The Alligator Man (19 page)

K
evin stopped at Rosie’s on the way back from the funeral. He’d called ahead to make sure Carlisle was there to meet him. Lunch hour was over, the place was empty, and Carlisle and Rosie were playing checkers.

“Carlisle,” Kevin said after Rosie went to fix them some gator fritters. She always had to make sure everybody was well fed. “Do you know where Bobby Joe Sellers and Randy Winters are living?”

“No, but I can find out.”

“It might be dangerous even asking around.”

“I won’t ask. I’ll just find out. I see them on the water all the time now. It won’t be hard.”

“I’m going to need to serve them with subpoenas for trial on short notice and it has to be done by a process server. If you can get me their addresses and when they are likely to be home, I’ll pay you two hundred dollars.”

“Sold.”

“You’ve got to be extremely careful. Don’t tell anybody.”

“I hear you,” Carlisle told him. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I don’t want you to do anything out of the ordinary to get their addresses.”

“Got it. Hey, you were going to get back to me after you talked to your client and I never heard from you.”

There was something about Carlisle that Kevin really liked. Maybe it was his enthusiasm, his honesty, or his love for his dead father—he didn’t know. But he felt he owed Carlisle an explanation.

“Yeah, I was. I decided that it’s best not to say anything to you before you testify. That way I’m not influencing you in any way. After you testify, we can have a conversation and I’ll tell you everything, okay?”

“Sure, but isn’t it going to be a little late in the game for me to help you?”

“Yes and no. I’ve already got a tentative strategy for the trial. However, you know all the players. You know Gladestown and the surrounding waters, and you know the facts better than anybody, including facts that I don’t know and don’t even know enough to ask about. Once I fill you in on Billy’s story and some other things, a picture may emerge for you that I would never see. It could help me with my closing or something.”

“All right. I just don’t want to spend your money.”

“Money doesn’t matter, Carlisle. A good man’s life is at stake.”

As he listened to the words flow from his lips, Kevin realized he had never said them before.

It was a good feeling.

A
s usual, Tom and Kate had breakfast on Thursday morning on the front porch of Kate’s house.

“I have to confess, Kate, I made a big mistake,” Tom told her.

“About what?”

“About this place—living out here. I was always so closed-minded about it, wanting to hang on to my house in the city and the lake house. It’s beautiful out here.”

Kate just smiled. “Your lake house is beautiful too and you needed your house in the city for your practice. Besides, how would Kevin have found you if you didn’t have some sort of presence in town?”

It was Tom’s turn to smile. “Has it always been this easy to figure me out?”

“Well, you are a man.”

Tom started laughing out loud. “I am that,” he said.

Kate became a little concerned. “Take it easy, Tom. You don’t need to be laughing that hard.”

“Why not? My stitches are all healed. I’m feeling great.”

“I don’t know. I guess I’m just being overprotective. And by the way, I think our lives have worked out exactly the way they were supposed to.”

Tom got out of his chair and knelt down in front of her, kissing her on the lips and then resting his head on her chest.

“It couldn’t possibly have been better. You are my love. I don’t know why God shined his light so brightly on me.”

“Or me,” Kate replied with tears in her eyes as she rubbed his shoulders.

Later, she saddled up her Appaloosa and went for a ride alone. Tom used to go with her but no more. He settled for a walk instead. She followed the same path she had taken Kevin on, stopping at the pond to allow her horse to drink, then visiting with the cattle in the meadow beyond. Her morning rides made her feel like every day was a new day to be lived to the fullest. More than ever she needed to live in the present.

She was still taking in the fresh air of a new day when she arrived back at the ranch.

“It was so beautiful out there today,” she told Tom from the kitchen as she poured herself a glass of ice water. There was no response.

She walked into the living room to see what he was doing. He wasn’t there. She checked the bedroom. No Tom. She rushed from room to room, calling his name. No answer. She started to breathe hard.
Calm down,
she told herself.
He could still be out on his walk.

Then she checked her watch. She’d been gone an hour. Tom hadn’t yet taken more than a half-hour walk. She ran out to the Jeep, jumped in, and started driving. She’d taken a few walks with him. She’d follow those paths first.

Why have I been so nonchalant?
she chided herself.
I should know where he is at every moment.

Kevin couldn’t wait to go over everything with his father when he got back to St. Albans. He was up to his eyeballs in something, and he had no idea what it was or how it related to the death of Roy Johnson, if it did at all. As soon as he left Rosie’s and headed north he called his father.

Kate answered the phone.

