Justice Lost (Darren Street #3)(38)
“You’re not planning to print that, are you?” Claire said.
“No, I think that might be borderline libelous since I’ve never seen a shred of concrete evidence that Mr. Street has ever harmed a soul.”
“That’s good to know,” Claire said.
“It’s strange, though,” Janie said. She was looking at Claire, but she sounded as though she might be talking to herself. “Nobody even seems mad at him. I’ve heard a lot of cops say if he did kill those two guys in West Virginia, they deserved it, and if he killed Clancy, he deserved it, too. This doctor? He’s a hot topic of conversation right now. Nobody knows all the details, so nobody knows quite what to think. Our so-called medical reporter has been looking into it, but he’s an idiot. He won’t come up with anything. What happened at the birthing center, Mr. Street, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I don’t think he should answer that question,” Claire said. “I’m sure there will be litigation. The court file will be public record. You’ll be able to find all the information you need there.”
We cruised back to the dock at a much faster speed than we’d cruised out. I tied the boat off while Claire and Janie gathered their purses and towels. I picked up the cooler and climbed off the boat. Janie was already walking to her car.
“What just happened?” I said to Claire. “Was that a disaster?”
“Not at all,” Claire said. “Let me deal with it.”
“I thought the plan was for me to get into office and then take down the sheriff. When did you decide to bring her into the picture?”
“After you left Ms. Tipton’s. My grandfather and I stayed and talked some more with Ms. Tipton. We decided it might be best to change the plan then.”
“By bringing a reporter in? Why?”
“Because Granny thinks if the sheriff presses you, if he backs you into a corner, if he tries to do harm to you somehow, you’ll kill him. And we don’t want you killing anyone, especially the sheriff.”
I was a little surprised that Granny would express such an opinion to the senator and Claire, but given my history of showing up at her house with bodies, I could understand to some degree.
“I promise I’ll try not to kill anyone,” I said.
“Don’t let it hurt your feelings. We can use this woman.”
“She appears to be a drunk, which makes her unpredictable.”
“Again, I’m sorry to say this, but we think that even though she drinks too much, she’s not as unpredictable as you. She’s been working at that paper for twenty-five years. I knew she was a boozer, but it doesn’t affect her work.”
“Are you going to talk to her again?”
“Of course. I’ll be at her front door this evening. We’ll have a chat. She doesn’t have a husband, so it’ll just be us girls and her cats.”
“You know she has cats?”
“I do my homework, Mr. Street.”
“And what will you chat about?”
“Her future. Or rather, her lack thereof if she doesn’t treat us fairly. We have a lot of friends in the newspaper business, including the company that owns the paper she works for. Try to behave yourself, Mr. Street. I’ll call you tonight.”
CHAPTER 20
The press conference was an interesting experience. Claire organized it, and it was held in a meeting room at a hotel in downtown Knoxville. Three television stations showed up—all the major networks that still did evening newscasts—and three print reporters. Janie Schofield was one of them. Claire had coached me for hours the day before, and I did fine.
It was a blonde from one of the network TV affiliates who asked the question: “Mr. Street, I’m sure you’re aware that there have been allegations that you’ve committed at least one, and perhaps several, murders over the past two years,” she said. “Would you care to comment?”
I did what I’d always done. I denied the allegations. I also went on the offensive, hammering on the fact that there was absolutely no evidence against me and not a single witness had come forward. I questioned Stephen Morris’s abilities, given the fact that he had several unsolved murders in his district (the ones I’d committed weren’t the only killings that had gone unsolved during his tenure). I also cited some facts Claire had given me about the unusually large number of cases pending in the criminal courts of Knox County because the district attorney’s office was unorganized and continued cases on a regular basis. I told people that I had been on the wrong side of the criminal justice system, that I had been falsely accused and convicted, and that I wanted to do everything in my power to see that false accusations and imprisonments became a thing of the past. I ended by pointing out that the murderer or murderers of my mother had never been brought to justice. I never said a word about Ben Clancy other than to deny I had anything to do with his disappearance.
They seemed to buy it, and the whole thing lasted less than a half hour. The resulting stories were generally positive, and Claire seemed pleased.
Then, over the next several weeks, I learned the true meaning of humility. Not humiliation—I’d suffered plenty of that at the hands of Ben Clancy and the many prison guards I’d known—but humility. I learned to be humble. And I did it visiting with groups like the Ruritan Club, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Rotary Club, and the dozens of other community organizations in and around Knoxville. I would usually speak briefly after we’d eaten chicken or spaghetti or lasagna or whatever the group happened to be serving that evening, but I quickly found that the most valuable part of the interaction was listening. I’d always been a fairly good listener, but when I was hearing stories of children throwing their lives away to methamphetamine or opioids, stories of children and old people neglected and beaten and treated like animals, it affected me deeply. I heard stories of victims of rape and murder and armed robbery and how those incidents traumatized not only their victims but also spread through entire families like the ripples from a rock being thrown into a calm country pond. Those stories changed my perspective on the nature of crimes and those who commit them. It also made me want to help protect people. Even if I didn’t get elected, I knew I would never again defend a criminal.