I was hoping that there might be some suspense as to who the bad guy was, but that just didn’t work. Practically everybody figured it was Hamilton. The second choices were fascinating, though! I got suggestions ranging from the idiot lieutenant in Honduras to the three guys in the Bahamas and going all the way back to the three guys he beat up on the school bus in 1968. I had never thought of any of them.
I can also say that very few of you predicted what Carl would do about it. There was a lot of stuff about capturing him, or beating him up, or letting him escape and calling the cops. Not too many figured Carl would just blow him away.
Hamilton may be gone, but he will never be forgotten. He leaves a legacy that will be bugging Carl for years to come. More on that in future chapters.
I had some interesting comments regarding ‘The People’s Republic of Maryland’. The situation in Maryland can be quite extreme at times. I had one response from an ex-Maryland cop stating that there was actually a definite possibility that Carl would be arrested and charged with murder, since some Maryland jurisdictions hold that shooting somebody, even if they have invaded your home, requires that you first attempt to retreat out of the home. The simple act of picking up a loaded gun indicates intent and since Hamilton is crazy, then he must be innocent, etc., etc., etc. A number of people have gone to jail after pleading to lesser charges to get it behind them.
On a personal note, although we don’t own any guns (my wife and I agree we’d probably just shoot each other) we don’t have any problems with them, either. Most of our friends and neighbors have them, and we just don’t care. My father had two guns from when he was young and after he passed, my brother took the.22 single shot rifle and a 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun went to a cousin.
I was surprised by the number of people who though that Hamilton’s comment, “You’re not supposed to be here!” meant something special. Quite a few thought that meant that Hamilton had figured out Carl was from a different time/dimension/existence/whatever. Some of you are over-thinking things! It’s like I said in the story. Carl was setting Hamilton up by swapping cars. Hamilton thought it was Marilyn and Charlie at home. He even complained that they weren’t there.
There was one comment that it would be impossible for a bullet to nail the sternum, heart, and spine. Maybe yes, maybe no. Maybe the first shot moved things around. Maybe it just nicked everything. Maybe I’m not going to rewrite that line. There’s a really big fucking hole in the middle of Hamilton’s chest, that’s for sure!
We’re taking a break for a few days from Carl Buckman and returning to Grim Reaper. I’ll start that up again in a few days. Enjoy!