Alpha's Claim Read online

  Alpha’s Claim

  Alexis Davie

  Alpha’s Claim

  Text Copyright © 2019 by Alexis Davie

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First printing, 2019

  Publisher

  Secret Woods Books

  [email protected]

  www.SecretWoodsBooks.com

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  Other Books You Will Love

  Thank You!

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Ten Years Ago

  Piper Lee knotted her fingers together beneath the desk, hoping that her client couldn’t see how nervous she was. She was more than just nervous. She already knew how this was going to end. James was going to be found guilty. She knew it in her heart, just like she knew he was innocent of the brutal murder he had been accused of.

  This had been Piper’s first big murder case. Her client, James Pearson, was accused of murdering a jogger in Central Park. Not only murdering the woman, but dismembering her too. Her face and body were so brutalized that she had to be identified by her dental records.

  James had always maintained he was innocent of any wrongdoing. He had admitted to being in the park at the time of the murder, but claimed to have been on the other side of the park, too far away to even have heard the victim’s screams let alone know anything about the murder. But the police were convinced it was James who had brutalized the woman. And right before the trial had begun, DNA matching James’ had been found in a blood-stained bush near where the victim’s body was found.

  Piper had known then that her case was over. It no longer mattered that James was a respected member of his community, a family man with a good job and lots of friends. Piper knew the jury wouldn’t be able to see past the DNA evidence. She had a hard time seeing past it herself, but the more James insisted he didn’t do this, the more Piper found herself believing him.

  It was the way he was almost casual in his denial of having any guilt. He wasn’t angry or shifty, he just very calmly asserted that he hadn’t been in the vicinity and he hadn’t killed anyone. He had originally landed on the police’s radar when they routinely questioned people from where the woman had worked—and James was one of them. Colleagues of James confirmed that he and the victim, who by that point had been identified as Cynthia Miles, had had an argument the day before she was found dead. Again, James didn’t try to deny this. He admitted that he and Cynthia had indeed had an argument about a deadline she missed, which in turn made him miss a deadline and catch hell from his boss.

  James had handled that part of the questioning well, Piper thought. When the prosecution lawyer talked to him about his motive, he had calmly responded that he had no motive to kill Cynthia—that in his mind, a missed deadline was hardly enough of a reason to end a life. He implied that anyone who thought that clearly had some sort of problem.

  But when presented with the DNA evidence, like Piper, all he could do was state that he had no idea how his DNA had gotten there as he hadn’t even been on that side of the park. Piper had raised several points when she was cross-examining the officer who had found the DNA. She had asked him why only that tiny sample had been found and why there were no fingerprints at the scene. He had effortlessly batted away her questions, stating that James could have been wearing gloves, and he had obviously been careful enough not to be getting his DNA all over the place.

  Yes, she knew she had lost this case. But she didn’t want James to know she knew it. Not yet. Not while they were sitting in the tiny conference room waiting for the jury to come back. She could at least let him have a little spark of hope for a bit longer. It wasn’t much, but right now, it was all she had to give him.

  “So, how do you think it went?” James asked her. “Am I going to go to jail for something I didn’t do?”

  “The jury liked you, James,” Piper said, trying to avoid answering the question directly.

  And what she told him wasn’t a lie. She could see the jury warming to James when she called up witnesses to attest to his character. She could see them hanging on his every word when he gave his testimony. But liking him wasn’t going to be enough. Not in this trial. Not after the rousing closing speech the prosecutor had given, about how not all cold-blooded killers were sociopaths, how they could walk among us and we’d never know about it. And how this was their chance as decent human beings to make the world a little bit safer for everyone. She had talked about the victim and how nothing could bring her back, but how they could at least get her justice, the last bit of dignity they could afford her, and how surely she deserved that much at least.

  The speech, along with the DNA evidence, would be more than enough to sway the jury to convict James, despite the fact that he was likeable, and despite how hard Piper had fought for him. This was Piper’s first murder case as first chair, but she’d second-chaired enough cases to know that much.

  She tried to cling to her own spark of hope, that maybe her expert witness who had talked about DNA displacement would be enough to bring the jury back to her side, but she doubted it. The answers he had given had been technical, boring, and long-winded, and she had seen the jury switching off. And then the prosecutor had backed him into a corner where he was forced to admit that this wasn’t an exact science, and in fact, it was barely a true science at all—more of a theory that could be possible.

  “Am I going to jail, Piper?” James pressed her.

  “Honestly? It’s a possibility. The DNA evidence is pretty damning,” Piper sighed.

  “I don’t understand why we couldn’t get that thrown out. I mean, how could I have left DNA somewhere I’ve never been?” James asked, not for the first time.

