Jose looked down. “I have to think.”
“You have to be realistic. You need a place to stay. You need clothes. No one else is going to feed and house you once you leave this prison. Frank Melville is trying to make up for the wrong that was done to you in every way he can. Forgive him. Let him help you.”
Robin stopped talking. It dawned on her that Jose had to be overwhelmed by the news that he would soon be off death row, out of OSP and free for the first time in thirty years.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I shouldn’t have lectured you. I’ll be waiting when you’re released. Is there someone you want me to call?”
Jose shook his head. “My folks passed away. I had a brother and sister. They visited when I was on trial. My sister visited for a while after I was convicted, but everyone stopped writing or coming after a few years. My brother passed away, but I don’t know where my sister lives or if she’s still alive.”
“Okay. We can try and track her down. And I’ll help any way I can.”
“I know you will. I also know that I owe my life to you.”
Robin was tempted to say that he owed his life to Frank Melville, but she was savvy enough to keep that thought to herself.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The state of Oregon west of the Cascade Range has two seasons. In the middle of the year, the state is a verdant, sunny, multicolored botanical garden where every variety of flower, tree, and bush is displayed against a backdrop of snowcapped mountains and winding rivers. But you can’t have the green without a lot of water, and the rest of the year the mountains disappear behind dark, threatening clouds, and the heavens open to discharge a constant, depressing rain.
It saddened Robin that after thirty years of being locked in a narrow, dark cell Jose was not going to walk out of the penitentiary when the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and the world was a riot of color, but Jose handled the inclement weather well. When he stepped out of the prison into a soggy, cold drizzle he turned his face into the rain, breathed in the air of freedom, and smiled.
They headed down the path to the parking lot, and Robin noticed the spring in Jose’s step.
“You look like you’re in pretty good shape for someone who’s been fed a diet of prison food for thirty years,” she said, smiling. “How did you manage?”
Jose smiled. “Lots of push-ups and lots of sit-ups. It helped pass the time.”
Jose was dressed in a fresh set of clothes that Robin had brought to the prison. She used an umbrella to protect them as she led Jose to her car. Robin ducked into the driver’s seat to get out of the rain. Jose paused outside the passenger door and looked at sights that had been hidden from him from the moment he was herded into the prison.
“Mr. Melville has you in a suite at the Jefferson Hotel, one of Portland’s finest,” Robin said when she drove out of the visitors’ lot and headed toward I-5 north.
“That’s very kind of him,” Jose said, but there was no trace of gratitude in the flat reply.
“I’ll be at the Jefferson on Saturday for the trip to Black Oaks. That’ll give you a few days to adjust to life as a free man.”
Jose didn’t say anything. Robin didn’t push him, and they traveled the rest of the way to the hotel with very little conversation.
When Robin exited the highway, Jose stared at the crowds on the streets and the skyscrapers that had not existed the last time he was in Portland. A few minutes later, Robin parked in front of the Jefferson Hotel, a modern glass-and-steel affair. Jose looked very uncomfortable when they walked into the spacious atrium in the hotel lobby. He had grown up in poverty in a tiny apartmentin a housing project. Being in this grand space with so much light and fresh air would probably have been unsettling even if he had never been incarcerated.
Robin empathized with him. She’d grown up in Elk Grove, a small farming town in the Midwest, and had been overwhelmed and disoriented by the crowds, glitter, and noise in the lobby of the Las Vegas casino where she had her first televised pay-per-view fight.
Robin helped Jose check in before escorting him to his suite. She showed him how to use the key card, then stepped aside to let him in. Jose hesitated before walking into the sitting room with its massive television. The drapes on the floor-to-ceiling windows were open. Jose walked up to the window and stared out. Robin hung back and watched him. Jose placed a hand on the glass. Then, without a word, he turned away and walked into a bedroom with its king-size bed and second television.
“I’m guessing this is a little different from your cell,” Robin said, trying to lighten the situation.
Jose didn’t smile. He walked into the bathroom and stared at the glass-enclosed shower and massive tub. Then he walked back into the bedroom and dropped onto the bed. He looked scared.
Robin sat next to him. “Don’t let this overwhelm you. You were an engineering student. This is just stuff. You’ll figure out how it works pretty quickly. I’ll show you the lights, the temperature controls, and how to work the remote. The TV has a lot of new gadgets, like streaming and cable channels, but it’s still a TV.”
Jose continued to look at the floor. His breathing was shallow.
“Are you hungry?” Robin asked.
He didn’t answer.
“Let’s get you some lunch,” Robin said. “You’re going to enjoyhaving choices, and you’re really going to enjoy food that doesn’t taste like the shit you’ve been eating. What do you say?”
“This is too much,” he whispered.