive a phone call. But this was
Grizz
. Being on death row never changed his status as
leader of Satan’s Army. He still managed to possess a great amount of influence
over his present circumstances.

     
He’d known I was
pregnant. Even in prison,
Grizz
had found a way to
keep tabs on my husband and me. But that day I told him something he didn’t
know.

     
“We named him
Jason.” The phone went silent for a long time. I wasn’t sure if he was still
there.

     
“I love you,
Ginny. I’ll always love you.”

     
It was the first
and last time he called me by my real name. I started to answer that I still
loved him, too, but he’d already hung up.

     
It was true. I
still loved
Grizz
. I wasn’t in love with him like I
had been, but I cared deeply for him. My husband understood. There was no
jealousy or insecurity from him. Besides, if it weren’t for
Grizz
,
I wouldn’t be married to the man I was completely and totally in love with
today.

Chapter Forty

The day
after
Grizz’s
execution, back home, my husband and I
decided to use the day to do something special.

     
“Hey, you two.
Long time no see,” Eddie said as he hugged us both.

     
We hadn’t been in
to see Eddie since he’d added our son’s name to the tattoo on my husband’s left
arm. He’d surprised me on our third wedding anniversary. The tattoo was a
beautiful eagle holding up a heart between its wings. Inside the heart was my
name: Ginny. I thanked him for not using Guinevere. He’d joked at the time that
he didn’t think Eddie had enough ink. There was a ribbon that wrapped around
the heart and dangled on one side of the tattoo. It said “Mimi.” When our son
was born, he went back and had Eddie add another ribbon with the name “Jason.”
It was a beautiful work of art and a testament to our happy family.

     
Eddie looked at
my stomach and teased, “Time to add another ribbon?”

     
“No,” I answered.
I held up my left hand. “I need you to work your creative magic with this,” I
said as I practically shoved my ring finger under his nose.

     
This time, I didn’t
faint.

____________

It was
Sunday morning. Two days after
Grizz’s
execution. My
husband and I sat in our den waiting for the phone to ring. We had gone to a
sunrise Mass to be home in time for this phone call. In retrospect, I wish we’d
missed the call. Just like climbing on the back of Monster’s motorcycle twenty-five
years ago would change my life, the damage resulting from this phone call was
irrevocable.

     
When the phone
rang, he hit the speakerphone button and said, “We’re here, Leslie. You’re on.”

     
Leslie stammered
a little. She must have sensed we were weary of the interview process and was
hesitant about her first question. I knew what was coming.

     
“I guess I really
wanted to ask Ginny what that little communication was about right before Jason’s
execution,” Leslie said, her voice growing steadier. “I mean, it’s obvious
there was something going on between you two, and I think it’s probably
important and would be a good way to wrap up the interview. You know, the end
to this epic love story.”

     
 
“That was nothing,” I said firmly. “
Grizz
was just trying to be in charge again.
An old joke.
He was messing with me. Not important and
totally not relevant to this story. You’re not missing anything.”

     
She didn’t say
anything for a minute. Then she blurted, “But the love story. That’s what I
really want to play up.
The love between the hardened
criminal and the sweet, innocent girl.
That’s what the readers want, a love
story, and I need something to make the conclusion pop.” She cleared her throat.
“That signal he gave you. It must have meant something. Can’t you give me
something here, Ginny?”

     
I sighed and
leaned back in my chair. I hadn’t realized I’d been sitting at attention.

     
“The only thing I
can tell you, Leslie, is I’ve spent three months letting you interview me, and
the real love story was right under your nose the whole time and you didn’t see
it.
A story about a man who has loved me from the very
beginning, from the first glance.
The man who always was and still is my
soul mate. That’s the only love story now. Yes, I loved
Grizz
,
that’s true. That story is over. Don’t romanticize it. I’ve built a new life
with—”

     
She cut me off. “She
doesn’t know, does she? You haven’t told her yet. I suggest you do before she
reads it in my article.”

     
Who was she
talking to? I looked over at my husband. He didn’t answer her. He pressed the
disconnect button on the phone.

     
“Well, that’s one
way to end an interview,” I said to him.

