CHAPTER 4
The investigator trailed Joey Gamble for three days before he made contact. Gamble wasn't hiding, nor was he hard to find. He was an assistant manager at a mammoth auto parts discount warehouse in the Houston suburb of Mission Bend, his third job in the past four years. He had one divorce under his belt and perhaps another on the way. He and his second wife were not living together and had retreated to neutral corners where the lawyers were waiting. There wasn't much to fight over, at least not in assets. There was one child, a little boy with autism, and neither parent truly wanted custody. So they fought anyway.
The file on Gamble was as old as the case itself, and the investigator knew it by heart. After high school, the kid played one year of football at a junior college, then dropped out. He hung around Slone for a few years working at various jobs and spending most of his spare time in the gym, where he ate steroids and built himself into a hulking specimen. He boasted of becoming a professional bodybuilder, but eventually grew tired of the work. He married a local girl, divorced her, moved to Dallas, and then drifted to Houston. According to the high school yearbook, Class of 1999, he planned to own a cattle ranch if the NFL thing didn't work out.
It did not, nor did the ranch, and Joey was holding a clipboard and frowning at a display of windshield wipers when the investigator made his move. The long aisle was empty. It was almost noon, a Monday, and the store was practically empty.
"Are you Joey?" the investigator asked with a tight smile just under a thick mustache.
Joey glanced down at the plastic name badge pinned above his shirt pocket. "That's me." He tried to return the smile. This was, after all, retail, and the customer must be adored. However, this guy did not appear to be a customer.
"My name's Fred Pryor." The right hand shot out like a boxing punch bound for the gut. "I'm a private investigator." Joey grabbed it, almost in self-defense, and they shook hands for a few awkward seconds. "Nice to meet you."
"A pleasure," Joey said, his radar at full alert. Mr. Pryor was about fifty years old, thick in the chest, with a round tough face topped with gray hair that required work each morning. He wore a standard navy blazer, tan polyester slacks that were straining at the waist, and, of course, a pair of well-shined, pointed-toe boots.
"What kind of investigator?" Joey asked.
"I'm not a cop, Joey. I'm a private investigator, duly licensed by the State of Texas."
"You got a gun?"
"Yep." Pryor flung open his blazer to reveal a 9-millimeter Glock strapped under his left armpit. "You wanna see the permit?" he asked.
"No. Who are you working for?"
"Donte Drumm's defense team."
The shoulders sagged a bit, the eyes rolled, the air escaped in one quick sigh of frustration, as if to say, "Not that again." But Pryor expected this and moved in quickly. "I'll buy you lunch, Joey. We can't talk here. There's a Mexican place around the corner. Meet me there. Give me thirty minutes, okay? That's all I ask. You get lunch. I get some face time. Then maybe you'll never see me again."
The Monday special was quesadillas, all you can eat for $6.50. The doctor told him to lose some weight, but he craved Mexican food, especially the greased-up, flash-fried, American version.
"What do you want?" he asked.
Pryor glanced around as if others were listening. "Thirty minutes. Look, Joey, I'm not a cop. I have no authority, no warrant, no right to ask for anything. But you know the history better than me."
Pryor would later report to Robbie Flak that at that point the kid lost his edge, stopped smiling, and his eyes half closed in a look of submission and sadness. It was as if he knew this day would eventually arrive. At that moment, Pryor was certain they would catch a break.
Joey glanced at his watch and said, "I'll be there in twenty minutes. Order me one of their house margaritas."
"You got it." Pryor thought that drinking at lunch could be problematic, at least for Joey. But then, the alcohol might help.
The house margarita was served in a clear, bowl-shaped pitcher of some sort and was enough of a beverage for several thirsty men. As the minutes passed, condensation formed on the glass and the ice began to melt. Pryor sipped iced tea with lemon and sent a message to Flak: "Meeting JG for lunch now. Later."
Joey arrived on time and managed to squeeze his sizable frame into the booth. He slid the glass over, took the straw, and inhaled an impressive quantity of the booze. Pryor made some small talk until the waiter took their orders and disappeared, then he moved in closer and got to the point.
"Donte will be executed Thursday. Did you know that?"
Joey nodded slowly. Affirmative. "I saw it in the paper. Plus, I talked to my mother last night and she said the town is buzzing."
The mother was still in Slone. The father was working in Oklahoma, maybe separated. An older brother was in Slone. A younger sister had moved to California.
"We're trying to stop the execution, Joey, and we need your help."
"Who's we?"
"I'm working for Robbie Flak."
Joey almost spit. "Is that nut still around?"
"Of course he is. He'll always be around. He's represented Donte from day one, and I'm sure he'll be in Huntsville Thursday night at the bitter end. That is, if we can't stop the execution."
"The paper said the appeals have run out. There's nothing left to do."
"Maybe, but you never quit. A man's life is at stake, how can you quit?"
