Page 49 of Mistletoe and Malice
She finished the first quarter of her sandwich and picked up another. “Do you remember the man with Barbara at the Cantrells’?”
His brain scanned back through the evening at the Senator’s home. “Tall, dark hair, glasses?”
She nodded. “Her brother, Tommy. About six years older than we are. While we were in college, his wife was murdered, and he was subsequently arrested and convicted for it. Barbara was a mess through that whole thing. Not only had she lost someone she loved, and violently, but she steadfastly believed his claims of innocence. But you know they always suspect the significant other first, and, unfortunately, if they can get the pieces to fit, many times they quit looking.”
“Like you believe happened with Shane Everett.” He picked up some chips and popped them in his mouth.
“Exactly. By the time I got to law school, Tommy had been inside for a year, still adamant he didn’t do it. I took a criminal defense class my second year, and when we got to the appeals process, I was hooked. I thought about all of Tommy’s appealsand was astonished he couldn’t get somebody to champion him. And my career was born. I knew before I ever graduated he’d be my firstpro bonocase.”
“Successful, apparently, since he’s out.”
“It was. But I was so scared that if I couldn’t help him, nobody ever would. The stress and exhaustion from that case put me in the hospital for two days. A rough way to learn to manage my time better. It’s hard, because when I believe someone is sitting behind bars and shouldn’t be, I want to get them out as fast as I can.
“But Tommy almost paid the price for me overworking myself, since I literally collapsed two weeks before our appeals court appearance. Now I make sure to take some time on weekends or evenings, work with my charities, or spend time with my friends or family. It’s better for my clients, too, because I’m able to give the best of myself to their case.”
“Did you find who did it?”
“Their neighbor. He was obsessed with her, had made several unwanted advances, would leave her gifts. He testified at the trial they’d been having an affair and Tommy killed her in a jealous rage. Everybody who knew them thought that was crazy. Tommy was the nicest guy, and she was wild about him. Very strong Christians. During a search of the house, the police discovered an application for a restraining order Tommy's wife had filled out against the neighbor, and we found it buried in the file from the DA’s office. Evidence never provided to the defense, which got us a ruling of prosecutorial misconduct and Tommy a new trial.”
“Prosecutorial misconduct is serious.”
“I definitely got crosswise with the District Attorney who was in office at the time. Defense attorneys aren’t their favorite people, anyway, especially doing what I do. But provingsomething that brought sanctions didn’t bode well for my relationship with the DA’s office.”
“I can imagine.”
“Anyway, to prepare for trial, I hired a pathology expert, and she noticed a strange wound in the autopsy photos. We exhumed the body, and she found a bite mark the coroner had passed off as a bruise. We took a set of impressions from Tommy and requested a court order for a set from the neighbor. Even the State’s expert agreed there was no doubt who it belonged to. The fact that it could have only been administered at the time of death was the clincher.”
“Wow. What’s Tommy doing now?”
“Went back to prison. He’s actually the chaplain where Shane is. I gave him Shane’s info, and he’s been able to spend some time with him. Shane’s also been going to the Sunday service. Anything to give him hope until I can get him out of there.”
“You sound confident.”
“I have to be. The idea of somebody rotting away for someone else’s crime is almost more than I can bear.”
He rubbed his fingers along the stubble on his chin, still not as certain as she seemed to be. But her earnest conviction was hard to discount. “Petersen has an investigative arm that works jointly with law enforcement and attorneys. We’ve worked with both defense and prosecution and provided expert testimony at trial. If we can help you with anything, let me know.”
“Seriously?
“Seriously. If Everett truly is innocent, he needs to be free. Sounds like the best way to prove that is to find the true killer.”
She nodded, but her eyes clouded. “I can’t help but wonder if we’ve already seen him.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Colton.”
He peered over his shoulder at the sound of Riley’s voice from her office door. “What’s up?”
She motioned him in. “I got another one.”
“Another message?” He followed her to her desk, where a greeting card lay unopened on top of a stack of files.
“I recognized the writing, so I left it alone.”
“Good thinking.” He tapped his earpiece. “Trevor, ask Security to send us the video of whoever dropped a card off for Riley this morning. We need it ten minutes ago.”
“On it,” came the voice in his ear. “You want me to call Stapleton?”
