The primary aim of the "Novel Excerpts" blog category is to showcase my creative writing, specifically from the novels I've written. Hopefully, these posts will provide a glimpse into my storytelling style, themes, and narrative skills. It's an opportunity to share my artistic expressions and the worlds I've created through my novels.
The Boaz Scorekeeper, written in 2017, is my second novel. I'll post it, a chapter a day, over the next few weeks.
I don’t know if it was Fred’s justice or the fact it was Halloween night, but I didn’t sleep well at all. I got up and came into the kitchen for coffee just as Karla was leaving for school. She kissed me and as she was walking out the side door told me Kaden was with Lewis, that he had gotten home around 6:00 yesterday afternoon and the two of them were taking a long weekend to fish and relax at our cabin in Guntersville.
I had purchased it last winter. It was owned by a client who was brighter than most when it came to pre-divorce planning. He said he believed it was inevitable that he and his wife divorce but he was going to postpone it for two years or so to extract some assets from their marital estate. The cabin on Guntersville Lake was something I would not have intentionally sought after but I bought it for about half what it was worth. Now, standing at the sink with my coffee, Karla backing out of the garage, I realized that I had done a smart thing making the cabin’s seller sign an acknowledgment that he had come to me for only a consultation and that I could not be his attorney in any upcoming divorce action. The seller never got a chance to file a divorce action against his wife. She beat him to the punch last month. I didn’t know much about their case other than what was published in the Alabama Public Records database, but I did know that she was accusing her husband of absconding with over a million dollars. Yet, he hadn’t been served a copy of the complaint. It seemed no one knew where he was.
I walked to my closet and pulled down an old laptop computer and mini-printer that I had used to load the ransom files on from my office computer, the one I had disposed of just in the nick of time to avoid the unpleasant but natural result of the search warrant a few weeks ago. After setting them on the round table in my study I drafted a ransom note to Fritz, and Fred’s wife Phyllis.
It read:
“Fred has been kidnapped and is dead. Under normal circumstances you, as Fred’s loving family, would not be motivated to pay a ransom. However, this situation is anything but normal.
Unlike you, I know a few things that can help you protect a large portion of the sizable estate you have been able to illegally accumulate. First, you have no choice but to follow my directions. Exactly. You may have some knowledge that John’s family didn’t comply with the requests in my letter. This disobedience cost John his life. In your situation, if you fail to comply perfectly, not only will you lose your life, but also the lives of Fred’s two children, Fulton and Stella, will come to a dreadful end.
Here’s what you must do to retain life:
1. Before Saturday, November 4, 2017, wire transfer $4,000,000 to Fidelity Bank Limited in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. This bank’s physical address is: Cayman Financial Centre, 36A Dr. Roy’s Drive, Grand Cayman, KYI-1103, Cayman Islands. The bank’s Routing Number is 063012136. You are to have these funds deposited to Account Number 90003070. Please note that I do not care whether you withdraw these funds from the Billingsley estate or Club Eden.
2. Contribute $500,000 towards the project that is under development on the old Boaz Spinning Mills property. See Micaden Tanner. He represents a client who has recently purchased this property from the Radford family.
3. Assist U.S. Attorney Greg Gambol with his investigation of the City of Boaz, Club Eden, Wade Tillman, James Adams, and all other members of Club Eden. Mr. Gambol, as well as Micaden Tanner, have been made aware of the sex trafficking scheme that has been going on in Boaz for the past five years. These two attorneys worked together years ago in Atlanta. Mr. Gambol is open to granting you full immunity in exchange for your full cooperation. He will be contacting you very soon.
4. Testify, if asked by either the prosecution or a criminal defense attorney for James Adams, that you witnessed him threaten to kill both Fred and Wade. You should know that several meetings between you and other members of Club Eden were recorded and that I have a copy of such tapes.
Of course, you can involve family, friends, police, and other authorities with this situation. That is completely up to you. However, you are bright enough to realize such involvement will not be in your best interest, nor that of Fulton and Stella’s.”
I put on a pair of latex gloves, printed out the two letters, and addressed two envelopes. One to Fred’s wife Phyllis, and the other one to Fritz. I folded and inserted the letters into the envelopes, and sealed the flaps using an Aqua Ball. I affixed two stamps to the envelopes being extra cautious not to lick them. I then inserted these two envelopes into one manila folder and was about to leave for the Gadsden Post Office when Gina called.
“Micaden, the scorekeeper.”
“I’m outside in your driveway. Can I see you?”
“I’m about to make a quick trip to Gadsden. You want to ride along?” I said without any thought at all. What could it hurt? Surely, no one would see us. What if they did? I am Gina’s attorney.
I gathered up my briefcase and the manila folder containing the two envelopes and walked outside. Gina was leaning against her nearly new Impala in blue-jeans and a sleeveless flowered blouse. Her formerly blonde hair, now black and curly, with gray streaks, was pulled back behind her head. I couldn’t help but notice how good she still looked at 63.
Richard L. Fricks 