by Roger Bray
Felix Cord beamed at them. As the lowest ranking member of what remained of Alex’s legal team, he had been given the task of meeting up with Alice and Steve. When they had rung three days earlier to get an appointment they had been stonewalled by the secretary who had bounced the call around a few times before it had arrived at Cord’s phone. He was going to give Alice the brush off and was skeptical that she had anything that she could tell him that could make any difference.
Cord had been prepared to listen Alice out and then let her down gently as he explained the law and judicial procedure to her yet again. This time, though, he would try to make it plain to her in the friendliest way that he could, that her brother’s goose was well and truly cooked and she needed to stop wasting her, and more importantly, their time on it.
What he wasn’t prepared for was Alice marching into his office with Steve following on behind. Or for her to dump a load of new evidence on his desk. New evidence that not only cast grave doubts on the DA’s case but had a great chance of overturning it.
While they had waited for it to get to the Judge Steve had gone up to Rowe’s house and deposed him, he wanted to get his full statement down in writing so he couldn’t change his mind when the DA’s investigators asked and maybe put pressure on him. He wanted to video tape him as well. Together with the security recording of the night it left no doubt that Hazel had safely left Alex as he had said. While he was there, he asked Rowe if he could check his garage for the phantom bike that may or not be there.
As Rowe had told them the only bicycle in the garage was a ten-thousand-dollar, custom made Sarto Davanti with skinny road tires nothing like what they had hoped to find.
*****
Fumbling as he tried to put the USB flash drive of Rowe’s security video into the port on his computer, Cord read Rowe’s statement while getting the video to start on his laptop. Fast forwarding to specific times enough to satisfy himself that what they were saying was true, he made a couple of notes a couple of times from the stamp running along the bottom. He especially noted the times that Hazel left the house, returned, and left again.
He was shaking his head while he read Ron Balfour’s statement and by the time he got to Phil’s report on Hazel’s car, he was almost smiling again.
*****
They had waited two days for Phil’s phone call. Every time Steve’s cell phone rang, Alice would jump nervously until the nature of the call became clear. At last though, he got the call they were waiting for.
It was early, and they were still in bed, but as he answered the call he stood as he listened, so he could pace or get to a pen and notepad if needed. Understanding how anxious Alice was feeling, he turned to face her and gave a quick, reassuring smile as he silently mouthed, “Phil” to her and gave her a thumbs up sign with his spare hand.
Was it good news or bad news? Or was it nothing new? Was the information that Phil was giving them the same information they already had?
Steve infuriatingly didn’t let on. He was listening intently and nodding his head. After a few minutes the call finished.
“Thanks, man, I owe you another boozy weekend,” before he laughed, and hung up with a cheery, “Fine, sure. As soon as this is done.”
He turned to Alice who was chewing on her lip so hard that he thought that she might actually chew through it.
“What was in the bag that leaked?” he asked.
“Meat, for a BBQ we were having at Alex and Hazel’s house.”
“Specifically?”
“Some chicken, but mainly steaks.”
“Phil took six samples of carpet in and around the area, plus a couple of control samples from other places. The control samples came back negative for anything untoward. Three of the samples from the right area came back negative for any sort of blood. One was inconclusive.”
“And the last two?”
“Bovine.”
“Bovine? Cow, so steaks?”
He nodded, “Absolutely, one-hundred percent positive for bovine blood.”
She shouted out and threw her arms, quickly followed by her legs around him, losing his balance, he staggered back a few steps, dropping his phone on the way but made it to the bed before he fell backward with Alice on top of him.
Looking down at him, Alice shook her head, “How did the DA mess that up so badly?”
“In fairness, it wasn’t the DA, it was the forensic examination. The DA can only go on what the report said.”
“But the report wasn’t able to differentiate between human and bovine blood.”
Steve shook his head.
“So, how did they mess it up so badly?”
“Again, in fairness, I’m not sure that they did. According to Phil, the science of blood recognition has come a long way in the last few years and these guys in Germany are leading the research. While a few years ago it was almost impossible to differentiate a damaged sample like that, nowadays they can. And did.”
“Bloody brilliant,” she muttered.
It was still dark outside but if Steve had any ideas of catching another hour or so sleep, Alice had other ideas. She was too excited and hyped up to sleep and it was too early for breakfast. She could only think of one thing they could do to pass the time until dawn. It was going to be a busy day and anyway, she had three years of celibacy to get out of her system.
*****
Cord flicked through the laboratory report emailed through, in English, from Darmstadt.
“And this is a credible laboratory?”
“The best, leaders in the field.” Steve assured him.
“Shit,” Cord muttered, shaking his head again as he kept reading. But the smile on his face was starting to settle in.
They left the office two hours later after Cord had read the reports and statements three or four times each and forwarded and reversed the video to double check what he was seeing.
“Do you think there’s enough?” Alice asked as they were leaving.
“To get Alex out of jail?”
“Yes.”
