“That makes sense, but I am not a person you have to worry about like that. If you’re angry, you need to express it. It could be contributing to your pain. Converted to stress, to the bad kind of stress hormones your body creates that amplifies your bad pain.”
“I never thought about that before.”
“Then next time we play, expect me to throw in a little mind-fucking to rile you up.”
She finally laughed, but it sounded easy, not tense. “Is that before the fucking-fucking?”
“Yes, because I’ll need to get you settled down again before you rip my balls off.”
* * * *
Sunday morning, Walt was awake and going through his e-mail on the living room sofa while Holly was still asleep in bed. When his cell rang, he almost expected to see Kimbra’s number.
It was Terrie.
“Hello?”
“Hey. Can you and Kimbra meet me and Lynn at Ed Payne’s office tomorrow afternoon at three?”
“Um…I don’t know, I need to see what her schedule is. Why?”
“Because I had a talk with Lynn and Ed and we want to hear your pitch.”
“My what?”
“You said you need money to test that evidence, right?”
“I…I’m sorry, I didn’t tell you that to try to get money out of you.”
“I know. That’s exactly why I’m offering to hear you out. If three o’clock won’t work, find out what time will work. He’s open any time after two tomorrow, and then Tuesday afternoon from three on. Call me back as soon as you talk to her.”
“Terrie, wait. I mean, I can’t ask…it’s a lot of money.”
“Duh. You were a stupid guy. Trust me, I recognized the look of fear on your face when you accidentally told me. Call me back as soon as you talk to Kimbra. I’ll be waiting. As in call her right now.”
She hung up.
Staring at his phone, Walt blinked, unsure he might not have just dreamed the whole thing.
Lynn was worth…well, a lot of money. He knew she didn’t get the whole jackpot both because she took a lump sum payout and split it with Terrie, but it was a considerable amount.
He pulled up his call log and, yep, Terrie had just called him.
Fingers shaking, he stood as he pulled up Kimbra’s number and hit call, then walked outside onto the lanai.
She sounded half asleep. “You need bail money, Fingers?”
“No. I need you to clear your calendar tomorrow afternoon. We have a three o’clock appointment.”
“Say whut?”
He told her, and by the time he finished talking, she sounded wide awake. “Holy shit,” she whispered. “You ain’t kiddin’?”
“Do you think I’d joke about something like this?”
“I know Ed Payne. He’s good. Didn’t you know his business partner, Kad—”
“Yeah.” There was more emotionally charged territory he couldn’t deal with right then. Kaden had been a good friend of his, and he’d considered him a mentor. “Can you go or not?”
“Hellz, yeah, I’ll be there. Pick me up at my office at two thirty. Call her back and lock it in before they change their mind.”
“Okay. Thanks. And don’t tell Holly.”
“What? Don’t she know already?”
“She’s asleep.”
“Well, wake her ass up and tell her!”
“No. And don’t tell Louis, either.”
Kimbra sounded frustrated, like she was trying to be patient with him.
A tone he was well familiar with. “Why the hell not?”
“Because I still don’t want to get their hopes up. We don’t have the money yet. We might not get the money. And even if we do, the results might not come back in his favor. Okay? Let’s…just not tell them yet.”
“This is against my better judgment, but in this case, I won’t fight you. We need that evidence tested. The sooner, the better.”
“Okay. Thanks.” He called Terrie back to confirm and then sank into one of the chairs on his lanai to stare out the screen at the backyard.
He loved his backyard. It wasn’t landscaped, but it was shaded, with a couple of mature oak trees in which squirrels and birds lived. He put out birdseed nearly every morning for them and frequently had his coffee right there, watching them play.
The mornings he wasn’t at Holly’s.
He breathed, trying to quiet his mind. He hated keeping a secret from her, but hoped it’d be worth it.
Maybe, just maybe, the siblings had finally caught a lucky goddamned break.
It was about fucking time.
