When they returned to Steve’s house, the first thing Steve did was crumple up Whitmore’s page and throw it in the trash. Now they were down to two suspects: Deputy Blackburn and Scottie. One who appeared to have no reason to kill Ashley and the other whom they desperately wanted to believe did not kill Ashley.
The trio spent the next several hours going back through all of the evidence. They needed to find something that could give them a reason why Deputy Blackburn would kill Ashley Pinkerton, a person he was connected to in only two ways: One, they went to high school together for a year. Two, she was the victim of a standard domestic violence call for him.
Finally, after finding nothing of consequence, Booger said, “It’s late. We have had one helluva week, and this old man is beat. I’m out of here. I say we take tomorrow off and let things simmer in our minds a day or two. I have a lot of work to catch up on at the shop anyway. It is funny how doing bodywork clears my brain.
Probably has something to do with all the chemicals in the air. Hopefully something helpful pops in my old noggin while I’m at it tomorrow.”
After Booger left, Steve and Emily spread out all the case files and copies of the police investigative documents on the kitchen table.
“Booger is right; there has to be something we are missing,” Steve said as they both stood over the various documents. They each started circling the table as if searching for the next piece in a jigsaw puzzle.
On one pass, their hands brushed against each other as they stared down at the table. A spark ran through their bodies. Emily put her arms around Steve and pulled him in toward her. They kissed, softly at first, then more passionately.
Steve pulled away briefly, grinning. “I thought you didn’t hook up with coworkers.”
Emily kept her arms around Steve. “I don’t, but the more I’ve thought about it, we aren’t in actuality coworkers. I’m not getting paid. So, this is more of a volunteer position than a real job, and I don’t have any rules about dating a fellow charity worker.” She smirked. “Plus, every time I touch you, a spark of energy runs straight to my pussy. I have never had that happen before with any man in my life. I need to know how electric our physical connection will be. Not to mention the fact I am stressed and tense from everything that has happened this week. I need a release.” Her hands slid from his shoulders up to the back of his head. “Now shut up and give me what I need.”
Emily grabbed Steve by his thick, curly hair and pulled his lips to hers. Their hands roamed feverishly over each other’s bodies as their make out session began to resemble two teenagers discovering the joys of foreplay for the first time. Emily knelt down, slowly kissing a trail down to his crotch and unfastening his belt and pants. As she took him in her mouth, Steve leaned his bare ass against the table, feeling both the cold, polished wood behind him and the moist heat of Emily’s mouth. His knees shook as he found his own release.
“Now, it is my turn,” she said with a devilish smile.
She quickly stripped off her jeans and panties before pushing some papers to the side so she could fully sit on the table. She used both hands to grab Steve by the head and nudged it down her body. He started by lightly kissing her inner thighs. He teased her at first, alternating between her thighs without quite touching her hottest part. After a minute or so of his teasing, Emily tangled her fingers deeply into Steve’s hair and, more firmly this time, guided his tongue where she needed it to be. Emily came almost instantly and again shortly thereafter.
The excitement of Emily’s climaxes aroused Steve once again. As soon as he felt fully recharged, he slowly kissed up her belly as he removed her shirt and bra. He removed his shirt as well. They were both now completely naked.
He entered her quickly at first, then slowly as the reality of this dream settled into his head. Their lovemaking lasted for hours as they worked their way through the house, eventually stumbling onto his bed. Finally, their night of passion ended as they crashed into each other, their legs and arms pretzeled, as they drifted into a peaceful slumber.
CHAPTER 36
Steve woke first the next morning. He went to the kitchen with plans to make breakfast for Emily. He always enjoyed cooking breakfast on weekend mornings, either before or after he went to the gym, and he had everything necessary to make a traditional American breakfast—pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee for both. However, before he could begin cooking, he needed caffeine. He placed a pod in the coffeemaker and hit the start button. As he waited for it to brew, he stared happily at the documents and photos that were now strewn across his dining room table and floor.
