O'Shell, Maggie
Prisoner: Cell Block H #3: the Karen Travers story
Pinnacle Books, 1981. - 224 p.
ISBN: 0-523-41176-6
Paperback. Out of Print.

WHEN THE GATE SLAMS SHUT, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM.

'... a gritty and gripping dramatic series... lots of tension...and in very unHollywood fashion, realistic.' - Variety

DOUBLE MURDERESS
Sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of her two-timing husband, Karen Travers bears a greater guilt - the death of her unborn child... a burden that will crush her unless someone can save her.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT . . .

  Karen held the knife at arms length and let it guide her toward her target. Her eyes never wavered from the hypnotic gleam of her weapon. She walked to the shower and slid the glass door open. Drawing on some super-human strength, she gripped the handle of the knife with both of her hands and plunged it into Wayne's body. He screamed once, then slumped to the shower floor. Again and again, the sharp knife pierced his flesh. For Karen each time she thrust the blade into the body of the man whose evil had contaminated her, she felt she was taking a step out of the darkness and into the light.
  Then she began to hemorrhage - the blood from her womb mingling with the lifeblood of her victim. Still clutching the knife, she staggered into the cheerful, plant-filled kitchen in which she had once been so happy. Carefully, she washed the blood from the knife, dried it, and placed it on the table by the phone. Her movement were robot-like as she removed her wedding band, put it next to the knife, and called the police.
  When she replaced the receiver, she observed almost clinically, that her chair was soaked with blood. Only then did she begin to cry. "I have no child. I have killed twice in one day. Now I am completely alone in the world. No punishment can hurt as much as this pain. No punishment is great enough to atone for these sins..."