Chapter 1
Brooke Chandler had been working for the local television station, WKPR, for almost four years. She had worked on numerous stories of varying importance, but none could compare to this. As soon as she was told about it, she felt sick. Excited, but sick. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for her. Nothing like this had ever been done in these parts. She would be a pioneer. She had one shot at it, and was petrified that she would botch it. She prayed that she wouldn’t.
The biggest news in the town’s history was the brutal murder of Daisy-Lou Jackson twelve years ago. Brooke remembered it well. Canton was a small town, and things of this nature were not easily forgotten. She remembered the horrific circumstances surrounding the crime, and the fear that she had felt after it. She also remembered the sheer exhilaration she felt when a suspect had been arrested and subsequently convicted of the crime.
She had known Daisy-Lou personally. They had gone through school together. She was sickened when the news filtered through. How could something so horrific happen to someone so beautiful? That was the question she had been asking herself for the last twelve years.
Linc Palmer was arrested for the crime, and ultimately convicted. The conviction carried the death penalty. Linc and Daisy-Lou had once been an item, but Daisy-Lou had broken it off a few weeks prior to her death. Two appeals, the latest through the Supreme Court, had both been dismissed, and in six weeks’ time, Linc was due to be executed via the Gas Chamber.
There were two types of people who lived in Canton; those who believed in God and those who didn’t, but should. Ninety per cent of the townsfolk were devout Christians, who attended church regularly. The remaining ten per cent didn’t believe. Daisy-Lou fell into the first category, while Linc Palmer was in the second.
The conviction was met with mixed reaction from the locals. Opinion was divided. Linc had been a model student at school, and had no enemies. He was not a violent person, and it was hard to imagine him committing such a heinous crime. On the other hand, people were calling it a crime of passion. Linc was compared to the Devil himself, and the court case had brought reporters from all over the globe to the sleepy town.
Shortly after all appeals were exhausted, Linc sacked his lawyer. He reasoned that he had no use for him anymore. He was resigned to the fact that he would be executed, but made it known that now that the legal proceedings were out of the way, he wanted to tell his story.
He was besieged with offers from broadcasters across the globe, including NBC and CNN, two of the biggest in the U.S.A. He eventually decided to give the interview to WKPR, being a local station. The interview would be beamed across the country, and who knew where else in the world.
Palmer himself couldn’t benefit financially from the interview, but that didn’t matter to him. He would donate the funds to local charities.
Brooke was assigned the job. She had impressed everyone within the network with her diligence and research of previous people she had interviewed. She was given a week’s notice. A week to prepare for the interview that could make or break her career. It was not nearly long enough, but she researched day and night, and learnt everything she possibly could about the case.
The prospect of coming face to face with a murderer was daunting enough. Add the fact that he had murdered a friend of hers, and it made her sick to the stomach. The whole nightmare was being re-lived. She knew, however, that for the sake of her career, she had to try and put her personal emotions and feelings to the side, and concentrate on the matter at hand.
She read through the transcripts of the trial. What surprised her was the lack of solid evidence that the prosecution had presented. She was no lawyer, but even she could see that the case against Palmer was weak. Still, a guilty verdict was reached, and he was sentenced to death.
It was the morning of the interview, and she was on her way to Stark County Jail, where Palmer was currently on Death Row.
She was nervous. She hadn’t slept the night before. She had rehearsed her questions repeatedly, and wondered how many people in the world actually came face to face with a Death Row inmate. Storm clouds were gathering, and when the jail came into sight, its bland grey cement walls seemed to blend into the sky.
There were dozens of media personnel outside the prison. Those who had missed out on the interview had to at least get something, Brooke thought to herself. There were vans and RVs of all shapes and sizes, with satellites on their rooves, and cables snaking everywhere. Her station, WKPR, had a van there as well, for obvious reasons. She didn’t know exactly who was in the van, but she was sure that the network boss, Patrick Carter, would be among them.
The car that was carrying her drove around the back, and she was dropped off alone. The crew had arrived an hour ago, to set everything up. She was met at the back gate by the warden, Chance Dockery. They had met once before during a story on penitentiaries in Texas, two years prior. He greeted her with a warm smile, and a warmer handshake.
“Good morning Brooke,” he said. “You are one lucky woman. Sixty Minutes were apparently shattered when they missed out on the interview. You are the envy of the town.”
“I don’t know if that is a good thing, or a bad thing,” she replied. “I will tell you after the interview.”
Dockery could tell that she was nervous. “Don’t worry. I’ve made sure there will be plenty of security. You aren’t in danger.” Brooke nodded, not sure if she believed him or not.
Despite the stormy conditions, it was quite muggy outside, and Brooke was relieved when they were inside the prison. The air conditioning was literally like a breath of fresh air. Her director came out to meet her, and told her they would be going live on air in one hour. She nodded, and excused herself and made her way to the bathroom.
She had chosen to wear a plain lilac suit, with a burgundy blouse under it. She surveyed herself in the mirror of the bathroom, and apart from a little bit of streaking, her make-up had held up well. She would go straight from here to the prep room, where her makeup and hair would be tended to by the experts, prior to her entering the interview room. She was still nervous, but now that she was here, she had calmed down a little.
When she left the bathroom, her best friend Maggie Rodriguez was in the corridor. Maggie was a fellow reporter, and made a habit of supporting Brooke whenever she wasn’t pre-occupied with her own work. There was not one iota of jealousy from Maggie when the job was given to Brooke. They loved each other like sisters, and having Maggie there now made Brooke feel a lot more confident.
They hugged in the corridor. Maggie whispered into Brooke’s ear “Good luck! You will be great!”
Once her hair and make-up had been completed, she made one more dash to the bathroom, before she was led into the interview room. The crew were there. The cameras and lights were in place, all focused on a plain wooden table in the middle of the room, with two even plainer wooden chairs adjacent to it.
Dockery was in there, and when he saw Brooke enter, he approached her. “Don’t worry. He will be hand-cuffed and ankle-cuffed. He can’t hurt you. There will be guards everywhere.” Brooke nodded. Her hands were shaking. She held a white clipboard close to her chest and took a couple of deep breaths.
“OK, everyone take your places,” said a man Brooke didn’t know. She looked around and hr producer came over to her, and helped her over to one of the wooden chairs. Once seated, she adjusted the microphone on her lapel, placed her clipboard on the table, and waited.
