Read Online The Vigilante by Ramona Forrest - Free Book Online

that sick monster? Oh, Jeannie, sometimes I just can’t bear it!”
    “It was that nice Officer Harris. He said they had to ask anyone remotely connected to the man. Now Martin is required to prove he was at the conference. I told him where Martin was during that time, but that wasn’t good enough to satisfy him. I just can’t take this anymore, Mom.” Jeannie’s voice broke. “Is this hideous nightmare ever going to end and our son become a normal child again? What that man did to him is almost the same as committing a murder. Our happy little boy is gone from us now, and I don’t know if we’ll ever get him back!”
    “I’ll be right over, Jeannie, just you hang on.”
    Martha’s rage seethed within her until she thought her heart would burst. Her mind began spinning as if she were inside a wind tunnel. “I’ve got to hang onto myself. Jeannie needs me these days, more than ever,” she muttered as she took a quick look in the mirror and headed to the car. “Oh Lordy, I hope a psychiatrist can help me, before I go totally off the deep end.”
    She drove too fast, barely avoided jumping a curb or smashing into a tree. At Jeannie’s, she nearly ran to the door.
    Jeannie met her at the door. “Mom, you’re so pale! Come in and let me look at you. You feeling all right?”
    “Yes, of course I am. Your call just put me in a tizzy.” She took a deep breath. “Jeannie, these are tough times. In a case like this, the police would naturally look at people having reason to avenge themselves on a man like that. In earlier days, he’d have been hung by his balls or shot at the very least. But we are civilized now, so the police give them protection. Seems that way to me, anyway. It’s called Miranda Rights. Do we have Miranda Rights? No, we’ve got nothing!”
    Jeannie led her into the den. Her deep blue eyes appeared dull and lifeless, and her hair hung in a mass of rumpled, tangled curls as she slumped into a chair. “Martin will be home soon; maybe he’ll get this taken care of.”
    Martha saw Will sitting in front of the television. “What’s Will up to?” She gestured at the television and the dull-faced boy sitting there. Isn’t he spending too much time doing that?”
    “I think he is, but he refuses to go for walks in the park like we used to. He’s not even interested in feeding the ducks.” They heard the sound of a car, and Jeannie brightened visibly. “Thank God, Martin’s home.”
    The garage door rumbled as it rolled up.
    Then Martin breezed in. “Hi ya, hon, how’s it going?” He hugged his wife with a bear-like embrace. Noticing Martha, he asked, “Hi, Mom, everything okay?”
    “Martin, the police were here,” Jeannie informed him. “You know that incident in the park?” She sniffed. “The detective came here asking if we knew anything about it! He wants you to prove you were at the conference during that time. I guess he believed I was asleep when it happened, lucky me.”
    “The hell you say!” He stared at her in shock. “Of course I can prove it, but I’d sure as hell like to pin a medal on the guy who fixed that bastard!” He managed a laugh. “Bring those cops on. I hope they find the guy, the whole town will celebrate what he did, and me with them.” Then he sobered and his voice grew quiet. “So, how was our boy today?”
    Jeannie couldn’t hide her frustration. “About the same, going to Biggie’s Burgers the other day seemed to perk him up. It’s the only thing that does.”’
    “We’ll be going again,” Martha said. “But even there, an older man spoke to him and it frightened him terribly. He clung so tightly to me, I knew he was petrified. I tried to convince him the man was good and after a while, he finally played like all the other kids. Anymore, when I look at a bunch of kids, I wonder how many of them hide terrible secrets. Who knows what happens in their homes? I hate it!” She paused then went in to see her grandson. “Hi, honey, when are