Convictions

What do you do when a convict comes calling?

Get him a pastrami sandwich and a beer. At least that's what Madelyn Shaffer did when Eddie Mello appeared at the door of her Manhattan apartment. To say that Madelyn was in shock was putting it mildly. She and Eddie had met through a newspaper ad, and in three years of enthusiastic correspondence, Eddie had never mentioned his upcoming release.

Madelyn didn't believe they'd ever meet. She didn't even think of him as flesh and blood. Now, as she watched him eat, two questions raced around her brain: What had he been convicted of? And, equally important, what would happen when he finished his lunch?