Chapter 7 - The Witness Who Lied
Owen hit the ground as the first gunshot shattered the trailer window.
Glass sprayed across the floor.
Dennis Pike screamed.
"Back door!"
Another shot punched through the wall.
Owen grabbed Pike by the jacket and dragged him toward the kitchen.
Outside, tires tore through gravel.
"Who is it?" Owen shouted.
"I don't know!"
"You said it was Rusk!"
"I said the truck looked like his!"
They burst through the back door.
A third shot struck the doorframe inches above Owen's head.
They ran into scrub woods behind the trailer.
Pike was breathing badly.
"I can't—"
"Keep moving."
Owen pulled him behind a drainage ditch.
The SUV stopped near the trailer.
A door slammed.
Owen took out his phone and started recording.
"If we don't get out of here, you're telling me everything now."
Pike stared at him.
"What?"
"Elena Cole."
Branches snapped somewhere behind them.
Owen whispered, "Did you see her leave Nathan's house?"
Pike's face twisted.
"No."
There it was.
Five years of lies reduced to one word.
"No."
"Then why did you testify you did?"
Pike began crying.
"Rusk."
"What did he do?"
"He had my son."
Owen frowned.
"What?"
"My boy had been arrested for pills. Rusk said he'd make the charge disappear if I helped him."
"Helped how?"
"He showed me Elena's picture."
Another branch broke.
Closer.
Pike kept whispering.
"He told me to say I saw her running from the house around nine-thirty."
"Did you see anyone?"
Pike nodded.
"Two men."
Owen's heart jumped.
"Who?"
"I couldn't see one."
"And the other?"
Pike covered his face.
"Adrian Kell."
Owen stared at him.
"You saw the district attorney leaving the murder scene?"
"Yes."
A figure appeared between the trees.
Owen shoved Pike down.
"Move!"
They crawled along the ditch as the figure approached.
Then sirens sounded in the distance.
The figure stopped.
Turned.
Ran back toward the road.
Owen lifted his head just enough to see the black SUV tear away.
He couldn't see the driver.
But he saw the license plate.
Three digits.
614.
At the prison, Elena watched the news until Warden Mitchell turned the television off.
"Why?"
"Because none of this is helping you."
"I've spent five years knowing nothing."
"Leah will tell you when she has facts."
Elena looked at him.
"Facts got buried the first time."
Mitchell didn't argue.
At 2:20 the next morning, Owen and Pike entered a state police facility under protection.
Pike gave a recorded statement.
He admitted perjury.
He admitted Rusk coached him.
He admitted Kell had been at Nathan's house.
Then he said something Leah hadn't expected.
"Elena came home."
Leah stopped writing.
"What?"
"That part was true."
"When?"
"Around ten."
The state's timeline placed Elena inside the house before 9:30.
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you say that at trial?"
"Because if she arrived after Nathan was already dead, she couldn't have killed him when they said she did."
Leah leaned back.
Five years.
Five years.
"Was there anyone else?"
Pike hesitated.
"I saw another car."
"What car?"
"A gray sedan."
"Whose?"
"I don't know."
"What did it look like?"
Pike rubbed his face.
"Government plates."
Leah's stomach sank.
"Federal?"
"No."
"State?"
Pike nodded.
"Who was inside?"
"I didn't see."
Then he looked toward the observation window.
"But Rusk wasn't the person I was most afraid of."
Leah leaned forward.
"Who was?"
May you like
Pike whispered:
"The man who told Rusk what to do."