“Hi, Kate, can I speak to my dad?”

“He’s not here, Kevin.” Her voice was low and crackly. Kevin knew instantly that something was wrong. “He passed out on the road. They took him by ambulance about twenty minutes ago. I’m just getting some things and heading in.”

“Is he okay?”

“I don’t know.” He could hear her voice crack as she said the words.

“Hang in there, Kate,” he told her. “I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

T
om was lying in bed with his eyes closed when Kevin walked in the hospital room that evening. His IVs were hooked up again and Judge Blackwell was there sitting at his bedside, his head down as if in prayer.

“How is he doing?” Kevin asked.

“Don’t know yet,” the judge replied. “Alex is supposed to be here any minute.”

“Where’s Kate?”

“She just went to get some coffee.”

Kate showed up a few minutes later with three coffees, anticipating Kevin was going to be there as she had the first time he arrived at the hospital.

“How are you?” Kevin asked her.

“Much better. I’m sorry, when you called earlier I was not in very good shape.”

“You had a right to be upset, Kate. I can’t imagine what that was like for you.”

Kate didn’t reply. Not one to dwell on her own feelings, she busied herself handing out the coffees.

They sat nursing their drinks in silence for another twenty minutes or so, nobody in the mood for conversation. Tom remained motionless with his eyes still closed.

Alex broke the stillness with his arrival and replaced it with tense anticipation. He didn’t make them wait long, though.

“There is nothing major going on as far as we can tell. We think he passed out because his electrolytes were very low. I’m not exactly sure why. It’s not uncommon with cancer patients and I think Tom was doing a little too much. We’re going to have to slow him down.

“Right now, we’re just going to get him stabilized. He’ll be here a few days; then I think he will be able to go home.”

“What about the tumors?” Kevin asked.

“We don’t know anything new. He’s not due for a CAT scan for another six weeks.”

Tom never woke up during the entire time Kevin was there.

“Why don’t you stay at the house tonight?” Kevin said to Kate when he’d had enough of the hospital room. Ray Blackwell had just left, promising to return in the morning before leaving for Tallahassee.

“Thanks, Kevin. I think I’ll just stay here tonight. When Tom gets out of here, though, we’re probably going to be staying with you for a while until he stabilizes. I don’t want to be too far away from the hospital if this happens again.”

Tom stayed three days in the hospital until Alex was assured that he had stabilized and his strength had returned. Then he and Kate moved in with Kevin. They stayed downstairs in Kevin’s old childhood bedroom.

“We’ll just be here a week or so,” Kate said. “Then we’ll go back to the ranch.”

It didn’t matter to Kevin. He enjoyed the company even though he and his dad didn’t talk about the case for several days after that.

Kevin spent the majority of his time at the office, working with Jan. Little by little, things were starting to pick up around there, although he consciously tried to avoid taking on too many new clients before Billy’s case was done. After that, win or lose, he’d have plenty to do.

One afternoon Tom just showed up. Jan was ecstatic to see him. He came into the office and sat in one of the client chairs. Kevin was sitting in his father’s chair behind the desk.

“You look pretty comfortable back there,” he said to his son.

“Just keeping it warm for you, Dad. You look great, by the way.”

“Thanks. You never told me what happened down there at the funeral.” It was obvious Tom did not want to talk about his health. He was anxious to get back into Billy’s case.

“Well, it was very interesting. Bernie thinks I have the files David took from storage.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I have no idea where they are.”

“Did you tell Bernie that?”

“Hell, no. I let him think I had them.”

“So if he knows the files were taken, he probably had something to do with David’s death.”

“You’d think so but he swears he didn’t.”

“He can swear all he wants.”

“I’ve known Bernie for a long time. He’s a smart guy, but cautious. Killing David was a stupid move.”

“People do stupid things when they’re under pressure, Kevin.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Bernie probably had something to do with it but he kept himself at arm’s length. I think either Sellers or Winters killed David.”

“It stands to reason,” Tom said, “if Bernie doesn’t want those files to see the light of day, those boys probably don’t either. If either Sellers or Winters killed David and they think you have the files, why wouldn’t they come after you?”

“I don’t think Bernie would allow that, Dad—two lawyers from his firm killed in close proximity in time to each other. Somebody would start connecting the dots.”

“So he waits a few weeks and kills you in St. Albans or Verona or Gladestown. The police might think it was connected to the trial but Bernie has very little connection to the trial at this point. I’ve got a Glock 17 with a clip already in it in the middle drawer of my table in the den upstairs. I’d feel better if you carried it with you.”

