Steven Womack - By Blood Written

“What’s going on?” she asked.

Michael shrugged. “Bottom feeders,” he muttered.

They took the elevator up to the fourth floor of the courthouse, where Mark Hoffman was pacing around in front of the elevator banks waiting for them. His face was tense, his brow furrowed like a bulldog’s. He looked around nervously.

“Wes wants to see you,” he said. “C’mon, we don’t have a lot of time.”

He turned, his heels clicking loudly on the marble floor, and stepped quickly down the hallway. Taylor and Michael strained to keep up with him. He came to a heavy wooden door and opened it, then walked down a short hallway to a conference room.

Wes Talmadge and Jim McCain sat at a long table. They rose as Mark, Taylor, and Michael walked in.

“Shut the door,” Wes ordered.

“What the hell’s going on?” Michael asked, looking around the room. Taylor stood off to the side, her shoulders aching from tension.

Wes Talmadge took a step toward them. “Sit down, Michael. We need to talk.”

“What?” Michael demanded, his voice strained and tense.

“Will you please tell me what the hell is going on?”

“Sit down,” Talmadge said quietly.

“No! Stop telling me to sit down and tell me what’s going on. Now.”

Talmadge sighed, and his head seemed to droop. “Okay, if that’s the way you want it. Mind if I sit down?”

Michael nodded as Talmadge stepped back to his chair and sat down. “Michael,” he said, looking up at them, “I had a phone call from a colleague last night. Hell, he’s more a friend than a colleague, I guess. Lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.”

Talmadge stared up at Michael for a moment. “Scottsdale?” Michael asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Talmadge nodded. “We’ve known each other a long time and he’s been following this trial through the news media.

Obviously, he knows I represent you.”

“Okay, so what’s the big-”

“Michael, he told me there’s a rumor going around out there that the grand jury in Scottsdale is preparing to indict you on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the death of a young woman that occurred almost seven years ago.”

Taylor’s hand went to her mouth. She looked over at Michael. He stood there, swaying slightly, as the blood seemed to drain from his face.

“I made a few phone calls this morning, got a couple of people out of bed early. And while I haven’t been able to get anyone to come out and tell me point-blank that an indictment will be forthcoming, I think you should be prepared.”

“Madness,” Michael whispered. “It’s insane. How can they do this to me?”

“I’m afraid that’s not all,” Talmadge said, looking down at the floor. “The police department in Macon, Georgia is going to issue an arrest warrant for you later today. And I think we can expect some action soon from Chattanooga as well.”

Taylor felt dizzy, nauseated. The room seemed to swirl around her. She reached out and grabbed on to the back of a chair for support. Mark Hoffman stepped over, took her by the elbow and steadied her.

“Here,” he whispered. “Sit down.” He pulled out a chair, and Taylor settled into it.

Michael stood there, his eyes transfixed on a point somewhere in the middle of the opposite wall. “What does this mean?” he asked softly after a few moments. The silence that followed was onerous, oppressive.

“It means, my friend,” Talmadge said, “that we’re in a lot of trouble.”

“What do we do?”

“I don’t know whether Judge Forsythe knows about this.

I haven’t said anything to him. I think word must be filtering through the news media. That would explain the feeding frenzy going on downstairs. Clearly, if the jury finds out, if the news should leak out and they hear of it, he’ll have to declare a mistrial. On the short term, that would help us. But long term, it doesn’t solve anything.”

Talmadge stood back up and pushed the chair behind him. He walked over to where Michael stood and faced him squarely.

“We should consider what’s involved here. This is a capital case. The prosecution’s case isn’t open and shut, but they’ve done a better job of putting it together than we thought they would. If you’re found guilty, you could be sentenced to die. And the other charges against you could go that way as well. Long term, we could be facing a very bad situation.”

Talmadge stopped for a second, as if carefully considering his words. “On the other hand, if we were to go to the district attorney and see what kind of deal we could get-”

“What?” Michael snapped. “Are you-”

“Let me finish,” Talmadge said forcefully. “I think we should consider an Alford plea, which is where you admit no guilt, but recognize the state may have enough evidence to convict to you. I think if we submit an Alford, we could definitely beat the death penalty and, given a few breaks, might even get you life with possibility of parole. Worst case scenario, life without possibility of parole. But at least you’d still be here with us. You could still write, still work, still have a life of some kind. And chances are, if you’re locked up by the state of Tennessee for a long time, these other charges might go away. Under the circumstances, why waste the taxpayers’ money?”

Michael grabbed the back of a wooden chair with both hands and squeezed until Taylor thought his knuckles were going to burst through the skin.

“If you think that I-” he started to say.

“It’s my job to protect my client’s welfare and my client’s rights,” Talmadge interrupted. “It’s not my job to make sure you go free no matter what! If the best I can do for you is beat the death penalty, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

“No,” Michael said coldly. “I won’t hear of it.”

“Michael,” Taylor said, “maybe you ought to think about it. Maybe Wes is right. It’s time to look at-”

“Damn it!” he yelled, turning to her. “You, too? That it, Taylor? You, too? You turning on me now?”

“I’m not turning on you, Michael. I just don’t want to see you have to face the-” Taylor’s voice broke.

“Death penalty?” Michael snapped, turning to Taylor and leaning down in her face. “Let me tell you, I’d rather be put to death than spend the rest of my life locked up like an animal. Even if I did commit these murders, which I didn’t, so what? They were just sluts and whores, worthless trash! Of no value to society or anything else!”

He glared at her, his eyes wild and bulging. Taylor looked up at him, and for the first time, she was afraid of him.

Around him, the three attorneys stared, shocked. Talmadge stepped over and put his hand on Michael’s shoulder, pulling him away from Taylor. Michael whirled around, and for a second it looked as if he were going to hit him. The other two lawyers stepped toward them.

“If you can’t go in there and defend me,” Michael said,

“then you’re fired. All right? Is that what you want, off this case?”

“Forsythe won’t let you fire me,” Talmadge said, his eyes narrowing. “He’ll go apeshit on you.”

“Then get in there and do your job,” Michael said, his jaw clenched. “And do it right.”

She expected drama, but in the end it was all surprisingly muted. Perhaps it was fatigue, weariness at the relentless stress. Taylor realized as she sat in her usual seat a row behind the defense table that it had been a year since the two girls in Nashville had been murdered.

A year since she’d thrown that huge party for Michael to celebrate his first appearance on the New York Times best-seller list. The longest year of her life … A year that had held such promise, so many breakthroughs.