Chris Rogers, Author

Spark of Evil by Chris Rogers

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Billy Ray Jones eased the station wagon onto the highway, skirting a pothole at the edge of the shoulder to avoid bouncing the corpse around.

This was the third time in two years he'd hauled a body for the state prison system. The cheap administrators had never yet provided a transport box. At the other end, the country church that donated burial space would have a pine coffin waiting, but that didn't help Billy Ray any now.

He could just see himself trying to explain a corpse to the highway patrol. So far he'd never been stopped, but he kept the transfer papers tucked right up here on the visor, in case that ever happened. The thing was, it just didn't feel right, carrying a body wrapped in nothing but a sheet. Maybe he should boost his price enough to buy a box himself, keep it on hand for such occasions.

Yeah, that was a good idea. That's exactly what he'd do.

Painting his old station wagon black and adding black felt curtains to the rear windows to give it the appearance of a down scale hearse had been a stroke of genius. Morgues, prisons and other government agencies appreciated cheap transportation.

Flashing his headlights, he pulled into the passing lane to cut around an eighteen wheeler. The truck's running lights bounced off the chrome window trim and reflected in Billy Ray's new shiny black shoes.

Cheap or not, Huntsville Prison had given him a bonus tonight the chance to view an execution. Usually, no one was allowed but state officials, media, and any friends and family invited by the poor devil getting zapped. But one of Billy Ray's drinking buddies was a guard, and at the last minute, just before the prison doc slipped Judson Gruber his goodbye dose, Billy Ray's friend allowed him to scoot inside, along with some late arriving reporters. He was supposed to stand in a back corner, out of sight.

Having followed the newspaper accounts of Gruber's seven years on death row, and before that, his two year killing spree, Billy Ray couldn't rein in his curiosity enough to stay put. During a brief commotion, he wormed forward among the other spectators, until he was right up front, nothing but steel bars and a few feet of floor space separating him from one of the century's most evil serial killers.

The commotion was caused by a preacher bent on offering the condemned man a last chance for salvation. Gruber laughed the preacher out of the room.

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