Last night had been magical, like none he had ever experienced before. There was definitely something special about Emily, a connection he didn’t completely understand, but one he looked forward to learning more about. He couldn’t stop himself from grinning goofily as he thought, She may be the one. As he daydreamed about Emily walking down the aisle toward him, his eyes wandered over to something on the floor that immediately pulled him back to the present.
Two pictures were lying next to each other amidst the mess of papers they had thrown off the table during their romp last night. Seeing the pictures sit side by side, Steve wondered, How did we not see this before? The answer to the question—what was Deputy Blackburn’s motive to kill Ashley Pinkerton?—lay before him. He snatched up the photos and ran into the bedroom. He quickly woke Emily with a shake and put the pictures in front of her.
“What do you see?” he asked.
Emily rubbed her eyes and reached toward the nightstand. An instinctive move, Steve realized with some amusement, probably
for her glasses. She must keep them on her own bedside table. This morning, obviously, they weren’t there. They had come off somewhere else in his house, long before either of them laid their heads down to sleep. “I need my glasses,” she said.
Steve ran hurriedly throughout the house, looking for them. He found the glasses in the living room and brought them to her.
Emily put her glasses on and stared at the pair of pictures for one second, two at the most. Her jaw dropped.
“He’s Gabriel’s father!” Emily said. She held in her left hand the picture of Deputy Blackburn taken by Booger when the two men had met him at the park a few weeks ago. In her right hand was the picture of Gabriel taken the same morning at Whitmore’s house. The deputy and the young boy both had the exact same facial expression, the same eyes, the same jaw line. The resemblance was uncanny. Gabriel was Deputy Blackburn’s son.
“How is this possible? And how did we not notice this before?” Emily asked, her blue eyes still wide with shock.
“Do you remember when Walters told Booger and I that Ashley was very secretive about going to Norman almost every weekend of her junior year? She thought Ashley was seeing someone at the University of Oklahoma, but she never told her the details. She always kept it hidden from Walters.”
Emily nodded. “Yes. I remember reading that in your notes.”
Steve continued, “Well, when we visited Deputy Blackburn at his office, he had pictures from when he played football at OU. He was two years older than Ashley, Scottie, and Walters. He would have been a freshman at OU during Ashley’s junior year of high school, the year she was gone all the time. Here is my theory,” Steve said, holding up the photos. “I think that when she broke things off with Scottie, she decided to go hook up with this older football star. She must have gone up there a few times to test the waters. Then, for whatever reason, she ends it with Deputy Blackburn. Maybe she found out he had other girls at college, or maybe he ended it with her. Who knows? It doesn’t exactly matter either way. After the fling with Deputy Blackburn doesn’t work out, she goes back to dating Scottie. A year later, she gets pregnant with Scottie’s baby and marries him.
“After Deputy Blackburn graduates from college, he comes back to Claremore to work as a sheriff’s deputy. Ashley and Scottie are in an unhappy marriage, and she decides to give it another shot with the deputy. Then, after she gets pregnant, I would guess she told Deputy Blackburn that she was staying with Scottie even though Scottie wasn’t Gabriel’s father. Deputy Blackburn must have been upset that someone else was going to be playing dad to his own son. So, when the call came in of domestic violence at the Scotties’ house, he got there faster than he said he did, killed her, called in the murder, and set Scottie up for the death penalty all in one smooth action.”
“Makes sense,” Emily said.
“As for why we didn’t notice sooner,” Steve said while looking at the photos, “I think people just assume certain things all the time. People see what they want to see. Or they don’t see what seems illogical or impossible. Since no one knew about Ashley and Deputy Blackburn’s relationship, no one would ever guess that the deputy is Gabriel’s father. Even if a person briefly thought the two looked similar, it would be easily dismissed and forgotten based only on facts they knew. Beyond that, for all we know everybody in town thinks Deputy Blackburn is the dad, but they wouldn’t share that with an outsider like us and Scottie hasn’t seen him since he was a little baby.
