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SATURDAY FINALLY ARRIVED AND JIM could hardly wait for Sam to show up. When Sam finally pulled up, the whole family came into the post office. The Wrights had two announcements to make. The first was that they had closed on the cabin they wanted on Blue Ridge Lake. The second was that Jane was pregnant again.
Mother was excited. “Now little James Michael will have a friend to grow up with.”
“Who is James Michael?” — asked Jane.
“Let’s go to lunch and I’ll tell you all about it.”
“Great!”
Mike leaned down to Jane’s son: “Michael, where do you want to eat?”
“Freeze! Freeze!”
“Tastee Freeze it is! Sam, you and Jim join us for lunch when you’ve finished talking business.” They nodded their agreement as they headed up to Jim’s apartment. Jim started asking questions before they even finished climbing the stairs.
“We verified your story. We also found new information I don’t think you know about.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes. Do you know why your father was so quick to agree to Mr. Carter’s terms?”
“I know he was the town drunk. I just assumed Mr. Carter promised to pay his bar bills.”
“He did do that. However, your father had a much bigger problem. He owed a $30,000 gambling debt. Mr. Carter knew your father gambled so he had his lawyer pick up your father’s IOUs around the county. When the Carters were killed, his lawyer grew a conscience. Actually, he was forced into it. When the county sheriff opened Mr. Carter’s safe there were a lot of damaging documents that could be used against the lawyer. He decided it would be best if he agreed to a complete disclosure to keep him out of jail.”
“You told Mike you had good news. Is that it?”
“Not all of it. Mr. Carter had his lawyer draw up a detailed contract with your father, which outlined what he wanted him to do. I’m sure it was just to scare your father into compliance and they never meant anyone to see it. The good news is that the judge and prosecutor that sent you to jail went to the Governor of the State personally and had your record expunged.”
“What does that mean?”
“Not only did the Governor pardon you, he had any paperwork that referred to your case destroyed. It’s as if it never happened.”
“When did all this take place?”
“About six months after your release. They couldn’t let you know because you disappeared. It was like you dropped off the face of the earth. They even screened driver’s licenses that were issued each year in an effort to contact you. The clerk that has been following this case wrote everyone with no results. They finally decided you left the state, so they closed the case.”
“That’s good news? I don’t have a record. How is that going to help Peggy?”
“I’m not sure it will.”
“Sam, do you believe I killed Craig?”
“No, Jim. I can’t say that I do. I want to, but the more I get to know you, the more I feel you don’t have it in you to kill in cold blood.”
“Sam, if I can’t convince you, how am I ever going to be able to convince a judge and jury?”
“What we need now is to find details that only the killer would know that do not involve Peggy.”
“Can you get copies of the transcripts?”
“I already have. They are public record, but those only have what was brought out in court. I also have a copy of the case files. There is information in those that was never made public. If we are going to make a case for an appeal we need to tie these pieces of evidence to someone else.”
“Sam, it looks like I will need to convince you I did it, before we will ever make a case a judge would listen to.”
“That would be a good starting point.”
“Let me give you some facts I know that might just convince you I’m who I say I am.”
“Shoot! Oh, I’m sorry.”
“I need for you to take me seriously.”
“I’ll try but I’m telling you it will be hard.”
“Why don’t you start a list and you can compare it with the case files later. First, when Craig was shot, Mr. Campbell, the scoutmaster, was there to collect a $2,000 check from Mr. Bob. The sniper position in the woods had an old red shirt, a 243 empty shell and some of the limbs had been pruned away. Oh, and the bullet struck Craig two inches below his badge.”
Sam’s face turned white. “You really did shoot them.”
“I shot Craig. Mr. Bob was an accident.”
“The law still calls that murder.”
“I understand that. Now how do we prove it and not involve Peggy?”
“That will be hard to prove. I think the revenge by proxy motive will be the way to go. We need to make sure they don’t think you knew about your pardon. Where were you for the last couple of years?”
“All over the state.”
“You didn’t leave Georgia?”
“No. I would only stay in one place for four to six months.”
Nervously Sam asked: “Is the Foster family the first one you took your revenge on?”
“No. There was another one.”
“Good. I don’t mean good you killed them, but good if we can prove you did another one. Then we should be able to prove you did this one without involving Peggy.”
“Now we’re talking!”
“I need everything you can remember about the other killing.”
“It was in Dexter, Georgia more than two years ago. It was another father and son: Bart Woods and his son— Junior. They were both killed with a .30-06 Springfield rifle. An Army rifle converted into a hunting rifle, in other words. The son was shot at the top of the stairs and the father was killed in the living room. He was found with the rifle in his hand. Over $200,000 dollars was missing.”
“You talk about this as if it was just a game.”
“In a way it was, a revenge game. I knew my life was over and I wanted revenge. When I couldn’t get revenge on the people that had destroyed my life I began to look for people that were destroying other people’s lives. You know, finding them was easy. I identified the Fosters in less than an hour after getting off the bus. Parasites like the Fosters are all over the South.”
“So you took it upon yourself to do God’s work?”
“I didn’t think of it like that, I just wanted revenge. I didn’t want to believe my life would be wasted.”
“Doesn’t the Good Book say something about: ‘Vengeance is mine — said the Lord?’ ”
“Absolutely. I now understand what that means! If I can just take Peggy’s place, I’ll be happy. I hope God is not using the possible execution of Peggy as my punishment for trying to take his place.”
“I don’t think God does things like that.”
“If I had only known she was Mr. Bob’s daughter, it would’ve been different.”
“Are you sure?”
“Oh yeah. I was already having doubts about the revenge thing, then Craig killed Sam McGill.”
“I heard about that. Didn’t he attack Craig first?”
“Yeah, after he fucked his wife in front of his little boy!”
“You know I’m starting to believe Craig was an asshole.”
“Starting to believe? Hey, with a capital A.”
“Jim, I’m working with the GBI on the investigation. Because the case is closed we must do it on our own time and expense. You need to know it may take months or years to get the evidence we need.”
“How can we speed the process up?”
“We could hire a private investigator, but that would be expensive.”
“Let me worry about the expenses. I’ve got money. Why don’t you go down to the car and I’ll meet you there.”
When Sam left, he moved to his hiding place and quickly counted out $5,000. Getting into the car, he handed it all to Sam.
“Is this part of the $50,000 — said Peggy — they had blackmailed from her father?”
“No. I have all that money in a safe place. Not here.”
“You blackmailed him also?”
“Afraid so.”
“I’ll never understand you.”
“I’m not sure I do.”
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