Morbid

Annie, Arnold, and Kelly left the courthouse and hopped into the car.

“I wouldn't mind taking a walk in the park, except that you know we'll meet a couple of the guys there.” Kelly said and Annie nodded.

“If they're cleaning up around the town, there's a definite chance that at least two of them are at the park.” Annie sighed. “Maybe we should just head back to Katheryn's.”

“Arnold? What do you think? Is there anywhere else you want to go?” Kelly asked.

“The library.” Arnold said.

“The library it is.” Annie said without asking why he wanted to go. To her, the fact that he asked was enough for her to take him there. She drove the car a street over and parked near the library.

“We probably could have walked.” Kelly smiled as they got out of the car and she held a hand out to Arnold. He took it and she held on tightly.

“We were in the car anyway.” Annie said and the three of them walked inside and over to the counter. “Arnold, tell the nice lady here what you're looking for.”

“I want a book on common laws and the penalties for breaking them.” Arnold said.

Annie took in a sharp breath. “Arnold, why...”

“Brad and his friends committed felonies. I don't know what those are and I want to know why they aren't in jail.”

“Let me take a quick look.” The librarian said and typed on the computer. She had the typical librarian look with dark and slightly greyish hair done up in a bun on the back of her head, large glasses with the string around the ear pieces to hold them on her neck when she took the glasses off, an old fashioned yellow blouse with a thinly knitted wine colored sweater coat over top of it, and a plain skirt.

“All right, I have three of them. They are on the shelf in H-07, right side, section ten.” The librarian said. “I can lead you there if you haven't been here before.”

“Please.” Annie said and the librarian came out from behind her desk and led them across the library and up the stairs to a section that was raised up about ten feet from the main floor.

“This is the law section.” The librarian said and went to the right shelf and grabbed the three books. “Common Laws and You.” She said and handed the first book to Arnold. “It's a basic code listing and how they apply to normal citizens.” She handed him the second book. “Codes and Codexes. This one is a bit more lawyerish in the wording and describes all of the by-laws and conditions that violate them, so it's a bit of heavy reading.”

Kelly stared at the three inch thick book.

The librarian handed Arnold the third book. “This one is an actual lawyer textbook. It lists specific cases and references to all of the major and minor local laws. It's a very difficult read if you don't know the legalese needed.” She pointed to the first book. “There's a glossary of terms in the back of that one that will be invaluable if you decide to read the third book.”

“Thank you.” Annie said.

The librarian gave them a big smile. “The index is your friend. If you're looking for anything specific, check that first and see if there's anything close to what you're looking for, rather than looking through all of it to see what's there.” She said. “So, will you be reading them here or checking them out?”

“We don't have a library card.” Kelly said and Annie gave her a surprised look. “I was too busy studying to get one.”

“Those books are going to take time to read through, so you can help yourself and use one of the tables, or we can go back to the front desk and I'll fill out a card for you.” The librarian said. “You can take the books home for two weeks if you do.”

“Arnold? Are we staying or going?” Annie asked.

“Staying.” Arnold said. “I won't need the books for that long.”

“Then I look forward to seeing you here again.” The librarian said, because she assumed they would need to come back later to continue reading. “The tables are back this way.”

They followed her back towards the front of the library and she took a turn into a large area behind several shelves of books.

“If you need anything else, I'll be at the front desk.” The librarian said and walked away.

“Annie, do you want to look around and see what else they have here?” Kelly asked. “Arnold's going to be busy for a while.”

Annie shrugged. There wasn't really anything she was interested in; but, she didn't want to just sit there doing nothing, either. “We'll be back in a while, Arnold.”

“Okay.” Arnold sat down and opened the Common Laws book and read the index. He quickly found the damaging government property and private property laws and flipped to them. He read them and discovered that private property damage didn't have the same penalties as the government property one. Of course, now that he knew the laws, he opened the second book and used the index to look up the actual laws and how they were written and the conditions for breaking them.

The librarian had been right. It was a much heavier read than the easy book. Arnold had to refer to the glossary in the back of the first book a few times to understand the wording. When he was done, he sat back and thought about what it meant that Brad and his friends hadn't been sent to prison for damaging government property.

