him."
Emily stared dully at the t-vid. Eric had gone into the bedroom to make another call to Andrea and to call Mary Alice. She was glad he'd gone in the other room. She didn't feel strong enough for that call.
Supper had been good, but she'd had little appetite for food and none for company. So she sat with eyes aimed at the images.
PBS was rerunning the special on the Australasian Mars Mission, which she liked the first time, but now she couldn't pay attention. She started flipping through the channels, stopping on CNN East. Maybe someone else's problems would take her mind off her own.
The stories were mildly interesting at first: Completed repairs on the Death Valley Solar Station meant the ageing western nuclear plants could be taken off line again; A car collided with a Transamerica passenger train, killing four and injuring over twenty; Voters in the Slavic Federation re-elected the prime minister, but put many new faces in the Duma.
After the headlines her eyes began to lose focus. She barely heard a door being closed upstairs and footsteps on the hardwood of the hall.
Deciding to go to bed, she raised the remote to kill the t-vid but stopped short. The image was the outside of a jail and a reporter was clearly excited.
"This footage was taken earlier today and provided to our affiliate by a family member of the victim," he was saying. "At two p.m., CMT, the Vigilante Fugitive Michael Terry was released by the order of Federal District Court Judge Robert Troxler. The family of rape-murder victim Lydia Powell was waiting, and filmed their vengeance."
As if on cue, Terry appeared at the door, escorted by a deputy. The officer removed his handcuffs and opened the door. Terry looked around, reluctant to leave. Then he was pushed out, the deputy locking the door behind him.
Terry came at an angle toward the camera, looking all around. He was clearly fearful, moving about in quick, spasmodic motions.
All at once, three men jumped out at him. Before Terry could run more than a step he was tackled by two of them. Then they all set on him with knives.
Emily watched transfixed as the blades rose and fell several times. Terry struggled to get away but one of them drove his large knife down between Terry's shoulder blades. The fugitive ceased moving and the scene was replaced by the reporter.
"We will not show the rest of the footage. It gets more graphic."
She couldn't imagine how.
He signed off and the studio returned. The anchorwoman announced it was time for the updates for fugitives at large. Rotating images came up in turn of four men and a woman, with brief descriptions, summaries of their crimes, and the latest of where they were thought to be.
John Hardy was third.
Emily watched closely as the voice-over said he was probably in the mid-Atlantic region. "But do be careful," the anchor cautioned. "Hardy's appearance has already resulted in the mistaken execution of a man in Philadelphia."
Disappointed that he wasn't definitely sighted somewhere, Emily finally switched off the vid. There had been nothing new. But at least his face was being shown on national networks.
She settled on the sofa and tried to sleep.
20
"It's about time you got up," Eric said.
Emily leaned against the door frame. "Couldn't get to sleep for a couple of hours," she muttered. "I keep seeing that man getting stabbed."
"You saw that, too?"
"CNN East." She eased onto the first barstool.
"I saw it on JNBC this morning. They interviewed Lydia Powell's mother. In some ways I think it's better the way we've got it, so long as we catch him. No press hounding us. Of course, the first one was a circus. They did a story on that, too. Seems it'll be the anniversary this weekend of the first Vigilante Execution. That one had it the worst. Six networks followed him full time, with the others racing in whenever they felt like it. JNBC took
Emily stared dully at the t-vid. Eric had gone into the bedroom to make another call to Andrea and to call Mary Alice. She was glad he'd gone in the other room. She didn't feel strong enough for that call.
Supper had been good, but she'd had little appetite for food and none for company. So she sat with eyes aimed at the images.
PBS was rerunning the special on the Australasian Mars Mission, which she liked the first time, but now she couldn't pay attention. She started flipping through the channels, stopping on CNN East. Maybe someone else's problems would take her mind off her own.
The stories were mildly interesting at first: Completed repairs on the Death Valley Solar Station meant the ageing western nuclear plants could be taken off line again; A car collided with a Transamerica passenger train, killing four and injuring over twenty; Voters in the Slavic Federation re-elected the prime minister, but put many new faces in the Duma.
After the headlines her eyes began to lose focus. She barely heard a door being closed upstairs and footsteps on the hardwood of the hall.
Deciding to go to bed, she raised the remote to kill the t-vid but stopped short. The image was the outside of a jail and a reporter was clearly excited.
"This footage was taken earlier today and provided to our affiliate by a family member of the victim," he was saying. "At two p.m., CMT, the Vigilante Fugitive Michael Terry was released by the order of Federal District Court Judge Robert Troxler. The family of rape-murder victim Lydia Powell was waiting, and filmed their vengeance."
As if on cue, Terry appeared at the door, escorted by a deputy. The officer removed his handcuffs and opened the door. Terry looked around, reluctant to leave. Then he was pushed out, the deputy locking the door behind him.
Terry came at an angle toward the camera, looking all around. He was clearly fearful, moving about in quick, spasmodic motions.
All at once, three men jumped out at him. Before Terry could run more than a step he was tackled by two of them. Then they all set on him with knives.
Emily watched transfixed as the blades rose and fell several times. Terry struggled to get away but one of them drove his large knife down between Terry's shoulder blades. The fugitive ceased moving and the scene was replaced by the reporter.
"We will not show the rest of the footage. It gets more graphic."
She couldn't imagine how.
He signed off and the studio returned. The anchorwoman announced it was time for the updates for fugitives at large. Rotating images came up in turn of four men and a woman, with brief descriptions, summaries of their crimes, and the latest of where they were thought to be.
John Hardy was third.
Emily watched closely as the voice-over said he was probably in the mid-Atlantic region. "But do be careful," the anchor cautioned. "Hardy's appearance has already resulted in the mistaken execution of a man in Philadelphia."
Disappointed that he wasn't definitely sighted somewhere, Emily finally switched off the vid. There had been nothing new. But at least his face was being shown on national networks.
She settled on the sofa and tried to sleep.
20
"It's about time you got up," Eric said.
Emily leaned against the door frame. "Couldn't get to sleep for a couple of hours," she muttered. "I keep seeing that man getting stabbed."
"You saw that, too?"
"CNN East." She eased onto the first barstool.
"I saw it on JNBC this morning. They interviewed Lydia Powell's mother. In some ways I think it's better the way we've got it, so long as we catch him. No press hounding us. Of course, the first one was a circus. They did a story on that, too. Seems it'll be the anniversary this weekend of the first Vigilante Execution. That one had it the worst. Six networks followed him full time, with the others racing in whenever they felt like it. JNBC took
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