Moonrise by Sarah Crossan

Author:Sarah Crossan
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781408867822
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2017-06-09T04:00:00+00:00

But that signature did me in.

Judge let them use it in court even though

I didn’t have a lawyer when I signed

and the confession had no details about the murder,

nothing that proves I knew what happened.

You know,

when I was giving that confession,

I asked for Mom.

That’s sort of stupid I know,

but I was crying and I wanted Mom to get me out.

But we both know

she couldn’t get herself out of a paper bag

if it was on fire.

Thing was,

I didn’t understand that

the cop who stopped me the week before was dead.

Shot.

Routine stop a couple hours after mine.

Camera in the cop car wasn’t working,

but the last call he made was when he busted me

and they had my picture, so every crooked cop

in the state was looking for me –

I was a celeb in Texas and didn’t even know it.

Face was even on the news.

So,

they got me and they had to get someone

cos a cop was dead and what they gonna do.

Let a cop case go unsolved?

People care big time about white police officers

and I’m just surprised they never tried to

stitch up some black guy. Loads of black guys

on the row say they got stitched up

and you gotta believe them

if you see the news and all these cops

shooting guys cos they’re

walking down a dark street or whatever.

So,

it took the jury an hour to find me guilty.

An hour, man.

I waited for trains longer than that.

Never good when a jury comes back quick –

that’s what they say.

There it is, Joe.

Black and white.

Is this the stuff you wanted to know

straight from my mouth?

Joe,

I’d believe a confession if I didn’t know

how the damn things come about.

I’d think,

why would you admit to something you didn’t do?

But still,

I’m sore as hell.

Cos you gonna ask me now?

This late in the game?

I got guys who never asked me.

Like Tyler in the cell next to mine – he knows the truth.

Thing is,

he admitted what he did – killed his girl.

Took a week for the cops to find her,

and you know what?

I could tell him if I was guilty and

he wouldn’t bat an eyelash

cos what he did was so dirty.

But he knows I’m not made like him.

Thing is,

if you lie about murder on the row

it makes you the worst sort of scum.

That’s why guys end up telling more than their share.

Like last year,

Colin McConnors admitted

doing in those hitchhikers in Alaska,

though no one even knew he was in Fairbanks

when it happened.

We wasn’t surprised cos McConnors is a sicko.

The crime they got him for was rotten.

Weird thing is,

McConnors is OK when you talk one to one.

He likes chess and politics.

He’s got smarts too.

Reads all sorts of books by Russians

and spouts Shakespeare like a boss.

So,

you asked me to tell the truth,

kind of saying I didn’t already,

so maybe I was a real scumbag,

worse than McConnors, someone who’s

gonna lie

to save my own ass.

Well, that isn’t me.

Anyway,

I’m not writing to tell you to go screw it.

I missed you and I thought about you every day

for ten years,

I swear.

Come visit me again.

I’ve not got long and I don’t wanna waste any

more time

being vexed.

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