The latest Music’s Box story is from my good buddy, Reggie. Of all the writers from the Twitter writing community I’m a part of, I’ve known him the longest. Reggie has a knack for dialogue and setting, and writing great plots, twisting and turning them as needed. He’s the writer I look up to most.

His choice of song was “Long Black Veil” by Johnny Cash. A staple throughout most of his career, the song details the account of man willing to hang for a crime he didn’t commit to protect his best friends wife’s marriage, and from the ridicule she’d most likely receive for cheating. Reggie brilliantly wraps his story around a semi science-fictional universe he first dabbled in on this brilliant horror story, “Lay Still.”

Please enjoy “Long Black Veil”:

“Long Black Veil”

By R Scott Whitley

“You’re so dead set on it being him you won’t even take a breath to think it could be somebody else!” the woman said fidgeting with her ill-fitting navy jacket and slacks, her natural animation trying to get out.

“It’s not my job to ‘take a breath’, that’s your job,” the other woman said making a small adjustment to a tiny screw on her semi-automatic pistol.

“Carol it is your goddamned job too,” the woman in the blue jacket said shrugging her shoulders again and barking out in exasperation.  “Why in the fuck am I wearing THIS when you’re wearing… wearing… whatever that is?”

“It’s a refitted ground trooper uniform,” Carol said.

“You mean, ‘dyed red’” the woman in blue said.

“This isn’t a shopping trip, Lilly,” Carol said holstering her pistol under her loose jacket.

“Fuck you.  You know I hate that name.  You know it,” the woman in blue barked again and started stripping out of the blue jacket.

“But Lillian sounds all grown up,” Carol said, “and Lilly pisses you off.”

Lillian tossed her jacket, inside out, onto the floor.

“I don’t think he did it,” Lillian said.

“You’re representing him then?” Carol asked her looking at Lillian smiling, knowing what was involved.

Lillian wouldn’t look at Carol.

They had only truly faced off in one case and that hadn’t ended well.  It was the first case and was almost a month to the day.  It wasn’t straightforward, and it wasn’t easy, but Lillian had been completely wrong on the man’s guilt.  You don’t start off like that, not when you actually CHOOSE to join the Office of Public Defenders.

Understanding the Law vs. Code Enforcement which is only responsible for arrest and moving a case forward.  Public Defenders were assigned to Code Enforcement officers to make certain they made good and solid decisions.  Public Defenders had 24 hours from the time of the arrest to prove innocence or the arrest became permanent and the three year sentence would start.

Lillian could feel Carol’s hard blue eyes staring at her.  Carol, like most Codie’s had been ground soldiers at some point in their lives.  She had a scar that ran from beneath her right eye down to her chin.  It was deep and it was obvious.  Carol was a hardened soldier, and that meant that everyone she arrested was guilty.  She didn’t doubt her ability to judge innocence and guilt and for her, the Public Defender Law was a slap in the face to any Code Enforcement Officer who had put their life on the line both in military service and as a street Codie.

Lillian still wouldn’t look at her.  She was like some alpha dog that made all the other dogs keep their eyes down.

“Lillian… are you planning to represent him?”

Lillian reached down, snatched up her trim-fit blue Public Defender’s jacket and turned it right-side out and put it on.

“I move to represent the Arrested,” she said.

Carol smile was super tight tinged with irritation.

“OK, let’s get started then,” Carol said.

“Mr. Granston,” Lillian said sitting across the tiny wooden table from a man who was beat to hell, mostly because Carol had gotten a bit over zealous when she thought he was trying to get away.  His face was dirty, but he was clean shaven.  His hair had been well groomed, slightly graying along the sides.  He would have been a pretty good looking guy if Carol hadn’t beaten the shit out of him.  “I see you are unencumbered.”

“Divorced,” he said, and Carol snorted.

“Yes, I’m sorry,” Lillian said.  “Do you have siblings, parents… roommates?”

“No,” he said simply.

Granston was dressed in a t-shirt and smooth fabric pants.  They looked unusual for a guy like Granston.  Like, they didn’t look like they fit him.  Not size wise, but more style and build, the way he carried himself.  And the clothes were newer, and not stained or frayed like other folks Lillian and Carol picked up.

“Where are you employed?” Lillian asked him.

“Do I have to answer these questions?” he asked Carol looking completely past Lillian.

Carol slid off her jacked put it on the back of another chair away from the table and sat down.

