“Well, an autopsy will be used to confirm it, but personal effects found in the trunk along with clothing still on the bodies make us ninety-nine percent sure they are Calvin Ross and Cooper Lindsay.”

  “Can you guess how they died?” the attorney asked.

  “I don’t have to guess, sir,” Revera replied. “They were shot. Bullets were found in my initial inspection of the bodies and also discovered in the car’s trunk.”

  Coop slowly moved back to the railing and fixed his eyes on Linda Maltose before asking, “Can you do DNA tests on the bodies?”

  “We can and will,” the agent confirmed.

  “Good,” Coop smiled. “It will allow us to verify that Calvin Ross was indeed John David’s brother and is why John David told me that the truth was in the water. When he said it, I thought he was talking figuratively, but he actually meant it literally.”

  The door at the back of the courtroom opened, and Dr. Alexander stood at the back and waved toward Coop. “Excuse me, Your Honor.” The attorney walked back and took the file the doctor had delivered. After setting it in his briefcase, Coop looked back at Linda Maltose.

  “Mrs. Maltose, I have a witness who will testify that someone was in the backseat of my grandfather’s car on July 15, 1964, and holding what appeared to be a shiny object in their left hand. My grandfather was driving, and Calvin Ross was riding in the front passenger seat. The car was headed toward where the Maltose compound is right now.”

  “We didn’t own the property then,” she shot back.

  “No,” Coop admitted, “but John David had fished on the lake many times and was trying to buy it. The deal was actually completed in 1965. Within a year, the stone walls had gone up, the house was built, and your fortress was complete.”

  The old woman stood, made her way past her son and to the aisle before sticking her finger in Coop’s face. “What does any of it prove? Can you tie me to the scene? Can you put the gun in my hands? Can you prove any of this? Even the blasted will you found only means my two kids get everything.”

  She turned and faced those in the gallery. “You can hate me if you want. You always have anyway, but when this is finished, I’ll go back to my fine house and count my money and you will go back to your pathetic little lives.” She turned back to Coop. “Are you satisfied?”

  “Not quite,” he assured her. Stepping back, he pulled an empty chair from behind the prosecutor’s table, moved back to the gate, held it open, and made a suggestion, “Why don’t you take this seat? I think you will want to watch this next performance up close and personal.”

  Before stepping through and taking the place she’d been offered, Linda shot him a glance indicating she wanted to feed the attorney piece by piece to a flock of starving vultures. If given the opportunity, he was sure she would, too.

  Chapter 86

  86

  Mr. Revera,” Coop asked as he turned away from a boiling Linda Maltose and back to his witness, “what caliber was the gun used in the murders of my grandfather and Calvin Ross?”

  “It was a thirty-eight.”

  “Could you match the bullets fired to the gun if you were able to find the gun?”

  “We could and we have,” he answered. “The gun used was in a display case at the home of Jodi Maltose Cone. As she did not have a key to the cabinet, we had to use a locksmith to open it. We then tested the thirty-eight and it was a match.”

  “Who is the gun registered to?” Coop asked.

  “Linda Maltose,” came the man’s quick reply. “The director of the local gun club supplied us with a photo of her using it to win a shooting competition in 1963. The framed picture was hanging in their clubhouse.”

  “Interesting,” the lawyer said as he looked back to Linda. “Well, we have the gun now. What do you have to say for yourself? You ready to admit what you did?”

  She shook her head. “So you have the gun, what does it prove? Do you have witnesses? And if my prints are on the knife from the early case, so what if I touched it? Melvin worked for us. I was around the truck a lot. You couldn’t convict me of anything.”

  Coop smiled. “What if I told you the cartridges still in the gun match those used in the shooting of my grandfather and Calvin Ross? What if I explained that your fingerprints are on them? And what if I proved they came from the very same ammunition box? As we have motive, I think it would be all I need.”

  He watched her wilt under his gaze. It also appeared the strength had oozed from her body as she almost melted into the chair. For the first time since Coop first met her, she looked her age. Her beauty was gone, too, replaced by an ugliness only evil could create.

  “It doesn’t matter,” she whispered.

  “What doesn’t?” Coop asked.

  “It doesn’t matter you figured it out,” she hissed as she again brought her eyes to meet his. “I did it for my kids. I wanted to make sure they were able to have their father’s legacy. And they have it, so whatever happens to me is fine. I had a good fifty years watching everyone wonder what had happened. I almost pulled off the perfect crimes.”

  Coop sadly nodded. “And you hurt so many innocent people in your life during the time as well.”

  “It would have never happened,” she said, “if your father had minded his place and those people had just stayed in their place.”

  “What happened to John David?” Coop asked. “Did you drug him? Is that why he went crazy?”

  “He drank too much,” she replied. “I just mixed in some drugs with his booze. After Travis died, he really went over the edge. He became easier and easier to control.”

