“So she had the baby?”
Jack Scanlon nodded. “They both died.” It was difficult for him to go on. “For a while, I—I thought I would…I didn’t want to go on living without her. I kept wondering what our child would have been like. I kept dreaming about how it would have been if they had lived. I kept trying to turn the clock back to the moment before Evelyn—” He stopped, his voice choked with pain. “I turned to the Bible and it saved my sanity. Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut. Then, a few days ago, I saw a little girl playing on the street, and it was as though Evelyn had been reincarnated. She had her eyes, her hair. She looked up at me and smiled and I—I know it sounds crazy, but it was Evelyn smiling at me. I must have been out of my head. I thought to myself, This is the daughter Evelyn would have had. This is our child.”
Jennifer could see his fingernails digging into his flesh.
“I know it was wrong, but I took her.” He looked up into Jennifer’s eyes. “I wouldn’t have harmed that child for anything in the world.”
Jennifer was studying him closely, listening for a false note. There was none. He was a man in agony.
“What about the ransom note?” Jennifer asked.
“I didn’t send a ransom note. The last thing in the world I cared about was money. I just wanted little Tammy.”
“Someone sent the family a ransom note.”
“The police keep saying I sent it, but I didn’t.”
Jennifer sat there, trying to fit the pieces together. “Did the story of the kidnapping appear in the newspapers before or after you were picked up by the police?”
“Before. I remember wishing they’d stop writing about it. I wanted to go away with Tammy and I was afraid someone would stop us.”
“So anyone could have read about the kidnapping and tried to collect a ransom?”
Jack Scanlon twisted his hands helplessly. “I don’t know. All I know is I want to die.”
His pain was so obvious that Jennifer found herself moved by it. If he was telling the truth—and it was naked in his face—then he did not deserve to die for what he had done. He should be punished, yes, but not executed.
Jennifer made her decision. “I’m going to try to help you.”
He said quietly, “Thank you. I really don’t care anymore what happens to me.”
“I do.”
Jack Scanlon said, “I’m afraid I—I have no money to give you.”
“Don’t worry about it. I want you to tell me about yourself.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Start from the beginning. Where were you born?”
“In North Dakota, thirty-five years ago. I was born on a farm. I guess you could call it a farm. It was a poor piece of land that nothing much wanted to grow on. We were poor. I left home when I was fifteen. I loved my mother, but I hated my father. I know the Bible says it’s wrong to speak evil of your parents, but he was a wicked man. He enjoyed whipping me.”
Jennifer could see his body tighten as he went on.
“I mean, he really enjoyed it. If I did the smallest thing he thought was wrong, he would whip me with a leather belt that had a big brass buckle on it. Then he’d make me get down on my knees and pray to God for forgiveness. For a long time I hated God as much as I hated my father.” He stopped, too filled with memories to speak.
“So you ran away from home?”
“Yes. I hitchhiked to Chicago. I didn’t have much schooling, but at home I used to read a lot. Whenever my father caught me, that was an excuse for another whipping. In Chicago, I got a job working in a factory. That’s where I met Evelyn. I cut my hand on a milling machine and they took me to the dispensary, and there she was. She was a practical nurse.” He smiled at Jennifer. “She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. It took about two weeks before my hand was healed, and I went to her for a treatment every day. After that, we just kind of started going together. We talked about getting married, but the company lost a big order and I was laid off with the rest of the people in my department. That didn’t matter to Evelyn. We got married and she took care of me. That was the only thing we ever argued about. I was brought up to believe that a man should take care of a woman. I got a job driving a truck and the money was good. The only part I hated was that we were separated, sometimes for a week at a time. Outside of that, I was awfully happy. We were both happy. And then Evelyn got pregnant.”
A shudder ran through him. His hands began to tremble.
“Evelyn and our baby girl died.” Tears were running down his cheeks. “I don’t know why God did that. He must have had a reason, but I don’t know why.” He was rocking back and forth in his chair, unaware of what he was doing, his arms clasped in front of his chest, holding in his grief. “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you.”
Jennifer thought, This one the electric chair is not going to get!
“I’ll be back to see you tomorrow,” Jennifer promised him.
Bail had been set at two hundred thousand dollars. Jack Scanlon did not have the bond money and Jennifer had it put up for him. Scanlon was released from the Correctional Center and Jennifer found a small motel on the West Side for him to move into. She gave him a hundred dollars to tide him over.
“I don’t know how,” Jack Scanlon said, “but I’ll pay you back every cent. I’ll start looking for a job. I don’t care what it is. I’ll do anything.”