Arnold couldn't understand how they were granted community service, so he went back to the first book and read it all the way through. When he finished it, he sat back and let the information percolate in his head like the professor said and to let the information settle before reading any more. He knew the laws that could be broken to allow Brad and his friends to get out of the charges.

Bribery and coercion were the two main ones, and both had a monetary and an influence factor. Favors could be traded instead of money, and unless you knew who was involved and what they did, none of them could be prosecuted. Arnold looked up the actual laws and nodded. You couldn't even accuse them of wrong-doing, not without evidence, because that was a crime called slander.

Arnold closed the books and didn't bother with the third book. After a quick read through of the index, there wasn't anything close to what was going on. There were two instances of bribery; but, they were crimes in and of themselves and not factors in other cases.

“Arnold? Are you done?” Kelly asked and Arnold looked at her. She had a small stack of books in front of her and Annie had her head on her arms and looked to be asleep.

“I need to ask the librarian something.” Arnold said and stood up. Kelly nodded and kept reading the book she had in front of her. Arnold walked around the shelves of books and went to the front desk.

“Hello, there.” The librarian said. “Are you having trouble reading the...”

“I can't find a reference to a case where bribery and coercion were used to get a defendant a lesser charge from the prosecutor.” Arnold said. “Would it be in anything you have here?”

The librarian blinked her eyes for a moment. “You... are asking if we have a book on... legal system corruption?”

“Is that what it's called?” Arnold asked and she nodded. “Then yes. Do you have a book on that?”

“Not in a book based in real life.” The librarian said. “There are a lot of books written by fiction writers that have it in them.”

“That won't help me here, will it?” Arnold asked.

“No. As soon as you mention it's from a fiction story, it's almost automatically disregarded as not factual, even if it is.” The librarian said. “I'm sorry.”

Arnold stood there and stared at her for several moments.

“Is... there anything else I can help you with?” The librarian asked, a little unnerved at the scrutiny.

“Do you have any books on sex?” Arnold asked.

The librarian frowned. “If you're looking for adult magazines, they sell those dirty things down at the corner newsstand behind the counter.”

“Do they give descriptions on how to have sex?” Arnold asked.

“Well, no. They are just full of dirty pictures.”

“Then that's not what I want.” Arnold said. “I want to learn more about having sex.”

“E-excuse me?”

“I only know three positions. One where we face each other laying down, one where she's facing away standing up, and one where I hold her legs together and she's on her back.” Arnold said. “The biology book I read said that if you don't have a variety of skills, you can't keep your mate happy for long.”

The librarian's mouth opened in surprise and she wasn't sure what to say.

“I need a book that can tell me about more positions and how to do them.” Arnold said. “Do you have a book like that?”

“I...” The librarian swallowed audibly. “I... may have something... in the back.” She said. “We don't have a lot of things like that out for public consumption.”

“May I see it?” Arnold asked.

“I can't bring anything like that out here and it might take a while to find the book.” The librarian said. “Why don't you come to the back with me and we can look for it together?”

“My girlfriend and my mother are waiting for me.” Arnold said.

The librarian let out a sigh. “Maybe you can join me in the back the next time you come here.” She said. “I won't be able to look for the book until then.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and walked away.

Just my luck. The librarian thought. I finally had someone who had the guts to ask me about sex and he has both his girlfriend and his mother with him!

Arnold went back to the table and picked up the three law books. Kelly saw him and closed her book and picked up the rest of them, then they went back to the shelves and put the books back where they got them. They went back to the table and Kelly gently woke Annie up.

“Annie, let's go back to my mom's place.” Kelly said.

“Huh? What?” Annie lifted her head from her crossed arms on the table and looked at Kelly. “Oh! You're ready to go?”

Kelly and Arnold nodded, so she took a few moments to wake herself up, then the three of them left the library and drove back to Katheryn's house. They arrived just in time for supper and the five of them had a nice quiet meal. After that, Kenneth disappeared into his den, Katheryn went to do some laundry, and Annie was exhausted both mentally and emotionally and went to lay down in the spare room.

