The Confession: A Novel by John Grisham

Author:John Grisham
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780739377895
Publisher: Random House Large Print
Published: 2010-10-15T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

They came for Donte at noon. Not a minute before, not a minute after. Everything precise and well rehearsed. There was a knock on the metal door behind him. Three loud raps. He was talking to Cedric, but when he knew it was time, he asked for his mother. Roberta was standing behind Cedric, with Andrea and Marvin at her sides, all four squeezed into the small room, all four crying now with no effort to hold back the tears. They had watched the clock for four hours, and there was nothing left to say. Cedric exchanged places with Roberta, who took the phone and placed her palm on the Plexiglas. Donte did the same from the other side. His three siblings embraced behind his mother, all four huddled together, touching, with Andrea in the middle and on the verge of collapse.

"I love you, Momma," Donte said. "And I'm so sorry this is happening."

"I love you too, baby, and you don't have to say you're sorry. You did nothing wrong."

Donte wiped his cheeks with a sleeve. "I always wished I could've gotten outta here before Daddy died. I wanted him to see me as a free man. I wanted him to know that I did nothing wrong."

"He knew that, Donte. Your daddy never doubted you. When he died, he knew you were innocent." She wiped her face with a tissue. "I've never doubted you either, baby."

"I know. I guess I'll be seeing Daddy pretty soon."

Roberta nodded, but could not respond. The door behind him opened, and a large male guard appeared. Donte hung up the phone, stood, and placed both palms flat on the Plexiglas. His family did the same. One final embrace, and then he was gone.

With his hands cuffed again, Donte was led from the visitors' wing, through a series of clicking metal doors, out of the building, over a lawn crisscrossed with sidewalks, and into a wing where he was taken back to his cell for the last time. Everything, now, was for the last time, and as Donte sat on his bunk and stared at his box of assets, he almost convinced himself that it would be a relief to get away.

His family was given a few minutes to collect themselves. As Ruth was leading them out of the room, she gave them a hug. She said she was sorry, and they thanked her for her kindness. Just as they were walking through a metal door, she said, "You folks headed to Huntsville?"

Yes, of course, they were.

"Might want to get on over there. Rumor is there might be trouble on the roads."

They nodded but were not sure how to respond. They walked through security at the front building, got their driver's licenses and purses, and walked out of Polunsky for the last time.

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The "trouble on the roads" mentioned by Ruth was a clandestine Facebook conspiracy inspired by two black students at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. The code name was Detour, and the plan was so simple and so brilliant that it attracted dozens of volunteers.

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