CHAPTER 35

CAL AND KELLY DECIDED to stop by the Pickett County jail to see if they could chat with Drake. It was a long shot since visiting hours wouldn’t begin until Monday afternoon, but Cal was convinced they could talk their way into getting a few minutes with the city’s most famous native.

Sheriff Sloan was nowhere to be found, but one of his deputies, Mark Polson, stood watch on the late Sunday afternoon shift.

“Are you sure you can’t let us see him?” Kelly asked Deputy Polson.

Polson, who sat at a desk piled high with stacks of files, didn’t look up.

“No means no,” he muttered.

“Drake’s lawyer, Robert Sullivan, is on his way over here,” Cal said. “Wouldn’t you rather me run interference for you with that pompous jerk?”

Polson sighed and shook his head. “Fine. Just make sure you get me an autograph, will you?” he said, sliding Drake’s rookie card across the desk to Cal. “Sheriff Sloan would have my hide if he found out I asked Isaiah Drake for an autograph on anything but an official department form.”

“I’ll take care of that for you, Deputy,” Cal said, picking up the card from the desk.

“Thanks,” Polson said. “Follow me.” He led Cal and Kelly down a short corridor and then opened a door to an interrogation room. “Wait here while I go get him.”

A few minutes later, Polson reappeared with Drake in handcuffs.

“You’ve got fifteen minutes,” Polson said before closing the door and exiting the room.

Drake slumped in a chair across the table from Cal and Kelly.

“What were you thinking?” Cal asked after some awkward silence.

Drake, who’d refused to look up, shook his head.

“I don’t know, man. I just knew that Sheriff Sloan was getting away with killing his daughter.”

“Do you still think that?” Kelly asked.

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“Sullivan is on his way over and should be here within the hour,” Cal said.

“On his way over? Where was he?”

“In Savannah,” Cal said.

“Playing golf with Hal Golden,” Kelly chimed in.

Drake looked up for the first time. “Hal Golden? The prosecutor for my trial?”

Cal nodded. “That’s the one.”

“I swear I’m gonna—”

“Just chill out,” Cal said. “Don’t take any physical action, but feel free to fire him. I think he may have been more of a detriment to your case than a help.”

Drake leaned forward in his chair. “How so?”

“Sullivan and Golden were buddies in law school.”

Drake cocked his head to one side. “Seriously?”

Cal nodded. “I wish it weren’t so, but I can’t help but feel like they struck some sort of deal on the side. And you got the brunt of it.”

“Man, I don’t even wanna know.”

“You should,” Kelly said, “because it’s the reason why you spent the last twelve years of your life on death row. It’s despicable, really.”

Cal flipped a page in his notebook and set his pen down.

“Okay, I need some real talk, right now,” he said.

“Shoot.”

“Who else can you think of who had a grudge against you and would wish harm on you … or want to frame you for murder?” Cal asked.

Drake sat still for a moment. It was as if he was unsure of what to say—or if he even had an answer. “I didn’t really have any enemies other than that lawyer from Jacksonville who was apparently trying to marry my fiancée right out from underneath my nose. But we never met.”

“What about Devontae Ray?” Kelly asked.

“The guy in the wheelchair?”

Cal nodded. “That’s the one.”

“You think he killed Susannah and tried to pin it on me? That’s hilarious, really.”

“I’m not ruling anything out at the moment,” Cal said. “I don’t care how absurd it might sound. We have to turn over every rock to get your name cleared.”

“Too late for that now after what I did to Sheriff Sloan.”

Cal sighed. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. I think most judges would have sympathy for you, especially if I testify on your behalf that you were sympathetic when I met with you.”

“That’d be mighty nice,” Drake said.

“I wouldn’t be doing it because it was mighty nice,” Cal said. “I’d be doing it because it was the truth, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t do the right thing.”

“I appreciate it, man.”

Kelly shifted in her seat. “Anyone else you can think of? Jacob Boone? Jordan Hayward? Tripp Sloan?”

Drake shook his head. “Why did you even bring up Devontae Ray?”

“Would he have something against you?” Cal asked.

“Maybe.”

“Such as . . . ?”

“Such as he hated Susannah for hitting him while he and his brother were riding on a motorcycle. Ray’s brother was driving, and he died on the scene. He wasn’t wearing a helmet, but I doubt it would’ve mattered. It was all an accident though.”

“Maybe that’s not how he saw it,” Kelly said.

“No, it was an accident. Susannah could’ve never done anything to stop it. Never.”

“But why try to pin the murder on you?” Cal asked.

“Because he didn’t want to go to prison himself.”

Cal shrugged. “That’s one explanation, but I think it’s a weak one. I think there’s more to this story.”

Drake rubbed his face with his hands.

“Maybe there is,” he said.

Cal scratched out a note on his pad. “Go on.”

“Devontae’s brother and I got busted for robbery when I was like fifteen. Devontae’s brother ended up going to prison for it. But I got away with a suspended sentence from Sheriff Sloan. I worked hard to make sure I never did anything like that again.”

“And that’d be enough for him to want to see you get locked up for the rest of your life or maybe even die?” Kelly asked.

Drake nodded. “It’s quite possible. It ended Devontae’s brother’s chances at attending Florida State on a football scholarship. It was the summer before classes started in the fall. I was going to be a rising sophomore that year, but not Devontae’s brother. He was going to be a senior, the kind who you listened to when he spoke.”

“But something happened?”

“Yeah, Drake’s brother went to prison while I escaped any semblance of a harsh sentence.”

Cal wrote furiously on his pad. “So, do you think there’s any possibility that Devontae Ray had anything to do with Susannah’s death that night … and your framing?”

Drake shook his head. “No way. The dude can’t even stand and walk on his own. He would’ve had to have hired someone to do this to me. And I don’t remember any group of people overwhelming me that night.”

Cal shrugged. “Maybe you were unconscious.”

“I only remember a single hit to the head but never saw anyone’s face.”

Cal and Kelly both nodded.

“I think we’re about to run out of time,” Cal said. “But if you think of anyone else, let me know now or forever hold your peace.”

“I’m drawing a blank,” Drake said. “I can’t imagine anyone would want to do that to me.”

Cal sighed. “The world has changed. It’s far more complex than it ever was from the good ole days. And right now, you’re in its cross hairs.”