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family law judge they were involved in the murders,” he said. “Rumor was that the Davenports bought the judge.”
     
    “Do you remember who that was?” she asked.
     
    “I don’t,” he said. “Tell me about Jeremy. All that tragedy. Did he grow up to be a nice kid?”
     
    “He seems like a nice guy,” she said.
     
    “I hate to seem like an oldsap, but I think about that baby from time to time. I wondered how he would turn out after an event like that. I’m glad to hear there is a happy ending.”
     
    “You said that your partner and you didn’t agree on the evidence,” Lindsay commented.
     
    Davis sighed. “Andy was hell-bent on pinning it on the ranch hand who found the bodies,” he said.
     
    “You don’t think he did it?” Lindsay asked.
     
    “The guy’s footprints were in the house, but I thought it corroborated his story about finding the bodies,” Davis said.
     
    “Why was your partner convinced otherwise?” Lindsay asked.
     
    “The drugs. The Edmunds guy had a couple of possession convictions,” Davis said.
     
    “I looked at the file. There was obviously more than one killer,” Lindsay said.
     
    “Andy tried to get the guy to give up the other killers,” Davis said.
     
    “I saw there was a confession in the file.”
     
    “I never felt good about that confession,” Davis commented. “Edmunds was a minor and his attorney thought he could get a reduced sentence if he was tried as a juvenile. He confessed and made a deal with the D.A. for five years jail time.”
     
    “So his confession was part of the plea agreement?” she asked.
     
    “Yes, but the judge didn’t like it. He threw out the plea agreement and ruled that he should be tried as an adult,” Davis said.
     
    “So the confession was used against him at the trial?”
     
    “Yes,” Davis said. “The confession doesn’t include accomplices.”
     
    “I read it. He confesses, but the confession doesn’t look like it matches the evidence,” Lindsay said.
     
    “That’s what I thought,” Davis said.
     
    “Why didn’t you bring this up at the trial?” Lindsay asked.
     
    “The higher-ups decided that Small’s theory was what we were running with. I was told to toe the party line,” Davis said.
     
    “A good defense attorney should have been able to create reasonable doubt,” Lindsay commented.
     
    “The key word in that sentence was good,” Davis said. “We rarely had murders in this town. No one had much experience with them, the prosecution or the defense. It was a crap shoot.”
     

Chapter 9
     
    Terri Doran Martin agreed to meet Lindsay at the Paso Robles Park. She was a slight woman; a little over five feet tall with dark hair, cut to her shoulders. Her green eyes were a striking contrast to the dark hair. She was dressed in blue jeans shorts and a tank top.
     
    “I’m not surprised that Jeremy is bringing all of this back up,” she said. “It’s nice to see that the Davenports weren’t able to completely brainwash him,” she added in a snide tone.
     
    “I’m surprised you live here after what happened to your sister,” Lindsay remarked.
     
    “Well, that was a lifetime ago,” she said. “I haven’t seen Jeremy for a couple weeks. How is he?”
     
    “He’s fine. You don’t keep in touch?” Lindsay asked.
     
    “We do and we don’t. After the Davenports took him, we hardly got to see him at all. It wasn’t until he became an adult that he contacted my mom and dad. I think that was when he found out he had relatives beside the Davenports,” she said.
     
    “I heard about the custody battle. Your family wasn’t granted any visitation?” Lindsay asked.
     
    “Yes they were, but every time my parents went to court to enforce it, the judge sided with Davenports. They finally just gave up,” Terri said. “I know that Jeremy has visited my parents recently. My dad only has a couple months left,” she said, as tears formed in her eyes.
     
    “I’m sorry