Page 61 of Guess Again
“Thank you. And sorry to intrude. It’s getting dark and I just knew I’d have no chance once night came.”
“Wait just a sec, hon. I’ll grab Hugh.”
She waited on the front porch as the woman retreated into the home, then reached into her purse and removed the knife. She held it down at her side. After a minute, Hugh Winchester came to the door. The man was old and feeble, the decades bending his spine into a hunched posture. He pushed open the screen door.
“What can I help you with?”
He’d barely gotten the words out before she lifted the knife and dragged it across the left side of his neck. The sheer volume of blood that poured over the man’s shoulder and down his chest told her she’d severed his carotid artery. Hugh Winchester offered a confused expression before he grabbed his neck, recognized the blood, and collapsed.
She wasted no time stepping over his body and entering the home. She found the wife standing at the kitchen sink. She walked up behind her and repeated the process. Two minutes after she arrived, the Winchesters were bleeding out. Hugh in the front hallway; Ruth on the kitchen floor.
The faucet was still running. She dipped the knife under the stream before returning it to her purse. Then she drank a glass of water and started the cleanup. An hour later, the hallway to the garage was streaked with blood and the bodies were stacked in the subzero freezer. She made sure the front door was closed, and then climbed back into her car for another long drive. This time she was headed to the Mexico border.
CHAPTER 59
Madison, Wisconsin Friday, August 1, 2025
THE MEETING WAS ORGANIZED AGAIN AT THEEDGEWATERHOTEL INMadison. It was Friday afternoon. Ethan stood with Pete Kramer as the door to the suite opened and Mark Jones walked in. He held a manila file in his hands.
“Gentlemen,” Mark said. “Let’s sit.”
They all took seats around the conference table.
“Ari Cutlass is the warden over in Boscobel. He and I go back a ways so I called in a favor. He agreed to the transfer on Monday, but only if he could get one of the prison shrinks to sign off on it.”
“In case there’s blowback?” Pete said.
“Exactly. Ari’s worried that after so many years in solitary confinement Francis will lose his shit when they place him in gen pop. And if he kills someone, Ari doesn’t want to be on the line for the repercussions.”
“Did you arrange the psych eval?” Ethan asked.
“Yesterday,” Mark said. “The son of a bitch not only passed, he did so with flying colors.”
“So we have everything we need to process the transfer?” Pete asked.
The governor looked at Ethan. “Almost.”
Ethan nodded, pulled an envelope from his back pocket, and slid it across the table.
“My letter,” Ethan said. “To the parole board, the warden, and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections expressing my wish for Francis Bernard to be transferred from the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility to Columbia Correctional Institute in order to provide him with better living conditions and more freedoms after thirty-two years of rehabilitation.”
Ethan swallowed down the rancid stomach acids that climbed his esophagus.
The governor took the envelope.
“Thank you,” Mark said. “I know writing that letter was not easy.”
“The bottom line is that the scumbag is still going to be behind bars,” Ethan said. “And if this gets us information on your daughter’s killer and the location of Portia Vail, it’s worth the pain it caused to write it.”
Ethan didn’t mention that in the back of his mind existed the hope that Christian Malone would come through for him and find the identity of Lindsay Larkin’s anonymous client before Monday morning. There was still a chance he’d stop Francis from going anywhere.
The governor placed Ethan’s letter into the folder, adding it to Francis Bernard’s psychiatric evaluation and the formal letter from the governor’s office. It completed the file and, once delivered to the prison, would begin the expedited process of transferring Francis Bernard to Columbia Correctional on Monday.
“So how is this going to work?” Pete asked.
Ethan cocked his head. “Francis said that once the transfer order is complete and he’s on his way to Columbia, he’ll tell me everything he knows about Callie’s killer and Portia Vail’s whereabouts.”
“Bastard is going to wait to the last minute,” Mark said. “And according to Ari Cutlass, Francis is going to have his attorney look over the documents to make sure the transfer happens and we’re not just baiting him into giving up information.”
