Accused (Troubled Boys, Strong Men Book 1)

by Wendy Byrne

  “Geez, come on, Coach, I’m sure you’ve got moves. My mom’s attractive, I get that.” Travis shuddered. “Okay, I’m grossing myself out here. Can’t you do me a solid and watch over her, Coach?”

  “I have no problem with that, but I want to know what’s eating at you.”

  “I swear to you there’s nothing scaring me. But you need to make sure she changes the locks.”

  “The locks? If you’re afraid of something, changing the locks isn’t going to help.”

  “Geez, Coach, can’t you do this one thing for me?” The kids eyes got watery when he spoke. He was spooked big time.

  Sam knew the kid was lying, but also knew by the way he averted his eyes that he wasn’t going to spill. What the hell was going on? And how was he going to convince Jillian he needed to stay in her house until this whole thing with Travis got settled?

  ***

  “Nothing I could do. That football guy was at her house last night.”

  “I thought you were a bad ass.” Despite the setback, the man couldn’t help snickering. It was such fun to hit tough guys in their ego.

  “And I thought you wanted me to scare her. Hard to do that when Mr. Macho Guy is there,”

  Damn. He’d so wanted to deliver the one-two punch last night. It would have kept them guessing when he’d strike next.

  “Keep an eye on her. The guy can’t be around 24/7.”

  Life was so much easier when he could hire others to do his dirty work for him. Of course it hadn’t always been that way, but life makes choices for you sometimes as his father might say. He needed to use them to his advantage in order to avoid getting caught.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  While part of Jillian hated the idea that Sam sat next to her holding her hand at Travis’ hearing, another part felt a sense of relief she couldn’t quite put into words. ‘Thank you’ didn’t quite measure up to the sense of comfort he gave to her by his presence.

  The bailiff called for order, bringing her thoughts to the present. Seconds later Travis shuffled in. He still looked like hell with two black eyes and a swollen nose. While he didn’t have that terrified look in his eyes the way he had the first time he was here, that brought her no peace. She didn’t want her son to get used to being led places in handcuffs.

  She waved to him and smiled, both excited and nervous. Even though she was much more optimistic than both Cole and Sam, she tried to tamp down her expectations. Whatever the result, she felt infinitely more comfortable with Cole at the table with Travis rather than Reggie.

  “Your Honor, before we get started, I would like to submit evidence that the gun found at the defendant’s home is not a match for the murder weapon.” Cole handed a copy of the ballistics report to the judge as well as to the district attorney. “I would like to also point out that Travis Beckett could possibly have been given GHB and not have known it since he was given a water bottle by the victim’s step-daughter. It would explain his memory loss from that night.”

  The district attorney stood as he examined the paperwork. “Mr. Matthews’ hypothesis means nothing if there’s no evidence. And as for the ballistics report, it has already been submitted for evidence. If he’s posturing for a release of the defendant, I am one hundred percent objecting to that.”

  Cole leaned against the table. “If a key piece of evidence is no longer valid, why shouldn’t I ask for my client’s release.”

  “Let’s see if Dr. Stern can get to your client’s memory loss through hypnosis.” The judge jotted something down on a piece of paper and handed it to the bailiff. “But the reason you’re all here is I wanted to talk to your client about the altercation in the juvenile facility. I want him to understand the seriousness of the offense he’s been charged with.” He stared directly at Travis and motioned for him to stand. “I don’t yet know what happened with Mr. Gill. That evidence will come out at trial. But I have to be concerned about your violent outburst at the juvenile facility. To me this seems like a pattern, although I have to say it looks like you got the worst part of the altercation.”

  Jillian felt her hopes sink lower and lower as the judge continued to talk. This wasn’t going the way she’d hoped.

  “This was an isolated incident, Your Honor—” Cole stopped when the judge raised his hand.

  “Why don’t we wait until trial for your arguments?”