Another pull on the straw. Pryor hoped the guy was one of those passive drunks who take the booze and sort of melt into the furnishings, as opposed to the hell-raisers who knock back two drinks and try to clear out the bar.
Joey smacked his lips and said, "I guess you're convinced he's innocent, right?"
"I am. Always have been."
"Based on what?"
"Based on the complete lack of physical evidence; based on the fact that he had an alibi, he was somewhere else; based on the fact that his confession is as bogus as a three-dollar bill; based on the fact that he's passed at least four polygraph tests; based on the fact that he has always denied any involvement. And, Joey, for purposes of this discussion, based on the fact that your testimony at trial was completely unbelievable. You didn't see a green van in the parking lot in the vicinity of Nicole's car. It was impossible. You left the mall through the entrance to the cinema. She was parked on the west side, on the other side of the mall. You fabricated the testimony to help the cops nail their suspect."
There was no eruption, no anger. He took it well, much like a child caught red-handed with a stolen coin and unable to utter words.
"Keep going," Joey said.
"You want to hear it?"
"I'm sure I've heard it before."
"Indeed you have. You heard it at trial, eight years ago. Mr. Flak explained it to the jury. You were crazy about Nicole, but she wasn't crazy about you. Typical high school drama. You dated off and on, no sex, a rather stormy relationship, and at some point you suspected that she was seeing someone else. Turned out this was Donte Drumm, which, of course, in Slone and in a lot of other small towns, could lead to real problems. No one knew for sure, but the gossip was out of control. Maybe she tried to break it off with him. He denies this. He denies everything. Then she disappeared, and you saw the opportunity to nail the guy. Nail him you did. You sent him to death row, and now you're about to be responsible for killing him."
"So, I'm gettin' all the blame here?"
"Yes, sir. Your testimony placed him at the scene of the crime, or at least the jury thought so. It was almost laughable because it was so inconsistent, but the jury was anxious to believe you. You didn't see a green van. You lied. You fabricated. You also called Detective Kerber with the anonymous tip, and the rest is history."
"I did not call Kerber."
"Of course you did. We have the experts to prove it. You didn't even try to disguise your voice. According to our analysis, you had been drinking but weren't drunk. There was a slight s
lur in a few of your words. You want to see the report?"
"No. It was never admitted in court."
"That's because we didn't know about your phone call until after the trial, and that's because the cops and prosecutors concealed it, which should have led to a reversal, which, of course, is pretty rare here in Texas."
The waitress arrived with a platter of sizzling quesadillas, all for Joey. Pryor took his taco salad and asked for more tea. After a few generous bites, Joey said, "So who killed her?"
"Who knows? There's no proof she's even dead."
"They found her gym card and student ID."
"Yeah, but they didn't find her body. She could be alive for all we know."
"You don't believe that." A gulp of the margarita to wash things down.
"No, I don't. I'm sure she's dead. Right now it doesn't matter. We're racing against time here, Joey, and we need your help."
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Recant, recant, recant. Sign an affidavit telling the truth. Tell us what you really saw that night, which was nothing."
"I saw a green van."
"Your friend didn't see a green van, and he walked out of the mall with you. You didn't mention anything to him. In fact, you didn't say anything to anybody for over two weeks, then you heard the rumor that her gym card and student ID had been found in the river. That's when you put together your fiction, Joey, that's when you decided to nail Donte. You were outraged because she would prefer a black guy to you. You called Kerber with the anonymous tip, and all hell broke loose. The cops were desperate and stupid and couldn't wait to pursue your fiction. It worked perfectly. They beat a confession out of him, only took them fifteen hours, and, bingo! it's front-page news--'Donte Drumm Confesses.' Then your memory works a miracle. You suddenly remember that you saw a green van, just like the Drumms', moving suspiciously around the mall that night. What was it, Joey, three weeks later when you finally told the cops about the van?"
"I saw a green van."
"Was it a Ford, Joey, or did you just decide it was a Ford because that's what the Drumms owned? Did you really see a black guy driving it, or was that just your imagination?"
To keep from responding, Joey stuffed half a quesadilla into his mouth and chewed slowly. As he did so, he watched the other diners, unable or unwilling to make eye contact. Pryor took a bite, then pressed on. His thirty minutes would be gone soon enough.
"Look, Joey," he said in a much softer tone, "we can argue the case for hours. I'm not here to do that. I'm here to talk about Donte. You guys were friends, you grew up together, you were teammates for, what, five years? You spent hours together on the football field. You won together; you lost together. Hell, you were co-captains your senior year. Think of his family, his mother and brothers and sister. Think of the town, Joey, think how bad things will get if he's executed. You gotta help us, Joey. Donte didn't kill anybody. He's been railroaded from the beginning."
"Didn't realize I had this much power."
