Chapter 1
There was movement outside Raymond Jackson’s cubicle in the Horry County jail. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves but gagged on the bleach-filled air. There was an undertone of piss or vomit, but Ray didn’t want to name it any more than he wanted to be there.
Hell, this wouldn’t be happening at all if I hadn’t screwed up. Most people would have been satisfied with the malpractice settlement. But no, they had to file a complaint with the Ethics Commission, too.
The guard opened the door and Ray watched his new client shuffle in, avoiding the faded brown splotch on the speckled tile floor. This man was Ray’s punishment. Ray had settled the ethics complaint by agreeing to take on three cases the public defender couldn’t handle. And, of course, the first is a murder case.
The man was wiry, no more than five foot five or six. His hair was short, like a military recruit’s. The tattoos began with a circle of barbed wire around his neck just above the orange collar of the county coveralls and extended out of his right sleeve to his wrist. On the left hand, the tattoos stretched into a half-glove encompassing his third and fourth fingers.
He stood, staring at Ray like a charge of static electricity waiting for someone to touch him off, with only the hand and ankle cuffs to restrain him.