Free Death Sentence by Jerry Bledsoe Page A

handle this type of emergency,” a nurse told them.
    That gave hope to Ronnie. It meant his father was alive.
    At Cape Fear Valley, emergency room attendants told them that doctors were with Thomas and one would come to talk with them as soon as possible. Velma sank into a chair, still too distraught to be questioned. Ronnie paced in a hallway nearby, while Pam and Mrs. Bodenheimer attempted to calm his mother. Within minutes, Faye burst through the emergency room doors. She had been close to Velma and Thomas all her life and she was extremely emotional. Ronnie couldn’t tell her anything and took her to his mother. Velma and Faye fell into each other’s arms and while they cried, Mrs. Bodenheimer slipped away.
    A couple of minutes later, Ronnie glanced into the lobby and saw Mrs. Bodenheimer talking with Ernest Hagins, Parkton’s sole police officer and the father of Ronnie’s best friend, Julius. Ronnie seized his chance to find out what had happened.
    There had been a fire at his house, Hagins told him. Apparently his father had gone to sleep with a cigarette. Because he had been found unconscious on the floor near his bed, it looked as if he had awakened and tried to get out but had been overcome by smoke. His father didn’t appear to be burned badly, Hagins said, but there had been a lot of smoke.
    Soon after Ronnie returned to his mother, a doctor appeared, looking grave.
    “Mrs. Burke?”
    “Yes,” Velma said expectantly, struggling to stand.
    “I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do for your husband.”
    Velma began moaning and sank backward. Ronnie and Faye grabbed her to keep her from collapsing. Pam burst into tears. Faye was sobbing. Ronnie stood for a moment in stunned disbelief, but he knew he could not collapse. He was just seventeen, still had a year to go in school, and suddenly he was the man in the family.
    He put his arm around his mother. “I’m still here,” he said. “Pam’s still here. We’ll make it somehow.”
    “Mrs. Burke, would you like something for your nerves?” a nurse asked, and Velma nodded. Ronnie knew that this was not what his mother needed. He had no idea what she might have already taken. But he said nothing, and the nurse soon appeared with a needle to give Velma a shot.
    On the way home, before the shot had taken full effect, Ronnie was able to get a little out of his mother about what had happened.
    His father had come home from work that morning and, as he often did, downed a six-pack of beer before going to bed. Monday was Velma’s day off, and after lunch she left the house to go to the Laundromat. After putting the clothes in the machines, she drove to her mother’s house. A niece was there, and she went with Velma when she returned to the Laundromat to put the clothes in the dryers. Velma drove home, less than a mile away, to wait until the clothes dried. When she opened the door leading from the kitchen to the carport, she discovered the house was filled with smoke. She slammed the door and ran into the yard yelling that the house was on fire.
    Thomas’ sister Frances, who lived close by, was passing in her car. She stopped, and Velma frantically told her what had happened. Frances summoned the volunteer firemen and rescue squad.
    The firemen and investigators had left by the time Ronnie, his mother and sister got home, but several cars were at Thomas’ mother’s house next door. Word of Thomas’ death had preceded them, and family, friends and neighbors were gathering.
    Ronnie sensed the tension in his grandmother’s house as soon as they entered. Within minutes, Thomas’ family began questioning Velma, and Ronnie could tell by their tone that they thought his mother’s absence had contributed to his daddy’s death.
    “I’ve always done all I could for Thomas,” Velma kept saying.
    Ronnie’s anger flared but he held his tongue. How could they blame his mother when it was his father’s drinking that had killed him? He had to get out of that