As Lee neared the couple, he stopped and winked. “How’s the newspaper business treatin’ ya these days, Mr. Murphy? Looks like you missed the photo op, too. It was quite a scene. You must be proud of the fact that you started all this. Too bad you couldn’t finish it.”
One of the men with Lee answered his phone and took a few steps back.
Cal glared at Lee. “I may not have been able to finish that story, but I’m gonna finish you. The focus of my story has shifted.”
“That’s funny. I haven’t read that story yet. From what I hear, you’re only good at cutting and pasting.” The man who’d answered his phone hung up and whispered something in Lee’s ear. His demeanor turned dour and he started walking away. But not before he turned around to add, “Good luck with that story, Cal. You’re going to need it if you think you can come after me. I thought you would’ve figured that out by now.”
Cal slammed his fist into the side of his car.
“Easy now, honey,” Kelly said. “Don’t let him get to you like that. He’s only goading you on.”
Cal had much more to say but he held his tongue. He turned to get into his car when his phone started buzzing. Kelly joined him inside as he answered the call.
“This is Cal Murphy.”
“Mr. Murphy, I wanted to call you and tell you that there’s been a terrible mistake. You led the FBI to the wrong criminal in the case of Emily Palmer.”
“Who is this?”
“It’s not important who I am, but what is important is what you do with this information. Keep digging on this case and don’t let the FBI put away the wrong person. Josh’s life is in your hands now.”
“How do you know—Hello? Are you still there?”
The line was dead.
“Who was that?” Kelly asked.
“They didn’t say and their number was blocked.”
“What did they want?”
“They wanted me to know that Josh Hood is innocent, something they said they know for a fact.”
“How is that possible?”
“I don’t know, but I’m starting to think I missed something. Buckle up. We’ve gotta catch that FBI entourage.”
CHAPTER 21
“WHERE ARE YOU GOING?” Kelly demanded. “You don’t know where they’re taking him. Besides, we’re already well behind them.”
“They’re headed for Lexington,” Cal said as he stomped on the gas pedal.
“Lexington? Why there?”
“It’s the closest city with a federal court. But we can’t let them get that far.”
“Why?”
“Because we need to talk to Josh Hood now.”
“How are we gonna do that?”
“Corliss promised me an interview with him.”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean before they had finished processing him.”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
Cal picked up his phone and called Corliss.
“Corliss.”
“Hey, Corliss. This is Cal Murphy. I was wondering if there’s any way I could talk to Josh Hood before you process him.”
“What? Are you kidding me?”
“No, I’m not. I got a cryptic call from a blocked number telling me that we got the wrong guy.”
“If there’s one thing I know it’s that DNA doesn’t lie. And his DNA was all over both crime scenes.”
“Well, what if it wasn’t?”
“Come again?”
“What if it was planted?”
“Cal, if it was planted, somebody went to great lengths to do it. We’ve also got witnesses who saw a spat between them and he took off after her.”
Cal took a deep breath. “Look, you can’t rule out that someone could have planted his DNA.”
“What are you? His defense attorney now?”
“No, it’s just that—it’s just that something doesn’t add up now.”
“Wait a minute. So you call me down here to arrest this kid to boost my career and now you think it’s all been staged or something? Do you realize what this will do to my career now?”
“Blame it on me—the plagiarizing journalist. I don’t care. But we can’t let that kid go to prison if he didn’t do it.”
“Well, I can’t break protocol and let you speak to a witness anyway. They’d have my badge and gun for that.” Corliss paused. “Hold on a second.” To the driver, “Why are we slowing down?”
Cal heard a faint voice in the background. “It looks like there’s some sort of wreck up ahead.”
“Cal, I’ve gotta go, but I promise you’ll get your interview. Just let me get him processed at court first, okay?”
“Fine. Call me when you’re ready. I’m following you there.”
Cal hung up and tossed his phone onto the console. “I can’t believe this.”
“No dice?” Kelly asked.
“Yeah, I just feel like everything is just so wrong—like we’ve been going about this the wrong way. Like this is what Wilfred Lee wanted all along. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“So what are we gonna do about it?”
“We’re gonna run ‘em down.”
***
FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, the traffic flow ground to a halt. Not that there were many cars on Highway 27. But the ones that were there, weren’t moving. Cal pulled off the side of the highway and stood on his hood to see if he could get a look at what was going on.
“Hand me your camera,” Cal said to Kelly.
She shoved her camera with the long-range lens attached up to him. “What’s happening?”
“It looks like there’s an overturned truck. And it’s a Lee Creek truck.” A pause. “Yep, there’s Sheriff Wilson running the show.”
“Is anything on fire?”
“Sorry, honey. There’s no fiery photo op, but feel free to venture toward the accident.”
She got out of the car and took her camera back. “What are you gonna do?”
He hopped down. “I’m gonna go talk to Josh Hood.”
After walking down the row of idling cars for several minutes, Cal found Corliss. It wasn’t difficult.
He tapped on the driver’s side window and Corliss rolled it down. “You guys should really consider getting some less conspicuous vehicles. Or you might as well put FBI on the side of them in flashing neon.”