“You do,” Carol said not looking the guy in the eyes, “by the Law you do.  I don’t care though.  I have your agreement of guilt and I’ll put you in.”

“I record an objection.  It is outside of the Arrested’s interest to allow you to state your opinion once Public Defense has chosen representation.”

“Noted,” Carol said.

“So,” Granston asked, “do I have to answer these questions?”

Lillian leaned into his line of sight.

“You do.  Code Enforcement Officer Hathers has nothing additional to add to my representation.”

“I was employed at Bryton House,” he said looking away, “until three days ago.”

“Bryton House?” Lillian asked making sure she’d heard him.  “Bryton House… in Huntington?”

“Yes,” he said.  “Is that a problem?”

“It’s a bit surprising considering you murdered a vagrant,” Lillian said.  Bryton House was a known games house for cleans.  They usually had a certain quality of person they wanted working for them.  If it weren’t for the clothes though, this guy would fit right in as someone who would work at Bryton House.

“He wasn’t just a vagrant, I knew him and he attacked me,” Granston said.  “He attacked me and I killed him.”

“Potentially self defense.  How did you know him?” Lillian asked.

“I knew him from when I worked in the District.  The trash deserved to die,” Granston said.

“Before Bryton House?  You worked with him before your time at Bryton House?” Lillian said.

“Yes,” Granston said.

“You know other folks in the District?” she asked

“No, he was it,” he said.

“How did you know Riley Vittarin?” Lillian asked.

“We worked together on a revitalization project on Block 14,” he said.

“And your job was?”

“I was one of the demolition crew,” he said.

“What exactly did you do?” Lillian asked.

“Demolitions,” he said and turned to Carol, “do I seriously have to answer these questions?”

“You do,” Lillian said.  “Code Enforcement Officer Hathers isn’t involved in this interview.”  Lillian wrote something down in a notepad.  “So you worked on the demolition team with Riley Vittarin and were acquaintances during your time in the District?”

“Yes,” he said, “that’s correct.”

“Code Officer Hathers,” Lillian said, “I need an acknowledgement of the statement.”

“Acknowledged,” Carol said in a slightly bored tone.  But there was something else in the tone, and Lillian thought she might be getting close to an acquittal.  That would seriously dig into Carol’s ego.  Lillian felt like smiling.

“Mr. Granston,” Lillian said, “I do have something I need you to explain…”      “What’s that?” he said.

“How you killed a man who never existed…”

“You mean to tell me that you don’t give two shits that he didn’t commit murder?  I completely made up that name.  The man killed was called Young.  He completely accepted that other name.” Lillian said crossing her arms, something nearly impossible because of her goddamned navy jacket.

“Look, the guy fessed up to murder,” she said.  “Who am I to argue with a man who wants to go in the line??”

“Who are you to argue?” Lillian said furious with her partner, “Who are you to argue?  Really?”

“Don’t give me that justice bullshit, that’s more your…”

“Justice is your responsibility too,” Lillian said getting in Carol’s face.  “You know it is, I’m not sure what to think now though.”

This close to Carol’s face, Lillian saw smelled the faintest hint of perfume.  It was covered beneath tobacco and something else, but it wasn’t as clearly there.

“If he confessed, my job is done,” she said.

“You know he isn’t guilty,” Lillian asked her stepping back.  “You know it.”

“It doesn’t matter what I know,” she said.  “It doesn’t matter at all.”

Lillian stepped back to look around the corner at the man sitting at the table.  He had a haircut that wasn’t something anyone ever working the District would ever have.  And his clothes, they were new.  They were from a store, a real store.  These weren’t government issued clothes, these were from a designer.

“How do you know him?” Lillian whispered.

“I ask for an Officer Exception,” Carol said.

“Denied,” Lillian said, “you know you can’t use an officer exception in a murder case.”

“I petition to be reassigned,” Carol said.

“Denied, active case,” Lillian quietly stepping towards her, “Carol, how do you know the man in the other room.”

“Petition for Closed Pardon,” Carol said.  She fell out of the soldier’s stance that she had always had since the day she had met her.  She slumped and her face fell to a place Lillian had never seen it go.

“Petition for Closed Pardon can’t be granted in a Confession Case,” Lillian said.  “Carol, just tell me.  Petition to Confer?”

Carol just looked at her.

“Petition to Confer?” Lillian said again.

“You gotta take me off this….”

