The Pardon

“I’d really hate to have to slit your throat, Swyteck-after all the trouble I’ve gone to.”

Jack clenched his fist tightly. “Who are you?”

“Think back. Two years ago. The night before Raul Fernandez was executed.”

Jack felt a chill as the voice came back to him. “What do you want from me?”

“I want justice. I want you to die like Raul died-in the chair for a murder you didn’t commit.”

“That’s not justice,” he struggled to say. “This is sick. And it won’t work.”

“It’ll work,” the man said, laughing as he drew a little blood with a slight twist of the knife. “Remember: You’re alive only because I let you live. You might think you’re safe. The locks on your doors. The alarm on your car. All that’s just bullshit. It’s like that warm, safe feeling people get by closing the drapes in their house at night, when for all they know there’s a guy with an axe outside their window with his face up against the glass. There’s no protection from that, Swyteck. All you can do is play by the rules. My rules.”

“Such as?”

“There’s only one. This trial is me against you, one-on-one. You try to turn it into anything else, and I promise you, innocent people are gonna get hurt.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’re smart. Figure it out, asshole.”

“Why-”

“Why must you die?” The man leaned forward until Jack felt his breath on the back of his neck. “Because there’s a killer on the loose,” he said in a cold whisper. “And the killer is you.”

Jack gasped as he felt the knife press harder against his throat. Then his attacker sprung to his feet and vanished into the night. Jack just lay there, his face resting on the gritty floor, feeling like he did when he was five years old. Like he was all alone.

Chapter 33

Ten weeks had passed since Harry Swyteck followed his blackmailer’s instructions and left the final payoff at Memorial Cemetery. Thankfully, the dark forebodings that had plagued him that night turned out to be false apprehensions. The journey to the cemetery passed without incident-though the governor did experience profound discomfort as he looked down at Raul Fernandez’s final resting place.

Harry had not been in the courtroom today for opening statements. But he’d received a full report from one of the young lawyers who served as governor’s counsel. The purpose of opening statements was for each side to give the jury a road map identifying the evidence that they intended to present during trial. After analyzing the direction the defense seemed to be taking, it struck Harry as odd that Manny hadn’t made a reference to the 911 caller’s report of a man in a police uniform leaving the scene of the crime.

The governor had promised Manny that, although he was paying the bills, the legal strategy would be up to Manny and Jack. Therefore, he was reluctant to second-guess Manny’s opening statement. But he feared the lawyer might have gotten the wrong idea. Perhaps Manny hadn’t brought up the 911 call because Harry had once been a police officer. If that was the case, Harry needed to set Manny straight. He caught the next flight from Tallahassee, and by eight o’clock that evening he was sitting across from his son’s attorney.

“Thanks for meeting me on such short notice,” Harry said as he studied the exotic decor of Manny’s office.

“My pleasure,” Manny replied. “You mentioned on the phone that you had some concerns about my strategy.”

“Yes,” Harry said, “Well, not concerns really, just areas that I needed clarified.”

“Such as?”

“Well, the nine-one-one call, for one. I’m told that you didn’t mention it in your opening statement today.” The governor looked at him appraisingly. “I don’t mean to insult you, Manny, or question your integrity. But I want to make it clear that I hired you to represent Jack for one reason only: because you’re the best in the business, and because I think that if anyone can get my son acquitted, you can. How you go about it is up to you and Jack. If that means making the police look bad-well, so be it. I’m a former cop. But I’m a father first.”

Manny nodded slowly, seeming to measure his response. “I understand what you’re saying. And I’m not insulted. You’re not the first concerned parent who’s walked into my office. You are, however, the first concerned parent to leave a footprint outside the door of the murder victim’s apartment.”

The governor went rigid. All expression ran from his face. “What are you talking about?”

Manny was a master at reading reactions. He was testing Harry, and Harry had flunked. “Please, don’t say anything. Let’s just say I know you didn’t come here because I decided not to mention the nine-one-one call. You’re here because I didn’t mention the footprint.”

“What footprint?” Harry was genuinely confused-and concerned.

Manny frowned, sat up straighter in his chair. “I honestly don’t think we should discuss this any further, Governor. Rest assured, I’ll use the footprint at trial, if it’s necessary to win Jack’s case. That I didn’t mention it as a matter of argument doesn’t mean that I won’t offer it later as a matter of evidence.”

“But Manny, I honestly have no idea what footprint you’re talking about.”

“And that’s precisely the response I would expect from you. Like I said. I don’t think you and I should discuss this any further. I’m Jack’s lawyer, not yours. And you should have a lawyer.”

“Me?” he chuckled nervously. “Why do 1 need a lawyer?”

Manny leaned forward, not to threaten him, but to convey the import of what he was about to say. “Let me spell it out for you. You’ve told me some things about the night Raul Fernandez was executed-about what happened between you and Jack. But I don’t think that’s the end of the story.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m sure you heard about that old man in Goss’s apartment building who got his neck snapped a few weeks ago. Tragic thing-a real mystery. The police don’t even have a motive, yet. Can you think of one, Governor?”

Harry’s face showed irritation. “No, except that there are lunatics out there who like to kill innocent people.”

“There’s more to it than that, I think. I reviewed the investigative file in that old man’s case. There were extraneous footprints in his apartment. Turns out that the lunatic who snapped the old man’s neck in apartment two-oh-one was wearing wing tips. Wiggins wing tips. The same Wiggins wing tips that left a very clear footprint outside Eddy Goss’s door on the night he was killed.”

The governor went cold. He’d been wearing the same brand the night he’d gone to Goss’s apartment. And now he realized the purpose of the seemingly silly “souvenir” he’d left on the grave of Raul Fernandez, along with the money and flowers-right before the old man had been murdered.

“Now,” said Manny, “you’re the former cop, Governor. Maybe it’s time for you to remind yourself of your right to remain silent. And of your right to an attorney. Your own attorney.”

The governor shook his head slowly, but said nothing more than “thank you” and “good night.”

Chapter 34

A taxi took Jack from the bus station and dropped him at the end of his driveway just before nine. He was still shaken from the attack, but fortunately he had time to recuperate. It was Friday night, and there was a weekend between opening statements and what would surely be the worst Monday of his life-the day the first witness for the prosecution would take the stand against him.

He stepped slowly up the stairs of his front porch and reached out wearily with his key, but the front door