Accused

by Mark Gimenez

  "Thank you, Senator."

  "Thank you, Scott. For my daughter."

  "Senator, may I ask you something?"

  "Shoot."

  "Do federal judges get the same health care coverage as senators?"

  "The best. A perk of political office."

  "Is there dental coverage?"

  "Absolutely. And don't worry, only thing Democrats and Republicans agreed on when we passed the national health care bill was to exempt ourselves. We're not gonna ration our own care."

  "Just the taxpayers'."

  "Exactly."

  Scott ended the call and thought, braces for Pajamae. The girls were still on the beach. Rebecca stood alone, watching them. Scott walked over.

  "Was he here about me?" Rebecca asked.

  "The D.A.? No. You don't have to worry, Rebecca. The jury acquitted you—you're free. Like I said, the government can't try you twice for the same crime. But still, you might want to move, start over fresh somewhere else."

  She nodded. "Maybe I will."

  Scott called the girls over then said to Rebecca, "I'm going to be a judge."

  "Oh, Scott, that's wonderful." She hugged him. "You'll be a great judge."

  Scott took her hand and squeezed it around the cash.

  "Take it. You can stay here till the end of the month, it's paid up. Good luck, Rebecca."

  "This time," Rebecca said, "you're leaving me."

  Tears came into her green eyes. Scott brushed her red hair off her face and kissed her on the forehead. He then wrapped his arms around this woman he had loved and wanted the last thirteen years of his life. He held her for the last time.

  Boo Fenney walked over to her mother—the mother who had run off with a golf pro, used cocaine, traded sex for drugs, and been tried for murder—all before Boo's twelfth birthday. Her mother was guilty of a lot of things, but at least she was innocent of murdering her boyfriend. So she wasn't going to that prison.

  But she wasn't going home with them either. How could she? Everyone in Highland Park would know everything her mother had done. How embarrassing would that be? How could Mother go on their field trips now? How many girls would tease her now? How many boys would Boo have to beat up? How many times would she have to tell the principal to "Call my lawyer?"

  Oh, well, sixth grade would give her the opportunity to develop her uppercut.

  They had a good family now, the three of them—an odd family in Highland Park, but a good family for them. They had a simple life, and mother was a complicated woman. A mother Boo would never understand.

  So while Boo would always love her mother, she did not want Rebecca Fenney to be her mother. Most kids don't get to choose their parents; they were stuck with what they got. But Boo had a choice, and she had made it. It wasn't an easy decision to say goodbye, but she knew it was best for both of them. For all of them.

  She hugged her one last time and said, "I love you, Mother."

  "I'll always love you, Boo."

  "I know."

  Boo got into the back seat of the Jetta with Pajamae and Maria. When they returned to Dallas, she would get A. Scott to ask Ms. Dawson out. She and Pajamae were at that age, when girls needed a mother. A good mother.

  Scott Fenney had not failed Rebecca Fenney—as a lawyer or as a man. He understood that now. He no longer blamed himself. He had finally emerged from the final stage of wife desertion. He was over his past. Including Rebecca.

  "Goodbye, Rebecca. And good luck."

  "I'm a survivor. Don't worry about me. Just take care of Boo."

  "Always."

  Louis and Carlos drove off in the black Dodge Charger, followed by Bobby and Karen and the baby in the Prius. Scott got into the Jetta, started the engine, and drove slowly down the street, staring at Rebecca in the rearview. Boo waved at her through tears and the back window. Rebecca waved back. She was leaning against the red Corvette. The morning sun caught her red hair, and she glowed. Scott wanted to remember her just that way. Twenty-three months and twenty-nine days after his wife had left him, he was now leaving his wife.

  Ex-wife.

  EPILOGUE

  The red Corvette convertible exited Interstate 10 and drove into Loretta, Louisiana, population one hundred seven, give or take. This was bayou country, the backwater where people lived their entire lives without ever leaving Beauregard Parish. Where the residents were happy to be isolated from the outside world. Where modern conveniences were unknown. Where there's no cable TV because the few dozen mobile homes and single-family homes don't constitute a sizeable enough market for the cable companies to incur the expense of laying lines the one-hundred-twenty-seven miles from Lake Charles, the nearest big city. Where the information superhighway bypassed these people like the railroads bypassed two-bit cowtowns back in the 1800s.