“Carol,” Lillian said walking up and putting her hands on Carol’s red coat trying to get her eyes on Carol’s, “how do you know him?”

“You have to swear to…”

“I’m not going to accept a Closed Pardon on this….”

“No,” Carol said, “I don’t mean a pardon, I mean a swear to me.  If you respect me at all… if you respect me at all… my service… your service… that man’s freedom to exist… you’ll drop this and let his innocence thing drop.”

“You love him,” Lillian said.

Carol just looked at her, but glassy tears came to those hard eyes, and she looked human, one with feelings for a person that went beyond empathy for another.

“You love him….”

“Yes,” Carol said and she leaned in to Lillian, “and the only way I will ever be able to be with him is if he goes in.”

“You’d let him go in…”

“For us to be together? Yes.”

“Carol, he won’t come out the same,” Lillian said to her, “I’ve never seen anyone come out that wasn’t addicted to drip.  He’ll be a wasted shell of what he is right now.”

“But he’ll be alive,” Carol said.  “I’ll take my chance… and he will too.”

Lillian looked at her.

“Why is he confessing to killing that guy?  That whole beating you gave him was a show,” Lillian stared at her.  “You did that for my benefit?  You didn’t think I’d win the case because he confessed.”

“No,” Carol said.

“You didn’t think I had it in me.”

“I didn’t think you had it in you to defy me,” Carol said, “I’m just being honest.”

“You’ll have to let me know at what point you want to go on Petition to Confer,” Lillian said.

“His ex-wife,” Carol said, “she’s a commanding officer in Code Enforcement.  She out ranks me by quite a bit.”

“But she doesn’t out rank me,” Lillian said.

“I’ll lose my job, my rank, my time-in-service,” Carol said, “I’ll lose it all.”

“If it’s his ex-wife, why do you care?”  Lillian couldn’t make sense of the whole thing, “Just claim it is a relationship only of sexual nature.  You’re only required to not have an encumbrance.  Just tell them it is only sex.”

“You only get one pass at that,” Carol said moving over to another table at the other end of the room.  “The last time I claimed a non-encumbrance, it split him from his wife.”

“Oh,” Lillian said.

“Yeah, I’m the reason they split,” Carol said.  “If he’s an encumbrance, I’ll be kicked out of Code Enforcement.

“Carol, I mean, I feel bad, but,” Lillian said walking over to look at Granston sitting stock still at the table.

“You’re going to go through with it?” Carol said standing up and walking towards Lillian.  “You’re dead set on ruining us.”

“No, I’m dead set on finishing my job as a Public Defender,” Lillian said.  “It is my job to…”

“It is your job to make sure that I don’t do the wrong thing.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Lillian said stepping forward towards Carol.   “I’ll goddamned make sure that you we do the right thing.  The Law dictates how this is supposed to go.”

“He doesn’t want to stay out,” she said, “He wants to be put in line.  Three years, that’s all.  I’ll have done my service by the time he gets out, I’ll be on service pay and we can leave the city, and we’ll be away from Code Enforcement and her.”

“But he won’t have to go in line at all,” Lillian said, “he didn’t do it.  If I submit my case, he won’t go in.”

“If he doesn’t go in…”

“Oh my god,” Lillian said, “if he doesn’t go in… you do…”

“Breaking the Code Enforcement Regulations are punished… by placing the former Officer in line, just as a criminal would be.”

Lillian looked back around the corner at the man sitting there at the table.

He was sacrificing himself for love.  In a world where the future is known, love was hard to come by.

The word encumbrance sat bitter in Lillian’s mouth.  Encumbrance was used to describe what was once so important for living.  It was important for people to love, particularly in the face of a known end.  It was important, and it wasn’t anywhere to be found anymore.

Except in the next room.

And right before her.

Lillian looked back at Carol, the soldier in love with a man willing to risk himself for her.  The soldier who challenged her so much and had no faith in her.  She now stood before her, vulnerable and small.  There was a time that it would have meant something to Lillian, like a win.  She had beat back the solider and was protecting the arrestees.

But now, so much more sat in her hands.

“Ok,” Lillian said quietly.

Thank you, Carol mouthed.

“Mr. Granston…” Lillian said walking around the corner with Carol not far behind, “in light of your confession, I’m filing a petition to prosecute you and am removing any protection the Office of Public Defenders could extend.”

He looked at Lillian without fear in his eyes.