Corliss rolled his eyes. “Man, you’re relentless. I know you’re looking for work, but do you have to stalk us? There are laws against that.”
“There are also laws against framing an innocent person.”
Corliss sighed. “Here we go again. Can’t you just be patient?”
“Yeah, but I don’t have the luxury of that right now. I need to get some answers and fast—so you don’t make a mistake.”
“That’s for the court system to handle and—”
“And you can save the court a lot of time if you just arrest the right guy. Come on, Corliss. Just let me have five minutes with him alone.”
Corliss shook his head. “You really think he’s gonna want to talk with you?” He climbed out of the Suburban and motioned for the agent in the driver’s seat to do the same. “You’ve got five minutes. Good luck.”
Cal opened the door to the backseat and jumped in.
“Hi, Josh. How ya doin’?”
Josh held up his hands, chained together with a pair of handcuffs. “You tell me.”
“Look, I’m sorry about how things went down but—”
Josh scoffed. “Sorry? You’re just sorry that I’m being unjustly hauled off to federal prison? Do you even realize what you’re saying?”
Cal rubbed his face with both his hands. “I know I’m probably the last person you want to talk to right now—”
“Right now? How about try ever?”
“Okay, I get it. I didn’t believe you. But now I do and—”
“What? Suddenly, you believe me after stalking me to the point that you called the FBI and got me into this situation? You’re crazier than you
look.”
“I’m serious, Josh. I know this sounds strange, but I might be your last chance to get out of this mess before someone ensures any lingering evidence that could exonerate you is gone forever.”
“What do you mean? You think I’m being framed?”
“Without a doubt.”
“I thought I was just being unjustly accused. Who would want to frame me?”
Cal paused. “I have no idea, but what I do know is that something isn’t adding up, particularly when it comes to your uncle.”
“He’s the only one fighting for me right now.” He waited a moment. “You really have no clue, do you? You’re just grasping at straws, trying to figure out some way to save your sorry so-called career after you got busted for plagiarism.”
Cal withdrew and stared at Josh. “How did you know about that?”
“I do my homework, too.”
“Well, I didn’t do it, if you care.”
“I don’t care—but it seems like we have something in common. And it seems like we’re both stuck.”
“I’m not,” Cal shot back. “Not yet anyway. I need your help if I’m going to solve this for both of us.”
Exasperated, Josh sighed. “Whatever, man. Just tell me what you want to know. Let’s just get this over with so you can get out of this car and out of my so-called life.”
“My first question would be who would want to hurt you? Any jealous teammates?”
Josh laughed. “They’re all jealous. They all wish they could do a windmill dunk and pick up all the ladies like I can, not to mention get a scholarship offer to Kentucky.”
Cal restrained himself from rolling his eyes. “So, who stands to benefit the most from your being gone?”
“Who cares who it would benefit? The real question is who killed Emily Palmer? Figure that out and you can free me.”
“That’s the question I tried to answer—and your name was the only one that kept coming up … along with all the evidence attached to you as well.”
“Look, I’ll level with you. I can see how everyone thinks I killed Emily Palmer. I’m not surprised how my DNA showed up on her.”
Cal’s eyebrows shot up. He pulled out his notepad and jotted down a few details. “Really?”
“Yeah, really. Is it that hard to imagine. We were upstairs and were fooling around. Things got hot and heavy—and she got a little scared. She told me to back off. I’m a gentleman so I did.”
“The coroner’s report suggests things went much further.”
“Well, I’m telling you right now that they didn’t.”
“Anything else happen that night?”
“I made a few crass jokes outside later and then she left. And that was it. I didn’t find out she was dead until the next day—just like everybody else.”
Cal scratched more notes on his pad. “But what about Billy Riggins? How do you explain that?”
“That, I cannot explain. Other than to say I was playing basketball out of town the night he was supposedly fishing in one of my uncle’s ponds and wound up dead.”
“The time of death isn’t exact, but it makes an allowance that you could’ve been back in time to kill him.”
Josh huffed. “You’ve seen me play, mister. Do I look like the kind of guy who has oodles of energy after a game? Do you think I’m going to go wrestle a guy as big as Billy Riggins and kill him after leaving everything I have on the court? Really?”
“So, who do you think would try to pin his murder on you? The same person who didn’t like Billy Riggins digging into Emily Palmer’s death?”
Josh shook his head. “But that just doesn’t make sense. If the killer thought I killed Emily Palmer and he was trying to get away with it, why wouldn’t he just let me hang for it? You need a new theory.”
Cal furrowed his brow. “Maybe the killer was afraid of something else Billy Riggins was about to uncover? I don’t know. I’m still mulling over everything.”
Corliss tapped on the window and pointed at his watch.
“I’ve gotta go, Josh. But I’m going to help you. I’m going to find out who’s behind all this.”
“Whatever, man. This is all your mess anyway. If you hadn’t started pokin’ your nose where it don’t belong, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”
Cal ignored the jab. “I’ve gotta go.”
Josh grabbed Cal. “What made you change your mind about me?”
