State Police

For the first year he was out it was like the first night they met. Love and laughter were a constant presence and when they held each other it was with an affection that survivor’s have after experiencing a near-death ordeal with equal measures, relief, security and gratitude. Hearts were undisguised and unyielding. The problem with an open door is you never know who may walk in.

To celebrate his one-year anniversary of freedom they went out on the town. They went to a few places for drinks and appetizers before ending up at their absolute favorite restaurant where they knew the chef and shared a deep affection for the staff. Beau was feeling sentimental and in addition to hitting the bottle heavier than usual (he had cut back since his release) he had bought her a beautiful gold necklace as a thank you. She was deeply touched and she was about to burst with tears of happiness as she held up her hair while he put it around her neck. They sat down and held hands gazing deeply into each other’s eyes. Beau heard some laughter coming from the bar and his demeanor changed in an instance.

Who should be sitting and drinking in their favorite place was the cop and son of a bitch attorney that put him away. What were they doing here? Their presence was soiling the sanctity of their favorite place and ruining everything. Hadn’t they done enough by putting him away? Beau knew they pinned additional bogus charges on him just because they could and here they were; laughing, drinking, and rubbing his face in it. Before Baby Doll could even think to calm him down, Beau had already gotten up and was walking towards them. As they toasted each other with their highball glasses Beau barked, “Hey! Remember me?” All the anger and resentment was governing his every action, as his jailhouse fantasy of revenge was playing out in real-time, memory manifesting the muscle movements. He pulled out the 9mm from the waistband of his pants and put the gun to the back of the attorney’s head and pulled the trigger.

The highball glass fell from the lawyer’s hand and blood sprayed all over the mirror behind the bar. As the off-duty cop reached for his weapon, Beau, with the devil in his eyes, pressed the gun to the man’s chest and shot 5 times, one for each year he was in the can.

Beau rushed back to Baby Doll, took her by the arm and hustled her out to their car. Thinking on his feet and realizing their bags were already packed he decided the best thing to do was to disappear into the mountains until the heat blew over. His confidence in the situation was at once sickening and intoxicating to Baby Doll but she didn’t really know how to think clearly in that moment. She was kind of glad he did it. When they piled on those extra charges, she used to wish ill on both of them but she never acted on it. Now that someone had acted there was a cathartic release but so much so it almost made her sick.

As they drive up the remote roads Beau is feeling 100% confident. He’s gotten revenge, he has his girl, and this is their chance to really start all over. As they approach the mountain pass summit he pulls over and takes her hands in his and makes her promise. He stares into her eyes and says, “I’ll always take care of you. We will always have each other. They’ll never keep us apart again. They’ll never take us alive.” He squeezes her hands and asks her to say it back. She does and he’s never felt more alive in his life. His confidence is so overpowering it completely masks her concerns and worry. They push on ahead and fill up at a small gas station. Beau goes inside to pay and get the keys from the store owner who used to lend him a cabin back in his good-old-bad-old days. Beau returns to the car and as they drive away a local sheriff’s deputy, a young kid named Ricky, pulls into the lot to grab a coffee. He catches a glimpse of the tail end of their car and notices he hasn’t seen it before. In a town that small, you notice when something seems out of place.