"Oh, it's a long shot. Appeals courts are not too impressed with witnesses who suddenly change their minds years after the trial and hours before the execution. You give us the affidavit, we'll run to court and scream as loud as possible, but the odds are against us. We gotta try, though. At this point, we'll try anything."
Joey stirred his drink with the straw, then took a sip. He rubbed his mouth with a paper napkin and said, "You know, this is not the first time I've had this conversation. Mr. Flak called me years ago, asked me to stop by his office. This was long after the trial. I think he was working on the appeals. He begged me to change my story, tell his version of the truth. Told him to go to hell."
"I know. I've been working on the case for a long time."
After demolishing half of the quesadillas, Joey suddenly lost interest in lunch. He shoved the platter away and pulled the drink in front of him. He stirred it slowly and watched the liquid spin around the glass.
"Things are a lot different now, Joey," Pryor said softly, pressing. "It's late in the fourth quarter, the game's almost over for Donte."
------
The thick maroon fountain pen clipped inside Pryor's shirt pocket was in fact a microphone. It was entirely visible, and next to it was a real pen with ink and a ballpoint in case writing was required. A tiny, hidden wire ran from Pryor's shirt pocket to the left front pocket of his slacks, where he kept his cell phone.
Two hundred miles away, Robbie was listening. He was in his office with the door locked, alone, on a speakerphone that also recorded everything.
"You ever see him play football?" Joey asked.
"No," Pryor answered. Their voices were clear.
"He was something. He roamed the field like Lawrence Taylor. Fast, fearless, he could wreck an offense all by himself. We won ten games when we were sophomores and juniors, but we could never beat Marshall."
"Why didn't the bigger schools recruit him?" Pryor asked. Keep him talking, Robbie said to himself.
"Size. He stopped growing in the tenth grade, and he could never get his weight above 220. That's not big enough for the Longhorns."
"You should see him now," Pryor said without missing a beat. "He weighs about 150, gaunt and skinny, shaves his head, and he's locked up in a tiny cell twenty-three hours a day. I think he's lost his marbles."
"He wrote me a couple of letters, did you know that?"
"No."
Robbie leaned closer to the speakerphone. He'd never heard this.
"Not long after he was sent away, when I was still living in Slone, he wrote to me. Two, maybe three letters. Long ones. He went on about death row and how awful it is--the food, the noise, the heat, the isolation, and so on. He swore he never touched Nikki, never got involved with her. He swore he was nowhere near the mall when she disappeared. He begged me to tell the truth, to help him win his appeal and get out of prison. I never wrote him back."
"You still have the letters?" Pryor asked.
Joey shook his head. "No, I've moved around so much."
------
The waitress appeared and removed the platter. "Another margarita?" she asked, but Joey waved her off. Pryor leaned forward on his elbows until their faces were two feet apart. He began, "You know, Joey, I've worked on this case for years. Spent thousands of hours, not only working, but thinking, trying to figure out what happened. Here's my theory. You went nuts over Nikki, and why not? She was cute as hell, popular, hot, the kind of girl you want to put in your pocket and take home forever. But she broke your heart, and nothing is more painful for a seventeen-year-old. You were devastated, crushed. Then she disappeared. The entire town was shocked, but you and those who loved her were especially horrified. Everyone wanted to find her. Everyone wanted to help. How could she simply vanish? Who snatched her? Who could harm Nikki? Maybe you believed Donte was involved, maybe not. But you were a wreck emotionally, and in that state you decided to get involved. You called Detective Kerber with the anonymous tip, and from there everything snowballed. At that moment, the investigation took a wrong turn and no one could stop it. When you heard the news that he'd confessed, you figured you'd done the right thing. Got the right guy. Then you decided that you wanted a little piece of the action. You concocted the story about the green van, and suddenly you're the star witness. You became the hero to all those wonderful people who loved and adored Nicole Yarber. You took the stand at the trial, raised your right hand, told something that was not the whole truth, but it didn't matter. You were there, helping your beloved Nikki. Donte was led away in shackles, taken straight to death row. Maybe you understood that he would one day be executed, maybe you didn't. I suspect that way back then, when you were still a teenager, you could not appreciate the gravity of what's happening now."
"He confessed."
"Yes, and his confession is about as reliable as your testimony. For many reasons, people say things that aren't true, don't they, Joey?"
There was a long gap in the conversation as both men considered what to s
ay next. In Slone, Robbie waited patiently, though he had never been known for his patience or quiet moments of self-reflection.
Joey spoke next. "This affidavit, what goes in it?"
"The truth. You state, under oath, that your testimony at trial was not accurate, and so on. Our office will prepare it. We can have it done in less than an hour."
"Not so fast. So, I would say, basically, that I lied during the trial?"
"We can dress up the language, but that's the gist of it. We'd also like to settle the matter about the anonymous tip."
"And the affidavit would be filed in court and end up in the newspapers?"