I Will Love You Forever Pt. 2 Ch. 13

"That's nice." Joel said sarcastically. "You can wish all you want and you can apologize until the damned cows come home, but I'm not buying it. The only reason why you didn't stay in the group was because you got kicked out."

"That isn't true!" Ernie retorted.

"Isn't it?" Joel shot back. "Are you telling me that you would have left the group on your own?"

Ernie didn't reply. There was an element of truth to what Joel was saying. Hadn't he told Becca that she had inadvertently saved his life?

"You... you may be right." He finally said. "But I would like to think that I would have come to my senses."

"Before or after your buddy killed one of us?" Joel shouted. "The sick bastard was gunning for us and you were a friend of his so forgive me if I'm not like Kenji who sees the best in everyone. I don't like or trust you. For all we know you could be the new leader for his group."

"What?" Ernie asked in shock. "You weren't the only ones in his line of fire! He saw me talking to you at the funeral and the other day. He threatened me too! I spent most of last night trying to decide if I was coming today and if you don't believe that I was threatened, talk to his friend Peter; he was there. If anyone is the new leader; it's him."

Kenji sat back and listened. Joel needed to have his say and so did Ernie. He hoped that Ernie didn't say anything about Peter working for the government. For all he knew, Peter was still undercover. To his relief, Joel didn't say anything about Peter.

"All I'm going to say to you is this, I'll help you but outside of this little study group; stay the hell away from me. If Kenji and Patricia want to speak to you that's their choice but personally, I think that you're a piece of shit."

Ernie was taken aback by the vehemence in Joel's voice. He had apologized and that was all that he could do.

"Are we ready to start?" Kenji asked quietly.

By the end of an hour, Ernie had a basic understanding of the principle of genetics. The way that Kenji explained it made him wonder why he thought that it was so difficult before.

"If you remember the basic things." Kenji said. "The rest will fall into place."

"Thank you." Ernie murmured looking at Kenji and not Joel.

"You are welcome." Kenji said with a slight bow to which to his surprise; Ernie returned.

As they left, Ernie had one more thing to say.

"I wish that I had been stronger. If I had been we would be friends and the fact that we aren't is my loss."

He hurried off before either Kenji or Joel could reply.

Joel looked at Kenji still not convinced that Ernie was sincere and if he was how long it would last. They drove back to the house to pick up Patricia who was waiting with a tray of deviled eggs.

"A little elf was here while we were gone and stocked the fridge." She said with a smile. "The same little elf left you a plate of sugar cookies." She added.

"It must have been Abby." Joel commented as he took two cookies from the offered plate after Kenji helped himself.

"She even dusted!" Patricia exclaimed. "But we need to get moving. I want to help Dai get ready for this afternoon and get Marie and Ralph's things packed and in the car."

Kenji picked up the platter of eggs, grabbed a few more cookies off the plate and followed Patricia and Joel out of the house. It was going to feel good to be home again.

****

One by one members of Andrew's group were brought in for questioning. All of them had believed that Andrew killed Milton Vaughn and all of them said that they didn't come forward for two reasons. They had no proof and they were afraid of Andrew. Of the ten members, only one was of any concern to Briscoe and the agency. Duke Stackhouse. While he was afraid of Andrew, he wasn't as afraid of him as the others had been. If anyone was going to take over, it would be him.

Charles and Briscoe sat down with the burly med student and decided to be straight forward with him.

"Your friend is going to prison, do you understand that?" Briscoe asked.

"He isn't my friend!" Duke spat. "He's a coward who didn't do what needed to be done."

Briscoe and Charles looked at each other alarmed.

"And what was that?" Briscoe asked.

"He wasted too much time fucking around... that Jap should have been dead months ago. If it had been me, he would have been."

Charles couldn't believe what he was hearing. The man was actually saying that he would have murdered someone.

"You're admitting that you would have killed someone?"

Duke leaned forward in his chair, rested his elbows on the table and gave Charles a penetrating stare.

"Let me explain something to you." He said in a low voice. "Andrew was and is a coward. He rode on his daddy's hero status. That's how he got a free ride for school. He wasn't and isn't a true believer. But to answer your question, fuck yeah I would have killed the Jap, the nigger bitch and the Jew; but you can't arrest me for that can you?"

"No I can't you bigoted son of a bitch." Charles replied. "But I can do this, as of this moment, you're on our watch list. Let me explain what that means. It means that if anything happens to anyone of any race or nationality, we come for you first. Each of your buddies that we talked to is also on that list as of this moment."

"You can't..."

"I just did." Charles interrupted. "I'm quite sure that Detective Briscoe has a similar list so you see, between the two of us you won't be able to take a leak without us knowing it."

Duke glared at them, stood up and walked to the door.

"Hey jackass!" Charles called out. "Remember what I said."

Duke stiffened and kept walking.

"Do you think he bought it?" Briscoe asked.

"Bought what? I was serious." Charles replied. "He sat there and said that he would kill. He bears watching. In fact, I'm going to keep Peter undercover. He has to take the same classes anyway. If I were you, "Charles continued, "I would keep an eye on him and anyone else in that group."

