Page 42 of The Devil's Advocate

‘Do you have the recording for the night of the fourteenth of May?’ I asked. ‘The night Skylar Edwards was killed?’

‘I think so.’

He sat down at the computer, opened a search box and brought up a list of dates and numbers in small type.

‘Got it. Do you want to see it?’

‘Sure,’ I said.

He clicked on one of the list dates. A dialog box popped open.

Cannot Find File.

Damien tried a couple more times, with the same result. Then he clicked on the file above, May fifteenth, and it could not be found. Both the thirteenth and the sixteenth were available.

‘Has someone wiped the file?’ I asked.

‘Maybe. I don’t know. Could be accidental,’ said Damien.

‘That would be a hell of a coincidence,’ said Harry.

‘Not really,’ said Damien. ‘It could’ve happened when the Sheriff’s Department downloaded the footage onto a pen drive.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

KORN

Tom Wingfield almost took off the door to Korn’s office as he came in, his face set in determination and his fist full of paper. Korn rose to his feet, took the pages handed to him and started to read.

‘Motions from Flynn. They want bail, Dubois’ confession tossed, a change of venue and discovery. Look at the discovery motion. They’re saying we held back security footage and now they want it. The judge has set a hearing for three p.m. this afternoon.’

Korn nodded, skim-read the pages. It was almost noon.

His jaw muscle worked up and down, while his eyes flicked side to side.

‘Lomax’s deputies have given us a problem,’ he said. ‘Did you see any security-camera footage from the gas station?’

Tom shook his head, said, ‘No, I did not.’

‘Neither did I. It doesn’t read like this kid from the gas station, Damien Green, is lying now, does it?’

‘I can’t see that he has any skin in the game. Maybe Flynn paid him off or something?’

‘I doubt it. Damien doesn’t know which deputy took the footage and erased the original – only that they were wearing a uniform. If Flynn was paying for testimony, he’d get the clerk to be more specific.’

‘Should I call Lomax?’ asked Tom.

‘No, I’ll handle the sheriff myself. We don’t have the footage, so that’s the end of it as far the judge is concerned. And there’s no point in worrying about Dubois making bail – the family have no money for a bond. There’s zero chance of the judge excluding the confession. We don’t need to worry about those. No, the major issue is the change of venue motion. Deputy Leonard is on tape practically admitting Dubois can’t get a fair trial in Buckstown.’

Tom shuffled his feet, and Korn noticed him playing with a gold ring on his right hand, middle finger. He was fidgeting, twirling it around.

‘You were on the force in Buckstown before you transferred here – which one of the deputies took the security footage, and why would they do that?’

‘I’ve no clue,’ said Tom.

Grunting, Korn tossed the pages on his desk, turned his back on Tom. Korn leaned over, put his hands on his thighs, hung his head. He squeezed the muscles just above his knee, his lips trembled with the pain.

He stood up straight, quite suddenly, picked up his cell phone from the desk and dialed the governor’s number. His phone was off. He checked his watch.