Chapter 99
CHAPTER
Shaking his head slowly, Harold Beech glared at me, Sampson, and Davis, then snarled, “Don’t you be effing with me now, giving me hope like that. I been effed on hope and every appeal for decades. I just can’t—”
“It’s different this time, Mr. Beech,” Davis, the attorney, said.
Sampson said, “We’ve uncovered new and incontrovertible evidence that we believe exonerates you from the accessory-to-murder convictions in the deaths of Conrad Talbot, Selena DeMille, Alice Ways, Brenda Miles, and Bunny Maddox.”
“It’s going to take a little while for the old DNA samples to be matched to the bodies found recently in the Pine Barrens,” Davis cautioned. “And I have to file motions based on the new evidence to get us a court hearing. But we are all confident that you will soon be a free man, Mr. Beech.”
The anger began to leave the inmate’s face, and tears welled in his eyes. “Is this real, man? Am I dreaming?”
“It’s real, sir,” I said. “No dream.”
“I was framed. Isn’t that right?”
“You were framed,” Sampson said. “Clearly.”
“You were caught in the web of a diabolical spider named Gary Soneji,” I said. “We all were.”
After we gave him all the nuts and bolts—who Soneji was and who he became and how he had slowly and meticulously planted the evidence that had sent him to prison for life—Beech swallowed hard and stared at us, the anger returning.
“Eamon,” he said.
Both Sampson and I hung our heads. “We know,” John said.
“He was innocent, just like he always said.”
“He was innocent of the white-van killings,” I said, hearing my own voice shake. “And we’re never going to get over that, Mr. Beech. Never. We know our work helped lead to his wrongful imprisonment, which led to his murder. It’s crushing to us.”
“Beyond crushing,” Sampson said. “Like buckshot in our hearts.”
I said, “Soneji has been dead for years now, but it turns out he still has the power to inflict pain and suffering. And we want to end your pain and suffering by helping you get free.”
Beech sat quietly for a moment, seemingly lost in thoughts of a different world.
“I been in a long time,” he said hoarsely, emotion in his voice. “Spent more of my life behind bars than out.”
“Yes, sir,” I said.
“How do I learn to live outside prison?” he asked. “I’m too old and broken to work in a granite quarry. And I got nothing else to give.”
Davis said, “You’ve given enough, Harry.
Which is why Dr. Cross and Detective Sampson contacted me.
I haven’t worked as a criminal defense lawyer in decades.
I’m a private litigator in Philadelphia, a very good one.
If you agree, I intend to sue in multiple states and jurisdictions on your behalf for wrongful imprisonment and demand reparations for all the years you have served unjustly. ”
I said, “We will testify for you. Explain how Soneji framed you, the whole thing, and show them the evidence, including a journal written in his own hand.”
“And because of that, you will likely get millions,” the attorney said.
“What?” Beech said, stunned.
“True,” Sampson said. “You’ll be taken care of for the rest of your life, Mr. Beech.”