"Noted, how soon do you expect Kelly to go to trial?" Briscoe asked.

"That will depend on what his lawyer tells him." Charles replied. "If he's smart he'll advise Kelly to plead guilty to take the death penalty off the table and not take it to trial. I would bet my bottom dollar that Andrew is already thinking along those lines. I have to agree with Duke; Andrew is a coward and not a true believer."

"Well, I hope for the sake of his family Kelly pleads out." Briscoe said.

"I hope so too." Charles said quietly.

*

Andrew finished the letter to his parents and gave it to the police officer who was waiting with him. He had already made his decision. The only way to guarantee that his parents didn't show up at the trial was to make sure that there wasn't one. He also knew that if he pled guilty, that he wouldn't get the death penalty. His letter included the request that his parents didn't come to see him in prison. In fact, he didn't even want them to write to him.

"Disown me. It will make things much easier for you if you do. Don't write to me or call me, it will only make things harder on you. If you can; forget that you have a son. I love you both and I'm sorry that I disappointed you."

Andrew lay on his cot feeling oddly at peace with his decision. He began to emotionally prepare himself for a life of not ever being able to walk free again.

***

The party was in full swing by the time Charles arrived with his fiancée Marilyn. Other than Nick, she was the only one who knew that he had black blood in him and she hadn't cared. Peter and Trevor arrived shortly after Charles and were fawned over by Hattie and Abby.

"I'm fine." Peter kept saying to anyone who asked.

Joel pulled him aside and told him what Ernie said about being threatened by Andrew.

"Is it true?"

"It's true." Peter replied. "In fact, Ernie was the first one to call the police about Andrew even though he was scared shitless. And yes, Andrew would have killed him. I know what he did to you and I'm not about to tell you that you shouldn't be angry or to let it go, but a word of caution. It was anger that drove Andrew Kelly to do what he did and as much as I hate to say it, none of us are immune to being driven to hurt someone because of anger or hatred."

Joel was going to reply when Will's voice boomed out.

"Ladies, gentlemen and children! May I have your attention please! Sally and I have an important announcement...We're having our first baby together!"

Cheers and claps filled the air as people hugged and congratulated the couple. The party became a celebration of another sort. Andrew Kelly was forgotten as people celebrated the future arrival of a new life. In three months the New Year would be upon them. Even though it was early, everyone was praying for a peaceful year.

***

After spending the weekend in jail, Andrew met with his attorney who told him what he had already suspected.

"If we go to trial, I can guarantee that we'll lose. If that happens, you'll be executed so my advice to you is to plead guilty. You'll spend the rest of your life in prison, but you'll be alive. The choice is yours."

Now that the time had come, Andrew wasn't sure that he wanted to give in.

"You're sure that there's no way that we can win?" he asked.

"Andrew, you confessed. You were going to let your father go to prison for you. You had the gun and yes it was missing the clip, but a federal agent heard your father asking where the clip was and then you shot the agent! You carried as weapon to school with the intent to commit another murder... need I continue?"

"No." Andrew murmured with his head down.

"I have the papers here and I would strongly advise that you sign it." His attorney said as he took the papers from his briefcase and laid them on the table.

Andrew looked at the papers and asked one final question.

"Is there any chance that I'll get out?"

"The papers are for life imprisonment without the possibility of parole... that's what you would be agreeing to."

Andrew slowly picked up the pen, closed his eyes and slowly opened them. A moment later, he signed the papers. At that moment, he was no longer Andrew Kelly medical student; he was Andrew Kelly the murderer and lifelong prisoner.

****

Nick and Will waited in Charles' office for word from Andrew's attorney. Nick had already informed Charles that he would be rejoining the agency on an as needed basis. It was the best compromise that he could come up with.

"If you don't mind, is it possible to have a private office?" Nick asked.

"I don't see why not." Charles replied. "The office next to mine is empty."

Nick's secretary knocked on the door.

"I have the paper and coffee for you." she said with a smile that was only for Nick.

"Oh, thanks." Nick replied not returning the smile.

He picked up the paper and stared. He reread the headlines three times.

"The California Supreme Court Rules Banning of Interracial Marriage Unconstitutional

The California supreme court has ruled that anti-miscegenation laws violate the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution..."

Nick jumped out of his chair and raced for the door.

"Call me at home!" he yelled on his way out.

"What just happened?" Charles asked as he picked up the paper. When he saw the headlines, he understood.

****

Hana was in the back yard picking up the fruit that had fallen to the ground. She heard Nick shouting for her and panicked. She dropped the bag of fruit and ran into the house.

"Nick? What ..."

"Hana will you marry me?"

"Nick... we ..."

"Hana, it's legal! The Supreme Court says that we can get married! Will you legally marry me?"

"I... is this a trick?" Hana asked in a hushed voice.

"No baby, it was today's headline in the paper. We don't have to keep our relationship a secret anymore... will you marry me?" he asked for the third time.

"Yes!" Hana replied and jumped into his arms.

The year was ending on as positive note for everyone except for Andrew Kelly and his family. Nineteen-forty nine was going to be a good year.