Kevin remembered that the great tragedy of his life happened because his father was carrying a gun to protect himself.

“I’ll think about it,” he told Tom. “It’s great to have you back. I was starting to get a little confused about things without you to talk to.”

“Now if we can only confuse that jury,” Tom replied.

A
week before Billy’s trial, articles started appearing all over the country with the express purpose of stoking interest in the proceedings. A trial like this could sell a lot of newspapers. Kate saved the clippings, and at Sunday breakfast, before Kevin was to leave for Verona, she, Tom, and Kevin sat at the kitchen table reading some of them. It was July and it was already hot outside at nine o’clock in the morning.

“Here’s the only one favorable to Roy Johnson—one out of all the newspapers in the country. It’s from the
Washington Times
,” Kate said. “It’s called ‘Alligator Man Killer Deserves Death.’” Since she’d already read the article, Kate went right to the juicy parts.

“‘Dynatron was a company that failed but for twenty years it supported thousands of people and thousands of families. Shareholders made millions of dollars. Roy Johnson was responsible for those successes as well.

“‘This is a country of laws. There is no more intentional an act than that of vigilante justice. By definition, it is cold, calculated, and brutal. And by law, it is punishable by death.’”

“That would be the
Washington Times
,” Tom remarked. “Taking the side of the businessman no matter what. Read us one that’ll pump us up.”

“Okay,” Kate replied. “Here’s one from the
St. Petersburg Times
titled, ‘Will Justice Be Served?’” Kate was enjoying herself as she read the excerpts.

“‘It has been documented that at least sixteen former employees of Dynatron took their own lives when the company failed. Hundreds more filed for bankruptcy. Divorces followed. Families lost their health insurance. Shareholders lost millions. Roy Johnson wreaked unprecedented havoc in his wake.

“‘Our culture has always held in high esteem the gritty, independent American who arises from the shadows to protect not only his own family and property but others as well. Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood made a living portraying such characters.

“‘Many Americans believe that William Fuller should be riding into the sunset rather than going on trial for murder.’”

“Now that’s fair and balanced reporting,” Kevin said and they all laughed.

“One more,” Kate urged. “This is William Frishe from the
New York Times
.”

“He’s the one who started the whole Alligator Man thing, isn’t he?” Tom asked.

“I think so,” Kevin replied. He was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt and had his long legs stretched out on another chair. He didn’t look like a man about to start a murder trial the next day.

“He’s the one,” Kate told them, “and that’s what the article is about. It’s called ‘Still the Alligator Man.’” Kate began reading.

“‘When I first referenced the “Alligator Man,” the belief was that he had been snatched from a deserted road in the Everglades and brought home to the swamps by a fellow alligator. Now we know that he was murdered and probably by one of his own employees who had lost his wife and his best friend and everything he owned at the hands of Roy Johnson. Is Johnson any less the “Alligator Man” because he was murdered by someone whose life he thrashed and ripped asunder? With all due apologies to the alligators, I think not.’”

Kate looked at them, expecting to see smiles on their faces, but their expressions had changed. They had not exchanged a word between them.

“That presents a problem, doesn’t it?” Kevin asked his father.

“Yeah,” Tom replied. He knew exactly what Kevin was talking about. They were almost thinking as one now.

“Yup. The state attorney is going to read these newspaper articles and work every prospective juror over until she gets a commitment from each one of them that they would convict even if Roy Johnson was a bona fide, actual alligator. And Judge Thorpe is going to be watching you like a hawk, making sure you don’t put Roy Johnson on trial.”

“He’s also got to give me some leeway to defend my client.”

“You would think. My advice is that you don’t be too obvious about attacking Roy Johnson. By the end of the trial, the jury will know that he was a scumbag.”

“What about jurors? Do you have any thoughts about them?” Kevin had his own plan but he wanted to hear from his father.

“You want working people because they will hate Roy Johnson. And you want to make sure they are intelligent enough to follow our strategy, whatever it turns out to be.”

Kevin chuckled in a halfhearted way. “This trial would be enjoyable if Billy’s life wasn’t at stake.”

“You know how this works, Kevin. You think about your overall strategy
and
your next question. You start thinking about the endgame and you’ll tighten up. I’m going to be right here. You call me if we need to discuss something. I’ve got my computer ready. You need some research, I’ll get it. I’d love nothing more than to be right next to you, son, but that’s not going to stop us.”

“Right on, Papa.” Kevin gave his father a big hug. He hugged Kate too. It was time to go.