The Hunt

Twelve

"That jerk of Vernon, he said his father would take care of everything. " I read one of the emails, sent by Bennett two months ago  "If this is one of his stupid games, he will pay for it."

"I talked to him, he's received these emails too."  Campbell tried to calm Bennett "I think we should meet and talk about what to do. We  should stick together and not fight each other." 

"It's easy to say, I'm tired of all this. I 'm thinking of going to the police and tell the truth. I  should have done it long ago, in fact."

"Don't be a fool!  This is an election year and you know Vernon's father is in the run, do you want the Democrats to defeat him?"

"I don't care a shit about that right now, all I want is some peace. And if it means telling what really happened in that party, I will do it. And honestly, Vernon and his father can pretty much go to hell. I shouldn't have listened to them."

"This is a kind of confession, enough to put an end to Vernon's political life. Fuckin ' Republicans, they think the whole world is theirs." Mark got up angrily and went to the window.

"Calm down, will you? I prefer Donkeys too but I try to leave my ideas aside." 

"Those assholes raped a girl and managed to get out of it with no consequences just because one of them had money enough to bury  the affair? And now, we're trying to trace down someone who just did justice. This is a fuckin' shit, Dana."

"I understand your point, but taking justice in your own hands isn't the solution. This isn't the Wild West, Mark. Rules are for everyone."

"For anyone who can't afford bordering them.  These people had money enough to get rid of jail, it's the same old fuckin' song. You know, this is one of the reasons why I want to leave the force, Dana. I'm fed up with all this. There are two kind of justice systems here, depending on how much you pay for it. If your family has money, you can do whatever you want, you won't have any problem."

"We'll make sure that won't happen this time." I tried to calm Mark "If Vernon interfered in justice, he would answer for it. And knowing he's responsible for his son's death is the worst possible way of condemning him." I kept silent for a while " Can I ask you something? You're taking this case in a too personal way, Mark. This is unusual in you, always managed to keep an objective mind in every case we have."

Not it was his turn to keep silent. I looked at him with the corner of my eye and noticed a change in his expression "You're right...I don't want to talk about this, but I became a Detective for a reason." He took air before going on " Most of people, you included, follow a kind of family tradition,  but that wasn't my case. You know I come from Kentucky, of a farm owner family. I did love that job, and probably would go back when I retire. My brother Steve still has the farm, he's doing an amazing work in it." His voice softened, as if he went back to his childhood "I was the youngest of five kids, and my siblings sort of spoiled me." He smiled longingly "Then one day, on her way to a nearby local market, my elder sister Bea's car was hit by another one. Mayor's  son was in it, and he was under the influence. Bea died in the moment, and that asshole got no harm at all. "Mark wiped some tears from his eyes "Bea was just nineteen when she died. Nineteen. Worst of all was seeing that jerk day after day, as if nothing had happened. My parents weren't the same after Bea died , and they kept blaming themselves for it  I was nine or ten by then, and promised myself I would make justice to Bea. " Mark let go a bitter laugh "And you know, somehow life itself took care of that. Two years after that, this guy's car was stuck in the railroad tracks and it was ran over. It was a commotion for the whole village, but to me it was a kind of payback for Bea's death." Mark looked at me "So, that's my story. And yes, I could understand someone made this people pay for raping that girl."