Eighty years ago it was passed – the Universal Justice Act.

If, within a defined statute of limitations the guilty party had not been found, then by lottery someone else must fulfill justice.

Mark Michaels did not rape and kill Julianne Simmons. But in 8 years the authorities hadnt found her killer, so Michaels was “drafted” to do the time. The gist was her family would have closure. Never mind that Michaels’ family would be devastated, at least the Simmons family could move on.

Mark absentmindedly scrolled through the news. Though text and images passed his gaze, he saw nothing.

The law gave him 90 days to get his affairs in order. Monetarily his family would not be affected as the government paid an equivalent stipend to cover the financial loss due to his absence. But that wouldnt matter to the other kids at Sissy and Sarah’s school.

For fifteen years.

Ninety days to get shit squared away.

They said prisons for proxies werent all that bad; but still, the stigma.

Ninety days.

Eight years no one had found the real perpetrator.

Why?

Jesus the technology these days and no killer?

Rape with no DNA? Really?

She had been dismembered and scattered across the old highway medians.

And no viable clues?

Really?

Fifteen years.

Ninety days.

Mark thought to himself: “I’ll find him and kill him just the same. What’s the worst that could happen? Sentence me to jail?”