  “And the drugs saved you from divorce,” Coop noted.

  “He was no longer competent,” she laughed. “I was given control over the estate. I had the right as his wife.”

  Coop looked back to Revera. “I’m finished with this witness, but I would like to have Mr. Plymonth return to the stand. There is one other matter we need to address.”

  Coop stood next to Linda Maltose as the two men swapped places; he then took a deep breath and strolled over to the witness box. “Mr. Plymonth, earlier in the day we established you are a DNA expert. I obtained and asked you to run two other DNA profiles for me. Do you have them?”

  “They are in a file in my briefcase.”

  “I’ll retrieve it for you,” Coop offered, while moving quickly through the gate and to Plymonth’s empty chair. Picking up the black case, he briskly strolled to the witness box and handed it to the agent. Within seconds, the man opened the case and pulled out the reports.

  “This is the test you sent marked unknown person A,” Plymonth explained. “And this is the test for person B.”

  “Are these two related?” Coop asked.

  “No doubt about it,” he assured the attorney. “They are likely siblings.”

  “I know you ran another test,” Coop continued. “How did the test compare to these two?”

  “Test subject C is either the parent or an identical twin of the parent of both A and B.”

  Coop moved back to his own briefcase and retrieved another DNA test result. He then returned to the box and handed it to the agent. “Can you tell me if the markers in this test lead you to believe this profile, let’s call it person D, is any relation to A, B, or C?”

  Plymonth studied the report and compared it to the other three. “There is no possible connection.”

  “Do you have the report on John David Maltose?” Coop asked.

  “Yes, sir,” came the quick reply, “it is in my case.”

  “Could you tell me if John David is related to either A, B, or C?”

  “What about D?” the agent asked.

  “We will table that for the time being,” Coop replied.

  The agent pulled out the report and compared it to the other three before looking up at the attorney. “There is no family connection between the late Mr. Maltose and either A, B, or C.”

  “Thank you,” Coop replied. Turning back to where he faced Linda Maltose, he shrugged. “You’ve had a bad day. First, you had to admit to the crimes you committed. Now I’m about to reveal the reason John David wanted to divorce you.”

  Linda swallowed hard and shook her head. After taking a deep breath, she whispered, “No.”

  “John David figured out who the man was you had him hire.” Coop paused and looked back at his grandmother. Her jaw was set as she nodded. She had already guessed what he was about to reveal. Letting his eyes fall back on Linda Maltose, he dropped the other shoe. “A and B in that DNA profile are your children, Michael and Jodi. Test C was the hired man who tried to kill my grandfather with his truck, kidnapped my grandmother, and helped you place Becky Booth’s body at Lovers Park, Melvin Forest. And because you thought she was carrying your husband’s child, you posed her body in the shape of the letter A.”

  Coop shrugged. “I guess you were a fan of Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter. The irony being the proved adulterer was in fact you, not John David.”

  Coop shook his head. “John David figured it out, didn’t he?”

  “Yes,” she snarled, “he threw it in my face, just before the trial. It suddenly dawned on him who Michael and Jodi looked like.”

  “You realize,” Coop noted, “your kids will now be cut off from the family fortune. They will get the same as you received: nothing.”

  Linda smiled. “But no one else will either. There are no more left in the Maltose line.”

  Coop glanced back at the witness and smiled. “Mr. Plymonth, thank you, and please leave the report with the judge on DNA test D.”

  Coop shook his head and, after nodding to the DA, looked back to the judge. “Your Honor, I now give up my role as amicus curiae. This court is yours.”

  It was finally over, and even though a host of those living in Justice had likely initially resented Coop for taking the case, he had now given them exactly what they wanted. The Maltose power was dead. The family no longer had a hold over Justice. From the look on the faces in the crowd, the lawyer wasn’t sure they knew what to do with the gift.

  “Mr. Foster,” the judge announced, “I’m guessing you will be having Mrs. Maltose arrested and filing charges.”

  “I will be doing so posthaste,” came the response.

  “Then, Chief Miles,” Adams continued, “I suggest you take the woman into custody.”

  “My pleasure,” Miles replied.

  The chief quickly crossed the room, and as Linda Maltose stood, he snapped the cuffs on her wrists and led her out.

  “And before I close this hearing,” Adams announced after Linda Maltose had been ushered out of the courtroom, “I have one question for Mr. Lindsay.”

  Coop’s eyes met the judge’s. “What’s that?”

  “I was unaware you could actually trace bullets and cartridges in the manner you stated. How did you figure out the unspent rounds in the gun matched those used in the crime? You mean to tell me the FBI can actually match them and link them to a crime, a gun, and bullets found in a body?”

  “Not that I am aware of, Your Honor,” Coop admitted. “Let’s just say, when it came to that point, I might have been using a bit of deception.”

