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.
Today was Friday, April 27, 2018, one month since Etowah County Circuit Court Judge William Stivender had granted District Attorney Royce Harper’s motion to dismiss my case. It seemed Harper, unrelenting as he was, finally acknowledged that all evidence pointed to my innocence in the abduction and murder of Gina Tillman. Gina’s diamond-carved signature in the trunk of James’ Impala, and the State Lab’s determination that the two extra graves at Oak Hollow contained horse bones, appeared to be the final push Harper needed. Of course, the mountain of evidence that Greg had obtained through his Federal investigation and that he had shared with Harper didn’t hurt either.
Now, it was late April and early afternoon but it was dark and raining. The humidity was like mid-August. Matt and I were headed to Marshall County District Attorney Abbott’s office in Guntersville to meet with him and Walter Tillman.
Guntersville is the county seat of Marshall County. This pristine city is a beautiful mountain-lake oasis, sitting alongside the largest lake in Alabama, all 69,000 acres of it. Lake Guntersville was created by Guntersville Dam along the Tennessee River, and is maintained and managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority. This great body of water provides some of the best opportunities for bass-fishermen in the country. This gorgeous and romantic city of less than 10,000 is where the real money lives in Marshall County. I’ve heard this all my life. And, it’s mostly true. But, maybe, some of these folks that say this, haven’t heard of the Flaming Five and their families.
In February, Matt and I both had spoken with Abbott about seeking an indictment against David Adams for the death of Wendi Murray. At the time, he was too focused on the 2016 murder of Harold Maples and the 1998 murders of Bill and Nellie Murray. Walter had finally agreed to talk about that fateful night in May 1972 when he saw David Adams smother a young and innocent Wendi Murray. Matt and I both believed that with mine and Walter’s testimony, and that of Cynthia Radford, Raymond’s ex-wife, there would be no problem securing an indictment for murder against David Adams.
At 1:55 p.m., we sat at the intersection of Highways 431 and 75 waiting for the light to change. We saw two firetrucks, three MUB Utility trucks, and two police cars crossing in front of us heading east on Highway 75. Matt turned on WQSB radio and heard a weather siren in the background and an interview with Rainsville’s Police Chief Cedric Jennings. He said the EF5 tornado had struck Highway 35 a mile south of town around 12:30 p.m. and traveled north tracking the Highway while cutting a half-mile swath on either side. He also sadly relayed that there were “many deaths.” After the end of the interview the newscaster spoke with the radio announcer about how the tornado had briefly touched down in North Etowah County before leaping skyward and northeasterly again to kill, maim, and destroy in the small Dekalb County town of Rainsville.
Tragic as this was, it was even more eerie. Today was the seventh anniversary of the worst weather day in Alabama. It was April 27, 2011 that 238 people lost their lives across the State. Rainsville alone lost 35 gentle souls. This was strong evidence that the end of April in Alabama, North Alabama especially, was a place to avoid. Also, the fact just three days ago, April 24th, had been the 110th anniversary of the 1908 tornado that had caused 15 deaths and virtually destroyed Albertville. If all this weren’t bad enough, just a little over eight years ago, April 24, 2010 (the 102nd anniversary of the 1908 tornado death and destruction) another tornado ripped East Main Street and other parts of Albertville. The only consolation in 2010, was that no one was killed.
When we reached DA Abbott’s office, his receptionist told us we would have to reschedule. Abbott was on his way to Rainsville to check on his sister and her family who lived in the area. The older receptionist said that when Abbott heard about the tornado he immediately tried calling his sister but was unable to reach her by phone. He had left shortly thereafter and asked her to apologize for his absence.
We stayed glued to WQSB during our return trip to the law office. The station kept alternating interviews with folks on the ground in Dekalb and Etowah Counties. Ed Shultz, head of the Etowah County Emergency Management office, told a newscaster that shortly after noon the large funnel cloud touched down and destroyed Belton Howard’s poultry farm northeast of the Shady Grove Road/Highway 179 intersection. The raging funnel then continued northeasterly and leveled the store at Aurora. It hopped over and spared the William Kinney farm but settled to mow down a quarter mile swath of trees before breaking the dam at Aurora Lake and lifting skyward to continue northeasterly towards Rainsville.
Matt and I stayed at the law office until almost 9:00 p.m. By 4:30 both Birmingham and Huntsville TV stations were on site both in Etowah and Dekalb County. We sat in the conference room glued to the large flat screen TV that we had recently installed to use for Skype interviews with out of town clients and witnesses.
Just before dark, a helicopter crew filmed and showed footage starting with a sea of snow-white but dead chickens at Belton Howard’s farm. As the helicopter slowly made its way northeasterly I could see that Club Eden’s cabin had not been spared. It was still standing but there were trees toppled over making it look like someone was building a giant teepee. I could tell that the water level in Aurora Lake was down a few feet but the newscaster said that the damage to the dam was only minimum, cutting out a section thirty or so feet wide but only four or five feet deep. Repair crews were already on hand.
Before heading home, I was back in my office reviewing my emails and phone messages that had accumulated since leaving the office after lunch, when Matt hollered for me to “hurry, you need to see this.”
A WBRC FOX 6 news reporter from Birmingham, a young lady whose blond hair was wet and frizzled, was interviewing a Jeff Marks whose house suffered only mild damage. The young reporter was not there to talk about the two pine trees hanging off the side of Marks’ house in the background. His property was on the northeastern end of Aurora Lake, what locals called, ‘the shallow end.’ As the young reporter was asking Marks questions, she had her camera crew step behind Marks and focus on the lake. There, in the middle of the lake, maybe 150 feet or so from the shore at the ‘shallow end,’ was a car of some sort. Marks shared how after the winds had died down he had come up out of his basement and out onto his pier. He could tell the water level in the lake was going down. He walked westward, across his neighbor’s yards, all the way down to the dam. That’s when he noticed the damage and why the water was running out of the lake like a draining bathtub. He had returned to his property and that was when he noticed the vehicle. Before cutting away from the interview, the young reporter told Marks that the car looked like an old Volkswagen her grandfather had bought in Birmingham after World War II.
Matt flipped off the TV and looked at me. “Do you think there is any way that car has anything to do with Vincent Prader?”
“Yep, I would bet my life on it.” I drove home, hardly needing my headlights. The brightness of the moon was welcome. However, it also created the second eerie feeling I had had today. I kept wondering what secrets the old Volkswagen, if that’s what it was, had held the many years it had sat at the bottom of Aurora Lake. Pulling into the garage I realized the true source of my second eerie feeling. What else in Aurora Lake would the EF5 tornado reveal? My only salvation may have been that the dam was not destroyed and the Lake completely drained. The remainder of the night I lay in bed wondering whether Fred had been awakened by the storm, or if he was still sleeping soundly and securely.
The Pencil Driven Life 