“I started thinking it was all too easy—and then I got a phone call from some anonymous person telling me that you didn’t do it.”
Josh forced a smile. “Probably my mom.”
“Well, whoever it was, it was enough to convince me that I got everything wrong.”
“Do your best to make it right—my life is riding on it.”
Cal nodded and stepped out of the car. “Thanks, Corliss. I won’t forget this.”
“You better not. Now get outta here.”
Cal turned to walk back toward the car when he started to look for Kelly. He peered down the line of cars that stretched for about a quarter of a mile from the scene of the accident. It took a few moments before he spotted her lugging back her equipment in his direction. He waited for her.
“Get any good shots?” Cal asked.
“Not really. But I saw some strange things going on up there.”
Cal tilted his head. “What kind of things?”
“It was a Lee Creek truck overturned all right. And Sheriff Wilson was indeed running the show. But what was really strange was that he had two passengers in the back of his squad car. I asked one of the deputies who they were and he told me it wasn’t any of my business.”
They continued walking back toward their car. Cal turned around to notice one of the deputies pointing at them as he talked with Sheriff Wilson. Wilson pulled up on his belt and stormed toward his car.
“Did you take any pictures of the passengers? Could you tell who they were?”
“No. It appeared to be two women. The only thing I could see clearly was that they had blood on their faces. I got some shots of them and we’ll have to look when we get back on my computer and I can blow them up some.” She stopped. “But it all seemed very strange to me. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something wasn’t right.”
Cal looked down the highway to see the FBI entourage rolling in the opposite direction.
“What now?” he said as he watched them zip by. He pulled out his phone and called Corliss.
“What’s going on now?” Cal said as Corliss answered.
“Change of plans. We’re going to Bowling Green for a change of venue.”
CHAPTER 22
WILFRED LEE HUDDLED in his tree stand and soaked in a moment of solitude. It wasn’t the complete peace and quiet he craved. The pitter of raindrops on his camouflage slicker squelched that. But at least there were no nosy reporters or federal agents to deal with—or any of the other issues he loathed but tolerated as a CEO of a successful and powerful company. At least out here, nothing shot back.
Whenever light rain fell in the autumn, Lee cancelled all plans for the day and sought out his deer stand. Perched on a platform between a pair of pine trees, he did his most strategic thinking. It served as his mind palace where he could conjure up innovative ideas without much effort. His creativity vanished three weeks ago since he started rushing from one flaming issue to another and dousing them all. But he wasn’t interested in getting it all back just yet. Today, he needed time to mourn and reflect—and plan. He wanted to ensure that any smoldering flickers could not grow to engulf him.
Lee scanned the field for bucks as he remembered the day Josh Hood was born. His sister, Crystal, had called him and told him it was time. Her husband, Alton Hood, was serving on a tour with the Army Rangers in the Middle East. She didn’t even know she was pregnant when he deployed, a fact she couldn’t share with him during his nine-month dark ops mission. Instead of lament it, she asked her brother to fill in for him in the delivery room. And when the day
arrived for Crystal to give birth, Lee drove her to Lexington, where the best maternity ward in the state resided. He still recalled the event as if it were yesterday.
“Is it always this messy?” Lee asked the doctor.
The doctor laughed. “I thought I read that you grew up on a farm, Mr. Lee. Surely you’ve seen this kind of stuff before.”
Lee hustled to the trashcan and vomited. He cleaned his face with a wet rag and watched from afar as he cheered on his sister. In a matter of minutes, the panting, huffing, moaning, whining, and straining gave way to a cry and a chorus of cooing adults.
“Do you wanna cut the umbilical cord?” the doctor asked.
Lee nodded and snipped. A nurse swooped in to clean the baby and get an Apgar score. She bundled him up and handed him to Lee. The baby stopped crying for a moment and looked up at him with his crystal blue eyes.
“He’s perfect,” Lee said, pausing as he gazed at the newborn. “He looks like a Joshua to me. And he looks like he’s going to be a basketball star, too.”
The doctor snickered as he continued to work.
“What’s so funny, doc?” Lee asked.
“If I had a dollar for every time I heard a parent say that in the delivery room, I’d have retired a long time ago.”
“This is Kentucky.”
“Go Big Blue,” the doctor said.
Lee watched the water pool on the ground below as it became more saturated with each passing moment. He couldn’t believe that his sweet nephew was going to prison for murder—a murder he didn’t commit. But it was better than the alternative, at least to him. Nevertheless, he wasn’t going to stop pulling strings to get him out of prison, especially with such a big basketball game hanging in the balance. Miller County was scheduled to play Bowman Academy on an ESPN showcase game. And if Miller County was going to have a shot at winning the game, it needed Josh Hood on the court.
His phone buzzed and he answered it.
“Everything is in place. Time to make that call.”
Lee grunted in agreement. He dialed up the number of Gavin Atkinson, one of his fraternity brothers from Theta Chi at the University of Kentucky. Lee followed closely Atkinson’s career as a lawyer and later as a judge. Atkinson worked his way up to a magistrate judge on the federal level. For now, his post landed him in Bowling Green, though Lee knew his friend had greater aspirations.
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