  In Loretta, Louisiana, the "Net" is something you catch crawfish in.

  The beautiful woman driving the red sports car wore dark sunglasses, a black funeral dress, black heels, black gloves, a black wig and a black scarf tied beneath her chin. The low-slung car kicked up a cloud of dust as she drove down Main Street past old black men sitting in folding chairs out front of shuttered storefronts and spitting tobacco juice into Coca-Cola bottles; they perked up at the sight of a glamorous woman in their quiet town. She parked in front of the Loretta State Bank & Trust, the only banking institution in town. It was a family-owned bank that remained open only to provide jobs for the family, a small-town bank where a safe deposit box could be secured for a nominal fee with few questions asked. She got out with a large black satchel and walked inside through the front door past an old black security guard who tipped his hat to her.

  "Afternoon, ma'am."

  She did not remove her sunglasses. She went directly to the vault entrance manned by another old black security guard and signed in. The guard craned his neck to read her entry through his bifocals then pushed himself out of his chair with great effort and said, "This way, Miz Rawlins." He led her into the vault.

  "Box 8," he said. "One of the big ones."

  The guard found the box and inserted his master key and turned it. She inserted her box key and turned it. The lock released. The guard removed the oversized box and strained to heft it.

  "Must've got gold bricks in here."

  He led her to a private room inside the secure confines of the vault. He placed the box on the table with a heavy thud then left her alone, shutting the door behind him. She removed her sunglasses and lifted the top of the box open. The inside was filled not with gold bricks but with neat stacks of $100 bills. Three million dollars. She was thirty-five years old, and she would never again be dependent on a man.

  Two days later, Rebecca Fenney stood wearing sunglasses and a black bikini on the flybridge of her fifty-six-foot Riva Sport Yacht, one hand on the wheel, the other on the throttle opened wide, her red hair whipping in the wind, as the sleek craft cut through the waters of the Gulf of Mexico heading south to Cancún.

  She loved this boat.

  She glanced down at the photo attached to the dash, of her and Trey in happier times, in Hawaii earlier that year when she was still the love of his life. In every woman's life, there's always another woman. First a prostitute in Dallas and then a teenager in Galveston. She sighed.

  "You put me in your will then two weeks later you fall in love with Billie Jean Puckett?" She shook her head. "My dearest Trey … Did you really think I was going to let you leave me for a teenager?"

  "Innocence is the absence of guilt," the judge had instructed the jury. And the jury had found her innocent. Absent of guilt. And she was—entirely absent of guilt. She felt no guilt at all. Because a woman's life is not lived in a man's world of truth or lie, right or wrong, black or white; a woman's life is lived in shades of gray. Rebecca Fenney had simply done what she had to do to survive in a man's world, what any woman would have done. Sometimes a woman must take matters into her own hands.

  Or a knife.

  BOOKS BY MARK GIMENEZ
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  Available now in e-book:

  The Color of Law

  The Abduction

  The Perk

  The Common Lawyer

  Accused

  Available in e-book on December 1, 2011:

  The Governor's Wife

  And Mark's first children's book,

  Parts & Labor: Book One of the Adventures of Max Dugan

  Praise for Mark's books

  THE COLOR OF LAW

  No. 6, Sunday Times paperback list (UK)

  No. 28, New York Times hardback list

  Amazon's Top 10 Mystery & Thriller List, 2005

  Finalist, 2005 Thriller Award for Best First Novel

  Finalist, 2005 Gumshoe Award for Best First Novel

  Alan Cheuse's (NPR/All Things Considered) 2005 Holiday Booklist.

