Cold Case in Cherokee Crossing Read Free Page A

beginning. He didn’t give a crap. But there is a new lady, just out of law school. She came to see me a few weeks ago.”
    “Did you tell her what you told me?”
    Hank shook his head. “I was afraid they’d come after you and arrest you. There’s no way I’d let you end up in this place.”
    Avery’s throat burned with regret, yet her anger gave her strength. “What was this lawyer’s name? I’ll talk to the warden, and then I’ll call her.”
    “It won’t do any good,” Hank said, defeat in his voice. “I told you, it’s too late.”
    “No, it’s not.” Avery took a deep breath. “What was that lawyer’s name?”
    “Lisa Ellis,” Hank mumbled. “But I’m telling you, it won’t make any difference.” He gestured around the room, then at the guard. “I know how things work in here.”
    Avery’s voice gained conviction. “I’m not going to let you die for something you didn’t do, Hank. I’ll talk to that lawyer and if she can’t help, I’ll find someone who will.”
    Avery stood, anxious to make the phone call. Hank had given up hope long ago because she hadn’t been there for him.
    No one had.
    It was time that changed.
    * * *
    J AXON IDENTIFIED HIMSELF to the warden, a chuffy bald man with thick dark brows and ropes of tattoos on his arms, and explained that he wanted to visit Hank Tierney.
    “Yes, you can see him, but this is odd,” Warden Unger said. “Tierney has only had one visitor in the past twenty years until today. Today he’s had two.”
    Jaxon straightened his shoulders. “Who else came to see him?”
    “His sister.” The warden scratched his head. “Obviously with the execution date approaching, she wanted to say goodbye.”
    Or perhaps that lawyer Director Landers had mentioned had spoken with her.
    The warden twirled the pen on his desk. “What brings you here?”
    “My director wanted me to make sure the execution is still on.”
    Warden Unger nodded. “Good. Thought you might be working for that pansy-ass attorney out to get a stay.”
    “I take it that means you think Tierney is guilty.”
    Unger shrugged and dropped the pen. “A jury convicted him. My job is to make sure these animals in here don’t slit each other’s throats, not argue with the court.”
    A buzzer sounded on the warden’s desk, and his receptionist’s voice echoed over the speaker.
    “Warden, Avery Tierney insists on seeing you right away.”
    Unger glanced at Jaxon and Jaxon nodded in agreement. “Send her in.”
    Jaxon had studied the files on the case before he’d driven to the prison. Avery Tierney had been the only person at the house when her brother murdered their foster father.
    She was nine at the time, and according to the doctor who’d examined and interviewed her afterward, she’d been in shock and too traumatized to talk.
    The door opened, and the warden’s secretary escorted Avery Tierney in.
    Nothing Jaxon had read in the file prepared him for the beautiful woman who stepped inside. Avery Tierney had been a skinny, homely-looking kid wearing hand-me-downs with scraggly, dirty brown hair and freckles. She’d looked lost, alone and frightened.
    This Avery was petite with chocolate-brown eyes that would melt a man’s heart and curves that twisted his gut into a knot.
    Although fear still lingered in those eyes. The kind of fear that made a man want to drag her in his arms and promise her everything would be all right.
    She looked back and forth between him and the warden. “Warden Unger,” Avery said, her voice urgent. “You have to help me stop the execution and get my brother released from prison.”
    The warden cleared his throat. “Why would I do that, Miss Tierney?”
    A pained sound ripped from Avery Tierney’s throat. “Because he’s innocent. He didn’t kill Wade Mulligan.”

Chapter Two
    Jaxon forced himself not to react. Avery was obviously emotional over losing her brother, and desperate now that his execution was less than a week away.
    Warden