     
My husband, Tommy—I
never used the gang name Grunt anymore, just as he never called me
Kit—just smiled and winked at me.

     
But then he
turned serious. “Gin, I need to tell you some things. Some bad things.”

     
I practically
scoffed. What bad things could Tommy possibly have to tell me? I seriously
doubted he could surprise me with anything.

     
“Okay, I’m
listening. It can’t be that bad.”

     
But it was.

     
There, listening
to Tommy tell me the story of Leslie’s accident three weeks ago, I was stunned.
I felt like I was hearing the story in an out-of-body experience, like it was
being told to someone else and I was just there, watching from above.

     
I don’t know how
to explain it. I knew the major players. I’d spent enough time in Leslie’s
company to understand her personality, to actually know how it played out with
her and
Grizz
.

     
As Tommy told me
the details, I felt like I was watching a movie unfold. And I wanted to throw
up.

Chapter Forty-One

Leslie
Cowan sat confidently at the metal table. She’d interviewed hundreds of people
and had a bit of a smug attitude about the upcoming interview.

     
She’d caught wind
of this story through a friend of a friend and thought it would go great with
Rolling Stone’s
expose on celebrity
bikers. She’d spent most of the last couple of months interviewing the other
main character in this story, and she had exactly one hour to wrap it up with
the sole person who would not be around to answer any questions in the coming
weeks.

     
Jason Talbot was
to be executed in a matter of weeks. She wasn’t going to put much credence in
what he had to say. She felt she’d gotten the meat of her story already. She
was really here out of sheer curiosity.

     
She’d heard of
his brutality, but she was not the type to be intimidated by anyone. She’d interviewed
street gang members, drug dealers, rapists,
murderers
.
The worst society had to offer. This would be a piece of cake.

     
She wanted to ask
him about his relationship with Ginny Lemon, now Ginny Dillon. It would be
interesting to ask the man, who was so cruel to others, why he’d had such
tender feelings for a fifteen-year-old girl? Why didn’t he kill her? Why did he
keep her with him as long as possible? Why would he go to the lethal injection
table for her?

     
She was pretty
sure Ginny had exaggerated his feelings toward her. Leslie wanted to find out
what he really thought. She would be able to get the truth out of him. She was
a top-of-the-line investigative reporter. She could wrap the worst interviewee
around her little finger. She’d done it before, and she’d do it again.

     
A man who was
facing death in a couple of weeks would be so vulnerable. He would be putty in
her hands and spilling his guts in a matter of minutes.

     
She looked up
when she heard the door open. A guard came in, followed by a man of incredible
size. She’d seen pictures and knew he was big. But she didn’t expect him to be
this big.

     
Behind him was
another guard. The prisoner, wearing an orange prison-issue jumpsuit, was
handcuffed and shackled around the waist. He took small steps, and she could
hear the shackles around his ankles clanking. Her gaze wandered up until she
met his eyes.

     
The mesmerizing,
green eyes Ginny had mentioned more than once. She had only seen pictures that
didn’t do them justice. She thought that, too, had been exaggerated. She was
wrong.

     
Without taking
his eyes from hers, he slid into the seat across from her as the guard
unshackled his handcuffs from the chain around his waist and re-shackled them
to a steel bar on the table.

     
She looked away
then and said to the guard, “Thanks, I can take it from here.”

     
The guard refused,
told her under no circumstances was anyone ever to be left alone in a room with
Jason Talbot.

     
“But he’s
shackled,” she replied with dismay.

     
“Doesn’t matter.
You got a problem with that
,
you leave
.
We’re staying here with you.”

     
The taller guard
locked the door behind them, and they both leaned up against opposite walls.

     
She started to
argue, but it was no use; the guards calmly and firmly expressed the rule one
more time.

     
“This is for your
own safety regardless of the shackles,” the shorter guard said.

     
She huffed like
he was being ridiculous, and the guard said, “Then consider this interview over.”

     
He started to
unshackle the prisoner but she stopped him. “Fine. Stay. Whatever.”

     
She looked back
at Jason then, and a chill ran down her spine. She had never been the focus of
such a penetrating look. His eyes were cold, and she was trying not to tremble.