  “We’ve been through this, James. The judge only had your word for it that you weren’t there. He can’t throw evidence out based only on your testimony,” Piper said.

  “But he can allow it based only on the word of the cop who supposedly found it there?” James said.

  Piper didn’t reply. She had nothing to say to that because part of her agreed with James. She knew from experience that not all cops were as clean as they appeared to be. But this one wasn’t a bent cop. Piper knew it instinctively. And he wasn’t alone when he found it. The chances of four cops all agreeing to plant DNA evidence and not slip up once during their testimony was too much of a stretch of the imagination, even for Piper, who still believed in James’ innocence despite all of this.

  “What happens if they think I’m guilty?” James asked.

  “The judge will sentence you,” Piper said. “And then we can start your appeal.”

  “Based on what grounds, though? I’ve watched TV, Piper. I know that there has to be something new or a problem with the trial or something to get an appeal,” James said.

  “We’ll have to find a way to get the DNA evidence thrown out,” Piper said.

  “Yeah, I think we tried that already,” James said, s
ounding bitter for the first time since Piper had met him. “You know the worst part of all of this? I wasn’t overly worried about this trial. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I was stressed out and everything, but deep down, I trusted in the system. I believed that the system was fair and that justice would prevail. But it didn’t. I’m going to go to jail for something I didn’t do, and the person who actually did this gets to walk away from it. How is that fair?”

  “It isn’t,” Piper said. “But you haven’t been convicted yet. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.”

  James nodded but he didn’t look convinced. Piper tried to think of something to say to reassure him, but everything she came up with felt like a lie. In the end, they sat in silence, not an uncomfortable silence exactly, but one heavy with the knowledge that this hadn’t gone well for James.

  After only an hour, the bailiff came to inform them that the jury had reached a verdict. As the bailiff left the room, James looked at Piper with panic in his eyes.

  “This is bad, isn’t it?” he said.

  Piper didn’t answer but she was sure her expression said it all. She led James back into the courtroom. The judge, Judge Stevens, came back in and called the court to order and then the jury were led back into the courtroom.

  Piper whispered a silent prayer. Her palms were sweating as the jury took their seats.

  “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the court thanks you for your time,” Judge Stevens said. “Foreman of the jury, has the jury reached a unanimous verdict?”

  The foreman of the jury, a short man with a moustache who always reminded Piper of one those Scottie dogs, stood up and nodded his head.

  “Yes, Your Honor, we have,” he said.

  “On the count of first-degree murder, how does the jury find the defendant?” Judge Stevens asked.

  “Guilty,” the foreman replied.

  The courtroom behind Piper burst into noise. Judge Stevens banged his gavel.

  “Order in my court room,” he demanded. He banged the gavel again. “Order.”

  Piper felt like the world had lurched beneath her feet. Although she had been expecting the guilty verdict, it didn’t make hearing it announced out loud like that any easier. She knew her career had just been slowed down, but that wasn’t her worry at this moment. Her worry at this moment was James. A man she still believed to be innocent was going to go to jail. On her watch. She had failed him.

  She glanced at James. His face was ashen, his hands balled into tight fists on the defense table. They were so tightly fisted that Piper could see his knuckles were white.

  “I’m so sorry,” Piper whispered.

  “It’s not your fault. It’s whoever planted that DNA,” James said, not bothering to keep his voice to a whisper.

  “Order,” Judge Stevens snapped at him.

  The judge turned his attention back to the jury, where the foreman still remained standing.

  “Thank you,” Judge Stevens said to the man with the Scottie dog face. “You may be seated.”

  Judge Stevens turned back to face the crowded room as the jury foreman sat back down, looking a little relieved to have the attention off him and back on the judge.

  “For a crime of this severity, I have no choice but to hand down the maximum punishment. James Pearson, you have been found guilty of first-degree murder and I sentence you to life in prison with no parole.”

  The judge banged his gavel once more as the voices started up again from the public gallery.

  “Bailiff, please take Mr. Pearson into custody. Court is adjourned.”

  Judge Stevens stood up and left the courtroom at a brisk pace that made his robes flap around him. The bailiff approached the defense table where he handcuffed James and led him away, leaving Piper sitting alone at the table.

  She was still reeling from the harsh sentence the judge had passed down. Already, she was planning her appeal. If nothing else, she could find a precedent that showed that the sentence was unusually long. It was clutching at straws and she knew it, but sometimes, straws were all a person had.

  1

  Today

  “Piper, you have got to see this,” Amanda, one of Piper’s associates, said as she barged into Piper’s office without knocking.

  Piper opened her mouth to ask Amanda what the hell was going on, but she closed it abruptly when Amanda just shook her head. She came around to Piper’s side of the desk and grabbed Piper’s hand, pulling her to her feet.

