“I can’t believe Whitmore is threatening your life,” Scottie said. “More importantly, I can’t believe you get to go through the police file. That is incredible. First, thank you so much for believing me and actually working on my case. That worthless piece-of-shit Hixon and the lawyer they appointed me for my state appeal just went through the motions, assuming I did it. I truly appreciate you working for me,” he said smiling. “So, what do you hope to find in the police file?”
“The first thing we are looking for is any evidence pointing to Whitmore as the possible assailant,” Steve explained. “If there is anything the police dismissed or overlooked during their investigation because it pointed at him, instead of you, we might be in business. If we can couple any original evidence with the proof we have with these threats, I think we will have an excellent shot at getting you a new trial.”
“A new trial?” Scottie repeated, stunned. “I don’t want a new trial. I want out of here”
“Well, first we have to get you a new trial,” Steve said, “Then we can worry about getting you out of here by winning that one.”
“Oh. Ok. How are we going to get me a new trial?”
“We would get there under an ‘ineffective assistance of counsel’ claim. The job Hixon did at trial was very poor but probably not enough to get a new trial under the strict standards set forth by the Supreme Court for constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel. However, an attorney is not just supposed to do his job in-court proficiently. He or she is also constitutionally required to properly investigate and prepare for trial out-of-court. In Wiggins v. Smith, the Supreme Court spelled out the standards for effectiveness of trial counsel in regard to investigation. One of the primary jobs of the defense attorney is to investigate any mitigating or exculpatory evidence. If we can show there was evidence pointing to a different suspect, and if we can prove Hixon did nothing to even investigate those people, we may have enough to get you a new trial.”
“Wow…” A tear filled with hope and joy began to form in the corner of Scottie’s left eye. “You really think I might get out of here alive?”
Steve nodded in affirmation. “Yes, I do. Now, I’m not guaranteeing anything, but I think we have a very good chance. The second thing we want to see is if Deputy Blackburn is telling the truth about originally seeing the picture of the bedroom door intact and dismissing it as irrelevant. If he lied to us about that,
then we have to try and figure out why.”
“I see,” Scottie said. “But it sounds like we have the killer. Whitmore is threatening you. He must be the one. You just have to prove it.”
“It definitely looks that way,” Steve said cautiously.
Scottie gestured wildly as his voice rose in vindication. “It has to be him! That’s why he is threatening you. I told you I didn’t kill Ashley! I told you it was him!”
“Calm down,” Booger said. “Right now, we have four suspects: you, Whitmore, Walters, and the X factor.”
“Wait, what’s the X factor?” Scottie asked.
“That’s either for someone we are missing or the slim possibility that some totally random person happened to show up and kill her right after you left. Until somebody confesses or we find a video showing who did it, we aren’t going to eliminate any possibilities. One reason you are sitting here is because the police got tunnel vision in their investigation. They only looked at evidence that pointed to you and dismissed any evidence that pointed to someone else. That’s not how I do my job,” Booger said. “I keep all options open until I have all the evidence. Otherwise, you don’t go down the paths that may end up leading you to the true culprit.”
“I’m still on the list?” Scottie asked. “I thought you believed me?”
“We do believe you,” Steve answered, “but like Booger just said, you have to be a suspect until we find more evidence against someone else. It is our hope the police file will eliminate someone from the list, maybe even a couple of people, hopefully you. We hope there is something showing Whitmore was there that morning. A statement showing someone else was in the house that morning will give us a stronger case.”
Scottie looked down and said, “I see.” He sat with his head down in silence for a few seconds before saying, “Well… there is one thing I have been keeping from you. I’m not sure if you will discover it from the file or not, but I want to tell you now so you will hopefully continue to trust me.”
Steve looked at Booger, who gave him a knowing nod as if to say, Here we go. The final truth, revealed.
“After all we have done for you, you still haven’t told us everything?” Steve said.
“No, I haven’t. I feel really bad about it, too,” Scottie said earnestly. “I was honestly just trying to protect Heather.”
“Heather? She helped get you here with her testimony,” Steve said. “Is this the last thing you have kept from us?”
“Yes, I promise. This is it. I have told you everything else,” Scottie assured them.
