Chapter Twenty
Clarence stumbled along the alley behind Hillcrest. He glanced behind him. Scanned the row of trees as best he could. They grew close together, almost hiding the houses on the other side.
Good cover. No one was tailing him, so far as he could tell. Good to get outside again. He suffocated in that place.
He scanned the sky. No wind. It was chilly, but the sun beamed through the tangle of branches and warmed his head and back. A good spring afternoon.
He checked his perimeters and straightened, on alert. With sixty years of being incarcerated, moving in and out of solitary, of frequent pat-downs and spread-eagle searches, and threats from other inmates, he had never relaxed. Never trusted. He barely breathed without permission.
Now, he breathed deeply of the fresh clean
