Wrong Man from Willingham

Ken Siegel

Description

Dexter Rollins was a studious and ambitious high school senior who was close to achieving his lifelong dream of going to college. But that dream was suddenly derailed when he was framed for murder. Evidence set up by the real killer, and the fact that Dexter was the last person seen with the victim, convinced the police and everyone else that he committed the crime. The people of Willingham, Texas were shocked and angered by the tragic murder in their community. They wanted blood. They wanted revenge. They wanted the arrest, conviction, and death of Dexter Rollins. Everything seemed to be stacked against him. The victim was the daughter-in-law of a powerful politician. The State assigned their best litigator to prosecute the case. Dexter was provided a novice as his court appointed attorney. The evidence all pointed toward Dexter's guilt. A wrongful conviction and subsequent death sentence appeared to be his fate. Would he be able to somehow beat all the odds and save his own life?

Sujets

• Thriller

Informations

• Publié par: First Edition Design Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781506905099
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Wrong Man
From Willingham

A Novel by
Ken Siegel
The Wrong Man From Willingham
Copyright ©2017 Ken Siegel

ISBN 978-1506-905-08-2 PBK
ISBN 978-1506-905-09-9 EBK

LCCN 2017962744

December 2017

Published and Distributed by
First Edition Design Publishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 20217, Sarasota, FL 34276-3217
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book publication may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by anymeans ─ electronic, mechanical, photo-copy, recording, or any other ─ exceptbrief quotation in reviews, without the prior permission of the author orpublisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places,events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination orused in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,or actual events is purely coincidental.
Part I
January 2002
Chapter 1