“Before you begin,” Booger said, “I want you to look us both in the eyes and tell us this will be the last time you have something to come clean about. No more untold stories.”
Scottie looked Booger squarely in the eyes and said, “I promise you. This is the last thing I have been keeping from you both. Scout’s honor.” He raised two fingers and held his hand out in front of him like a boy scout. He then did the same to Steve.
“Were you ever even a Boy Scout?” Booger asked.
“No,” Scottie admitted. “I was a Cub Scout once, and it is just something I have said ever since when I am being 100 percent honest.”
“Okay, continue,” Booger said. He gave Steve a look that showed he was finally satisfied that this would be Scottie’s final confession.
“On the morning of the murder, I told you that I met Heather at the hotel when I was supposed to be golfing. Remember?” Steve and Booger nodded as they stared at Scottie.
“Well, what I didn’t tell you is that she went to my house after we finished in the hotel room—”
“What?!” Steve exclaimed. “You knew she went over there? When she told us that, we assumed you didn’t know about it.”
Booger said nothing, but the look on his face clearly conveyed the displeasure he felt inside.
“I know, I know… I didn’t think it was important because she left before I even got home,” Scottie said.
“She was in your house the morning of the murder, and you didn’t think it was important?” Steve sat still while his voice rose in frustration. “Why in the hell did she go over there?”
“Heather and I agreed that she should go see if Ashley knew who my mistress was. We knew Ashley had discovered that I had one, but we didn’t know if she knew it was Heather. So, Heather left before me and went to the house. The plan was for Heather to go there in the role of Ashley’s best friend, to see why she had seemed so upset lately. She knew Ashley would tell her I was having an affair because they had been friends long enough that
Heather could get Ashley to spill all her secrets.” Steve began taking notes as Scottie continued.
“Heather got to the house, talked to Ashley, and texted me that Ashley had no idea she was the other woman. That is when Heather left, and I went home. The only reason I never told you this before is because I didn’t see how it mattered. But now that you are going to see the police file, I think she gave a statement to Deputy Blackburn during his investigation. She didn’t tell him anything about our affair, of course. She just told him she had gone over to see her friend that morning after her workout. I wanted to tell you before you saw it for yourself. I don’t want you to stop believing me because of this one piece of meaningless information.”
“Thanks for telling us. But for the record, nothing is meaningless,” Steve said firmly. “Are you positive there is nothing else you consider unimportant that happened that morning?”
Scottie stared at the wall for a second and then said, “Heather and I also decided that morning to end our affair. She was feeling guilty about cheating on her husband, and I was feeling guilty, too. We both decided it should end. We figured, as long as Ashley didn’t know Heather was the one, I could just make up someone to be the other girl. Then we could all go back to living our lives as we had before Heather and I hooked up. Heather agreed that was the best plan.”
“What were you going to do if Ashley did know it was Heather?” Booger asked.
“We didn’t actually get that far. We just hoped she wouldn’t know, and then we could both go on with our lives.”
“Thank you for telling us everything,” Steve said as he jotted things down on his legal pad.
“Are you sure Heather wasn’t upset about ending the affair?” Booger pressed. “That seems like something that might set her off.”
“Yes, I am sure. Hell, it was her idea. She brought it up in the first place. I just agreed. We both had been thinking about ending it for a while. There were times I actually threw up in the hotel toilet from the guilt I felt in my stomach after we finished having sex. Heather often said she felt the same way.” “But you still kept doing it?” Steve asked.
“Yeah…” Scottie lowered his head in shame.
Steve reached up and hit the intercom button to signal the guards their meeting was over. Soon, Steve and Booger were headed out of the prison, back through all of the sliding walls of metal bars.
On the drive home, Booger asked, “What do you think about our boy’s confession?”
“You mean about Walters?”
“Yes,” Booger said. “I find it very interesting. I even think maybe she killed Ashley. Regardless, I think it’s time we confront her about the affair.”
After a few moments of silence, Steve said, “I agree we need to confront her, but, for the record, I don’t think it was her. I think there is still something we aren’t considering. If she sets up Scottie to go to death row, how does that help her? She doesn’t get to end up with him. Even if she were a killer, she would want someone else to take the fall, so she ends up with Scottie. Remember, at trial, she was a key witness against him. It just doesn’t add up to me.”
