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 Stenographer, written in 2018, is my fourth novel. I'll post a chapter a day over the next few weeks.
Book Blurb
Walt Shepherd, a 35 year veteran of the White House’s stenographic team, is fired by President Andrew Kane for refusing to lie.
Walt returns to his hometown of Boaz, Alabama and renews his relationship with Regina Gillan, his high school sweetheart, who he had ditched right before graduation to marry the daughter of a prominent local businessman. Regina has recently moved back to Boaz after forty years in Chicago working at the Tribune. She is now editor of the Sand Mountain Reporter, a local newspaper.
Walt and Regina’s relationship transforms into a once in life love at the same time they are being immersed in a growing local and national divide between Democrats and traditional Republicans, and extremist Republicans (known as Kanites) who are becoming more dogmatic about the revolution that began during President Kanes campaign.
Walt accepts two part-time jobs. One as a stenography instructor at Snead State Community College in Boaz, and one as an itinerant stenographer with Rains & Associates out of Birmingham.
Walt later learns the owner of Rains & Associates is also one of five men who created the Constitution Foundation and is involved in a sinister plot to destroy President Kane, but is using an unorthodox method to achieve its objective. The Foundation is doing everything it can to prevent President Kane from being reelected in 2020, and is scheming to initiate a civil war that will hopefully restore allegiance to the U.S. Constitution.
While Walt is writing a book, The Coming Civil War, he is, unwittingly, gathering key information for the Constitution Foundation.
Will Walt discover a connection between the Foundation and the deaths of three U.S. Congressmen in time to save his relationship with Regina, prevent President Kane from being reelected as the defacto head of a Christian theocracy, and the eruption of a civil war that could destroy the Nation ?
Chapter 75
It was the rarest of circumstances that led to Freddie Olinger’s arrest. Late Saturday night, June 20th, Jeremiah Hill and his two sons drove to the rear entrance of Beulah Baptist Church of Christ to return forty chairs they had borrowed for their family reunion held earlier in the afternoon. They were not surprised to see Pastor Mel Abramson’s car parked in his favorite spot beneath an old oak tree beside a fenced-in children’s playground.
Jeremiah backed under the awning and as close as he could get to the back door. The two boys, Jacob and Joseph, were unloading the bed of their truck and toting the chairs inside the Fellowship Hall while Jeremiah walked two flights up to the Pastor’s office. Every church member knew he spent several hours every Saturday night in prayer and reviewing his Sunday morning sermon. Just as the boys were sitting down a load of chairs they heard what sounded like a gunshot. They instantly ran upstairs and into the reception area outside the Pastor’s study. Just as they entered, a tall and thin man in a black mask rushed through the Pastor’s door and headed straight for them. The man attempted to fire at them, but his gun jammed. The boys heard their father’s voice from the Pastor’s study yell, “tackle him.”
When Freddie left home Saturday night he never expected a confrontation with twin brothers, both six-foot two inches tall and weighing over two-hundred twenty pounds. They were senior football stars at Albertville High School and were the pride of Jeremiah and his wife Renee’s lives. Freddie had planned on a quiet, non-violent confrontation with Pastor Abramson. The police were summoned and found Freddie Olinger face-down on the floor secured beneath Jacob’s knees. The body of Mel Abramson was discovered on the floor beyond his desk. Joseph Hill was squatting beside his father attempting to slow the blood flowing from a wound to his chest. Freddie was arrested and transported to the Marshall County Jail. Two ambulances arrived right behind the police. One carried Jeremiah to the hospital, the other moved Pastor Mel to the coroner’s office and temporary morgue awaiting transport to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for an official autopsy.
This information had been divulged in the Sand Mountain Reporter by Delton Kittle in his weekly crime update.
