“Why not?”
“I received the information in confidence from Mr. Melville. I’m his agent, and I’m bound by the same rule of evidence that kept Mr. Melville from revealing what his client told him in confidence.”
Jose laughed, but there was no humor in it. “More lawyer bullshit, mumbo jumbo.”
Alvarez stood up, turned his back on Robin.
“Please, Mr. Alvarez.”
Alvarez rang for the guard. “I’m done here,” he said.
Robin never expected Jose to thank her, and she was not insulted. Thirty years was a long time to experience despair and to have anger eating away at you.
The guard opened the door, and Jose disappeared behind it.Robin didn’t move. She stared through the glass, wondering what kind of life Jose Alvarez would lead if she won.
The bars slammed shut on the tiny cell that had been Jose Alvarez’s home for thirty years. He stood in the center of the floor and stared at the wall, but he didn’t see the stark gray concrete. All he saw were the wasted years; the years that had been stolen from him. Rage tightened every muscle in his body until it felt like tendons would rip and his bones would shatter.
Jose’s fingers curled into fists, and he smashed them into the wall until his knuckles bled. Then he threw himself onto the floor and did push-up after push-up. When his biceps turned to putty, he collapsed on the cold concrete and sobbed.
Frank Melville had put him in this coffin. Frank Melville could have gotten him out and did not. Frank Melville had robbed him of his future, a family, children, alife!
Until now, Jose had hated the world, but now his hate was focused on one man.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jose Alvarez had gotten lucky. It wasn’t unusual for attorneys on both sides to ask for continuances when a defendant alleges that he is being held illegally, but Jose’s case had moved more quickly than most, and, two months after filing for relief, the parties were ready for trial.
During those two months, Robin had handled several other cases while Ken Breland obtained notarized affidavits from the witnesses who could establish that Archie Stallings was a sexual predator, and Loretta Washington continued to refine the legal arguments Robin would make and drafted responses to the government’s briefs in opposition to Jose’s motion.
Robin kept Frank Melville up-to-date on the progress of the case and sent copies of any documents to Frank and Jose. Communicating with Frank Melville was easy, but Jose refused to meet with her.
Robin had hoped that Jose could set aside his anger, but therereally wasn’t anything he could contribute to the success of the case. Robin was alleging that Jose had nothing to do with Margo Prescott’s murder and would win if she could convince the judge that Archie Stallings was the man who should have been sent to death row, and Jose’s attorney had been incompetent when he failed to unearth and present numerous witnesses who would have been able to impeach Stallings’s testimony, and might have laid a foundation for the prosecution of the key witness against Jose Alvarez.
Then, two weeks before the hearing, Jose had asked Robin to visit him. Robin had not asked why and hoped against hope that he wasn’t going to ask her to cancel the hearing.
Once again, Robin was taken to the noncontact visiting, where she waited nervously for her client to appear. When the door opened and the guard ushered Jose in, Robin searched his face for a clue to his feelings and saw none.
Robin decided to open the dialogue with a softball question.
“Have you read the pleadings, my memo, and the affidavits from Debra Porter and the other women?”
“Yes. You make a strong case.”
“Let’s hope the judge agrees. Your hearing is coming up in two weeks, and it’s going to be in the federal courthouse in Portland. Unfortunately, you can’t be transported because you’re a security risk, so you’ll be watching the proceedings on a television in the penitentiary. We’ll be able to talk to each other on a secure line, and you’ll be able to see and hear everything that goes on in court. Do you have any questions so far?”
“No, but I do have something I want to say. I was very angry the first time we met. I realize how badly I’ve treated you, and I want to apologize.”
“No apology is necessary.”
“But it is. You’ve done nothing but help me. You’re the only one who has.”
“Frank Melville is the person you should thank.”
Jose’s tone hardened. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do that. He kept his mouth shut when he should have told someone as soon as he learned I was innocent.”
“He was bound by the attorney-client rule.”
“That doesn’t excuse what he did to me. He stole years of my life, when he knew I was innocent.”