Chapter 13 - The Brother
Peter left the courthouse before the hearing began.
Owen followed him.
"Peter."
No response.
"Peter!"
He reached the parking garage.
Peter stopped beside his car.
"What?"
"Where are you going?"
"Home."
"Your sister-in-law could be released today."
Peter looked away.
Owen stepped closer.
"Did Nathan tell you about Wallace?"
Peter's face changed.
"No."
"Bad answer."
"I said no."
"Raymond Price believed someone close to Nathan leaked his investigation."
Peter opened his car door.
Owen slammed it shut.
"Don't."
Peter spun.
"Get your hands off my car."
"Did you tell Wallace?"
Peter stared at him.
Then his shoulders dropped.
"I didn't know Nathan would die."
Owen froze.
There it was.
Not a confession to murder.
Something uglier in a different way.
"What did you do?"
Peter leaned against the car.
"Nathan told me he thought county contracts were being rigged."
"When?"
"Two weeks before he died."
"And?"
"I knew Wallace."
"How?"
"I was bidding on subcontracting work."
Owen's jaw tightened.
"You warned him."
"I asked him if Nathan was making trouble."
"You told Wallace your brother was investigating him."
"I didn't think—"
"No. You didn't."
Peter covered his face.
"Wallace said Nathan was confused. He said he'd talk to him."
"And four days later Nathan was murdered."
Peter's voice broke.
"I've lived with that for five years."
"While Elena sat on death row."
"I thought she did it!"
"You wanted to think she did it."
Peter flinched.
Owen turned on his recorder.
"Start from the beginning."
Inside the courtroom, the evidentiary hearing began.
Maribel Soto testified first.
Then Dennis Pike.
The state tried to destroy both of them.
"You lied under oath five years ago, didn't you?" the assistant attorney general asked Pike.
"Yes."
"So why should anyone believe you now?"
Pike looked toward Elena.
"Because a woman almost died from my lie."
The courtroom went silent.
Mina authenticated Nathan's recording.
A digital-evidence expert confirmed no signs of artificial editing or voice synthesis.
Then Leah played Raymond Price's video.
Adrian Kell stared at the table.
When the video ended, Leah stood.
"Your Honor, this conviction was not the product of one bad witness or one lab mistake. Evidence was altered. Evidence was hidden. Witnesses were threatened. Defense counsel was intimidated."
The judge looked toward the state.
"Counsel?"
The assistant attorney general stood slowly.
"Your Honor, based on the record now before us..."
Kell turned sharply.
The attorney continued.
"...the State can no longer defend the integrity of Ms. Cole's conviction."
Elena covered her mouth.
Leah gripped the table.
The judge removed her glasses.
"Then the death warrant is vacated."
A sound escaped Elena.
Half sob.
Half laugh.
But the judge wasn't finished.
"The conviction itself remains under review pending additional proceedings."
Elena's smile vanished.
She wasn't free.
Not yet.
Outside the courthouse, Owen's phone rang.
He answered.
It was a state investigator.
"We have a problem."
"What?"
"Rusk agreed to cooperate."
Owen straightened.
"That's a problem?"
"He asked for protection in exchange for naming everyone involved."
"Then protect him."
"We tried."
Owen's chest tightened.
"What happened?"
May you like
The investigator paused.
"Calvin Rusk is dead."