Chapter Twenty-One
Monday afternoon, Walter nervously drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he waited for the light to turn green. At least he didn’t have to worry about making it back to pick up Holly. She’d driven herself to work this morning because they had a staff meeting after work and she didn’t know how long it’d take.
“Stop it, Walt,” Kimbra said. “You’re making me nervous.”
“I can take a loan from my retirement account if she says no,” he said. “I can apply for a second mortgage.”
She reached over and grabbed his wrist. “She hasn’t even heard me out yet. Stop it. Think positively. I know Ed professionally. I don’t think we’d be here if there wasn’t a good chance it’s a yes already.”
He nodded, but with Holly and Louis’ luck he wasn’t going to count on anything.
They pulled into the parking lot behind Ed’s building and walked in. The receptionist directed them to a conference room, where Ed, Terrie, Mark, Lynn, and Paul were already gathered around the table.
Walt felt like puking.
After friendly greetings and hugs were exchanged, and Walter introduced Kimbra to the others, they sat and he nervously tried to summon his courage.
“Thank you for agreeing to talk with us. And believe me, if you say no, it’s—”
“Walt,” Terrie interrupted, her tone kind. “Let Lynn hear you out before conceding defeat, okay? I wouldn’t be here with her now if I didn’t want her to hear what you have to say.”
His face heated. Hell, he’d never felt more nervous in his life.
“Does Holly know you’re here?” Ed asked.
Walter shook his head. “I didn’t want to get her hopes up about this.”
Lynn held up a hand. “Can we start at the beginning, please?” She offered him a smile. “I trust Terrie’s gut instincts. And she wanted me to hear this.”
Walt handed it off to Kimbra, who grabbed the ball and ran. He’d never seen her in action in a courtroom, but he imagined this confident, well-spoken woman had honestly earned her enviable win record against opposing counsel.
“I am not an easy mark,” Kimbra said. “I’ve dealt with plenty of ‘innocent’ defendants before, whom I recommended take a plea deal. I’ve done a lot of pro bono work for a non-profit that investigates cases of defendants on death row, and those sentenced to life. Of the cases I’ve chosen to handle so far—twenty-three of them, not including this one—DNA evidence exonerated all twenty-three men.
“I examined the facts and evidence of this case very carefully. The male victim, Jason Davids, was retired military, and a Little League coach. I spoke to former co-workers, as well as kids he’d coached, and parents. All of them said that he did have a temper that would come out from time to time. At work, there were apparently several verbal warnings issued to him before the day he was fired. His supervisor was a friend of his and admitted he tried to keep the man’s personnel file as clean as possible, both as a favor and to hopefully spare more outbursts. But when the man threatened several coworkers over absolutely nothing, the supervisor couldn’t look the other way any longer.
“When I subpoenaed his military records, I found that before his retirement, he was forced to seek treatment for anger issues and alcohol abuse. He had a couple of minor incidents in his jacket. Nothing enough to get him kicked out, but enough to indicate that it was probably the tip of the
iceberg, and meant there were likely many more incidents that never got reported.
“I talked to friends of Holly and Louis who both remember times their step-father would go into a rage, yelling and screaming. They never saw him hit either of them, but they said they could believe he’d lose control.”
Kimbra laid a folder on the table. “I’m not trying to blame the victim. I’m simply trying to discover the facts. The facts are that Jason Davids had a history of anger issues, and apparently a drinking problem, and yet the detectives and prosecution never looked into that. Neither did Louis’ public defender.”
She produced another folder. “When I looked into the evidence list, I found several pieces of the victim’s jewelry that had been logged in but apparently not tested for DNA. Three rings and a watch with a metal band. All four items had blood and some had tissue on them.”
Kimbra slowly slid the two folders across the table toward them. “Those are copies for you to keep and review.”
Lynn reached over and picked up the one that Walter knew contained gory pictures taken of Jason Davids’ hands post-mortem before the jewelry was removed.