That left Kelly and Arnold all alone for a while, and unlike what her parents thought was going to happen, Kelly did up the couch for Arnold to sleep on and then the two of them sat there and watched television as they cuddled. No groping, no making-out, and no stripping off their clothes. They did kiss occasionally and kept it on a low level, just in case Kelly's parents did sneak in to look at them.

Her parents did check on them several times, as Kelly suspected they would, and they didn't see anything except their daughter and her boyfriend spending time together. After a couple of hours, Kelly let out a huge yawn.

“I think I better go to bed.” Kelly said and gave Arnold a kiss. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” Arnold said and watched Kelly leave the room. He picked up his backpack and took out a t-shirt and a pair of jogging pants and changed right there in the living room, then he climbed under the blanket on the couch and closed his eyes.

*

Katheryn had heard Kelly say goodnight and ducked out of sight as her daughter passed, then Katheryn went back to the living room to check on Arnold. She stopped and covered her mouth before she gasped as she watched Arnold strip off in the middle of the living room.

She thought about walking away, then realized if she moved, he would be sure to see her. She stayed and watched him get changed, then when he climbed under the blanket on the couch and closed his eyes, she made a hasty retreat and went back to her bedroom.

“Did anything happen?” Kenneth asked as she came into the room.

“Kelly's gone to bed and Arnold's sleeping on the couch.” Katheryn said and conveniently left out seeing Arnold in just his underwear. She was pretty sure her husband would freak out if she told him that. She walked over to the bed and took off her robe and climbed into bed beside her husband and didn't say anything else. She eventually fell asleep and she successfully ignored the odd feelings she had about seeing the bulge in Arnold's underwear.

Kenneth fell asleep, full of relief that his daughter was going to be safe for the night and wouldn't be ravaged by her boyfriend.

*

Arnold waited until midnight before he sat up on the couch. He took out his cell phone and the restraining order and brought up a map. He checked all six addresses on the map and only two of them were close enough for him to reach without taking some kind of transport, like the bus. If he timed it right, he could be at the closest address and back long before anyone woke up at Kelly's house.

He memorized the map and put the cell phone down beside the couch. He had read the manual and it said the phone had a GPS tracker in it, which meant he had to leave it. The house was completely silent, so he grabbed his backpack and walked to the front door, put on his sneakers, then walked through the house to the kitchen. He went out through the large double doors there, then walked along the back of the house until he was in the side yard.

Arnold was out of view of all the windows, so he sprinted across the open area and then climbed over the fence. He ran along it to the street and then followed the map in his head across several streets until he came to the first address. Unfortunately, it wasn't Brad's. If Arnold cared about such things, he would have been disappointed that it wasn't Brad, because it was ridiculously easy to get to the guy that lived there.

*

Jake sat in his backyard and took a drink of beer. He absolutely hated that he wasn't allowed to drink in the house and he took his frustration out on the beer in his hand. He had worked hard all day cleaning up the damned park of all the garbage that everyone threw all over the place. He was especially glad they had work gloves and tongs to pick things up, because he had lost count of how many condoms he had found.

He shivered at the thought of getting an STD from handling some random guy's condom and took another drink of beer... then he felt a hard blow on the side of his head and then nothing.

*

Arnold grabbed the beer bottle with his rubber gloved hand before it fell and stopped it from smashing on the concrete patio. He put the rock he used back beside the house and walked over to the unconscious man. The sharp blow to the guy's temple would kill him, because it had severed the middle meningeal artery and he was bleeding out into his head. All it would take was a little time.

Arnold looked around in the thick grass for something to trip over, and saw a good sized stick. When he picked it up, he found that it was the handle of a rake. He placed it near the concrete slab, picked up the not-yet-dead body, and laid it out appropriately near the slab. He made sure that his temple would be hit in the same spot, then dropped the body onto the corner.

Jake let out a gurgle and struggled to breathe, because his neck was at a bit of an angle. Arnold put the beer back into his hand, making sure to tip it over as if it spilled when Jake fell, then he put the rake's handle between Jake's feet. Arnold checked around and made sure that his own sneaker prints weren't left anywhere in the dirt under the thick grass, then he snuck away into the night.