  “Can my client be released to his mother on house arrest? Obviously, there are several young men in the facility who feel a need to make his life even more difficult there.”

  For a few seconds the judge looked to be considering the option, but then shook his head. “I’d like to grant your request, but I can’t with a murder charge hanging over his head.” He glanced down at the papers on his desk. “But I would like to push up the trial date if possible now that there’s new counsel.”

  “No problem, Your Honor. I’d be happy to work it into my schedule whenever you and the State are available.”

  “How about two weeks from today?”

  “That will work, Your Honor.” Cole held up his hand. “Just one more request, I would like a private room where my client can meet with his mother before he has to go back to the juvenile facility.”

  “I don’t see a problem with that. You can use one of the rooms in back. And I see Mr. Carter is here. He can join as well.”

  Jillian didn’t know whether she should be relieved or frightened. Moving up the date meant that she’d get an answer sooner. She only hoped it would be the one she wanted.

  If they could only find Lexie.

  ***

  “Tell her, Travis,” Cole demanded as he placed his briefcase on the table between them. “I assure you there’s no one listening in.”

  Oh man, how could he explain it when it was stupid and didn’t mean anything at the time they’d done it?

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  Why did everything stupid he’d ever done come crashing back at him? It wasn’t fair. His mother looked at him, waiting.

  “That note I wrote…the one Coach found…yeah it was,” he cleared his throat, “this stupid game Lexie and I played.”

  She held her hand to her stomach. “What note? What kind of game?” She glanced from Coach to Cole. They’d warned him they were going to make him tell her himself. Travis thought he’d be able to prepare a little better. ‘Just rip off the BAND-AID’ Coach had told him.

  “We did it after Dr. Stern suggested we list everybody we were angry at on a piece of paper.”

  “I still don’t understand. What are you trying to tell me, Travis?”

  “The note we called,” he gulped and wondered if he could actually say the words, “The…the…kill…list.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” She pushed back from her chair. If he didn’t know better he’d swear she was about to bolt.

  Oh man, his mother never swore, she must be really pissed. She avoided looking at him.

  “Mom, I’m sorry. It was a joke.” That sounded really lame, but it was true.

  “A joke? Killing somebody is funny?”

  “No, Mom. I know it was a stupid joke. But we never thought—”

  “What names are on the list?” She brought her head up and stared at Coach before looking back at Travis. “Now.”

  Ah shit. “Lexie’s stepdad, Dad and one of Lexie’s old boyfriends. Really, Mom, it was a joke. A stupid, pathetic joke.”

  Cole cleared his throat. “Unfortunately, I recently found out Lexie told Dr. Stern about the list prior to her stepfather’s death. He didn’t take it seriously until Max Gill was found dead. Then he told me about it. The good news is he doesn’t believe it was a serious threat. But he is worried the whole thing will come out at trial and reflect badly on him. Also, he suggests hypnotizing Travis to see if he can remember anything from that night. Now that the judge ordered it, we have no choice in the matter.”

  “My God, Travis, what have you done?”

  He wanted to protest his innocence, but at this point
, it would sound lame. Besides, right now she wasn’t listening to a word he said.

  He wished Felicia could hypnotize him instead of lame-o Dr. Stern. “It kind of creeps me out, but I’m starting to remember bits and pieces, and maybe being hypnotized will help me remember the rest.”

  Coach stood and spoke for the first time. “Okay, let’s put this in perspective. If Dr. Stern actually took the threat of violence seriously, he had a responsibility to contact the police. Since he didn’t do that, he had to believe it was simply a case of juvenile fantasy.”

  “Sam’s right. He could lose his license if he didn’t report something like that.” Cole tapped his pen on a pad.

  “We only did it because during group he asked us to do this exercise where we wrote down everybody we were angry at. Then he threw it all in the shredder and told us to let go of our anger or some kind of shrink mumbo jumbo.” Travis still couldn’t look directly at his mom, afraid of the disappointment he’d see in her face. “Lexie and I took the whole thing a little further one day when she was mad because Max and her mom were leaving her home with a babysitter while they went to Italy or something. She was really upset. I didn’t know she’d told Dr. Stern about the list.”