She opened it, then immediately closed it and put it down again.
“What’s the short end of this?” Lynn asked.
“Louis had only one contact with law enforcement before this. When he was sixteen, he was picked up with three friends of his and accused of trying to break into cars. Even at the time, the other three stood by him and told the officers Louis was trying to get them to stop. He was an honor student, and the other three were kids already familiar with the law. Louis got probation. But because of that one incident in his juvenile folder—which shouldn’t have mattered—police immediately treated him like the prime suspect instead of a victim.
“This is what Louis has always said—his story has never changed—and refused to back down from: He arrived home early from work, heard a commotion, found Jason attacking Holly, spotted his mother on the floor, and then got into a fight with Jason. Jason had apparently taken his gun out of the gun safe and was going to use it, on Holly or Louis or himself, or maybe all of them, we don’t know. But Louis got his hands on it first and managed to fatally shoot Jason during the struggle while attempting to hold him off. Louis called 911 immediately. I can play the recording of the call for you, if you’d like.”
Ed nodded. “I want to hear it.”
Lynn nodded, as did the others.
Kimbra turned on her tablet, opened the file, and played it.
Walter had already heard it once and still felt like puking again, even though he’d been ready.
He heard a terrified and grief-stricken kid begging for help for his mom and sister and step-father. He was panicked and didn’t know who to try to help first. And he named his step-father as their attacker, admitted that he shot the man in self-defense after he found him attacking his sister.
When the sound file ended, Kimbra let the air hang still for a moment before speaking.
“Would you like me to play it again?” she asked.
Lynn slowly shook her head. “No,” she whispered.
“Louis’ PD was overworked, underpaid, and didn’t take more than a few hours to look into the case. He begged Louis to take a plea deal, and Louis refused because he was innocent. Even his own sister, who has no conscious memory of the attack due to her injuries, swears there’s no way her brother could have been capable of doing this. That he’d never been violent before, ever. He’d never been in a fight in school, never even so much as a detention slip in his file.
“As someone who’d never met Louis before, I had no reason going into this to believe his version of the events over the trial transcripts and the evidence. Except when I looked into the transcripts and evidence, I saw an extremely inadequate defense.”
Ed had to play Devil’s advocate. “But you know Walter, and he’s involved with Louis’ sister.”
“Walter is my ex-husband. We parted amicably. He’ll also be the first person to tell you that when it comes to legal cases, I don’t care if someone’s my best friend, the evidence and the law come first. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t feel those pieces of evidence will provide conclusive proof of Louis’ innocence. Well, of his story being true and him killing his step-father in self-defense after the man murdered Sarah and nearly killed Holly. Louis admits he shot and killed Jason. Both Sarah Davids’ and Holly’s blood were found on Jason Davids’ hands, their DNA under his nails, and Holly had blood and skin under her nails that matched Jason Davids’ DNA. So did her mother. Jason Davids also had wounds on him that were indicative of defensive wounds made by Holly and Sarah against their attacker.
“Plus, Jason Davids stopped at a liquor store on his way home, bought a bottle of bourbon, and apparently drank most of it before the attack. His blood alcohol level was off the charts. He was four times over the legal limit at the time of his death. All of that was evidence that the prosecution didn’t include in discovery and should have. So point number two in demanding a new trial, after ineffective defense, is prosecutorial misconduct for withholding autopsy and toxicology report findings. The third point is to be determined—the DNA evidence. But we need the money to have the items tested to determine it.”
Ed looked like he wanted to talk to Lynn and the others alone, but Lynn leaned forward. “You said Louis was a good student in high school?”
“Honor roll. He lost an academic scholarship due to the arrest over the car incident.”
“And he’s never changed his story about this?”
“Not once. He’s told the same exact story to investigators every time he told it, and he took the stand in his own defense and never gave contradictory statements.”
“Why wouldn’t they listen to his sister?”
