Even Steven by John Gilstrap

Author:John Gilstrap [Gilstrap, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Thrillers, Suspense, Amazon
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2003-03-18T04:00:00+00:00

20

THE MORE BOBBY thought about it, the hotter his anger glowed. His nerves were shot; he just flat out didn’t think he could take much more of this. In a moment of grim resolve, he realized that unless he took some kind of action right this minute, this terror he was living—this gnawing, low-grade nausea that wouldn’t go away—would be the rule for the rest of his life. This was as good as it was going to get. Every knock on the door would be a potential cop, every look of recognition at the grocery store an accusation.

It was absurd. How could one five-minute episode in a thirty-four-year-old life cause so many problems? Jesus, it was just so far out of control. Nothing in nineteen years of schooling, or in his captainship of the debate team, or in the succeeding years of excellence in the business world, had prepared him for a moment like this. Presented with a circumstance totally out of left field, you react instinctively. You live or you die. And precisely by living—by winning, for God’s sake—he had brought countless complications to his life.

He should turn himself in, evidence be damned. He was innocent—certainly, in his heart, if not by the letter of the law. Certainly, the police and the judge and jury would see that. And once proclaimed innocent, he’d get his life back, right? But what kind of life would it be? He’d lose his job, that was for sure. Benton and Arbrosi would never tolerate the hint of scandal—or felonies—from one of their senior account managers, and neither would any of their competitors. Like it or not, an arrest for murder would forever be the lead sentence in Bobby’s biography, and no one would ever read as far as the phrase “not guilty.” With his job would go the house, under the shame of foreclosure. The press would have a field day with it all, thrilling in the collapse of yet another successful baby boomer. It was the kind of story that Dateline and 60 Minutes loved to do. Even if found innocent, he’d be lucky to find a sales job at a CompUSA, let alone at another prestigious software firm.

And that was the good scenario. God only knew what could happen with a few unlucky turns. Death row, he supposed, was the very worst. Or maybe life without parole. He’d never given any of it much thought before, but right at this moment, he couldn’t decide which of those two options was truly the worst.

Bobby sat heavily on the blue tapestry sofa in the family room and eased his head back onto the cushions as he tried to figure out his next step. It had long been a counterproductive trait of his to retreat from difficult life decisions; to bury himself in work or merely to go take a walk or play a computer game instead of facing tough issues straight on. Experience had proven that most crises, if left alone, resolved themselves. But this one was different.

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