Page 28

Vern’s jaw tensed when the viewing window curtains opened.

Donnie Ray Hyde, strapped to the gurney, turned his head, meeting the gaze of the witnesses standing a few feet away on the other side of the glass.

In that moment, Vern recalled what a retired warden had told him about mothers who watched their sons being executed, how they’d release a banshee cry that haunted anyone who heard it.

Vern knew that Hyde’s mother was not present. Hyde did not want her to see his death. It was just as well. And Vern was relieved Carrie didn’t want to be here. Witnessing this would exact an enormous new psychological toll on her. It could trigger all sorts of memories.

Things she doesn’t need to remember.

Not now.

Carrie was safe, away in another room with Luke.

Watching the process unfolding before him, Vern knew this was the beginning of the end. It was his job to see it through, to bear witness.

He knew Texas law allowed for five journalists to view executions: one from the local paper, the Huntsville Item ; two from wire services; and two from the communities where the crimes had happened. A TV reporter from a Tyler station was present for Jenna’s case. And Denise Diaz with the Clear River Chronicle was there for Abby and Erin’s case.

When he’d arrived at the prison, officials took Vern into a room where staff from the Victim Services Division briefed him—along with the families of Abby Hall, Erin Eddowes and Jenna Dupree—on the procedure before escorting them to the viewing area.

Now everyone was in place at the viewing window, the victims’ families, witnesses for the condemned and the press all separated by curtained walls, never seeing each other during the execution process. When they saw Hyde through the glass, relatives of Abby and Erin, who were wearing blazers, opened them slightly and pointed to themselves, a gesture that puzzled Vern.

Hyde only blinked when he saw them.

Looking upon him, Vern concentrated, struck by how human Hyde appeared. Not like a killer, or a monster, but vulnerable. Hyde’s eyes were filled with fear.

Suddenly Vern’s attention was pulled to the warden, standing next to Hyde.

“Do you wish to make a statement, son?”

Hyde swallowed hard, summoning the remnants of his composure, clearing his throat. He lifted his head slightly, turned to all those at the window and searched their faces.

“I am sorry for what I done. I am sorry for the pain I caused.”

Hyde turned back, looked up to the ceiling light.

“Anything more, son?” the warden asked.

“No, sir.”

At that point, the warden looked at the IV tubes fixed to Hyde that ran through a small port into the executioner’s room. The warden then signaled the unseen, anonymous medical officer to begin administering the three drugs. The first would sedate Hyde. The second would relax his muscles, collapse his diaphragm and lungs. The third would stop his heart.

Hyde’s body quivered; the color of his face changed, then his eyes closed.

***

At the moment of Hyde’s death, Carrie was in another part of the prison.

Sitting in a barren meeting room with Luke and a Victims Services staff member, she retreated into her thoughts. Nearby in the death chamber was the man who’d murdered three girls.

And tried to kill me.

Imagining Hyde dying on the gurney, Carrie was cast back…

…to the frightened eyes of a school friend…in the cafeteria… Abby and Erin tormenting Lanna… Carrie’s anger erupting… Abby smiling… “Whoa, Carrie, honey, just chill. It’s just a little harmless joke.” Erin extending her wrists. “Are you going to arrest us, Sheriff?”…

…running through the woods…running for her life…the ground under her vanishing… She’s in the air…falling…the river swallows her…flailing…fighting for air in the violent current bouncing between the rocks…smashing her head… Waking in the hospital…her father looking down at her…

Suddenly Carrie’s attention was pulled to Vern and others in the group of the victims’ relatives, accompanied by Victims Services members, filing through the room.

This stage of the execution process had ended.

Carrie took a breath. Just knowing that Hyde had confessed, that he’d been executed, was as far as she could go.

It has to be enough for me.

“Are you okay?” Luke asked.

“I don’t know.”

Shaken, she turned her focus and distress to her father, who was looking down on her.

“You watched him die.”

Vern studied her.

“It was important to see this through to the end.” He rubbed her shoulder. “It’s done. It’s over.”

Carrie looked at him.

“It’ll never be over, Daddy.”