“I would like to think so, but it will depend on what Judge Prindle thinks of it all and what Ted Scott, the DA, will have to say about it all. There are a couple of small areas of concern but, on face value, I would find this evidence as quite compelling. Enough to get Alex out? Let me work through this again with the whole team and see where it gets us. It will take us a few days to assess it all and then get a hearing organized. That will depend on the court’s schedule, but I think Judge Prindle will push this onto his list when he realizes the depth of the evidence. I’ll contact you by Friday at latest.”
“Friday? But I thought …”
Steve took her arm gently and led her toward the door.
“Come on, let’s leave Felix to work through this.”
“But …”
“Better to get it right this time. Another week isn’t going to make much difference to Alex is it?”
She nodded, a little upset that they weren’t able to rush to the court house that afternoon, but agreed that after three years, another week wasn’t the end of the world.
*****
True to his word Felix Cord had mustered the resources and the partners of the law firm. Reluctantly they had agreed to review the evidence. A few raised eyebrows and rolled eyes gave an indication of the strength of the evidence that they expected to see. But, as Cord’s had, when they read through the new statements and reports, reviewed the video, they were astounded at the significance of what they were seeing.
By Thursday afternoon, the senior partner had nominated himself to go to the Lane County Circuit Court House on East 8th Avenue to make urgent representation to Justice Prindle’s clerk for an urgent hearing into the matter of Alex Reed.
The clerk looked through the judge’s schedule, flicking through the pages until four weeks would have passed before they got a date. The senior partner tried to cajole, threaten and considered trying to bribe the clerk before, as he was prepared to start banging on
the counter, Judge Prindle appeared through a rear door.
“Bob,” the judge greeted his old friend.
“Judge.”
“Why are you causing a raucous in my court house?”
“Your Honor, I need an urgent hearing in the matter of Alex Reed.”
“Reed. I thought that his appeals were all done?”
“They are.”
“And?”
“New evidence, Your Honor.”
“New, or bending the old stuff again?”
The senior partner laughed, “New. Hot off the press new.”
“Compelling?”
“Extremely so, Your Honor.”
Prindle stood for a moment before asking his clerk.
“How’s the list?”
“Pretty full, Your Honor, I can see a clear spot in your docket in a few weeks and...”
“What about Monday morning next week?”
“That was your golf day, Your Honor.”
“Cancel it and get the Reed matter listed. Tell the DA. Have you spoken to Ted yet?”
“Not yet, I was waiting for a date before dropping the evidence off to him and having a talk.”
Judge Prindle nodded, “Monday, 10.00 a.m. sharp. And you had better not be yanking my chain on this one, Bob.”
Bob Tompkins laughed, “The only chain that will be getting pulled on this is the DA’s toilet when he has finished on it.”
*****
Except for the occasional sound of Judge Prindle turning a page of the file in front of him or scratching with a pencil on a notepad next to him, the court room was silent. Alice and Steve sat immediately behind Bob Tompkins and Felix Cord.
Alice was holding Steve’s hand so tightly that he was starting to think that the nail impressions she was leaving might become permanent. They were the least of his worries; the circulation to his pinky and ring fingers was becoming seriously compromised as well, and he had lost all feeling in the outer digit. He suspected that gangrene might set in if the judge didn’t say or do anything fairly soon.
Judge Prindle finally stopped reading. He had watched the video as well and made copious notes while doing so, which he compared backward and forward with the statements of Nicolas Rowe and Ron Balfour. Finally, he put his pencil down and looked over to his silent audience.
“Mr. Tompkins, I have reviewed this new evidence that you have put before the court and I must say I find it compelling. Is there anything else you wish to add in addition to what you have already presented?”
Bob Tompkins stood up and shrugged his shoulders.
“Judge, I think that the evidence plainly speaks for itself. It’s so blatant that this stark evidence of Mr. Reed’s innocence not only meets the rigorous standard of proof that we can present for a writ of actual innocence, but indeed far surpasses it. I cannot think of a case where the reversal of the prosecution’s case has been so profound or complete.”
Judge Prindle nodded and turned his head to the prosecution table.
“Do you have anything else to add, Ted?” he asked the DA.
Ted Scott had had all weekend to consider his answer and the course that he might take in this matter. He was going to send an assistant to this hearing, but he had prosecuted it originally so has been stand-up enough to take the fall now. The original case had been flimsy, and he was not alone in his surprise when it had succeeded. Had this new evidence been gathered prior to the original trial, he would not have even tried it. He had considered that proof of Alex’s guilt then was slim, now it was non-existent.
Even Ron Balfour’s statement mocked him. They had made the decision, the correct decision at the time he thought, to exclude it as there was no corroboration for it. It would have blown his timeline out, but he didn’t think he’d been wrong. Now he knew he had been.
Scott shuffled his paperwork while he considered, as he had done all weekend, exactly what to say. In the end he decided to be succinct.