  “Come on,” she said.

  Her excitement was palpable, and although Piper had no idea what was going on, she felt a sense of excitement inside of herself. Amanda rushed her along the corridor. Many of the offices they passed were empty and when Amanda opened the breakroom door and pushed Piper inside, she saw why. Half of the firm were crammed into the room.

  No one was making a sound. All eyes were glued to the small TV that hung on the wall in the room. Piper turned her focus to the screen and instantly, she understood the excitement. Within a few minutes, she had the gist of the story.

  After ten years, James Pearson was being exonerated. Someone had come forward and confessed to the murder after all of this time, and they knew details that no one could possibly know unless they’d been at the scene. Hell, they knew things Piper hadn’t even known. The reporter went on to explain that this one confession had snowballed into a series of investigations and that the DA from that time was now being investigated for planting evidence at crime scenes, bribing witnesses, and generally doing anything he could to get a conviction once he had convinced himself that the accused was indeed guilty, regardless of the evidence to the contrary.

  As the story was replaced with the next story, everyone in the room started talking at once. Piper felt like she was in shock. Her heart was racing and she could feel a sheen of sweat on her upper lip.

  “Piper? Are you alright?” Amanda asked.

  Piper nodded, barely aware she was doing it.

  “The DA set him up. He planted the evidence. James always said it had to be a setup, but I only ever looked at the cops and they seemed to be telling the truth. And they were. The DA had the DNA evidence planted there and there was no reason for the cops to doubt the evidence they found,” Piper said, her voice dazed-sounding, a monotone as she tried to make sense of everything she had just heard.

  People began to leave the breakroom, Piper included, walking on shaky legs back to her office. It was only once she was seated back behind her desk that she allowed herself to smile. She had been right all of those years ago when she had insisted to her boss that James was innocent. And although he had lost ten years of his life, at least now he would be freed and, Piper imagined, given a very hefty payout as an apology from the state. It would never be enough to replace that lost time, but it was still likely more than James had ever allowed himself to dream of once he had lost the appeal.

  A knock sounded on Piper’s open office door and she looked up to see one of the secretaries standing there.

  “Mr. Brown wants to see you,” she said.

  “Thank you,” Piper said.

  She got up and began to follow the secretary to Mr. Brown’s office. Piper could feel dread in the pit of her stomach. She was going to get dragged right over the coals for this—an innocent man had gone down for murder on her watch, and as if the guilt of knowing that, which Piper had carried with her for the last ten years, wasn’t enough, now she was likely going to be fired for it too.

  Mr. Brown’s secretary knocked on his office door and announced Piper, and then she stood back and let Piper enter the office. Mr. Brown stood up as Piper went in.

  “Firstly, let me apologize for doubting you when you told me James Pearson was innocent. I couldn’t see past the DNA evidence and I should have trusted your judgment more,” he said.

  He nodded for Piper to take a seat, which she did. He retook his own seat behind his desk. Piper’s head was spinning. An apology had been the last thing she was expecting.

  “And second
ly, I need you to know that conviction wasn’t your fault. The only person responsible for any of this is the ex-DA who took the law into his own hands. No one could have gotten Mr. Pearson acquitted in the face of DNA evidence that placed him at the scene,” Mr. Brown went on.

  “Wait,” Piper said. “I… I don’t understand. I thought you were bringing me in here to fire me.”

  “To fire you? No. God no, Piper. You’re one of our best lawyers and like I said, this wasn’t your fault. No one would have predicted this. I wanted you to know that, but there is another reason for me calling you in here,” he said.

  “Go on,” Piper said, her suspicions raised.

  “Well, upon his release, Mr. Pearson talked to one of the reporters for a big news channel. Amongst other things, he told her how his lawyer always believed in his innocence. And she wants to interview you and get your take on things. I’ve told her to stop by at two o’clock this afternoon. That will give you time to go back over the case file and get everything back in order, right?”

  Piper knew she didn’t need any time at all to go back through the files. She had never forgotten a moment of that case. She had never allowed herself to forget it for even a second. It was always there, gnawing away at her subconscious. But she didn’t think doing a TV interview was a good idea.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Mr. Brown,” she said. “Doing an interview, I mean. What can I add that hasn’t already been said?”

  “Oh, come on, Piper. You’re always going on about how the system is geared to convict people once they’ve been accused of something. How hardly anyone gets a completely fair trial because the jury already thinks of them as guilty. And how the DA and the police are treated as heroes, untouchable, and they can do pretty much anything without it having a negative effect on their cases, but defense lawyers have to be on their toes all of the time. This is your chance to get all of that out there, to talk about why the system needs to change.”