The next few days passed in a blur... Connie admitted to the whole thing. According to my dad, anyway. And, being a tenured sheriff with a perfect record, no one doubted him.

He also told me she died trying to keep the cops away from me. She was trying to keep me safe... If only she knew...

I wasn't charged with anything, even the murder. Given the circumstances of the kidnapping, I was let off for the robberies. And, because of some faulty wiring with the security system, they couldn't say for sure I was the one that pulled the trigger on the off duty cop. It was... Overwhelming...

I knew what I did... I knew I'd live with it for the rest of my life... And, I'd spend the rest of my life trying to make up for it...

Connie was buried in an unmarked grave out of town. I visited her from time to time, I missed her...

I walked through the hallways in school, seeing every passing student eyeing me.

It was hard readjusting to regular life, especially because everyone thought I was guilty. And, what made it worse is, I knew that I was.

I passed the gas station on my walk home. It was still closed and scheduled for demolition. I sat down on the curb outside the door. The same place Connie and I sat just a few weeks ago.

Memories of our conversation lingered in my mind...

—————

Some Years Later...

I moved out of town after my father died, finding myself a nice little home in another small town a few states over, where I got a job at a local diner. I never married and I usually kept to myself... Never once uttering a word of what happened to anyone else...

   I drove to work early one morning, my boss immediately walking over to me as I stepped through the door of the diner.

"Briar, there are some people here to see you." She said, pointing to a nicely dressed man and woman sitting in a booth near the back.

I nodded to her before walking over to the booth, sudden nerves filling my gut. 'Who are they..? What do they want..?'

They looked up as I approached. "Briar Boggs?" The woman asked.

I nodded hesitantly. "Yes? What's all this about?"

The man stood, offering me a seat. "We'd like to ask you a few questions."

I slowly sat down, looking across the table at them. "What about?"

They shared a look before the woman spoke again. "We work for an online, true crime podcast and we're doing an episode on you and miss Connie Parks. We'd like to get your story."

I looked down, rubbing my forearm. "There's not much to tell, really..."

"Oh, c'mon, you two were considered the modern day Bonnie and Clyde. Traveling the back roads of America, robbing everything in sight. You were modern day outlaws... After the trial, no one's heard from you. Your story's never seen the light of day... We want to give you the chance to tell it... Your way." The man said.

   I thought for a long second before letting out a sigh, a slight smirk playing at my lips, the familiar adrenaline coursing through my veins. "Well... Here it goes then..."

   I told them everything. Every detail, every robbery, what we did with the money, what happened to Cindy and the final stand of Connie. The woman I loved. The reason I never fell for anyone else...

   I was on my way home from work that night, still feeling the slight adrenaline running through my body from reliving those experiences. The adventure. The life I left behind.

   I stopped at a red light, looking over to see a little gas station on the corner, one person inside.

   Then, my eyes wandered to the .38 Colt I had stashed away in my glove compartment.

   The urge building inside me. I could feel it in my fingertips. The crisp, green paper. The smell of gunpowder in the air...

   The sound of a horn ripped through my thoughts. I glanced at the car in the rear view mirror, then back to the glove compartment...

   With a long sigh, I continued my way home...

   Connie and Briar robbed two banks and seven gas stations on their path of destruction. Four bodies were left in their wake.

   They quickly became one of the most infamous couples in history, leading to countless books being written about them. With the help of tue podcast Briar spoke on, they became a household name.

   The sheriff retired shortly after the events and died peacefully in his sleep a couple years later.

   The detective was shot fourteen times before he could even get to his gun. Because of his time in the service, he was given a proper military burial alongside his fallen brothers in arms.

   Cindy was exhumed from her shallow grave and returned to her parents for a proper burial. They denied her involvement in the crimes until their deaths a decade later.

   Connie was buried in an unmarked grave out of town. No one ever claimed the remains. After a little digging, it turns out her family had been killed in a fire when she was just a child. Connie Parks wasn't her real name. No one knows what it really was.

   Briar lived out the rest of her days alone. She was never married and never had children. She moved from state to state for many years before winding up in the hospital with terminal cancer. She died two weeks later...

   Until that day, she swore she never robbed another bank again...

   But, a few unsolved robberies were looked into further after her death. The rifling on the bullets recovered from the scene matching the .38 Colt she had on her at all times...

   She was never linked to the robberies... But, internet conspiracy theorists believe they were all done by her...

   She, like Connie Parks, became an outlaw in a time when those didn't exist anymore. Everyone had their addictions, whether it be alcohol, or drugs, or sex.

   Briar's was the adrenaline. The feeling of that crisp, green paper between her fingers... An addiction she wasn't ready to give up...

The End