Dead to Rights
Page 20
“I’m done with your questions,” Ray said. “Time to bury you in the swamp.”
Before Ray could move, the front door flew open and a team of Pickett County deputies swarmed into the room.
“Drop your gun, nice and easy,” Tillman said. “Your little charade is over, Devontae.”
Ray placed his gun on the floor and raised his hands in the air.
“Good luck in court,” Cal said before adding with a wink, “and thanks for the great story.”
CHAPTER 41
ON FRIDAY MORNING, Cal was barely awake when Maddie came bounding into his room. She jumped on top of him and begged him to play. Cal moaned for a moment before he stretched and got up. If it was up to him, he would’ve rather slept for another two hours, but he realized he couldn’t waste any opportunity to spend with his family, especially his sweet daughter.
He glanced next to him and realized Kelly was gone. Making his way into the living room with Maddie in tow, Cal savored the aroma of a freshly brewed cup of tea. Kelly, who was smiling in the kitchen, joined him, carrying a mug for him as well.
“I made you a cup,” she said. “It’s not sweet tea, of course, but it tastes almost as good.”
“Thanks,” Cal said, taking the cup from her hand.
After taking a few sips, he set the cup down on the coffee table in the center of the room and proceeded to play with Maddie. He started out with a game of “Ride a Little Pony” before branching off into his favorite derivative of the game, “Ride a Big Elephant,” which was a wild adventure through the jungle that ended with her swinging from vine to vine.
“Look, Mom,” she shouted. “I’m Tarzan.”
Kelly laughed and set a copy of the morning paper on the couch next to Cal before whisking Maddie into the air and spinning her around.
“I thought you might want to read that,” Kelly said.
Cal glanced down at the paper. The front page, above the fold, blared the headline Free at Last followed by the long subhead The curious tale of how Isaiah Drake went from beloved to hated to condemned to cleared—and how he plans to get his life back.
“Everything was stacked against him. I can’t believe the truth finally came out,” Cal said aloud, though Kelly didn’t hear him as she was preoccupied with Maddie.
He smiled as he watched the scene in front of him.
Cal’s phone then buzzed. It was Marsha Frost from The Innocence Alliance.
“Ms. Frost,” Cal began, “how are you this morning?”
“Honestly, Cal?” she said.
“I only deal in truth.”
“I’m crying my eyes out. Your article this morning was moving. What a story. I’m so glad I called you and asked for your help. We hardly had to do any work. You did all the heavy lifting.”
Cal chuckled. “Don’t make me out to be a hero. I just did my job. It’s what any tenacious journalist would’ve done.”
“Key word there is tenacious.”
“There are more of us there than you think, trust me.”
“Well, I wanted to make sure you knew I appreciated it. We can’t exactly take much credit for Isaiah Drake’s exoneration, but we don’t exactly do this for the glory or the acclaim.”
“You just do it because it’s right.”
“Yes—and thank you again.”
“Any time.”
Cal hung up and scanned the article. He enjoyed seeing his articles in print far more over seeing them on the Internet. There was just something about the printed word on physical paper that made whatever he wrote feel like a bigger deal than appearing on just a website.
He re-read the section about the Georgia Bar opening up an investigation into Hal Golden and Robert Sullivan.
Nobody got away with anything.
At the end of the story, he re-read the part about Drake starting the Susannah Sloan Foundation, a non-profit designed to provide scholarships and support for aspiring prosecutors.
Cal couldn’t help but smile: an innocent man was free because of him and a handful of guilty ones were behind bars.
He walked across the room and noticed a white envelope with his name scrawled across the front.
“What’s this, hun?” Cal asked.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you about that,” Kelly said. “It was stuck in the door when I woke up this morning to go get the paper.”
Cal opened the note and quickly broke into a wide grin.
Inside was Drake’s signed rookie card, a gift certificate, and a short note. It read:
Mr. Murphy,
I’ll never be able to thank you and your wife enough for the beautiful gift you’ve given me—the gift of a new start on life. I never thought much about life beyond football since that was taken away from me. And to be perfectly honest, I never thought much about my future at all since I didn’t think I’d have one.
While I have no idea what I’m going to do next, I know that I want to do it with the same passion and fervor that you do your job. Your article captured my struggle so perfectly. I wept as I read it, just like I have many times over the past few days. Take Kelly out to dinner and know that if you ever need my help with anything, I’ll be there for you.
Forever your friend,
Isaiah Drake #34
THE END
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS black and white, no matter what we think. As I was writing this story, I sought out the assistance of some great organizations like The Innocence Project, which The Innocence Alliance is patterned after in the book. I appreciate the help of Jack Shuler, a magnificent author in his own right, who also cares deeply about issues of injustice. (I encourage you to look into The Innocence Project and see what kind of fabulous work they are doing.)
I’d like to thank Krystal Wade, whose editing skills helped spiff up this story for you.
And Dan Pitts did another wonderful job in capturing the look and feel of Cuba for the cover.
And to you the reader—as always, thanks for reading!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JACK PATTERSON is an award-winning writer living in southeastern Idaho. He first began his illustrious writing career as a sports journalist, recording his exploits on the soccer fields in England as a young boy. Then when his father told him that people would pay him to watch sports if he would write about what he saw, he went all in. He landed his first writing job at age 15 as a sports writer for a daily newspaper in Orangeburg, S.C. He later attended earned a degree in newspaper journalism from the University of Georgia, where he took a job covering high school sports for the award-winning Athens Banner-Herald and Daily News.
He later became the sports editor of The Valdosta Daily Times before working in the magazine world as an editor and freelance journalist. He has won numerous writing awards, including a national award for his investigative reporting on a sordid tale surrounding an NCAA investigation over the University of Georgia football program.
Jack enjoys the great outdoors of the Northwest while living there with his wife and three children. He still follows sports closely.
He also loves connecting with readers and would love to hear from you. To stay updated about future projects, connect with him over Facebook or on the interwebs at www.IamJackPatterson.com and sign up here for his newsletter to get deals and updates.
DEAD TO RIGHTS
© Copyright 2016 Jack Patterson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are prod
ucts of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-938848-89-6
First eBook Edition 2016
Cover Design by Dan Pitts
Published in the United States of America
Green E-Books
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Boise, ID 83714