  She laughed. “I guess it is why all three FBI agents and Chief Miles raised their eyebrows when you made the statement.”

  Adams looked to the crowd. “This court is adjourned.”

  Chapter 87

  87

  It had perhaps been the most unique double funeral ever conducted at the Justice Methodist Church. Two men, one black and the other white, dead for over fifty years, shared the attention of an overflow crowd of mourners, as well as media from all over the world. Perhaps Martin Clements said it best in the closing line of his message, “They not only changed Justice; they changed the world!” And maybe they did at least change a corner of it.

  After the memorial at the graveside, when everyone else had left, Coop stood under the shade of a tree with his grandmother, Tammi Shane, and a now-recovered Charli. As the three women studied the hundreds of floral displays, he looked toward the western skies and called out, “We don’t need to linger much longer; a big storm’s coming.”

  “Hallelujah!” Tammi cried out. “It has been way too long getting here.”

  “Yes, it has,” Charli agreed. She looked from the threatening clouds back to the graves and noted, “It seems appropriate to have Calvin and your grandfather resting side by side.”

  “Calvin broke the color line,” Judy pointed out. “He is the first African American buried in this cemetery.”

  “Won’t be the last,” Coop proclaimed. He put his arm around his grandmother and declared, “Justice is a much different place now than it was when you lived here.”

  “I know,” she sighed, “and it all started with a sermon about the good Samaritan. You know, Coop, you are your grandfather’s grandson.” Judy turned away from the grave and studied the coming storm. She watched the clouds and listened to the distant rolling thunder before adding, “You’re going to stay in Justice, aren’t you?”

  “I think so,” Coop replied. “There is work Grandpa began here, and it needs to be finished. And I feel at home in his old office.”

  Judy patted his arm. “I’m glad John David kept it for you.” She paused and then said to no one in particular, “I wonder what the state will decide to do with the Maltose fortune.”

  Coop glanced over to Tammi. As their eyes met, he said, “It won’t be left up to the state of Mississippi.”

  Tammi tilted her head and looked from Coop to her daughter and then back to Coop.

  “It’s up to you,” he whispered to Tammi.

  The woman stared across the cemetery to another fresh grave. Crossing her arms, she looked into her daughter’s eyes and admitted, “It is time for the truth to come out. I know it wasn’t right, but he was a lonely man. He needed a friend. And when they hired me to help with their accounting, I got to visit the compound and got to know him. And things just happened. He never knew and neither did Linda. I would have taken the secret to my grave as well.”

  “Mom?” Charli asked. “What are you talking about?”

  Tammi moved her eyes from her daughter to Coop. “You tell her.”

  Coop pulled Charli to the side and looked into her deep, brown eyes. He kissed her gently on the forehead and ran his hand through her auburn hair. “I told you about the DNA testing done to prove Michael and Jodi were not John David’s children?”

  Charli looked up and nodded.

  “Well, the last DNA test subject,” he explained, “the person D, was you. Your father was John David Maltose.” He smiled. “It seems your dad not only saved my grandfather’s life once, but he gave me someone to love.”

  “Wow,” she whispered.

  He laughed. “Yeah, the amount of money can be a bit overwhelming.”

  “No,” she grinned. “I was talking about the fact that you love me.”

  Coop shook his head. What had he gotten himself into?

  Discussion Questions

  Discussion Questions

  11. In taking the case in 1964, Coop was faced with a difficult decision. Would it have been easier for him to make that decision today? Why or why not?

  12. Do you think Coop put his job ahead of the safety of his family? What do you think of his decision, and what would you have done in his place?

  13. In 1964 the races were obviously divided, today things seem different but do you believe that there is more trust between African Americans and whites now? How have things improved and how have they stayed the same?

  14. Why did so many whites fear blacks in 1964? What was at the root of this fear?

  15. Hattie’s attitude seems strange as we view her in today’s light. Why do you feel she was so shy and apologetic when dealing with whites?

  16. The newspaper editor incited a great deal of the violence in this book. Does that still happen today? If so, do you see this as a problem?

  17. Coop’s trip to the other side of the tracks was an eye-opener. What things did he see there that might have convinced him to take the case?

  18. Coop’s grandson finds Justice a much different place. How has it changed, and why do you think this happened?

  19. It is said that the most segregated places in America are its churches. Why do you suppose churches have been so slow to integrate? Is this a sign of the continuing mistrust between races or something else?

  10. John David Maltose kept Coop’s office just as it was when the lawyer disappeared after the trial in 1964. What do you think were his reasons for doing this?

  11. Hate is an obvious emotion that is seen in various characters throughout the book. Why was Linda Maltose so driven by hate? Why couldn’t she let it go? What effect do you believe it had on her life and her ability to be happy?

  12. Did Coop Lindsay and Calvin Ross die for nothing? If not, what was gained from their deaths?

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  Ace Collins, The Color of Justice

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