Dead to Rights by Jack Patterson (fiction book recommendations .txt) 📕

in his seat and slid his digital voice recorder closer to Drake.

“I want to tell your side of the story,” Cal began. “I have to be even handed in this feature, so the more forthcoming you can be, the better light I’ll be able to cast you in.”

“I understand.”

“Good. So, before we get to the night of the alleged murder, can you give me a little bit of background on your relationship with Susannah Sloan?”

Drake closed his eyes and winced, surprising Cal. The almost immediate emotion Drake showed appeared genuine. However, Cal couldn’t determine if it was out of regret or pure sorrow.

“Susannah and I had a rocky relationship in high school,” Drake said as he looked down at the table, his voice quivering. “I’m almost certain it had nothing to do with me. I know she was in love with me—and not in that fake high school kind of way. It was real. But we were always breaking up and getting back together, probably because of her father.”

“Sheriff Sloan?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. I always thought he was a fair man, but he was jealous when it came to Susannah. He didn’t want her dating a black guy, that’s for certain. But with that said, I don’t know if I’d go as far as to consider him a racist. Sounds crazy, I know, but he always treated me with respect. Maybe it was because I went to Auburn.”

“Was he an Auburn fan?”

“The biggest, at least in Pickett County. If he wasn’t in uniform, you’d rarely catch him in anything but orange and blue. I’d get him going when I mentioned Bo Jackson’s name. He’d have a grin on his face for the next twenty minutes as he raved about Bo’s other-worldly skills.”

“Did he try to steer you toward Auburn?”

Drake eyed Cal cautiously. “Not in any illegal kind of way. I mean, there were other players gettin’ paid, but I wasn’t one of them. I wanted my education and a shot at the NFL. Anything that could’ve potentially derailed my dreams was shoved aside, including girls.”

“But you and Susannah remained friends?”

“She went to Auburn, too, and watched out for me while I was there. We never really dated while we were at Auburn. She was too focused on getting good grades to get into law school, and I was concentrating on improving myself on the field and in the classroom.”

“But things with Sheriff Sloan changed?”

Drake nodded. “After I graduated, I could tell Sheriff Sloan’s attitude toward me wasn’t the same. It made me question whether the only reason he was ever nice to me was due to the fact that I was always either interested in Auburn or attending there.”

“From what I’ve read, you were quite the legend in Pickett County. It’d make sense that he’d want you to play for his favorite college team.”

“Yeah, and maybe that’s why I was blinded to how others in my neighborhood viewed him. But I never had anything against him . . . until that night.”

“Before we get to that, I want you to tell me what happened with you and Susannah . . . How did you move from friends to engagement?”

“Aside from my mother, Susannah was the one constant in my life. She was always there for me. When I was going through a hard time at Auburn, she kept me going. When I was trying to make the Seahawks during camp, she would call me and give me encouraging quotes. She was my rock. I had to marry her. I couldn’t do life without her.”

“So, what happened?”

Drake’s face fell, and he stared down at the table.

“She chased her dream to go to law school and become a prosecutor. And I chased mine in the NFL.”

“But weren’t you still engaged?”

“Some of my boys had mentioned that they thought she was seeing somebody else, but I didn’t want to believe it. I came back to visit with friends and family and talk with her about it before training camp that year. I didn’t want to believe she’d betrayed me like that, but I couldn’t ignore it, especially after what happened that night at the club.”

“The night?”

“Yeah, May 7, 2004—the night my life changed forever.”

Cal scratched out a few notes. “Walk me through that day, will you?”

“I got up and hung out with my boy, Jordan Hayward.”

“What did you do?”

“Got something to eat. Went fishing. Shot a few rounds at the range. Ate lunch. Nothing exciting.”

“Then what?”

“I took a nap and then met some more of my guys at The Pirate’s Den for drinks. We were all having a great time, drinking and reliving the glory days at Pickett County. When you win a state championship in this town, you instantly become a legend, part of this community’s folklore. Pickett County hadn’t won a title in more than twenty years before my freshman year. By the time I graduated, we’d won three.”

“That’s quite a feat.”

Drake nodded. “On paper it was, but we should’ve won four. Our little school had ten guys from those teams go on to play college football; six of us made it to the NFL.”

“But you were the only superstar.”

Drake shrugged. “I was in the limelight more than the other guys, but they were all very good. You don’t make it into the league by being a slouch. Everyone who gets there is a superstar. And even then, you gotta fight like hell to keep your slot on the roster.”

“So, back to May 7th. What happened next?”

“After a few drinks, I had to go to the restroom when some guy bumped into me. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but when I reached into my pocket to pull out my phone, I realized the dude had put something in there: It was a picture.”

“Like a four-by-six photograph?”

“No, it was a picture printed out on paper that had been folded up several times until it was about half that size. I opened up the picture and couldn’t believe my