The Fury - Jason Pinter [22]
the case. They will take you if you make them."
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Jason Pinter
"This can't be right," James said. "Goddamn it I
shouldn't be here! Henry, you know me, you know this
isn't right."
I knew him, but I didn't. I'd seen the depths of his
anger, his rage. It was up to me to believe he wasn't
capable of reaching another level.
"Dad..." I began. "Why do they suspect you?"
Without hesitating, James said, "They told me there's
evidence linking me to the crime. They said they found
it in Stephen's apartment."
"In New York?" I said. "How is that possible?"
He looked down at the floor, his whole body seeming
to sag into nothing. "They said they found my finger
prints on the gun that killed him."
9
"Wait, step back," I said. It took me a moment to
regroup, to process what my father had just said. "How
could they possibly have found your fingerprints on the
gun that killed Stephen?"
"I don't know," my father said. He said it unconvinc
ingly. There was more to this. Amanda looked at him
with incredible frustration. She had a great legal mind,
but I could already tell that she was thinking about
James Parker's chances during a murder trial. Even if
he was innocent--which he had to be--this man would
never do himself any favors with his lawyer or a judge.
He was already refusing easy extradition, and he was
lying--or at least hiding the truth--from the only
people here who gave a damn.
Sadly, I knew what it felt like to be accused of a
terrible crime you didn't commit. I knew just how
lonely it could be, and how much a friendly hand
meant. Amanda had been that for me. If not for her,
I'd either be dead or in prison. She'd reached out,
offered a hand, and I'd smartly accepted. My father,
meanwhile, was dangling from the edge of a cliff,
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Jason Pinter
slapping our hands away in the misguided belief that
he couldn't fall.
"Mr. Parker," Amanda said. "You need to tell us what
happened. All of it. You know why they arrested you.
Even if you're innocent, you don't seem surprised.
Shocked, maybe, but not surprised. I can see it in your
eyes. You're thinking about the circumstances that led
to this. How events could have been misconstrued. We
need to know this so we can understand what hap
pened."
My father looked at Amanda, confused. She'd il
luminated a path for him and his reluctance to see it
was waning.
"I was in New York," James finally said, the words
coming out in a rush like air that had been compressed.
"The day Stephen died. I was there."
"You were in the city?" I asked, incredulous.
"Why?"
James looked at me, then Amanda. He stayed quiet.
I got the picture. He wanted to talk to her. She was im
partial. A lawyer. I was his son. And I would judge.
"Mr. Parker," she said. "Why were you in New
York?"
"I saw him," James said. His eyes had grown wide,
for the first time fully beginning to piece together the
circumstances. There was terror in those eyes. They
ripped a hole through me because right then I knew he
understood why he'd been accused of the crime. "Helen
called me."
"Helen Gaines?" Amanda said. "Stephen's mother?"
James nodded. "I hadn't spoken to her in, God,
almost thirty years. After she had Stephen, I wanted
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nothing to do with either of them. I had a family. A wife.
I told her that," he said, slamming his fist on the table.
"From the beginning, I told her this won't go anywhere.
It wasn't my fault the crazy bitch lied about being on
the pill."
"How did she get your number?" Amanda said.
"It's called the phone book," James said drily. "Last
I checked I'm not the president."
"Why did she call you after so long?"
James leaned over again, chewed his thumbnail. He
ripped off a ragged piece of white, spat it across the
room. I saw a small line of blood well up from where
he'd ripped.
"She said she was in trouble. That she needed money.
That Stephen was in trouble."
"Did she say what kind of trouble?"
"She said Stephen had a drug problem. She needed
to get him help before it was too late. She couldn't