The Heavens Fall

“Let justice be done, though the heavens fall!” —Earl of Mansfield(1705-1793)“This is a court of law. . . not a court of justice.” —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.(1841-1935) Johnny knew him. Mosh Frazier. Mosh of the wild hair.Mosh of the tattoos, skulls and fire. Mosh of the wide leather beltand the evil temper. Mosh was Johnny’s friend. At least that’s what Johnny thought. Johnny had always been a little slow about people. Johnny’s home was a farm shack in the poorest county inupstate New York. All his since Momma died. Johnny let Moshshare Momma’s house. In return, Mosh gave Johnny money, gave Johnny beer, brought Johnny women, introduced Johnny todrugs— Johnny never poked into Mosh’s business. Johnny neverasked what Mosh did out in the overgrown field in back of thehouse. Johnny never asked Mosh what he did alone in the shack when Johnny went to town. — 1 —

S. Andrew Swann The Heavens Fall Johnny really thought Mosh was a friend. Mosh was good to Johnny. Johnny would never do anything to upset him. Never. Then Mosh left. Then the police came. The police dug up the overgrown field in back of Momma’shouse. The police found the bodies of fifteen women. The police said Mosh didn’t exist.

* * *

Her head throbs. She’d drunk a lot, and downed a lot of pillsthat she probably shouldn’t have. She opens her eyes, fearful of light.No reason to fear. There’s no light except from the moon.She’s thankful for that. The bedroom is dark monochrome andfuzzy. Enough light beams in from the cracked window for her tosee that she’s alone. Sober now, mostly, she decides that the placeis a pit. Smells of beer, old cigarette smoke, and something else— Mothballs?Where the hell is he?

(John Schaefer. He is thirty years old and somewhat retarded. He lured me here with the promise of drugs.)

Lured? That isn’t a word she’d use. The combination of beerand pills is doing funny things to her head.Doesn’t matter who he is, because the guy’s gone. Thatusually means he’s stiffing you, ripping you off. She doesn’t worrytoo much. After all, this is the guy’s house. He wouldn’t rip her off and leave her here, huh?She shakes her head and feels a pain that seems more thansimple hangover. She—

(Betty Dupree. I am twenty-one years old, and I ran away from home when I was thirteen.)

—Betty steps out of the sagging bed. Her feet sink into graypile carpet. The carpet’s filled with dust, making her feet feel dirty.She’s naked, and the cold makes her shiver. The second story of this ancient farmhouse isn’t heated.Wind creaks wood in the walls and rattles windows in theirframes. She shivers again. — 2 —

S. Andrew Swann The Heavens Fall

* * *

All Johnny’s money came from his disability checks, so theygave Johnny a public defender. The defender’s name was Larry.Larry said he was Johnny’s friend. Johnny told Larry about Mosh.Larry brought in a man with a computer. The man madefaces appear on the computer screen. Johnny told the man aboutMosh’s wild black hair. About Mosh’s gray-shot beard. About theearring Mosh wore, the Nazi cross in black, red, and white enamel.About how Mosh’s eyes would go cold, and he would sit there forhours staring at Momma’s TV, even though it didn’t work no more.He told them about the three scars on Mosh’s cheek, and hisbroken nose, and the cobra tattoo on his arm that snaked arounduntil you could just see the tail peeking from the collar of agrease-stained T-shirt.In the end, the image burning on the monitor’s screen wasMosh. It was so much Mosh that it frightened Johnny.Despite the pictures, no one found Mosh Frazier. They found a lot of bikers in Johnny’s county, but none wasMosh. None said they knew Mosh. Most said, like the police,Mosh didn’t exist. Larry printed up the computer picture of Moshand gave it to people, news people, mostly.Once Johnny was scared when the picture showed up on the TV. But then the picture was gone and the news talked about Johnny. Johnny listened because he’d never heard anyoneimportant talk about him before. The news told him that he was about to have a “competencyhearing.” Johnny didn’t know what that was, but if that hearingsaid so, then Johnny’d go to court. Johnny didn’t want to go tocourt. If they found him guilty he’d face a “mandatory lifesentence,” and a “mandatory empathy treatment,” for every deadbody they’d found.Empathy treatments sounded scary.Eventually Johnny had the competency hearing. Theydecided that he could stand trial for the murder of the fifteen women found buried on his land.

* * *

Betty searches the bedroom for her clothes. She doesn’tbother turning on the light. Her eyes are adjusted to the dimness. — 3 —