“No, Your Honor, the DA’s office has nothing to add to the defense’s submission.”
Judge Prindle looked over his glasses at the DA and asked, “What are the prospects of the DA’s office wanting a new trial for Mr. Reed in this matter?”
Scott stopped shuffling his papers and looked up straight at the judge, “None whatsoever, Judge.”
Prindle looked around the room.
“In that case, I so order that the conviction against Mr. Reed be vacated. On the basis of this new evidence, I find the DA’s case to be unfounded. I find in favor of Mr. Reed and order him to be released.”
With a bang of his gavel and to Steve’s relief Alice let go of his now white and bloodless hand. She jumped to her feet with a scream of joy before turning back and kissing Steve who was standing as well clenching his fists and with a broad grin on his face.
Alice leaned over the barrier and hugged Felix Cord and then Bob Tompkins before Judge Prindle interrupted the celebrations.
“Miss Reed I will have my clerk get the paperwork done as soon as possible and have it faxed to the state penitentiary, I will get him to ring them to let them know when he is sending it. I imagine that it will take about ninety minutes so will that give you enough time to get up to the prison and give your brother the news?”
Alice nodded, lost for words for a moment before saying, “Oh, Judge, thank you, thank you.”
“Don’t thank me Miss. Reed. The thanks are to you for your determination in this case. Justice has finally prevailed, and I’m glad for that.”
Alice nodded and smiled before leaving the Courtroom with Steve.
*****
They were about halfway to Salem on the i5 when Alice realized that she had talked without letting Steve get a word in. She reached across and put her hand on his thigh, slowly rubbing her hand up and down.
“You know I owe you lots for this,” she said moving her hand further up.
“You owe me nothing, but if that hand of yours keeps moving, we may never get to Salem and might find ourselves crashed into a ditch instead.”
She smiled coyly but removed her hand and continued talking for the rest of the trip, about Alex and how they would celebrate his release. Now he had is life back, what they could do together. Getting the business back on track.
The one thing that they didn’t mention, though even in their excitement they hadn’t forgotten, was Hazel.
Chapter Twenty
The single knock on the door told her that he was there and was coming in. Thirty seconds was all she had. The mask was on the floor next to her and she put it around her face, covering her eyes as she had been told. Fastening it around the back of her head she turned with her back to the door and waited.
The door opened almost silently but the cool draft told her that he had entered the room.
“That’s good, Hazel. I’m glad to see that you have obeyed my instructions.”
She shivered without realizing, not from the cold but from his presence. She could feel him standing close behind her.
“And you managed to shower as well, keeping clean is so important isn’t it. We wouldn’t want you to get ill or anything would we?”
He stood behind her and brushed his fingers through her hair, rubbing it gently as he spoke, “Your hair is so lovely.”
She could feel the fingers rubbing harder and she suspected what might be coming next, that his hands would wander to her front, pushing up under her clothes again.
“Don’t forget you need me, Hazel, we are together here, you and I. We are in this together. You need me to look after you.”
The mask was firmly in place, but she felt a rush of anger and began to spin around to face him. His fingers were pulled away from where they had been toying with her hair as she did.
“Looking after me, is that what you call this? You fucking weirdo, this is called kidnapping not looking after.”
She could say no more, the slap across her face came quickly and rocked her head back. Her mouth opened in surprise as he punched her in
the stomach. The blow was below her rib cage and forced her breath out, leaving her winded. She doubled over in pain while trying to back away from him.
Instead, his strong hands grabbed her and spun her around until her elbows were pulled behind her and she was propelled like on the first night. This time there was no pretense at gentleness. She was pushed hard toward the bed until her legs hit the edge and she toppled forward. He pushed and turned her as she fell until her face was buried in the pillow. Hazel tried to turn onto her side and pull her legs up to relieve her breathlessness and pull away from him. She was still trying to protect herself, with no plan except to get away from him as best she could but she was roughly pulled by the feet until she was lying face down on the bed.
The ripping sound of Velcro being separated was distinctive, and she knew what was coming as first one then the other of her wrists were bound to the metal frame of the bed head.
“I had hoped that you wouldn’t fight me, Hazel,” the electronic voice said. “I had hoped that you would understand and learn to trust me, Hazel. I don’t want to hurt you, Hazel, at all, but if you fight me, that’s what will happen. I thought you understood.”
Before she could answer, the next blow struck her on the back of the head, stunning her and pushing her face further into the pillow. Then another blow and another, into the back of her head, neck, and upper back. She turned her head toward the wall and the next blow was to the side of her face, she turned the other way and only succeeded in being struck again. She buried her bleeding face into the pillow and tried to turn her body, twisting around, but the strength was leaving her. The more she struggled the more she was struck. Her ankles were grasped and her legs were straightened until her feet were at end of the bed and she was lying spread-eagled on her face. He sat across the small of her back pining her down as more blows metered out the lesson he wanted her to learn.
“You’re lucky that the mask did not come off, Hazel.”
