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“Sure, Jer. I’ll shut up now.” And so he was quiet for another couple of seconds, then said, “And what about Odelia? How is she going to feel without a mother and a father and a grandmother and an uncle and a boyfriend? She’s going to be sad, Jer. And I like Odelia. I like her a lot. She’s got spunk, and I don’t want to make her an orphan, Jer. It’s just not right.”

“Shut up, Johnny!”

“Yes, Jer.” He thought about how they could get out of this mess, and even though he wasn’t used to thinking hard—he usually left that to Jerry, who had a head for that kind of thing—he suddenly thought he’d come up with an idea. “So what if we simply give ourselves up, Jer? I mean, if we rat out Randy now the cops will probably tell the judge not to be too hard on us, right? Lenient, as that nice judge always likes to say. And they’ll probably be happy that we didn’t kill anyone so they might just let us go and call it quits.”

“I don’t think they’ll do that, Johnny.”

“No, but maybe they will. That judge likes us—I could tell last time we were in court. He said to me, Johnny, he said, I like you, Johnny. I like your face, so I’m gonna be lenient, he said.”

“He didn’t say no such thing.”

“No, but he was thinking it. I could see it in his eyes.”

“Oh, Johnny,” said Jerry with a sigh, then finally shrugged and said, “You know what? I think you’re right, buddy. We can’t kill them so we just gotta let them go. It’s for the best.” And then he threw his gun to the floor. “I hate that I’m not a killer!”

But Johnny placed his large arm around his associate’s shoulder and said, “For what it’s worth, I like that you’re not a killer, Jer. And I’m sure Marlene likes it, too.”

Jerry looked up with a hopeful look.“You think so?”

“Oh, sure. In fact I think this whole episode might bring you and Marlene back together. When she hears what a good thing you did here today, I’m sure she’ll take you back in a heartbeat, Jer. And if she doesn’t, she’s a fool.”

“Don’t call my wife a fool, Johnny.”

“I’m sorry, Jer. I didn’t mean that.”

“I know you didn’t.”

And they both sighed with relief. They might be crooks, but they weren’t killers, and even though they’d miss a nice payday (not as nice as Johnny would have wanted) and would probably get into a heap of trouble with the law again, it was all for the best.

And just when Johnny was walking over to the little room to free their prisoners and give himself up, he saw that a very large number of turtles had managed to stick a plank into a hole in the wall of that little room, and were using it as a lever to make that wall crumble, just like the walls of Jericho that one time.

He watched the scene with surprise.“Way to go, little buddies!” he said. “Way to go!”

And since he didn’t want to spoil the fun, he stood back and watched things unfold.

Soon the wall did crumble, and the face of Grandma Muffin came peeping through the hole.

“Hey, Vesta,” he said good-naturedly. “Jerry and I have decided to let you go. We’re not cut out for this killing stuff. So what do you think?”

“I think that’s very smart of you, Johnny.”

“I knew you’d like it,” he said, well pleased, and proceeded to open the door.

Chapter 46

“Great plan, Max,” said Harriet. “Too bad those two crooks got cold feet and let everyone go.”

“Too bad? I think it’s great,” said Lil Ran. “Even though it will probably mean that my human will be in big trouble now.”

“Maybe it’s for the best,” said Fifi. “Your human will have time to think about the things he’s done when he’s in prison.”

“And those people who were after him won’t be able to get at him,” said Rufus.

I walked up to the little room now, and watched as Uncle Alec came walking out, followed by Chase and Gran. The only people who were still in there were Marge and Tex, and they didn’t seem to be interested in joining the others in their quest for freedom.

The turtles, on the other hand, had tasted freedom and were now redirecting their efforts towards the staircase, and moving up those stairs en masse. Soon they’d all be out in the street, and presumably start making their way back to the ocean, where they belonged. And a good thing, too, I thought.

But what was going on with Marge and Tex?

“You’re both under arrest,” said Uncle Alec as he patted his few stray wisps of hair, “for, um, robbing me of my freedom and, um…”

“It’s all right, Chief,” said Johnny. “I want you to arrest us, and I want you to tell the judge that we didn’t kill you when we had the chance.”

“Yeah, here’s that gun Randy got us,” said Jerry, and handed the thing over to Uncle Alec. “I’m very sorry but I couldn’t go through with it, Chief. I guess I’m not cut out for it.”

“I’m not cut out for it either,” said Johnny. “It’s just not something I see myself doing.”

“All right,” said Uncle Alec, looking a little surprised. “That’s really nice of you fellas. That you decided not to kill us, I mean. Very nice indeed.”

“I like you, Chief,” said Johnny. “You may be a cop and I may be a crook but that doesn’t mean I can’t like you, right?”