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Excerpt

Half buried in the sand, under the edge of the palmetto bush, they could both see what was left of a skeleton. Marty stopped. Felipe went to take a closer look. Without another word, he kneeled down and started pawing the drifted sand from the bones. Marty edged closer to see. There was no doubt that it was a woman when he uncovered the pelvic area. Martin gagged in revulsion as he saw the tiny bones intermingled with the mother's. The bones were not all in place. The animals or buzzards had picked them clean, then apparently pulled some bones apart in their feeding frenzy.
Felipe spent several minutes gently moving the sand away from the skeletons. Finally, he stood up and faced Marty.
"This is your doing Gringo! You left my Ramona here to die in this God forsaken desert," Felipe cried, tears making muddy rivulets down through the stubble of beard on his face.
"No, I swear Felipe, it was Jorge who was responsible." Marty tried to explain. "I was only the driver. I didn't even know any of these people. Please, try to understand my position. I am innocent of the terrible thing that happened here."
Felipe could contain his rage no longer. He hit Marty along side the face with the side of the heavy pistol, opening a wide gash across his jaw. Stumbling and falling into the hot sand, he struggled to get back on his feet. He was kicked in the ribs again, and then his head exploded.
It was almost sundown when Marty realized he was still alive. As he regained consciousness, he could only see out of one eye and his nose and mouth were full of sand. He struggled to get to his feet, finally making it up only to sway and fall back into the sand. His head felt like it would burst and his face was on fire. Rolling over into a sitting position, he looked around for his tormentor. He was nowhere to be seen. As he became more lucid, he could hear a light scraping noise on the other side of the hill of palmetto bushes.
In desperation, Marty got on his feet again and struggled through the deep sand to get back to the motor home. But when he got there, he couldn't get the door open. He turned his back to the bumper, using the rough edge to try to wear through the ties that bound his wrists.
He was knocked off his feet again before he realized that Felipe had come back. The man hit him in the side with Marty's little, but heavy, army surplus shovel. Evidently he had found it in Marty's toolbox. Marty had bought the 'entrenching tool' at an army surplus sales outlet in El Paso. It seemed like a handy thing to have at the time. Now it looked like a terrible weapon in the hands of his captor.
Marty saw that Felipe had the pistol in his belt now, but was menacing him with the shovel.
"Get your ass up out of the dirt old man! Follow me," he commanded, walking away.
Struggling, Marty got up and made one foot move past the other.
When they got back to the area where they had found Ramona's remains, Felipe withdrew his knife and ordered Marty to turn around. A weary Martin Lovett took a long look at his captor and turned around in resignation. His mind had gone numb from the pain. This is it. He's going to kill me. And at that moment he really didn't care.
To Marty's surprise, the cinch tie around his neck was being pulled tight; so tight now that he could hardly breath. Then he felt the bonds being cut from his wrists. He stood still as his hands fell to his side, afraid to move or try to speak. Backing away from his victim, Felipe told him to pick up the short handled shove. He turned, looking for the shovel. He had not noticed before, but now he saw the shallow hole that Felipe had apparently begun.
"Get in there and dig!" Felipe ordered.

Oh my God, Marty thought, I'm digging my own grave!

Professional Review

THE MWLA REVIEW September 11, 2003
Mighty Write Literary Assn.


The sequel to “Concept of Justice” is finally here. With “Bizarre Justice,” Mr. Custer has once again pulled us in to Martin Lovett’s world. It’s not a bad place to be, unless you are Marty.
Henry has made the idea of a long lived hero a reality. He shatters the myth that advanced age means a life of fiber and bingo. Marty Lovett is no hero, he’s not even that nice a guy, but you will care about him anyway. You will want things to work out for him.
“Bizarre Justice,” is a very well written and compelling story. It will keep the reader wondering what more can possibly happen. It stays on your mind up until the end, where a Bizarre Final Justice is served.

Recommendation: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Tim Hancock is the Director of MWLA, a Reviewer and Author