  His mother tsked. “It doesn’t matter how he found out. The real issue is that you did it. Do you have any idea how bad that looks?”

  “I know, Mom, but I swear to you it was a crazy game. That’s why we—”

  “Hid it in a magazine, right?” She stared at Coach when she spoke.

  Cole held up his hands. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. It’s out there and we need to be ready to talk about it if it comes to trial. The blood on Travis’ shirt proves he was there when Max Gill was killed but it doesn’t prove he did it. The blood pattern is not something that would occur in a shooting. We still don’t know anything about the murder weapon, and we have only one witness who puts him in the area at the time of the shooting. They don’t have much, but it’s enough for us to have to work our asses off to prove otherwise.”

  “How about if we get some tapes pulled from the hospital? We’re pretty sure Lexie was there. I wonder who else was around.” Coach looked at Travis after he spoke.

  Oh man. What if the guy found out they were looking at hospital tapes? He was afraid to say something and afraid not to say something.

  “I’ll get right on it. I’ve got some connections.”

  “I was counting on that.” Coach stood when the guard knocked on the door.

  “I guess we’d better leave.” His mom huffed and closed her eyes. Teardrops clung to her lashes. “I love you, Travis. And, yes, I still believe you’re innocent. Figuring out what happened that night can only help.”

  “I wish Felicia could hypnotize me, but I guess I’m okay with Dr. Stern,” he shrugged. “I’m going to meet with him before I go back to juvie.”

  She pulled Travis into a hug. “You do your part and I’ll do what I have to do to find Lexie.”

  “Maybe you should ask her mom.”

  ***

  “I can’t believe you didn’t show me that note.” Jillian charged ahead of Sam as they exited. He knew she’d be pissed if she found out but was banking on the fact that no one knew but Travis, Lexie, Cole and him. Once Dr. Stern came into the picture, he’d known things were going to go bad.

  “Timing seemed off.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  Yeah, good question. It involved her son and he’d purposely kept the information from her. “I thought Travis should be the one to tell you.”

  “But you found it that night we were looking and you didn’t say anything.” She shook her head. “That sucks.”

  “I wanted to—”

  “Seriously?”

  Sam stayed quiet. Hell, he couldn’t think of anything to say that would make a damn bit of sense anyway.

  Ten minutes later the three of them sat in silence in the security room of the hospital. Sam still could remember the look of terror on Travis’ face when he mentioned looking at the security tapes. That was another thing he’d neglected to tell Jillian. He didn’t have too much guilt about withholding that information. No doubt somebody had come to scare the crap out of the kid. Maybe they could figure out who if they looked at those tapes.

  While they waited for the guard to select the correct footage, Jillian remained quiet. He figured the shock of Travis’ hit list and his complicity in the cover-up still weighed on her mind. To him the list seemed like a childish display of anger, but because of the circumstances it took on a much more ominous tone.

  Sam expected watching the tapes to be tedious. After about an hour of awkward silence while sifting through nurse changes and doctors coming and going, he glanced at his watch. He didn’t have much time before he had to go back and didn’t want this time to be a waste.

  “See anybody resembling Lexie?” He broke the silence with a question.

  Jillian shook her head. “She has pink hair. How hard can she be to find?”

  “I don’t know the kid, but I’d guess she was smart enough to either have it covered or colored.” Cole looked about as frustrated as Sam.

  “Dr. Stern is in to visit Travis quite a bit.” Jillian chewed on the corner of her lip as she focused on the screen.

  Cole held out his hand. “Wait. Is that Eric Tallman in the baseball cap?”

  Jillian moved closer to the screen to get a better look. “It’s like he knows about the cameras.”

