The Stolen Hours by Allen Eskens

Author:Allen Eskens
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2021-09-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 32

Gavin knew his mother would come for a visit. Amy had to sign Leo Reecey’s two-hundred-thousand-dollar check. He’d given his lawyer her phone number. “And if she has any questions,” he’d said, “tell her to come talk to me.”

The jail used a video-conferencing system so Gavin sat in the guts of the jail staring at a screen while his mother did the same from the visiting area. Even remotely, Gavin could see that Amy had dressed inappropriately for the occasion, wearing a blouse that hung low off the shoulders and had a drawstring in the middle—a look far too provocative to wear to a jail. But then, Amy rarely had the good sense to hide the cleavage that Richard Balentine had bought for her.

Amy held the phone receiver with the tips of her manicured nails to keep the plastic from touching the skin of her fingers. “I got a call from some lawyer named Leo Reecey. He said I was supposed to give him a check for two hundred grand.”

“He’s my lawyer. I can’t access my money, so you’ll have to pay him.”

“Did you do any research on the man? I mean, he’s just barely a lawyer at all. Last year he was suspended for stealing from his clients. What do you even know about him?”

“I’m on top of it.”

Amy furrowed her brow. “Honey, he ain’t worth that kind of money. Let me take care of this for you. You’re in jail, for God’s sake. They wanna lock you up and throw away the key. I can find a lawyer who—”

“Mother, all I need from you is a check.”

“At least let me get you a good lawyer. If I’m footing the bill, I should get some say in it.”

Gavin knotted his hand into a fist to redirect his anger. He then stated his position in a calm voice. “You will pay the man his two hundred thousand dollars. You owe it to me, so stop interfering and do what I tell you to. Okay?”

Gavin watched as the words, and the unspoken understanding behind them, slapped his mother in the face.

“You don’t have to get that way, honey. I just want the best for you. We can afford any lawyer you want. But if he’s the one…I’ll cut him a check. I just want to make sure you walk out of here when this is all done. You’re my baby.”

“Everything’s going to be fine, Mother. They can’t convict me if I didn’t do anything.”

“But why do they think it was you? How could they think—?”

“It’s a case of mistaken identity. Some girl picked me out of a lineup, but it’s not true. You’ll see. They don’t have anything—no DNA, no witnesses, nothing—because I didn’t do it.”

“They have that girl. Ain’t she a witness?”

“It’s her word against mine, and she’s lying.”

“The paper said you met her at a wedding.” The detectives had no evidence that Gavin had actually met Sadie, but Amy threw it out there anyway. She was a dullard that way.

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