In preparation for his break away, he casually mentioned that he was going upstate on a hiking trip for a couple weeks to give him some time to disappear. Then, to give greater credence to his story, he left at 10:00 in the morning dressed in jeans, hiking boots, a plaid flannel shirt, and a cargo vest. He was carrying an enormous backpack and as Garner got into a cab the security guard joked that he had gotten the whole apartment into the backpack. It wasn't as far off as the guard probably thought it was. Garner had put everything of value he could into the pack because he knew he would never return. The cab took Garner to Port Authority, but instead of taking a bus to upstate New York, he took the first bus heading west.
The escape bus took him to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. But Garner did not feel as though that were far enough away from New York City. So he grabbed the next bus heading west again and ended up in Gary, Indiana. This could be viewed as two moves by random chance. Or it could be viewed as being delivered into quietus by the hand of fate.
Gary was about half the size of San Antonio, but otherwise it appeared to be the perfect setting for a slip and fall. There was a branch of the University of Indiana. There was a large chain grocery store. And the people seemed friendly so he could begin developing character witnesses. Of course, he would have to get a job as a waiter instead of working construction. After a couple of years of easy living Garner had put on quite a bit of weight. And since he never exercised, he was soft and way out of shape.
He found great comfort in setting up another slip and fall. It was a routine he was comfortable with. And after the loss he suffered in New York, he needed to do something that would replenish his money in a safe and reliable manner. He could pull this off by the numbers, simply repeating a series of steps that he had gone through several times before. He didn't expect as big of a score as he had pulled off in San Antonio, but then he wasn't going to invest as much time either.
Over the next couple months, Garner found a good job as a waiter and enrolled in classes at the University. When things seemed to be well on course, he decided to begin checking out the large grocery stores in the area. So he went to the main Food Lion in downtown Gary.
The store was on the corner of a block that ended in a weird angle due to a throughway cutting diagonally across town. The inside of the store was also a little strange to accommodate this corner. You had to go down the notions aisle to get to the produce aisle. Garner also noticed that there didn't seem to be any ceiling mirrors. Maybe they didn't have any shoplifting in Gary. But that could be a problem because it wouldn't do to slip and fall if nobody saw it. It was the shock and emotion of the observers that really made and impression in court. So he would have to figure out how to handle that.
There was a pretty blond girl standing in front of the celery misting it with water to keep it fresh. She looked up at him and smiled pleasantly.
"Can I help you find something?" she asked.
He looked at her nametag. It said 'Connie Jean'. "How quaint," he thought to himself, but out load he said, "where can I find some fresh strawberries?"
"They're not in season right now," she replied sweetly. "But we do have some fresh raspberries." She pointed to a bin just a little down from where Garner was standing.
He did not want to draw attention to himself so he went down to the raspberry bin and picked up a small package of raspberries.
"I'll have to watch the newspapers," he thought to himself. "I'll wait until some small fruit or berries come in season and are advertised. That way I'll be sure that there are people in the produce aisle to witness my fall. They will just assume that some berries fell on the floor as the customers picked through them."
He felt good about his plan. He turned and walked briskly back towards the checkout aisles. But he never made it that far. As he walked in front of the celery bin, his feet flew out from under him and it felt like the floor had come up and hit him from behind.
Darkness reigned for a brief but indeterminate time. When he regained consciousness, there was a crowd of people around him. A woman was crying. He thought she might be the woman he had spoken to a few moments ago. And a man was trying to comfort her. "Why are you comforting her," Garner wondered. "I'm the one who got clobbered by the floor." He tried to lift his head but he was too woozy.
"Don't try to move," said one of the paramedics. "We don't know how bad you are hurt."
They put his neck in a brace and as they eased him on to a backboard a jolt of pain shot through his back. It was so intense that it made him see flashes of light.
In between spasms of pain, Garner reflected on the irony of the situation. "I could have spent months in preparation for this fall and couldn't have set it up any better. That woman with the spray bottle knows that she was at fault for the water on the floor. And the way the paramedics are handling me, they are really concerned that I am seriously hurt. True, my back really hurts, but I can feel my feet and hands so nothing too serious happened. I'll just exaggerate the back pain and jack up the settlement."
Garner relaxed on the backboard and let the paramedics do their work. Every time they moved him a little, he winced in pain. "I don't even have to fake the pain," he thought to himself. "It really is much easier this way."
Unfortunately, for Garner fate was not going to deliver this one into his hands quite so easily. As the paramedics lifted the stretcher, the man who had been comforting the produce clerk looked at Garner's face and said, "Hey, wait a minute. I know that guy."
"Shit," thought Garner. "This is all I need."