That was a little less than three weeks ago and today was Freddie’s preliminary hearing. Once again, Judge Broadside had been asked to conduct this high-profile hearing since the two District Court judges were busy with the many run-of-the-mill cases, and neither wanted to screw up a murder case, especially one that, given a rumor leaked from the Sheriff’s Department, could connect to at least one other unsolved crime.
I shouldn’t have been surprised to see Micaden Tanner enter the courtroom. Locally, he was the top criminal defense attorney. In fact, he was well known throughout North Alabama, something of a rock star given his personal experience of beating the criminal justice system on his own behalf on two separate occasions. No doubt Micaden was a great lawyer but, if what the Reporter had said about this case was true, I knew Freddie Olinger would spend the next twenty years or so on death row awaiting the final ruling on a host of appeals, before he entered the State’s death chamber and had a needle administer a cocktail of lethal drugs.
Once again, I realized Tanner was no ordinary lawyer. He fooled everyone when he, before the State called its first witness, and on the record, announced his client was willing to plead guilty to the murder of Mel Abramson and three others if the State would agree to abandon all efforts to obtain the death penalty. This announcement jarred District Attorney Charles Abbott. He too was a seasoned professional and chose to not respond other than request the Court to allow a private, but recorded, meeting of the attorneys in the Judge’s chambers.
Judge Broadside agreed, and I moved my steno into his office. Once all five of us, including Freddie Olinger, were situated, Judge instructed DA Abbott to make a statement. He couched his words in the form of a hypothetical. “Let’s assume for the moment that we are not talking about State vs. Freddie Olinger, but simply an imaginary case. Micaden, let me ask you what evidence you could provide in that case to persuade me to accept your offer?”
Micaden responded, “In that case, Rudolph, can we call the defendant Rudolph?”
“Yes.”
“What if Rudolph has photos of those other crime scenes or he has items that he seized during the commission of such offenses?” Micaden said.
“Could you provide me an example of such a photograph?”
Micaden pulled his brief case onto his lap, opened it and rustled through a couple of files. “Here, let’s assume one of the murder victim’s looks a lot like Sandra Donaldson and that she lived in a house that was almost identical to hers.”
“Okay, we could do that.” Abbott said.
Micaden handed the photograph over to the District Attorney who said, “looks believable.”
This make-believe scenario played out for the next fifteen minutes or so. Of course, everyone knew what was going on. If the DA did not accept Micaden’s offer, nothing that was said here, in Judge Broadside’s chambers, could ever be used against Freddie Olinger, since it was all couched in hypothetical and not actual terms.
Finally, after persuasive evidence was shared for the Brian Steele and Vann Elkins murders, DA Abbott said, “Okay, I agree to take the death penalty off the table, but make sure you know that I will settle for nothing less than life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Is that clear?”
“Absolutely.” Micaden responded.
“One thing I would like to know is why kill Pastor Abramson? Abbott asked.
Micaden looked at Freddie and he nodded. “A few weeks ago, Freddie read a Facebook post made by Abramson. He was reminiscing over the horrible Las Vegas shooting in 2018 where sixty or so folks were killed and over 500 were wounded. Abramson had stated in his post that without God there is no right and wrong, there is no moral absolutes. He argued that evil could not exist if there were no God. I quote, ‘If we are just accidental beings in an accidental universe, nothing can really be evil.’ The pastor went on to say, ‘Evil points to a necessary moral judgment made by a moral authority greater than we are — a transcendent and supernatural moral authority: God.’ Of course, the Pastor was referring to the Christian God. My client is smart enough to know that Pastor Abramson is fully brainwashed, believing something that has no evidence to support it. Freddie is a smart man. He, unlike Abramson, has exposed his mind to both sides of this argument and knows that man’s morals don’t come from God. Heck, he has read the Bible. When Freddie was sharing this with me he used this example, ‘Do you think that the adults who were wandering around in the wilderness with Moses believed that killing, raping, and stealing were all okay, but when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, these folks said to themselves, ‘Gosh, we didn’t know this. We have to stop all this evil behavior.’ To Freddie, and to all reasonable folks, this example is absurd. The bottom line is, Freddie took great offense to the Pastor’s narrowminded bigotry and decided to kill him.”
