CHAPTER 29
At this time, William's trial was nearing its end in the courthouse, and everything became clear. The jurors had grown tired over the course of the case but listened to the judge pronouncing William's sentence. Things had clearly come to a sad end.
'…despite the lack of evidence of a premeditated murder, pursuant to Paragraph 210 of Part 2 of the USA's Criminal Code, even the unintentional loss of a person's life during a robbery, rape, arson, kidnapping or escape from custody must be considered in any case as an extreme indifference to the value of human life, and must be qualified as a first-degree murder. Therefore, the court pronounces a sentence of two life sentences for each murder and the verdict comes into force from the moment of this announcement.'
There were no further comments from anyone. Everyone looked round in surprise, not daring to express any emotions. William even looked up at the judge in surprise, trying to understand what had just happened, but he didn't succeed. His head was empty and he couldn't think straight; William's mind was already dead and a life sentence was no different for him than death, so all the way back to prison he rolled in the back of the van in a complete daze.
In the cell, its narrow walls seemed to shrink even more, as William's eyes reacted to changes in lighting and in the darkness, his mind wandered to a darker place as he thought the depths of a grave probably looked the same.
William stood inside the cell, hearing the door lock, and he couldn't take any step forward. He forced himself to look around at the walls and think carefully. He had to talk to Tom again. He approached the door and called a guard over, telling him the request. The guard didn't answer leaving William alone with the silence, and the waiting game began. The next morning, he was informed about his impending transfer to another prison, and in the afternoon, the door to William's cell suddenly opened, and he was informed of a visitor.
'Thomas?', William asked, sitting up.
'What?' the guard asked.
'Is it Thomas Wilson?'
'No,' the guard responded coldly.
'The lawyer?' asked William, less enthusiastic than before.
'No. Turn around and face the wall with your arms stretched out,' it was an order, not a question.
The walk down from the third floor felt like an eternity for William. When he finally reached the glass screen in the visitation room, he couldn't believe his eyes. The small reporter, Linda Wu, sat in front of him on a wooden chair, holding her purse.
'Hold it,' a voice was heard from behind William and the guard handed him a book. William saw that this book wasn't in the best condition and had many torn pages and looked crumpled.
'I was asked to give this to you,' Linda said from behind the glass, weakly.
'What? Who gave it you?' William was at a loss as to who'd sent him the book. It had an unassuming and uninteresting cover – it was some kind of romance.
'There, take a look inside,' Linda replied. 'I was told that you were looking forward to seeing this photo,' she said, trying to smile, but her face instead showed sadness and sympathy for William's situation.
'A photograph?' William muttered, taking an envelope from the middle of the book. Surely, this must've been scanned before it had got to him to make sure it wasn't contraband. He opened the envelope to find a Polaroid photograph of a little girl wearing a white raincoat and beret. She stood on the embankment near a large bridge and squinted in the sun, very much like his own daughter. 'This looks like Sofia!' he thought, before realizing what had actually happened in the courthouse. It was worse than the life sentences he'd been ordered to serve – William had to live with the thought that Sofia had a daughter and that she lived with someone else.
William clenched his fists and looked up at Linda behind the glass.
'Are you alright? What's wrong?' she asked.
'This is Sofia's daughter, I'm certain of it,' William said approaching the glass. 'She stayed with that person who's behind all this, see?' he stopped and realized that the only person that could help was sitting right in front of him. 'Linda, listen to me,' he whispered. 'Can you find Thomas Wilson for me? He's been transferred to Phoenix; can you find him and tell him I've remembered something?'
Suddenly, Linda pursed her lips, her eyes sparkling. She removed her mask and took out a napkin to wipe her nose.
'I'm sorry, I wanted to make you feel better. I'm so sorry. I've got a lot of time, though, now, as I've got no job, the channel is closed. I think I might be able to move to Phoenix and find work, although it might be difficult.'
'Really?' William couldn't believe what he'd just heard. 'Then, I beg you, write down what I've asked you… shit, there isn't a pen and paper. Okay, try and remember what I've asked you and write it down, when you get out of here. Contact Jimmy Huston in the police office, he should tell you where Tom is now.'
'I will, don't worry,' Linda said with a reassuring tone.
'So, when I entered the hotel room, Fred Brown called me 'Dannie'. Let Tom find everyone with this name in the cases I've investigated. I'm certain that this 'Danny' must've lived here in the city. This man is close to Fred Brown and he must be found – he's very important. I'm certain that my granddaughter is with him. Please tell Tom about this, and stop crying. I've got two life sentences to serve. Thanks for coming Linda, it's not for nothing, I'm certain. Yes, justice hurts, but I'll await your return.'