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Jay Prescott got the phone call early that morning…
“Listen, Prescott…the story hasn’t leaked out to the press yet, but I heard it from one of the guards. Peterson just escaped from the state pen! You know what that means.”
Prescott began to shake, tremble. He was an elderly gentleman, wealthy, wearing an expensive hand tailored suit, vest, gold chain, button-down collar with a diamond pin as big as a thumb nail fastened through the middle of his silk tie. His temples were gray but he sported a full head of hair. He cringed as the caller went on…
“Prescott, are you still there?”
“Y-yes, th-thanks for the tip! Sure I know what that means. It-m-means, he’s coming. He’s coming for me!”
Moments later…
Prescott phoned the local precinct. “Police headquarters, Sergeant Ryerson speaking…”
“This is Jay Prescott, Sergeant. I just received some disturbing news that Peterson has escaped from jail.. He swore he’d break out and come and get me. I want a police guard at my house. I demand it!”
There was a knock at the door.
“Hold on Sergeant, someone’s at the door!”
Prescott peered cautiously from his second floor bedroom window and was relieved to see two police officers knocking on his front door. “Open up, it’s the police,” came a loud voice.
A surprised Prescott ran down and met the officers at the door.
“I was just talking to headquarters…” he began. ”We beat you to the punch Mr. Prescott.
Word of Peterson’s escape came over the wire immediately after they found his cell empty. We’re here to set up a twenty-four hour guard on your house.”
“Not that’ll do much good!” said the other officer.
“Wh-what do you mean?” asked a nervous Prescott, his voice trembling.
This was no ordinary prison break, Mr. Prescott.” The officer went on, “Peterson made himself invisible!”
The first officer continued, “Only an invisible man could have slipped by the guards at the gate! He was discovered experimenting with chemicals in the dispensary. Notes and a partial formula was discovered. He’s a brilliant chemist and we know he was attempting this sort of thing, but ignored the possibility. Well, he seems to have succeeded!”
“Impossible,” cried Prescott, “Y-you you’re just trying to scare me. Right?”
“No sir,” said the first officer, “We don’t crack jokes about serious matters like this.”
“Right,” agreed the other officer, rather dryly, “There’s no guarantee that he won’t slip past us, but you stay inside, and let’s hope for the best.”
Prescott was thoroughly shaken. “Peterson is coming for me,” his mind raced, as he walked back up the stairs, “They’ll never be able to stop him. He’ll get me sure!”
His thoughts went back to the events that led up to his predicament…
“I framed Peterson, sure. I wanted all the rights to his chemical patents. The only way I could swing it was by trumping up a false charge that would land him in jail. I never knew he would develop a way to make himself invisible. I know he is a genius – but this!”
He peered from behind the curtains on the second story bedroom window.
He was thinking hard about the scene in the courtroom, the day Peterson was convicted…
“You did this to me Prescott! But I’ll get out sooner or later, sooner than you think! And I’ll come back for you! I’ll come back for you, Prescott. You can take that to the bank.”
Peterson was allowed to continue his experiments in prison, being a licensed chemist, he helped the dispensing of drugs to the inmates from the prison hospital. The prison administration kept a close eye on him, but he managed to evade their scrutiny and secretly developed his invisibility formula.
Prescott realized his hopeless situation. He decided it would be best to clear out of town altogether…so he began to empty his wall safe and gather all incriminating evidence of the trumped up charge he created. His briefcase was filled with patents he had stolen. Suddenly, he heard the door downstairs creaking open!
“Th-the door downstairs just opened by itself!” cried Prescott.
“S-somebody’s coming up the stairs! I-I can hear him. No! No!”
He fainted.
A few moments later. “What happened?” asked one of the policemen.
“I don’t know,” answered his partner, “I used a skeleton key to get inside and see if everything was all right! When I got up here, Prescott was yelling his head off…”
The policeman opened Prescott’s briefcase…”But it look at his briefcase, it’s stuffed with documents about the Peterson case – and what appears to be falsified patents! Looks like they’ll reopen that fraud case now that they have fresh evidence!”
As the officers were calling an ambulance for Prescott and gathering up the spilled contents of the briefcase – back at the state prison…
Just moments earlier… A guard passing Peterson’s cell hollered down to another guard to come over.
“L-look!” he shouted as he pointed to Peterson’s bunk.
“It’s Peterson!” exclaimed the other guard. “He’s taking on form in thin air!”
Sure enough, Peterson was ever so slowly materializing. The guards opened his cell as Peterson came to and explained to them what happened…
“Yes, I made myself invisible so I could escape and prove Prescott was guilty. But the formula is imperfect. It made me black out as soon as it took effect and I’ve been lying here in my cell ever since!”
THE END
“He’s Coming!”
Copyright © 2005, Gregory J. Christiano
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