When we returned to the courtroom I heard an off-the-record discussion between DA Abbott, Micaden, and Judge Broadside. They were discussing the better approach towards a resolution of Freddie’s cases. Whether to pursue an Indictment from a grand jury or to seek a plea based on an Information, which is a procedure that is provided by the Alabama Code of Criminal Procedure where a District Attorney can, with agreement from the Defendant, create an official charging document that authorizes the court to accept a felony plea. The discussion was resolved with an agreement for Micaden, on behalf of Freddie, to waive the preliminary hearing, meaning they conceded probable cause. The Defendant agreed to sign the Information once the DA had it prepared.
After court I returned my equipment and tapes to my office and was waiting at the elevator to leave, when Micaden appeared from the direction of the District Attorney’s office. He asked if I had time for a cup of coffee. We rode the elevator down to the ground floor and the Courthouse Diner, bought two large coffees, and retired to the same table in the corner that he, Pastor Warren, and I had used a few weeks ago.
“I’m a little hesitant to tell you this but my reasoning is the information I’m going to tell you is in the custody of the Sheriff’s office, and therefore I’m not breaching my confidentiality to my client. I also wanted to tell you because I consider you a friend.”
“I don’t have a clue what you are referring to, but I suspect you know that.” I said.
“Freddie is going to plea to another murder case that is over forty years old. When Freddie was arrested DA Clarke obtained a search warrant for Freddie’s house. There, they seized some evidence that has since been linked to Vann Elkins’ murder at Regina’s house. Long story short, it appears Freddie is responsible for the murder of your late wife, Jennifer. I know this is a horrible shock.” Micaden said.
“What type of information was taken from Freddie’s?”
“Two shoeboxes full of photos. Freddie said he grabbed them after he shot Vann. He had already packed them into a backpack.” “What exactly do the pictures show?” I asked.
“Jennifer’s car is up on a rack. Freddie said it was at his and Frankie’s business, Sand Mountain Tire & Muffler. There are wide-angle shots and close-ups. The photos clearly show the car’s brakes being worked on, even show a special tubing section that has been modified.” “Why on earth would Freddie want to harm Jennifer?”
“He won’t say but he has indicated to me that he had a partner. Again, he’s not talking but is wanting a concession from the DA to disclose that person’s name.”
“What exactly is he wanting?”
“To have his sentences eligible for parole, to remove the life without parole component.”
“Do you think DA Abbott will agree?” I asked.
“I kind of doubt it. He has no strong reason to, since he knows Freddie could be lying, and even if he is not, Abbott knows he will have a pretty difficult time of getting a conviction of that person since all the evidence hinges on the word of a serial killer.” Micaden said wiping up coffee he spilled on his tie.
“Do you believe Freddie? Do you think he had a partner?”
“I’m not sure but it seems plausible especially given Freddie’s seeming lack of motive. A partner could supply that motive.”
“Oh, this is horrible. Who on earth would have wanted to hurt sweet Jennifer?” I said.
“We might be shocked if we knew the truth. Sometimes it doesn’t take much for someone to want to kill somebody.” Micaden said.
“So, you don’t have any idea who this other person is? Freddie’s partner?”
“No.”
“Is there any way I could look at the photos?” I asked.
“For sure, but you might have to wait until the plea hearing. Those photos will be part of the evidence the DA brings to the courtroom. It will be entered into evidence and then, obviously, you will have them since you are the court reporter and in charge of the evidence until it is later secured back at the Sheriff’s office.”
After a few minutes of Micaden and me discussing what was going on in Professor Romanov’s undercover assignment, I drove to the Sand Mountain Reporter, picked up Regina, and traveled to Oneonta to eat barbecue at our favorite spot.
The Pencil-Driven Life 