David Walton - Superposition

I frowned and took the call. “Hey, Terry,” I said. “What’s going on?”

“Jacob, I have someone here who wants to talk to you,” Terry said.

There was a rustle as the phone changed hands.

“Mr. Kelley?”

I didn’t recognize the voice. “Yes? Who is this?”

“My name is Anna Majors.”

“I’m sorry, do I know you?”

“I was juror number six.”

Elena must have seen the look on my face, because she gave me a concerned look and mouthed, “Who is it?”

“Hello?” said the voice on the phone.

“Yes, I’m still here,” I said. “What can I do for you, Ms. Majors?”

“I’ve been watching the news. I saw how that woman, Jean Massey, was convicted of Mr. Vanderhall’s murder.”

“Yes,” I said warily. “Ma’am, I can assure you that the verdict was the right one.” I had been a significant witness in the case, of course, and Jean’s conviction finally closed the door on that whole affair. If I never walked into a Philadelphia courthouse again in my life, I would die a happy man.

“I don’t doubt the verdict,” Anna Majors said. “I just thought you might like to know our verdict, the one we were never allowed to read. We found you not guilty.”

“Seriously? I thought for sure…”

“Yes, I’m serious. At the time, I thought you might very well have committed the murder—I apologize—but as a group, we felt that the story and evidence just wasn’t clear enough to prove it. Not everyone agreed, at first, and it took a lot of argument, but that’s what we all came to. Now, since they’ve caught the real murderer, I know you didn’t do it, and I’m glad we came to that conclusion, even though it didn’t count for anything. Anyway, I thought you might like to know.”

I knew I was grinning, and Elena was giving me more and more curious looks. “Thank you very much, Ms. Majors. I do very much appreciate that you called. It’s very good to know.”

I clicked off. “What was that?” Elena asked.

I explained what Anna Majors had said, unable to keep from smiling. It didn’t really matter in any practical way, but somehow knowing that, even with the limited information they had, a group of my peers had found me innocent gave me a great sense of peace. “It’s the perfect ending to a perfect day,” I said.

Elena grinned slyly at me. The tension was gone from her body. She crossed her arms in front of her and gently took a hold of the bottom of her T-shirt, twitching the ends up slightly. “Really?” she said. “The perfect ending?”

My smile grew even bigger. “Maybe not quite perfect yet,” I said.

Then we stopped talking for a while.

A great thanks to Eleanor Wood for loving this book and finding it a home. To Lou Anders, for making me so much a part of its production, and all the great people at Pyr and Prometheus for their enthusiasm and loving attention to this story. To the many people who read early drafts and pointed out its flaws: Mike Shultz, David Cantine, Chad and Jill Wilson, Mike Yeager, Roger Savage, Joe Reed, and Bob Walton. And to Karen, Ruth, Miriam, Naomi, Caleb, Lydia, Magdalen, and Silas, for making my life a delight.

David Walton is the father of seven children, none of whom sprang into being via quan­tum superposition. He lives a double life as a Lockheed Martin engineer with a top secret government security clearance, which means he’s not allowed to tell you about the Higgs projector he’s developing. (Don’t worry, he’s very careful.) He’s also the author of the Quintessence trilogy and the award-winning novel Terminal Mind. He would love to hear from you at davidwaltonfiction@gmail.com.

Published 2015 by Pyr®, an imprint of Prometheus Books

Superposition . Copyright © 2015 by David Walton. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopy­ing, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without prior written permission of the publisher, ex­cept in the case of brief quotations em­bodied in critical articles and reviews.

Cover design by Grace M. Conti-Zilsberger

Cover image © Media Bakery

This is a work of fiction. Characters, organizations, products, locales, and events portrayed in this novel either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Walton, David, 1975-

Superposition / by David Walton.

pages ; cm

ISBN 978-1-63388-012-2 (paperback) — ISBN 978-1-63388-013-9 (e-book)

I. Title.

PS3623.A454S87 2015

813’.6—dc23

2014043772

Printed in the United States of America