Dead to Rights by Jack Patterson (fiction book recommendations .txt) 📕

“Oh?” Kelly asked.

Drake nodded confidently. “Yeah, Hayward was the beneficiary for Drake, something I learned while overhearing them talk one night at the Pirate’s Den.”

CHAPTER 13

CAL WALKED TWO BLOCKS to Memorial Park, just off the Pickett square in downtown. With still plenty of people to interview, he decided to send Kelly on her own assignment while he confronted Jordan Hayward again. She discouraged Cal from doing so, but he insisted and used the assignment for The Innocence Alliance as his excuse to trump her concerns.

“We need to find out if there’s enough reasonable doubt to at least get Drake a new trial,” he pleaded.

Reluctantly, she had agreed with him and drove off toward her intended destination.

When Cal reached the park around 10:30 a.m., Hayward was engaged in a pickup basketball game with a few friends.

Cal watched intently. Hayward called a timeout, grabbed the basketball, and jogged toward Cal as soon as he saw him.

“This is a far better activity than vaping weed,” Cal said.

Hayward waved dismissively at Cal.

“If you think my life is all about my next high, you don’t know me at all.”

“You’re right. I don’t know you, but I’m trying to get a better picture of who you are.”

Hayward laughed. “How? By talkin’ to other people? There are a lot of jealous haters in the world.”

“I heard you were inside Susannah Sloan’s house the night she was murdered. But that’s not what you told me.”

“I’m not under oath.”

Cal’s eyebrows shot upward. “So you were at her house?”

Hayward didn’t flinch. “Where’s that pretty lady friend of yours?”

“You mean my wife?”

“Whatever, man. It’s the twenty-first century.”

“Well, she is my wife, not my lady friend.”

“Whatever floats your boat. Just tell her it’s not a good idea for her to be prowlin’ around Pickett on her own, if you know what I mean.”

“Why? Are you going to do something to her?”

“I’m just sayin’ you better be careful. It’s not a good idea for a lady to be cruisin’ around unescorted.”

Cal narrowed his eyes. “Why? Because you might do to her what you did to Susannah Sloan?”

Hayward’s mocking expression turned serious. “What are you tryin’ to say, huh?” he said before shoving the basketball at Cal.

Cal caught it and nonchalantly spun it on his index finger. “I guess maybe you weren’t shootin’ with Drake earlier either, were you?”

“What are you—?”

“Stop with the lies, Jordan,” Cal said before squaring up to the nearest basket and hitting his shot. “I’m on to you.”

“There’s a snitch on every corner, even in Pickett. And they’re all trying to get their thirty minutes of fame.”

“I believe it’s fifteen minutes,” Cal said.

“Around here, it’s thirty.”

“Whatever. All I know is that you’re lying to me. This story you’ve concocted feels very contrived, so much so that I refuse to believe it.”

Hayward put his hands behind his head. “Well, you better start because I ain’t lyin’. But just you watch: Somebody will try and kill me before the week is over.”

Cal laughed. “If they do, I’ll know it’s you faking it.”

Hayward proceeded to double down on his story. “I never shot with Drake, and I was never at Susannah’s house the night she was murdered,” he said. “If I was, prove it. Find evidence that I was there and produce it. The truth is I wasn’t anywhere near him on that night. That much you can count on.”

Cal shook his head. “You know, Hayward, I almost believe you. You’re doing a great job of selling this. But something doesn’t sit right with me.”

“It ain’t Stumpy’s barbecue, that’s for sure.”

“No, it’s not. But it is your attitude and your evasive responses,” Cal said. “In short, I don’t believe you. I think you’re lying through your teeth . . . I just haven’t figured out why yet.”

“You’re gonna waste a lot of time doing that, Mr. Murphy. I already told you the truth; you just have to believe it now.”

“I can smell your BS coming from miles away,” Cal said. “And it stinks.”

“Oh, really,” Hayward said.

Hayward stared at the ball for a moment before passing it hard at Cal’s chest. Like the last time, Cal was ready. He caught the ball and smiled at Hayward.

“Don’t think you’re going to intimidate me,” Cal said. “You haven’t given me much reason to put any faith in you—and I’m going to keep digging through my investigation until I find the information to put you away if you’re guilty.”

Hayward started laughing and then formed a gun with his hand, pointing it at Cal and gesturing as if he pulled the trigger.

“Watch yo back, Mr. Murphy . . . if you know what’s good for you. Might I suggest a speedy exit out of Pickett?”

CHAPTER 14

WHEN CAL WALKED into Curly’s Diner for lunch, Kelly was already waiting for him, seated at a booth in the back of the restaurant. She stared intently at her camera, unaware that her husband had even taken a seat across from her.

“Find anything interesting?” Cal asked.

Startled, Kelly nearly dropped her camera, fumbling it for a second before grasping control again. “Don’t do that to me, Cal,” she said. “You know I don’t like it when you sneak up on me like that.”

“You need to add a few more tracks to that one-track mind of yours. You’re going to miss quite a bit if you keep your head buried.”

“This was just too interesting to ignore,” she said.

“What did you find at Susannah’s old house?”

“Lots of things. For starters, nobody lives there.”

Louise, Burt’s lunchtime waitress, took their orders and scurried back to the kitchen.

“Really? I thought she built that house.”

Kelly nodded. “She did, but apparently nobody around here wants anything to do with it. There was a maintenance guy there cutting the yard, but the house looked really run down.”

“And it wasn’t for sale?”

She shook her head. “I checked the records online. The last time it was listed as being sold was when she bought it.”

“So,