Prologue
Kincaid County, SC
Benjamin Tyler Anderson sat at a table in the small room. He was alone and sat silently, contemplating his situation. He tried to remember how long it had been since he had been ushered in and told to have a seat. There was complete silence in the room and he could only sit and wait. He looked up at his reflection in the large mirror on the opposite wall, then he looked down at his hands and at the handcuffs, which were fastened securely to a steel ring bolted to the table.
Presently, two other men entered and took seats opposite him. Detective Dobson was the first to speak. “So, Mr. Anderson, how long do plan to keep up this…shit? Why don’t you just admit that you knifed the woman and maybe we can work out some kind of a deal?”
“But I didn’t do it,” the man said again.
“Steve, how about take it easy on the guy,” Detective Mark Morrell offered.
“Why the hell should I?” the man bellowed, looking straight at Ben. “You saw what he did to her. Hell, nobody needs to die like that.”
After a moment the man lowered his head and quietly said, “I think I want to talk to a lawyer.”
“What? What did you say?” the detective hollered.
Once again, Ben said, a little louder this time, “I think I want to talk to a lawyer.”
“All right, that’s it,” Detective Morrell said, pulling his partner toward the door.
“What do you mean, that’s it?” he bellowed again.
“Come on Steve, the guy’s lawyered up, let it go.”
The two men left the accused seated in the room and as they exited, he yelled out to them, “Hey, when that lawyer shows up, tell him to find Connor Harrison. He’s a private investigator in Raleigh.”