“It’s all finally clear,” Emily said. “I guess your client really didn’t do it. But how do we prove this?”
“I will ask the court to order a DNA test. If the test shows Deputy Blackburn is Gabriel’s father, then that should be enough to save Scottie. At minimum, I think we can get Scottie a new trial based on the fact that the lead investigator in his case was having an affair with his wife, who also happens to be the victim. If I can’t show that situation is an example of a constitutionally prejudicial investigation, then I might as well give up my license and start delivering pizzas again.” Steve grinned. “Best case, we convince the district attorney’s office Deputy Blackburn is the one who killed Ashley. Then, they could drop the charges on Scottie and file against Deputy Blackburn. Scottie would be released almost immediately.”
It didn’t take long for Booger to pick up Steve’s call.
“We found something you have to see.”
“Can’t you just tell me what it is? I’m knee-deep in bodywork here.”
“No. This is something you have to see with your own eyes. Kind of like the handwriting examples earlier this week. We want to see if you see what we see without us putting any preconceived thoughts in your head.”
“All right. Give me some time, and I’ll be on my way. See you soon.”
While they waited, Steve found Emily an Avett Brothers concert T-shirt and pair of athletic shorts for her to wear. After she dressed, she walked into the bathroom while he was brushing his teeth. “I know you are extremely excited about what you discovered, but before we get lost in the moment, I want you to know that I had an amazing time last night.” She put her arms around him and lightly kissed him on the cheek, avoiding the mint-flavored foam on his lips. “I look forward to spending a lot more time with you, Mr. Hanson.”
She reached down and pinched his butt before walking out of the bathroom to wait in the living room for Booger to arrive.
The first thing the investigator noticed when he walked through the front door was Emily’s attire. “You two finally took the leap. Glad to see it. Hopefully, there won’t be any more of that sexual tension floating around you guys.” “Very funny,” Steve said.
“LOL,” Emily spelled out dryly.
After Steve handed him the photographs, Booger stood there in the living room, dumbfounded, as he stared at the two pictures in his hands.
Finally, he shook his head. “I can’t believe I never noticed this before. Looks like it’s time for me to hang up my trench coat and magnifying glass. I never would have missed something so obvious ten years ago.”
“No. You need to keep doing what you’re doing. We never would have gotten this far without you,” Steve said.
Other than the instances where Steve and Emily engaged in their new favorite hobby together, Steve spent the rest of the weekend writing what he hoped would be the penultimate motion in the Scottie case. The motion requested the court order a DNA test comparing the likely paternity of Deputy Andrew Blackburn to Gabriel. In the motion, Steve included all of the evidence they had gathered and found case law supporting his position. He believed it was the most eloquent and persuasive piece of legal writing he had created in his budding legal career.
He filed the motion electronically and waited for a response from the court.
CHAPTER 37
By Thursday, after such a long wait with no response, Steve was beginning to think his motion wasn’t quite the grand legal treatise he had originally imagined. But, in the middle of the afternoon, he finally received an email from the court clerk. Judge Henry entered an order giving the state fifteen days to respond to Steve’s motion and set a hearing for a week after the due date. Normally, a party had thirty days to respond to any motion filed by the opposing party, and the original party would have fifteen days to file a rebuttal brief. Afterward, both parties often had to wait months for oral arguments, or, occasionally, a judge would enter a ruling based solely on the briefs. However, in this instance, Judge Henry stated in his order that, due to the overwhelming possibility an “extreme travesty of justice may have occurred wherein an individual who could be a prime suspect was the lead investigator on a death row inmate’s case,” he was shortening the normal time frames. The judge made it clear he was concerned about hearing what may or may not have occurred in the underlying state court case.
Steve would still have to wait several weeks to get a final answer, but he knew his brief had made an impression on the judge. Not once in the two years he had worked at the court, nor in the time since he had been in private practice, had Steve ever heard of a judge shortening the time for opposing counsel to respond to a party’s motion—not for any reason, ever.
