Utah

Well, the juror was out for three whole days and came back the fourth day. They were hung so it was a mistrial. The prosecutor said he would do it all over again. As it turned out it was eleven for guilty and one not guilty. The guy on our side turned out to have failed an EMT course and he wanted to get even it looked like.

We talked about a deal and we got him down to three and half to seven for manslaughter. I didn't want to take it as I was not guilty but I had to deal. So I went in front of the judge and told him how I did it and that I was sorry. He gave me seven to fifteen years and my lawyer said we had a deal with the prosecutor. The judge said no one makes deals in his court unless he's involved and the sentence stands as read.

The time in prison went by so slow. It's the same thing day after day. There were no weekdays or weekends to me; they all were the same. What got me by was Shelly bringing the kids to see me each week. They missed a few weeks and that was so long for me. My kids went to college and were going to run my auto rental till I got out. It was tough seeing your kids grow up while you're in prison. Shelly looked better than ever. I knew she aged but not seeing any other real women, she looked damn good to me.

I did all my time in the prison library and I taught the guys so they could get their GED high school equivalency diplomas. I made a lot of friends by doing this. Some guys I met didn't even know how to read or write. It also helped pass the time and it kept me out of a lot of trouble you could get into in the prison yard.

We still were married, as Shelly never applied for divorce. I don't know if she dated. The kids told me she didn't and so did she but like I would believe what she has to say. She hired a firm to handle the car rental and they were running it. I was still making good money only it was going to her and not me, as I had no way to spend any money.

I was sued in civil court for wrongful death of Upshaw and of course I lost on it and had to pay his family out of my income from the rental agency, which also pissed me off. I wanted them to take it out of the money I earned in prison. Then again I guess all convicts are pissed 24-7.

Thank god for prison overcrowding. It got me out with only doing seven and a half years. I was going to be on parole for the next seven and half years. No drinking, no hanging with ex-cons and a ton of rules and regulations where they could pick you up for spitting on the sidewalk.

I had my son buy me a small house in a good neighborhood and I moved right in when I got out. Shelly wanted me to move in with her and start all over but there was no way I could do that. It was her that got me into all this shit in the first place.

She finally admitted to me that she slept with Matt when she went to see him. She said it was just sex and he was her first love and she wanted to try it and see what it felt like. She claims it wasn't that good and she was sorry right after the first time she screwed him but she finished the weekend out anyway. Shelly said she talked to him for about eight months before meeting him. Shelly said she knew he was feeding her a bunch of shit but went along with him anyway. She just had dreams about how good it would be and how it would help the two of us out with our marriage if she had a fling.

She said when she saw the pictures of him and the rubbers on the bed she knew I had found out but she would try to lie her way out of it. She asked if I believed any of it and I told her not for a minute. She asked if I wanted a divorce and I told her that there is no way I would get married again. She said she missed the sex badly and has had a few affairs since I've been in jail. She told me the sex was with guys she met while she was on vacation. I told her she really knows how to cheer up a guy.

It was good to be back at work. My son Bob decided to stay on and work with me, as he would get the business anyway. A year later Nick was diagnosed with cancer and had six months to live. He cried as he confessed on his deathbed that he was one of the guys who killed Matt Upshaw. He never did say who the other guy was. I'm almost sure it was Tony but it's all over with now. I forgave him at the time but down deep I had some resentment in me. He had invited a TV crew so he could tell them the true story and it ran for a few days and then died out. It sounded good on TV but was no help for me, as the state would never take his word for it.

As the years went by, I missed Shelly, all the things we did together and all the time we spent with each other, the close bonding at night and the cuddling. I took Shelly to a few family functions but there was no sex. We came close a few times but never did. I dated a lot of girls but never went with them for that long of time. Just long enough to get some fucking in.

This whole thing fucked me up but good. Wish I could find a way back.

The end