My Sister's Grave (Tracy Crosswhite, #1)(38)

“That’s right,” Dan said.

“First, you tell me what your intent is.”

“I’d file a motion for post-conviction relief based on the new evidence and ask for a hearing in order to present it.”

“Old Judge Lawrence still on the bench?”

“Retired,” Tracy said.

Dan said, “The papers are filed with the Court of Appeals. If they grant a hearing, I’d ask that it be presided over by a judge brought in from outside Cascade County. It would pretty much force their hand.”

“It wasn’t the judge who convicted me; a Cascade County jury did that.”

“There wouldn’t be a jury this time. We’d present the evidence directly to the judge.”

House considered the tabletop before lifting his gaze. “Would you get to put on witnesses?”

“I’d cross-examine the witnesses who testified at your first trial.”

“Yeah? Would that include that big shot Calloway? Or is he retired too?”

“He testified the first time,” Dan said.

“What’s it going to be?” Tracy said.

House closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Dan looked like he wanted to say more to convince House, but Tracy shook her head to indicate he shouldn’t oversell it. When House opened his eyes, he looked at her and grinned. “Looks like it’s you and me again, Detective Tracy.”

“It was never you and me, and it never will be.”

“No? I’ve been filing appeals for nearly twenty years.” He pointed to her left hand. “No wedding ring. No tan line from a ring you removed before coming here. Narrow hips. Flat stomach. Never married. No kids. What’ve you been doing with your time, Detective Tracy?”

“You’ve got ten seconds to make up your mind before we walk.”

House again gave her that sick, beguiling grin. “Oh, I’ve made up my mind. In fact, I can already see it.”

“See what?”

“The looks on the faces of all those people when they see me walking the streets of Cedar Grove again.”





[page]CHAPTER 26





Vance Clark was wearing a baseball cap and had his head down, but Roy Calloway still recognized him, reading at a table near the back of the bar. Clark looked up when Calloway slid back the chair opposite him. “I hope they have a killer happy hour,” Calloway said. Clark had picked a bar in Pine Flat, two exits down the freeway from Cedar Grove. Calloway removed his jacket and hooked it over the back of the chair as he addressed an approaching waitress. “Johnnie Walker Black with a splash. Don’t baptize it.” He had to speak over the clatter of billiard balls and country music playing on an old-fashioned juke box.

“Wild Turkey,” Clark said, though his glass on the table was still half-full.

Calloway sat and rolled up the sleeves of his flannel shirt. Clark flipped back to the first page of what he’d been reading and slid it across the table toward him. “Shit, Vance, you going to make me put on my glasses?”

“It’s a pleading,” Clark said.

“I can see that.”

“Filed in the Court of Appeals. In re: Edmund House.”

Calloway picked the papers up. “Well, it isn’t his first appeal, and I’m sure it won’t be his last. Did you drag me all the way out here just to show me this?”

Clark adjusted the bill of his cap and sat back, drink in hand. “House didn’t file it. It was filed on his behalf.”

“He’s got an attorney?”

Clark drained his glass. The ice clinked. “I think you should put on your glasses.”

Calloway pulled them from his pocket and slipped them on, eyeballing Clark before considering the pleading.

“The law firm is along the bottom of the page, right-hand side,” Clark said.

“The Law Offices of Daniel O’Leary.” Calloway flipped through the pages. “What are the grounds?”

“New evidence not available at the time of trial and incompetence of legal counsel. But it isn’t an appeal. It’s a motion for post-conviction relief.”

“What’s the difference?”

The waitress returned and set Calloway’s drink on the table and replaced Clark’s empty glass with a full one.

Clark waited for her to depart before he explained. “If the Court of Appeals agrees, they can remand it for a hearing. House would get to introduce evidence to prove his initial trial wasn’t conducted fairly.”

“You mean a new trial?”

“It’s more of an evidentiary hearing, but if you’re asking whether he’d get to put on witnesses, the answer is yes.”

“DeAngelo seen this yet?”

“I doubt it,” Clark said. “Technically he hasn’t been House’s legal counsel for years. The proof of service doesn’t list him.”

“You talk to him about it?”

Clark shook his head. “I didn’t think it wise, with his heart condition and all. But he’s listed as a witness, if the Court of Appeals grants the motion. So are you.”

Calloway flipped the pages and found his name just above “Ryan P. Hagen,” second from the bottom of the list. “Does it hold water?”