Murder in Magnolia

As he entered the town limits Ethan realized just how much the small town had changed. There were several new buildings in town and in front of most of them someone had planted a variety of ornamental pear tree called the Bradford Pear.

During the spring, snowy white flowers would appear often before the leaves. But, as beautiful as the tree was the damn thing gave off the most god awful odor when its flowers were in bloom.

As the autumn came, the leaves would turn bright to dark read before falling. It did produce fruit, albeit tiny fruit. About one inch in diameter and round the tiny pears could barely be seen when still on the tree. Had he not been stationed in Korea Ethan would not have know what they were; and he guessed from the size of them that they must have been planted there shortly after he had been sent to prison. While they were very beautiful, the rancid odor was so horrible that Ethan hated them and he thought to himself as he drove through town, 'Great, they've actually found a way to make the place worse!"

It had all happened so quickly that no one had been given enough time to call Becky and tell her that the appeal had been moved up, let alone that it was over and Ethan was a free man. And with everyone so busy at the clinic, no one even noticed the phone ringing when Howard Booth tried to call Becky and tell her what had transpired.

Becky, having long since given up her cell phone so she would have more money to put towards her efforts to free Ethan still did not know her love was free.

By the time Ethan was pulling up in front of the Hospital turned Clinic, it was 5:03 P.M.

Inside, with the exception of Becky, everybody was gone, the doctors having left a half hour before for Atlanta and Cindy had left just fifteen minutes later and the clinic was closed for the week.

Becky had stayed to finish what little cleaning needed to be done after the day's activities when she heard the bell indicating that someone had come in the front door. Realizing that Cindy must have forgotten to lock it on her way out, Becky headed to the front door.

When she walked through the doorway into the lobby, her heart almost stopped and she stood there in shock for several seconds for coming in her direction was Ethan. She almost didn't recognize him he had changed so much in the fifteen years since they had last seen each other.

His black curly hair was a bit thinner now and there were just a few more wrinkles on his brow than she had expected. Even so, he was still as handsome as ever.

They both found themselves rushing into the embrace of each other's arms. They kissed long and passionately as only lovers can for several seconds before hesitantly their lips parted and they just stood there for what seemed like an eternity holding each other tightly.

Becky was the first to speak, "Is it finally over?" She whispered Ethan's ear and continued to hold him to her.

"Yes my love. It's over." He replied.

Showering his neck with kisses, Becky said to him softly, "Will there be another trial? I couldn't bare the thought of loosing you again!"

"No. The court ruled it was self-defense. Howard even got the county to settle so there won't even be a civil trial." Ethan answered; there was a wide grin on his tired face.

Reluctantly, Becky broke her embrace with Ethan, walked over to the door and locked it behind him.

Chapter Thirteen -- "The Trip"

Becky called Dr. Jennings and explained what had happened. The doctor was very understanding when she told to him that she wouldn't be returning to the clinic any more. He told her that he had expected nothing else and not to worry he would find a replacement.

Becky looked at Ethan contently as she ran her fingers through the curls in his hair, "Well, what do we do now?"

"Get shots!" He replied abruptly.

Confusion in her voice, she asked, "What?"

"Vaccinations. You know, the ones required for overseas travel. You don't happen to have them here do you?" was his response.

She sat up suddenly, "Planning a trip?"

"More like a honeymoon followed by an extended vacation; say until we both get tired of traveling. Where would you like to go first?" Then he added, "I don't care as long as it's as far away from here as I can get."

"Did you just propose to me?"

"Actually, no, I did that fifteen years ago. You do still want to marry me don't you?"

Becky began to speak softly, "Before I answer that I need to tell you something. A few years ago I developed cysts on both of my ovaries. The doctor had no choice but to remove them and I had to have a full hysterectomy." Then Becky paused hesitantly as tears began to flow from her eyes, "Ethan, I can never give you any children."

"I gave up on the idea of having children a long time ago. If you have your heart set on raising a child we can always adopt one." He told her as he started to wipe the tears from her eyes with he hands and then kissed her softly.

She settled down "If you don't mind, I think I'll pass. I'm too old to get up in the middle of the night and change shitty diapers."

They both laughed.

"So, is that a yes?" Ethan looked at her expectedly.

She nodded and kissed him again.

The prison had given Ethan a copy of his medical records before releasing him. Becky looked through them trying to determine what shots he might need and was shocked by what she found.

She tried hard to fight back the tears when she saw the number of times he had been treated by wounds inflicted by the beatings he had received in prison. They had told her that he had had a pretty bad time of it but she had no real idea just how bad until then. Ethan ended up spending several minutes trying to calm her down.

Finally, when she was calm enough, they decided to return to Columbus and file for their passports.

From there, the couple flew to Atlanta, then to Las Vegas, where they got married and spent two weeks honeymooning; it took them that long to tire of the place. They rode the Amtrak from Atlanta Georgia to Amsterdam New York and then drove to Niagara Falls.

The couple was in San Diego six weeks later when they got a call from Howard Booth telling them that the rest of the settlement money had been deposited in their account. He had also petitioned the Army to change Ethan's discharge status to that of Honorable. The army could have called him back to active duty but decided not to. Instead, Ethan was granted full back pay and benefits. The amount was about $300,000.

Howard had quite generously agreed to accept that amount as payment for his services. When Ethan insisted he take more, Howard refused telling Ethan the publicity from his case had generated him more business than he could handle.