  Top 10 of 2006, CrimeSquad.com (UK)

  "First novelist Gimenez draws on his experience as an attorney in this taut legal thriller that echoes To Kill a Mockingbird. With fast-paced and edgy prose, dramatic tête-à-têtes between attorneys, and an explosive courtroom conclusion, Gimenez effectively weaves elements of race, class, and justice into a story of a lawyer who rediscovers the difference between doing good and doing well."

  - Library Journal (starred review)

  "Gimenez delivers an authentically creepy debut novel. A big part of this thriller's appeal is its moral backbone… . This is a well-calibrated contemporary morality play, set in get-rich-quick Dallas, with tours of country clubs and gated communities, and knowledgeable forays into Darwinian legal tactics. Gimenez also gives us a hateful character who becomes more sympathetic the more he fails. Fast-paced and thought-provoking fare."

  - Booklist (starred review)

  "The Color of Law is an unbeatable legal thriller with a lot of heart."

  - Texas Monthly

  "Gimenez makes his debut with a legal thriller based in Big D that will keep you on the edge of your seat… . 'The Color of Law' is full of twists and turns into the dark side of human nature with a final courtroom scene straight from 'To Kill a Mockingbird.' "

  - San Antonio Express-News

  "American lawyers, more accustomed to speaking the language of their people, are much better at [writing legal thrillers]. Scott Turow and John Grisham are the best known, but there are many others. I recommend The Colour of Law by Mark Gimenez, one of the most promising American lawyer-writers I’ve read recently. It's a Grisham-like novel about a slick, successful, ambitious Dallas corporate lawyer whose life changes when he has to defend a black prostitute accused of murder."

  – The Guardian (UK)

  " 'The Colour of Law' by Mark Gimenez is a compulsive read that owes its heart, soul and passion to Harper Lee's 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. In this fast-paced debut, Gimenez sinks his teeth into the manicured and corrupt world of lawyered, high-society Dallas in all its ostentatious glory: golf club memberships, fancy houses, fast cars, sleek wives and the all-encompassing reach of cold, hard power. In A. Scott Fenney—a young, rich and ruthless corporate lawyer at one of Dallas's most prestigious firms who glibly practises 'aggressive and creative' law for his high-paying clients—will the world find a hero or a patsy? Only a case involving a poor, black, drug-addicted prostitute and a dead white senator's son will tell. Warning: you can lose an entire lazy Sunday to this one.

  – Time Out London

  "New author and former lawyer Mark Gimenez, a Texan, has written a riveting story about the corruption of the law… . Gimenez matches up to biggies like John Grisham and Scott Turow, with a thrilling tale of how the law actually works."

  – Calgary Sun

  "This is a powerful courtroom thriller set in Dallas and featuring an engaging hero in the form of hotshot corporate lawyer turned defence attorney, Scott Fenney. Gimenez is a gifted plotter and the story winds its way through some good twists before arriving at a startling conclusion. Along the way, Gimenez also makes some points about wealth, social responsibility and race relations in America."

  – Canberra Times

  "A little To Kill a Mockingbird with some Law & Order thrown in, Color is a page-turner, and Gimenez—a real-life attorney-turned-author—seems to warrant his billing as 'the next John Grisham.' "

  - Houston Press

  "At least once a year a new legal thriller hits the shelves, hyped to the stars, with promises that the author will be 'the next John Grisham.' Usually, the fanfare is wasted, the hype is a lie and the promises fall flat because the book isn't very good. Not so with Mark Gimenez' compelling debut, The Color of Law."

  - Chicago Sun-Times

  "The plot setup is as convoluted and intricate as anything in recent memory, an inverted morality tale that equals some of the best work of legal thriller writers Scott Turow, Lisa Scottoline or John Grisham."

  - BookPage

  "Gimenez's stunning debut is easily one of the most provocative legal thrillers to come along in awhile… . This is a must read, inspiring and delicious."

  - New Mystery Reader Magazine

  " 'The Color of Law' is more than just a highly readable legal thriller. It's also a blistering attack on both the legal profession and super-rich Texans in Dallas … It's a tasty plot—big money, political intrigue, sexy wives, precocious little girls—but the novel would be a lot less fun without Gimenez's scathing portrait of the city and its most powerful citizens."

