Now You See Her - Michael Ledwidge [79]
In the silence, the orderly’s footfalls sounded, like the slow raps of a snare drum, as he stepped across the death chamber. When he stepped back a minute later, the IVs were in Justin’s arms.
The clock on the wall kept right on going. When it clicked forward to eleven fifty-nine, one of the reporters cupped a hand over his mouth like he was about to throw up. Tilted back in the gurney, Justin kept his eyes pinned to a point directly above the glass viewing window.
The room was still. Then the clock flashed.
It was twelve.
The injections started. A yellowish liquid suddenly appeared in the IV tubing and started to flow toward Justin’s forearms. All I could do was follow its path.
There was a collective intake of breath as the liquid entered Justin’s bloodstream and he closed his eyes.
“No,” I whispered.
Then my vision swam, and I doubled over.
Chapter 100
I WAS STILL DOUBLED OVER, in the midst of nearly passing out, when a deafeningly loud buzzer sounded in the execution chamber.
The orderly inside ran behind the partition as the witnessing doctor raced toward Justin. A thin stream of yellow liquid and blood splattered onto the floor as the doctor tore the IVs free. The orderly returned and motioned to the guards. After a moment, Justin was quickly rolled out of the room on the gurney with the guards and the doctor in tow.
“What the hell?!” Charlie said, running up and hammering on the glass.
The door to the viewing room flew open thirty seconds later.
It was Warden Mitchner.
“It’s OK,” he said, wheezing. The tall, flabby man was sweating, red-faced. “The first drug was just the painkiller. They didn’t drop the second plunger. Justin received only the painkiller. He’s going to be OK.”
Both reporters jumped up and began yelling at the same time.
“This isn’t happening,” Charlie said beside me. “This state runs executions about as well as its elections.”
“Please. We’ll have order here now. I just received this from Governor Scott Stroud,” the warden said, lifting a sheet of paper.
“ ‘Today I have decided to stay the execution of Justin Harris, an inmate on Florida’s death row for six months,’ ” Mitchner read. “ ‘I have done this to allow the district attorney and investigators involved in this case to gather and properly analyze any and all new information that has come to the attention of the clemency board. After a careful and close review, and conferring with the state attorney general and the parole board, I am not satisfied that it is proper that the execution should proceed until such new information is disseminated and reviewed.’ ”
The warden let out a breath. “That’s it,” he said.
Charlie sat heavily in one of the folding chairs. His head dropped down between his knees.
“Just tell me how Justin’s OK again,” he said, looking up at the warden.
“The doctor on call says his pulse is fine. He just needs to sleep it off. They’re bringing him to the infirmary.”
Charlie let out a breath, then sat up, wiping at the tears in his eyes. I came over and hugged him.
“Then we did it?” he whispered as if he could hardly believe it. “We actually did it?”
After a minute, we joined Fabiana and Justin’s mother in a standing embrace as the reporters spoke excitedly into their cell phones.
“See, I knew you would help Justin, Miss Bloom,” Mrs. Harris said to me as she kissed my hand, then my cheek. “I never doubted it for a second.”
“Me, too, Miss Bloom,” Charlie said winking from over her shoulder. “I knew you could pull it off.”
Book Five
THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE. OR WILL IT?
Chapter 101
A VIOLET-TINGED SHADOW rose up the cabin wall of the small American Eagle jet like a tide