The Original Alibi (Matt Kile) Read Online Free

pardon. Like the mouse, I could not turn from the trap.
    When I finished reading Bart’s request that I help the general, I sat motionless, looking, I suspect, like an envelope without a name or address on its face. But I knew I had no real choice.
    “General, tell me about the case.”
    “The older I become,” he said, “the more impressed I am with what a man is, rather than what he seems. And I like who you are.”
    “Were it not for Mr. Cowen I would have spent three more years as a guest of the state before walking out an ex-con rather than a pardoned man. But you knew that, General. You knew I could not refuse you after reading this letter.” I dropped it onto his desk.
    “What I knew, Mr. Kile … may I call you Matt?”
    “I’d prefer you did, General. Please go on.”
    “What I knew, Matt, was that you were intrigued. Perhaps it was my reputation mixing with your curiosity. Perhaps from the stories, you wished to learn if I would offer you a drink. Then it may have simply been that you are divorced and hoped to meet my celebrated daughter.”
    “Hmmmm.”
    “And what does that mean?”
    “It means, hmmmm. But to revise and extend my remarks as you regularly heard members of congress say during your years on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ‘I had the pleasure of meeting your daughter on the way in. She is a lovely woman.’”
    “Nicely said. A man predisposed to be a fighting man learns to do so. A woman predisposed to being a seductress hones her skills similarly. Both arts designed to control the man before them. My daughter is not an excessively promiscuous woman, but, like her mother, she enjoys men and is an unapologetic tease.”
    I recalled a quote from Count Tallyrand, In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily.
    The tone in which the general spoke about his daughter suggested he was not stressed in the slightest by her choices or personality. I also guessed he liked the style of woman she had grown to be, or so it seemed from his reference to her mother.
    “But, yes,” he said, picking back up with what he had been saying before discussing his daughter. “I expected you would come. From your history, I knew you felt a responsibility to set things right. Tell me, Matt, what is your opinion on firing squads?”
    “Well, General, they do get the job done. Of course, there are no appeals so one must be certain of the guilt of the person put against the wall.”
    “You were sure when you took out that crud on the courthouse steps, eleven years ago.”
    “Yes, General. I was. He deserved it. Now whether it did more good than harm I can’t really say.”
    “That disgusting fellow would have killed more people. Destroyed more families. What you did was the right thing.”
    “I do think that, General. Yes, I do. Still, it hurt those I love, confused their lives. I didn’t really think about that part of it when I should have.”
    “Now don’t backslide, Matt. America has become much too soft. We need more swift justice. There is a certain discipline society surrendered when we gave up the immediate effectiveness of firing squads and public hangings. As for my situation, I knew you were the right man when I read of your helping your houseman, Axel, get his parole. You’re a smart, tough guy with a heart and that’s exactly what I need.”
    “What I need is another one of these.” I held up my glass. “Then I’d like enough details to determine if I can help. I understand it’s an old case.”
    It has been said that mankind has seven deadly sins. I have eight: curiosity.
    The general rang the bell, and again Charles magically appeared with a tray balanced on his hand, the new glass as frosty as the first. The general’s troops had been trained and strategically positioned. I had come to show respect to a famous retired general. He had welcomed me similarly to how Sitting Bull had greeted General George Armstrong Custer into the Valley of the Big Horn.
    “I am no