  - Washington Post

  "This debut novel takes the best from Grisham, Meltzer, et al – and adds yet more to make this one of the best legal thrillers I have read for some time."

  – CrimeSquad.com

  "Gimenez maintains a rhythm that keeps pages turning long past bedtime."

  - Austin American-Statesman

  "The book starts fast and never slows down."

  - Houston Chronicle

  "Gimenez's debut has plenty of twists and flashes of humor. A promising, distinctive new voice."

  - Kirkus Reviews

  "Gimenez does a fine job with the plot; lots of twists and the courtroom scenes are great."

  - Globe and Mail

  THE ABDUCTION

  Best-seller lists

  No. 6, Australia

  No. 8, Ireland

  No. 14, UK hardback

  "A cracking read."

  - The Times (UK)

  "Pulse-pounding narrative."

  – Booklist

  "Gimenez has written a startling, multilayered thriller in which complex characters and a fast-moving plot grab the reader immediately. Smart dialog and a spunky Gracie, who never loses her cool, make for a memorable read that twists and turns until the final, cinematic conclusion."

  - Library Journal (starred review)

  "The Abduction was the best suspense/thriller book that I read in 2007. I repeatedly recommended it to friends. Each person who I shared it with wrote or called after reading it to tell me how they too were talking it up to others as their favorite book of the year. It has a great plot, strong characters, and a story that never lacks for action."

  – Carol Fitzgerald, Bookreporter.com

  "After the stunning success of a first novel, there's always the question if the author can do it again with the second and, fortunately, in this case, Gimenez not only surpasses his own preliminary standards of excellence, but those of the entire genre. Not only does he offer up an adventurous plot that races forward at a breakneck speed filled with a cast of multi-faceted and poignantly drawn characters, but he also puts forth some concepts and questions that provoke and compel the reader's consideration long after the last page is turned… . But perhaps most notable of all might just be this book's ability to elicit just about every emotional response possible from the reader. Whether it's laughter or tears, dread or anticipation, be prepared to feel something while reading this glorious adventure that only seems to gain momentum with every page… . Ultimately, a forceful, exhilarating, and effervescent read of faith and redemption, loyalty and love, truth and purpose, and one that unreservedly qualifies as one
of the best to come along this year."

  - New Mystery Reader Magazine

  "Caution: don't start this book unless you have time to finish it—I could not put it down. After his excellent debut, The Color of Law, Gimenez just knocks it out of the park with his sophomore effort… . These characters are so well drawn that it becomes incredibly easy to suspend your disbelief and get completely caught up in the story. I loved the tough-as-a-tiger mom, and the special bond between Gracie and her retired Green Beret grandfather was especially touching, all of which helped ratchet up the suspense even more. The Abduction is one of the best thrillers of the year."

  - The BookBitch

  "THE ABDUCTION is much more than a scaled-down version of Commando, however. While stuffed to its considerable brim in action, it is as much about relationships as strategy. Gimenez skillfully weaves the narrative while creating a tantalizing mystery—the 'why' of Gracie's abduction—that will keep you guessing until almost the very end. There are secrets and excitement and just about everything you would ever want from a reading experience."

  - Bookreporter.com

  "There are times when life gets so overwhelming that even a good book can't keep your mind from wandering. That's when you need a super-riveting read like this to take you away. It's a tale with a normally hard-to-take premise—child abduction. But in the hands of bestselling author Mark Gimenez, it becomes a tale of humanity, heroism, and hope, with complex characters who jump off the page. Boy can this guy tell a story!"

  - Book-of-the-Month club

  "Gimenez not only gives readers crackerjack plotting, captivating style and adrenalin-laced pacing, he injects deep insight into all his characters, from shattered father John, to his tightly controlled wife Elizabeth—and how Gracie's kidnapping forever changes their lives. The story, however, really belongs to Ben Brice, whose search for redemption propels this gripping and emotionally complex thriller to a surprising and thoroughly satisfying conclusion. If there's one thriller you read this fall, make it The Abduction—it's impossible to put down."