Melvin
Little opened his eyes. What’s
happening, he thought. Why am I awake?
He glanced over at his wife buried in the covers sleeping soundly. He looked at the clock. It was 3 am.
The
telephone bleated again.
He
picked up the receiver, but no words came to his mouth. He just slumped there, eyes closed, half
asleep.
“Hello,”
said the voice on the other end of the line.
“Hello, is anyone there?”
Melvin
grunted an affirmation.
“Is
this Mr. Little, the attorney?”
Melvin
summoned the energy needed to speak.
“That depends,” he said. “Who is
this?”
“This
is Reverend Baxter. The police are at my
house. They say I murdered my wife.”
Melvin
sat up, awake now. “Have you been
charged?”
“They
say they are going to arrest me.”
“Reverend
Baxter, it seems you are in a difficult spot just now, but I have a question I
need to ask you. It may sound
impertinent.”
“Yes?”
Melvin swung his feet over the side of the bed. His feet searched the floor for his slippers.
“There’s
an insurance policy,” Reverend Baxter said.
“I could pay you that.”
“How
much is the policy worth?” Melvin asked.
He opened the drawer of his bedside table, looking for a notepad.
“Fifty
thousand.”
Melvin
stopped rifling through the drawer. He
sat up straight.
“I’ll
need to take half of that,” he said, forcing himself to stay calm.
“Half?”
“It’s
your choice, Reverend.” Melvin could
hear one of the deputies in the room with the Reverend. He was saying something that was taking away
the Reverend’s attention.
“Reverend,”
Melvin said, “Do we have a deal?”
“Yes,”
said the Reverend. “We have a
deal.”
“Don’t
you say anything,” Melvin ordered. “Do you
hear me? I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Should
I—“
“Hang
on a second, Reverend.” He noticed his
wife leaning on one elbow, trying to keep her eyes open. “Have you
seen my notepad? I need to take down
some information.”
His
wife just stared at him, bleary eyed.
“You
may hate me now,” Melvin said, “for receiving calls in the middle of the night,
but you’ll thank me tomorrow.”
“Why
is that?” His wife asked.
“Because
we just stepped in a pile of gold.”
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