Al Bombannente, on only three hours of sleep, managed to get up and drive Judy to her car. She, in turn, got to work at the same time as he, and she waited for Ann Mason to show up. She knew, even though Thursday was not Ann’s day, Ann would be there.
The white-haired woman was there less than ten minutes after she had settled into her small cubicle.
“I read about what happened,” she said to Judy. “I’m sorry, I’m truly sorry. If I had known Bert was going to attack you as he had, I would never have begged you to go after him.”
“I know that,” Judy nodded. “Look, Ann, the whole world didn’t come to an end for either one of us, last night. Bert was a bummer. Such things happen now and then. There are other men, and what’s more, I have just the perfect man for you. I want you to meet him this evening. Today is his parole day, and I’ve arranged for him to come here at four-thirty. This way, if he’s been toeing the mark, at five, when the place closes, I’ll bring him to meet you. I don’t want you saying a word about Bert. Bert is dead in every way. He never existed… never. Do you understand?”
“Yes!” Ann nodded.
“Good!”
Ann left, feeling somewhat better than she had felt for more than twelve hours. Judy had forgiven her, but more important, she was finding another man for her.
The man was Perry Morton, who, while not nearly as young as Bert Karnstein had been, was more suited to Ann. He had been in prison only once, on a forgery and counterfeiting rap, because his social security wasn’t enough to cover what he needed because of the cost of living. He would have been willing to spend the rest of his life in prison, but prison didn’t want him. He had been paroled and Judy had been his parole officer. She had assured him she would find him someone with whom to live so he would be able to share expenses and continue collecting his social security. As a result Perry did not return to forging five dollar bills, which he did relatively well. He had been caught simply because of the paper. He had gotten poor quality paper. He had known how to overcome it in the future. He would bleach one-dollar bills white, and then use his plates, which no one had ever found, to print new five-dollar bills.
When Judy introduced Perry to Ann, he decided he would delay his counterfeiting activities for awhile. Between his social security and what she was earning, they would be able to afford the rent on her apartment, and still have enough money left over to buy food and clothing.
That evening, Judy met Al Bombannente for dinner, and then the two of them decided she would move into his apartment. They weren’t kidding themselves. Even if they weren’t going to get married for awhile, they knew they wouldn’t be able to live apart. Judy was smart enough not to interfere with the way Al “reformed” his female parolees, but by the same token she never felt the need for another man. It had nothing to do with a lack of independence on her part. Al, for all he was giving his female parolees, was still more than enough for her. Besides, anything less would have been just that… less, and she had no intention of accepting less.