Five months later, word reached them that their passports were waiting for them back in Columbus so they flew to Atlanta and then hopped a shuttle flight back to Columbus.

Becky and Ethan spent the next week calling on old friends and catching up on current events. At the end of which, passports and luggage in hand, they caught a shuttle flight to Atlanta and spent a week visiting with Doctors Jennings and Mercer before they started their round the world trip together.

Epilogue

In was in September two years later and they were both tired of travel. The couple decided to make one last trip before settling down for a while. They chose, of all places, as their last stop their home town of Magnolia. Their intention upon leaving was to start driving and when they found a place they liked, stop there and set up housekeeping.

When they got there, it was to find that the little town had changed a great deal since they had last seen it. It actually looked vibrant and new. It seems that the town father's had spent the money wisely and had actually brought life back into the tiny rural community.

Just when the poultry processing plant was about to close down, they managed to get an outside investor to build to small call center in the town. It seems that the investors had taken another look at the cost-benefits of their current off shore based call center and realized that it wasn't as cost effective has they had first thought. Since they were looking for an inexpensive way to bring the service back to the states and didn't require a very large work pool, Magnolia was perfect for them with its near empty hospital and soon to be unemployed population.

Between Magnolia and Columbus, the investors were confident that they would find more than enough trainable applicants to fill their needs.

It was a sweet deal for the town all the way around. Since Doctor Jennings didn't require such a large building for his clinic, the investors agreed to buy the hospital from Dr. Jennings at his original cost. Of course, there was a provision in the contract that they build a clinic more befitting the town's needs as part of the deal.

Time and distance had given Ethan pause to reflect on what had happened to him and he decided to look up his old friend Johnny Wilkins.

Before Ethan and Becky left for their extended vacation, he had learned from Howard, that in many ways, his friend had been almost as much a victim in the whole affair as he was. Ethan also found out that he most probably would not have been alive had the man failed to intervened in his behalf with old Doc Harris. Ethan was determined to thank his friend for saving his life.

Ethan and Becky had been chatting with each other about how differently the town looked when their car pulled up in front of the sheriff's office.

It was about 2:56 in the afternoon. They both got out of the car and started towards the door.

Ethan hesitated a bit before entering. The last time Ethan had seen the place he was in handcuffs and the memory of the experience came back to him suddenly.

Becky looked over at him, seeing the hesitation on his face, turned to him and said, "We don't have to do this now if you're not ready."

"No, I'll be okay. Just remembering. I'm alright now." He replied, opened the door, and walked inside with Becky trailing just behind him.

Behind one of the desks, with his feet propped up on the desk top and was holding an open fishing magazine in his hands, was a stout young deputy. He was obviously reading. Ethan walked over to the man and said, "I'd like to see Sheriff Wilkins please?"

The man glanced up to look at Ethan for a second, then lowered his head back to his magazine before saying, "He's at the old cemetery off Peach Grove Drive."

"When do you expect him back?" Becky asked. Then added, "We've come a long way to see him. If it's not going to be too long we'd like to wait."

Slowly the deputy put the magazine he was holding on the desk and lowered his feet to the floor. Setting up straight now, he said to her, "I'm sorry. Hasn't anybody told you?"

"Told us what?" She asked.

The man shuffled in his chair uncomfortably, "He's dead miss. He died about two weeks ago."

"But how?" Ethan asked.

The young man fidgeted in his chair once more, "The cause of death was listed as 'A Self Inflicted Gunshot Wound To The Head'."

"Does anybody know why?" Ethan asked. Becky was too stunned to speak.

The deputy answered, this time with a more conciliatory tone in his voice, "Well, in the suicide note he apologized to his family and best friend for all the pain he had caused them. He said he regretted not doing the right thing and knew he could never make it up to them. I guess the guilt was just too much for the sheriff to bare any more."

Ethan turned abruptly and left without saying a word.

The young lawman looked at Becky and asked, "Is he going to be okay? I'm sorry; I didn't mean to be so blunt. I just didn't know any other way to tell him."

"No, you did the right thing." Becky said to the man. "It's just that he is the best friend Johnny was talking about."

A look of understanding and embarrassment came to his face and the deputy said to her, "Oh, I see. Damn shame so many people were hurt because of one mean, corrupt old man. If it's any consolation, things are different now."

"It is. Thanks." She turned and exited the building.

When she got in the car, Ethan was sitting on the passenger's side. He turned to her and said, his voice cracking, "How many more people are going to be hurt by this town?" There were tears rolling slowly down his cheeks.

"I really think he was the last one honey. The Harris's are all gone and from what I can tell, the town seems to be doing better now." She replied as she took his left hand in hers

He had set there in silence for about ten minutes when the nauseatingly foul odor of a Bradford Pear tree assaulted his nose. It infuriated him and he turned to her and said, "Why don't we go see Cindy and then cut this trip short? Unless you have someone else you want to see that is?"

She said what they were both thinking, "Let's get this over with, I've had enough of this town to last me for a lifetime."

And so, after a cordial but short visit with Cindy, they found themselves leaving the small town of Magnolia Georgia, never again to return.

Ethan and Becky wandered the country for about five weeks before finding a place they both liked where they finally found happiness together.

Never again though, did either of them speak of the tiny town of Magnolia Georgia or its people.

The End