  “Gotta mean he’s up to no good.” Sam didn’t like it, but figured since it was during the day, this wasn’t the visit that had scared the crap out of Travis. That had happened at night. He’d bet on it.

  “But can we prove it?” Cole turned to his friend in the security room. “Do you have video of only the juvenile ward, Section D?”

  “Sure, that might take me a minute though.”

  Seconds later he had the film queued up and ready. They started with the day of Travis’ admittance and went forward.

  Jillian pointed to the screen. “That’s Archie. I wonder why Travis didn’t tell me he visited.”

  “That was at the beginning. He might not have remembered seeing him.”

  She shook her head. “He told me he was going to be out of town for a while.” She sounded more like she was thinking out loud rather than expecting a response.

  “Stop.” Jillian stood and pointed at the screen. The digital clock on the bottom of the screen showed the time as three-forty am. “That’s Lexie.” She got up and walked closer. “She’s got on a doctor’s jacket and is going into Travis’ room.”

  “Are you sure?” Sam looked intently at the screen. “She’s blonde and doesn’t look like a sixteen-year-old girl.”

  Jillian moved in even closer. “That’s her. See this.” She pointed at the screen. “She has a marijuana tattoo on the inside of her wrist.”

  “Can you zoom in on that?” Cole asked the security guard as the three of them crowded around the screen.

  “Definitely a pot tattoo,” Sam said. “Have you ever seen a doctor with one of those.” A pot tattoo? No wonder Jillian didn’t like Travis hanging around with the girl.

  Jillian relaxed back in the chair. “She must have really been scared to take such a risk.

  “Or she might have been setting Travis up.” When Jillian glanced at Cole he shrugged. “Don’t forget she’s the one who called him Friday and dragged him into this. Sorry, but her involvement whether calculated or innocent is worth exploring.”

  “That’s Eric outside of Travis’ room?” Sam pointed at the screen. “I thought they were double and triple checking everyone who went inside.”

  “He’s a former cop and probably knew the guy stationed there,” Cole said. “Maybe they’re just talking.”

  “Yeah, right.” Sam’s gut burned every time he thought about the insidiousness of keeping an innocent kid in prison. To call them scumbags didn’t even begin to describe what he felt about whoever was doing this
.

  “Who or what is that?” Jillian had gone pale as she stared at the screen. Once again it read three-forty a.m. “Is it Eric?”

  “Impossible to tell. Whoever it is, they know exactly where the camera is.” Cole studied the angles when the tape was paused. “Damn. Zoom in on his left arm. Tallman has a Rolex, in fact, that one.”

  “The guy takes the time to obscure his identity but has on an identifiable watch,” Cole said.

  “How does this keep happening?” Jillian shot up and began to pace the room. “First Lexie, then this guy, presumably Tallman.”

  “The guard’s behavior is predictable. All it takes is a little surveillance,” Sam offered.

  She whirled toward him, frustration etched on her face. “That person could have killed my son and no one would have known.”

  Sam had a burning sensation that twisted inside and didn’t want to let go. Somebody was fucking with Travis. He wanted to know who.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Jillian could think of nothing else besides that threatening figure paused outside of Travis’ room. She’d never thought she’d be happy to see Travis go back to juvie, but based on what she’d seen, it might actually be safer.

  “Don’t think I’m going to forget you lied to me.” She was still mad at Sam for withholding information regardless of the reason.

  “I should have told you, but I wanted to talk to Travis first. It was so out of character, I figured there was some kind of explanation.”

  A part of her realized he’d done it for all the right reasons, but the other part of her rebelled at the idea. “Do not protect me. I can handle it.” She shook her head as an idea surfaced. “You’re just like Archie.”

  He grabbed her arm. “I did it because I didn’t think you could handle one more thing weighing you down.”

  “I’m so pathetic that you felt a need to baby me?”

  “Hell no, you’ve gone through a lot in the last ten days. And yeah, I should have told you right away but to tell you the truth I couldn’t stand to see that hurt in your eyes.”