*****************************The White Lilly******************************
Chapter 12. Freedom
Howie was an aging excon. He had not much success in his life working within the law to make a living. He had a series of bad choices that put him behind bars. This made him feel bad that his life was so. Howie decided to go straight. He wanted to find honest work and stay away from the outlaws that he had been with for so long. After much effort, he did find moderately average paying work that he was able to eke out a living. For six years Howie drove a dump truck, was a construction laborer, sold used cars with a friend, painted houses, worked in a lumber yard, did roofing, worked in the country as a farm laborer, worked in a grocery store shelving stock, cutting meat and vegetables and cleaning the floors, and drove a bulldozer . No more crime. Ellis McCain, private detective kept occasional contact with him. Ellis kept him talked out of crime. Howard Skinner became an honest man and had more respect for himself.
Some five crooks associated with the Skulls found Howie. Each was wearing a black mask. They suspected wrongly that the First Nation Bank job being attacked by Charlotte police was due to a tip off from him. Tisha was the squealer, not Howie. She was not suspected or threatened. The gang men surrounded Howie while he was driving a bulldozer leveling land for a new building project. Each man emptied a piston into his body. His head, chest, arms, legs, and abdomen were riddled with slugs. Howie died screaming in unbearable pain. Several witnesses saw his murder. The masked men left and were unchallenged. No one could tell who they were. They got away with it.