Jamal Taylor crouched at the edge ofthe woods behind a row of garden apartments located on the south side ofWillingham, Texas. He was facing the back entrance of unit # 8, which was theone he was about to burglarize. There were 12 apartments on the lower level ofthe complex and 12 more on the upper level. Unit # 8 was on the lower level,making the forthcoming robbery somewhat easier. His plan was to break inthrough the back door which was an available option only for the lower levelunits. He would also escape through the back door after his mission wascomplete. The upper level homes had balconies overlooking the back of thecomplex, but no immediate escape route through the yard and into the woods.
Jamal’s rationale for using the backroute was quite simple. The front doors of these units led out onto a fairlybusy suburban street, whereas, behind the apartments were the deserted woods inwhich he was hiding. The front was also well lit, while the back was so darkthat Jamal could barely see the gun he held in his right hand. The woods werejust a few quick strides away from the back doors of the apartments, so hecould quietly exit and be in the woods again in a matter of seconds. No onewould see him back there.
At 5’10” and 160 pounds, Jamal wasslim and he was fast. He was given the nickname “Stick” by his gang, theVipers, due to his skeletal frame. He would have preferred a more menacingmoniker, similar to some of the other members, but no one argued with those whomade these types of decisions. No one called anyone within the Vipers by theirreal name. It was one of the gang’s many standard operating procedures.
Dense woods surrounded most of thetown of Willingham. From his home on the other side of town, Jamal had made hisway through the woods to reach his target. It was a roundabout route along theperimeter of the town, but it was necessary so as to not be seen walkingthrough a part of Willingham in which he clearly did not belong. He would stickout like a sore thumb if he was seen walking the streets in this part of town.
Willingham was a large town locatednorth of Amarillo in the northernmost part of Texas, just 20 miles from theOklahoma panhandle. The town was clearly split into two very differentsections, which can easily be summed up as the “right side of the tracks” andthe “wrong side of the tracks.” In fact, there were actually train tracks thatdivided the town roughly in half and served as the unofficial border betweenthe two vastly different sections.
The “wrong side of the tracks” wasthe north side of town. This area was comprised of very low income residentsliving in slums. There was crime everywhere, including several gangs who werealways at war with each other. There were also many drug dealers operatingthroughout the area.
The “right side of the tracks” wasthe southern part of town. Here, the residents were hard-working middle classfamilies, most of whom lived in townhouses or garden apartments similar to theone currently being staked out by Jamal. There were no millionaires on eitherside of Willingham, but, as everything is often perceived in relation to one’sown circumstances, the people on the south side seemed very wealthy to thosefar less fortunate on the north side of town.
For this reason, Jamal often targetedhomes on the south side of town for his goody runs, as he liked to call hisrobberies. Although he was only 17 years of age, he was no criminal novice. Inaddition to his goody runs, he had participated in numerous criminal activitiesas a member of the town’s largest and most notorious gang. The gang’s criminalempire encompassed many forms of illegal activity, including the selling ofdrugs and various types of stolen goods, such as jewelry, electronics, andweapons. They also ran a widespread gambling operation.
Jamal was no dummy. His own crimeswere always meticulously planned. He scouted his targets in advance and mappedthe route he would take to and from his missions. He also prided himself onbeing cool, calm, and collected no matter the predicament in which he may findhimself. He was a quick and clear thinker who never panicked in anycircumstance.
Jamal had carefully picked out hisattire for this night’s adventure. He was wearing all dark clothing, a hood,and gloves. A quick black kid in dark clothes in the woods at night wasvirtually impossible for anyone to see.
It was a good night to go on thismission. It was Tuesday, January 29, 2002, and it was bitterly cold. Thoughwinters are generally somewhat mild in the region, an unusually frigid coldfront was hitting the area. The temperature was in the low teens and the groundwas frozen. But it was not snowing, nor had it snowed in several weeks. Withthe ground frozen and no snow, he would not have to worry about leaving anyfootprints. There was also only a partial moon that night, which made the areaeven darker. Darkness is always a friend of the criminal.
Jamal always wore gloves whenconducting any criminal activity to make sure that he never left anyfingerprints. He would wear gloves even if it were the middle of summer. Buton this frosty evening, he was happy to be wearing them for more than justprecautionary reasons.
Another precaution was to carry a guneverywhere. His gun was like an American Express card to him; he didn’t leavehome without it. His preferred weapon was any one of several types of Glockpistols. They were easy to carry, conceal, and use. He would never hesitate touse his gun when circumstances required him to do so. In his world, hesitationcould result in getting busted or killed. One of the Vipers’ mottos was, “whenin doubt, shoot it out.”
In his 17 years of life, Jamal hadalready killed two people. However, neither situation had presented anyalternative actions for him. The first time was part of his gang’s initiationritual. They had captured a member of a rival gang, and to assess that Jamalwas worthy of becoming a member of the gang, he was ordered to pull the triggeron their captured prey. He knew that he could not refuse the order. Refusalwould likely mean his own death. He would be labeled a coward, and cowards didnot last long on the mean streets of the north side of Willingham. One valuablelesson he had learned was that no matter who the other person was in anysituation, if it were a “him or me” predicament, always make sure it’s theother guy to get busted or whacked. So, he pulled the trigger that day, and atthe tender age of 15, he was officially a murderer whether he wanted to be ornot.
His next murder came a year laterduring a chance encounter with another rival gang member in a dark alley. Theother guy reached into his jacket for a gun, but Jamal was just a little bitquicker. One shot to the heart and he had committed his second murder. Itwasn’t planned, but as he rationalized, “it was either him or me and it sure ashell wasn’t going to be me.”
As Jamal stared at the back entranceof unit # 8, he noted that it was completely dark inside. He knew the residentsweren’t home, there was no burglar alarm, and there would be no dogs inside.Picking the lock of the back door would not be an issue for him, but settingoff an alarm would be problematic. He also preferred to not have to deal with abarking dog that would need to be quieted. Doing so took precious time andcould make noise as well. It was a problem he preferred to avoid when possible.
But Jamal knew he would have no suchproblems. He had previously scouted out this mission. However, tonight was thereal deal. No more dress rehearsals. It was roughly 9 p.m., it was fully darkoutside, and due to the frigid temperature, there were no residents of anyunits in their backyards.
Apartment # 8 was the fifth unit fromthe left end from Jamal’s vantage point in the back. Not only was that unitcompletely dark on the inside, but the same was true for the area behind it.There were no obstacles such as yard furniture, toys, or other items betweenthe back door and the woods, so there was no risk of tripping on anything whenmaking his hasty escape. He noted that there were no lights on in either of theneighboring yards, which made the area behind his target even darker. Althoughhe didn’t expect any of the upper level tenants to be out on their balconiesdue to the low temperature, he made sure that no one was on a balcony anywherenear his targeted home. The coast was clear. It was time to make his move.
Jamal quickly and stealthilyapproached the back entrance. He reached the door and easily picked the flimsylock. Picking locks was a valuable skill taught immediately to all newlyinitiated members of the gang.
He knew the layout of these unitswell. It was the same as others he had robbed in recent years. When enteringthrough the back door, he could see the front door straight ahead. To the leftof where he stood upon entering was the kitchen, and to the right was thelaundry room. Straight ahead, in the direction of the front door, was the mainliving area, which was sparsely furnished. The