“For starters, she couldn’t remember the attack because of her injuries. By the time she was awake and aware enough to talk, the investigators had already made up their minds about the case. But she was also his sister. The prosecution claimed it was a life insurance scheme that backfired, and Jason Davids was attacking in self-defense.”
“Then why would their mother have been involved?”
“The prosecution never adequately explained that.”
“So why did the jury convict Louis?”
“The prosecution proposed several ‘what ifs’ in their opening and closing statements. The one they hammered the hardest posited Louis wanted revenge on his step-father for not paying for his college, and thought this was how he’d earn the money.”
Lynn looked understandably confused. “But…” She sat back. “I don’t get it. If I was on a jury, even without hearing the DNA evidence, I would have reasonable doubt.”
Kimbra pulled out a picture of Louis and slid it across the table. “Oh, sorry. Maybe I forgot one salient point. Did I mention Louis was adopted?”
Walt hadn’t mentioned that to Terrie when telling her the story, either. He hadn’t thought about it, too mad at himself for breaking Holly’s confidence in the first place.
Lynn’s eyes widened. “Holy shit,” she whispered. “Let me take a guess, the jury was all white?”
Kimbra tipped her head. “You’re good.”
“I’m a writer.” Lynn picked up Louis’ picture and studied it. “It’s a blessing and a curse.”
“So that’s the fourth point of my argument,” Kimbra said, “even though I don’t have proof of it. They didn’t see the distraught kid who’d just lost his mother and nearly lost his big sister and who had to fight for his life against a man he considered his father. They saw a biracial kid who looked black enough to them that they would overlook prosecution discrepancies and convict him.”
“Son of a bitch,” Ed muttered.
“How much do you need?” Lynn asked, laying the picture on the table.
“At least twelve grand. Possibly as much as fifteen. If we beg for a priority rush on processing, maybe as much as twenty. I wish I could give you a better estimate, but that’s all
the lab would give me. I was assured it wouldn’t exceed twenty grand, in any case, and I’ll give you copies of their invoicing for your records as proof.”
“How about I give you a check for thirty grand, you tell them you want the results back ASAP, and you donate any excess to the non-profit you do work for?”
Kimbra grimly smiled and extended her hand to Lynn. “If you ever want to write a crime book, you’ve got free help. Or any other legal advice you ever need for free.”
Ed playfully cleared his throat.
“No offense, counsellor, but you’re family law. I’m criminal law.” Kimbra smiled, earning her a smile in return from Ed.
Lynn shook with her. “I will likely take you up on that. But let’s get Louis home where he belongs first. Will you need any other funds? Is thirty grand enough?”
“Right now, that should be enough. I’m handling this case pro bono as a favor to Walt. When I looked at the facts, it pissed me off.” She grimly smiled. “It’s not the first time I’ve seen this prosecutor play fast and loose with the truth. I’m going to make sure this gets every damn minute of media coverage I can and that he’s out of a job by the time I’m done with him.”
“Ah,” Ed said. “Revenge.”
“No, justice. Because I want to start a media frenzy and get free eyeballs looking at his past cases. He’s been responsible for thousands of convictions during his time working for the state attorney’s office. How many of those people were really innocent, or who pled out because they couldn’t fight it? I get enough public outrage rolling against this guy, and I’ll have all the free social justice warrior help I’ll need to finally get his fucking ass out the damn door. Hopefully get him disbarred.”
“Wow,” Lynn said. “You really must hate him.”
Walt could count on one hand with fingers to spare the times he’d seen Kimbra cry.
Her eyes grew bright as she blinked away tears. “One of my clients killed himself. He insisted he was innocent. I had the proof he was innocent, but he was still convicted because this bastard played the race card against an all-white jury. He was out on bond awaiting sentencing and hung himself. In his suicide letter, he still insisted he was innocent. The guy had some untreated mental health issues that came into play, I’m sure. But he preferred to die rather than go to jail and forever live with that over his head, even though I insisted we were going to get it overturned on appeal.”