     
“Thank you for
agreeing to see me, Jason,” she began. “You know I’ve been interviewing Ginny
the last few months. Seems you two have an interesting past. I was hoping you
could tell me more about your relationship with her.”

     
“I’m sure Kit
told you everything. I don’t have anything to add.”

     
She was starting
to feel something she had never felt before in an interview. She was getting a
little giddy. There was something about his power and intensity that was extremely
attractive, and she was losing her focus. She felt silly that he could make her
feel this way. He exuded raw sexuality like no one she’d ever met.
    

     
She tried to
imagine being only fifteen and having to deal with him. It’s a miracle Ginny
survived.

     
“Well, why don’t
you tell me something then that Ginny didn’t
know.
Surprise me.”

     
“Oh, I’d like to
surprise you, darling.”

     
A shiver ran down
her spine. Could she actually be enjoying herself flirting with this murderer?

     
She pasted on her
coyest smile and kept asking questions. He replied with one-syllable answers.
These were questions she already knew the answers to, thanks to Ginny. So Ginny
had been telling her the truth. Well, well.

     
“Jason, this is
all pretty standard stuff that I already know. Can’t you give me something else
here? Something to shock my readers?”

     
He stared at her
for a minute. “I’ve answered every question. What exactly do you want to know?”

     
She swallowed
back her aggravation. “For one thing, I cannot believe that in all that time
you spent with Ginny, there isn’t one secret that you kept to yourself.
Something she never knew. Doesn’t know, to this day. I know the real-name
secret already. That obviously had to come out.” She leaned in provocatively. “What
else is there?”

     
“There’s nothing.
Why would I keep a secret from Kit?”

     
“Um, because she
kept a secret from you?” This was the moment she’d been waiting for. She’d been
baiting him along this whole time to lead up to this.”
God, I’m good
.

     
This got the rise
out of him she was hoping for. He was such an egomaniac. There was no way he
could fathom Ginny keeping something hidden from him.

     
In a split second,
the doubt in his eyes was gone, replaced by his natural arrogance.

     
He gestured with
his hands, motioned for her to bring it on. They were shackled to the table,
but he still had some leeway.

     
“Let’s hear it,
then, reporter lady. What’s this supposed secret that Kit kept from me?”

     
“If I tell you,
then you’ll tell me something? Something you never told Ginny. You promise?”

     
“Yeah, sure. Let’s
hear it first.”

     
“Okay. How about
that Ginny lost her virginity to Grunt?”

     
He laughed out
loud then. “Stupid bitch. I knew that. I’m the one who told him to do it!”

     
“You’re not
listening to me, Jason. Ginny lost her virginity to
Grunt
. Not that disgusting
billy
-club you
told him to use.”

     
She knew she was
wrong to tell him. But, as she quickly reminded herself, she’d promised Ginny
it wouldn’t be in the article. She’d never promised Ginny she wouldn’t tell
Jason.

     
Leslie knew she’d
surprised him. She knew instantly this was one thing he definitely never found
out. Well, screw him. Stupid idiot. Let him chew on that for a minute.

     
With the look of
someone who’d just devoured her victim, she leaned toward him and, in her
haughtiest tone of voice, purred, “So, now, you owe me—”

     
Faster than
lightning and before the guards could intervene,
Grizz
used both feet to kick Leslie’s chair out from under her. This quick action and
the fact that she was already leaning toward him caused her to fall face
forward and within his reach. He was able to grab her head and smash her face
into the metal post that was keeping his hands fastened to the table. There was
the sickening sound of teeth breaking as blood spurted everywhere.

     
The guards got to
them as quickly as they could. One pulled Leslie out of his grasp as the other
started beating him down with a stick. He never flinched. He just laughed.

     
“You motherfucker!”
she screamed.

     
She was bleeding
profusely from cuts on her forehead, nose and mouth. It was hard for her to talk.
She was definitely hurt, but she hadn’t started to cry. She was in shock.

     
The guard got her
on her feet and started half-walking, half-carrying her toward the door.

     
As she was
leaving, she heard
Grizz
call out, “You
wanna
know something? I’ll tell you something. Come back
and see me.”