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The Stress Fracture, Chapter 9
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There, engraved on one, was the name Kathleen Anne Campbell. The dates indicated the woman had died at age thirty-five. On the other urn, the name Clair Marie Campbell was inscribed, but her dates indicated she was only six when she’d died.
Bette stared at the two names in confusion for a long second before an expression of comprehension and realization past over her eyes. She quickly shut off the table lamp and hurried down the hall, bumping into the wall in her haste.
Inside the office she returned to bookshelf, picked up the framed polaroid of Tina, her brother, the woman, and little girl. She held it close to the computer monitor, using its incandescent glow to inspect the image.
“Well shit,” she whispered to herself.
She glanced toward the bedroom before slowly opening the desk drawer and pulling out a pen, a note pad and writing down the two names and dates she’d seen on the urns. She folded the paper and stuck it in her robe’s pocket before starting back toward the bedroom. But she’d forgotten her glass of water she’d sat down when she’d examined the polaroid. She turned, reached for it, bumped it, and nearly spilled it over the computer keyboard and mouse, causing the third computer to wake from its sleep, displaying a general Internet search page.
Once more she glanced at the bedroom door, then slowly she sat down in the chair. She pulled the paper from her robe pocket and typed the woman’s name and dates into a search engine. As the screen populated with her search results, a soft squeak escaped her mouth. Then with a shaking hand, she dared to click on the first link.
It was a Boston Globe news report. The article was dated twenty-two years ago.
As the words filled the screen, Bette read and re-read the title of the article a half dozen times, her hand over her mouth, her eyes betraying both shock and horror.
“Vigilante Mother Dies in Prison,” read the title.
Then, as her eyes scanned the screen, read the words that followed, they grew wider and filled with tears. She pressed her hand against her mouth with more force to cover and stifle her sobs.
Kathleen Campbell, who’d been serving time at South Middlesex Correctional Center for the murder of Vick Rush, died Tuesday in an area hospital after being discovered collapsed in her cell. Doctors speculate at this time, Campbell suffered from complications due to a diabetic condition and had fallen into a coma from acute renal failure. A year ago, Campbell gained community support along with some notoriety when she fired upon and killed Rush on the steps of the Brockton District Courthouse as he was being transported to Cedar Junction State Correctional Facility.
Rush had been found guilty and convicted in the sexual assault and murder of Campbell’s youngest daughter, six-year-old Claire as well as the sexual assault of her eight-year-old son, Kenneth. Despite Campbell’s plea before the judge during Rush’s sentencing where she asked he be given life in prison with no parole, Judge Richard Waddings ordered Rush to serve twenty-five years with consideration for parole in fifteen.
A spokesman for the Campbell family confirmed that, upon Campbell’s incarceration last year, her son, Kenneth, and her older daughter, ten-year-old Christina, were taken into Child Protective Services, but were later placed with Campbell’s mother, Margaret, at her home in South Roxbury, where they currently reside.
Bette sat back, nearly slid off the chair, as she continued to stare at the screen. Then the ice water she’d drunk moments before turned to ice water in her veins as her eyes fell on the computer mouse. She’d been too frenzied when she’d sat down to search up the names she’d discovered on the urns. Too frenzied, too focused, too engrossed to notice she was straining with her still-healing left arm to work the mouse. The mouse, where it set next to the keyboard.
It was on the left.
The left.
For a left-handed person.
TBA
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Happy V-Day! See, I left you a present. 79 pages worth!!!
Okay, I’m late. I know. I’ll be late to my own funeral and then I’ll give the eulogy and run over by an hour. :)
BTW, Frank Serpico was a real cop who refused to look the other way when other cops did bad things. Maybe you’ve seen the Pacino movie?
I’ll be back in a few weeks with the final chapter.
Thanks for your posting.
Happy V-Day!
Thank you for the amazing present!
79 pages, wonderful written and it is like you can’t stop with reading till the end and then be feeling sad because you have to wait for a few weeks before you unfold the plot and truth.
I will wait patiently for the last chapter.
Happy V-Day!
Thanks for 79 wonderful pages :)
Look forward to your next final post and will really try to be patient ! As I’ve said before though, you are worth waiting for!
Happy Valentines!
What a long pages you had posted and I managed to finish all at once. I am so anxious to wait for the final chapter you will post in weeks. Please don’t let my guessing be right that Tina is the mastermind behind all the murders.Now I am worried for the worse to come.
Such a good story. Thanks so much, I enjoyed it immensely
I know the worse may be yet to come, but so will the best ! Right?!
BTW – how do you explain to your wife, how on Valentines Day…You gave a multitude of persons 79 pages of JOY? lolololoud
BenMac:
You made it again, this story is getting more and more exhilarating; you have the ability of hooking us to your story-books very easy. I guess we are about to expect a battle between moral values and philosophical principles as well as love and legality. I can’t wait to read how you will unravel the story. Thank you, your narrative really completed my nice day. By the way, happy V-day too.
Thanks, BenMac…Best Valentine’s Day treat! Bittersweet though, knowing we’re coming to the end. I couldn’t help but think of Annabel when Bette woke up at 3:15. I adore your writing as it is pure pleasure to read. I may have to reread the story in preparation for the end just to pick up the clues I’ve missed. Congratulations on your book! Can’t wait to read it!
What can I say, this was AWESOME. The death of Munch was hard to take, but what bravery and at least Bette got those other two pricks. It was nice seeing Tina in full flight when taking care of and protecting Bette. Happy to see that Fin came to Bette and praised her. Enjoyed Tina giving her sexual healing to her woman. And it seems I was correct from the start. So the handkerchief monogram belongs to Tina and Ken’s, birth mother. I am a little confused, about your Author’s Note, why would anyone be pissed. This chapter was great and you gave it to us on Love’s Day. Thank you. I await the conclusion.
Finished the chapter a week ago but couldn’t get logged in until now, had to get on the computer to do it, the tablet kept getting symbols mixed up with the letters. The chapter .was fabulous.and.Tina was awesome. She really gets things done when necessary, Loved the two of them together, as always, she always is when being protective of Bette. Happy that you wrote that scene for them. Loving the story, hate to see it end.
Although I’m worried about the final implication, this was quite a thriller! This one had me nervous from beginning to end. I’ll be looking forward to the (unfortunately) last chapter. Such a different story from your others, and just as good.
please please please continue i love your writing and how you write bette and tina i love the thriller and the romance and i love how protective tina is over bette and how vulnerable bette is with tina ive been reading this the last few days hardly any sleep i love their first kiss and how tina said for now bette could say maybe to a date but any other time i love that they are keeping stuff from bette but are so protective about it especially tina its just so much intrigue and they are just too cute i really really cant wait for more and i love that they are soulmates but when tina gave bette the scarf saying it matched and it was like they were always meant to be together its so true and i cant wait for bette to find out what they are keeping from her