Chapter 2 - No Glass Between Us
Ethan carried the folded evidence log back to his housing unit like it was both a lifeline and a weapon pointed at his chest.
He had spent four years repeating the same truth to lawyers, judges, officers, reporters, and anyone else willing to listen for more than thirty seconds.
He had not robbed the Crestview Jewelry Exchange.
He had not carried a gun into the store.
He had not struck security guard Raymond Doyle.
He had not even been in the same neighborhood when the robbery happened.
The state had built its case around a witness who claimed to see Ethan's truck, a glove with Ethan's partial DNA, and testimony from a man named Marcus Hale who said Ethan had planned the robbery.
The jury had deliberated for five hours.
The judge had sentenced Ethan to eighteen years.
His first appeal had failed.
His second attorney had stopped returning Claire's calls after demanding another ten thousand dollars they did not have.
By the time Lily learned to say "Daddy," Ethan had become a voice on a prison telephone and a face printed from old family photographs.
Now one line on a photocopied evidence log suggested that the jury had never seen everything.
Ethan sat on the edge of his bunk and read the sentence again.
THEY NEVER SHOWED THE JURY SEVEN MINUTES.
His cellmate, Calvin Ross, looked over from the lower bunk.
"You have been staring at that paper for ten minutes."
Ethan folded it immediately.
"It is nothing."
Calvin gave him a tired look.
"In here, nothing does not make a man forget dinner."
Ethan glanced toward the open cell door.
The dayroom was loud with televisions, dominoes, shouted arguments, and the metallic echo of trays being collected.
"I got a family visit today."
Calvin's expression softened.
"You finally held your little girl?"
Ethan nodded.
"Then why do you look scared?"
Ethan almost answered.
Instead, he slipped the paper inside the cover of a paperback Bible Claire had mailed him two years earlier.
"Because good days make you remember how much there is to lose."
That night, Ethan barely slept.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Lily running toward him.
Every time he opened them, he saw the red circle around the missing storage drive.
At 5:40 the next morning, Officer Grant appeared outside his cell.
"Walker, legal call."
Ethan sat up immediately because scheduled legal calls were usually posted the day before.
Calvin raised an eyebrow.
"That paper is getting louder."
Ethan ignored him and followed Grant through the unit.
The legal phone room was barely larger than a closet, with a desk bolted to the floor and a phone mounted beneath a camera.
Grant closed the door but remained outside.
Ethan picked up the receiver.
"Hello?"
Claire answered on the second ring.
"Ethan, I need you to stay calm."
That sentence had never once been followed by something calming.
"What happened?"
"Did Grant give you a paper yesterday?"
"Yes."
"I did not bring it."
"He told me."
Claire exhaled shakily.
"I checked Lily's coat when we got home because I thought maybe someone left something else."
"And?"
"There was an envelope sewn into the lining."
Ethan stopped breathing for a second.
"Sewn?"
"The stitching was new."
"What was inside?"
Claire hesitated.
"A flash drive."
Ethan stood so quickly the chair scraped the floor.
"Do not plug it into your computer."
"I didn't."
"Do not take it to the police either."
"I know."
Claire had once trusted the police completely.
Then Detective Paul Rourke had stood in their living room four years earlier, promised to clear up a misunderstanding, and left with Ethan in handcuffs.
"I called Nora Feldman."
Ethan knew the name.
Nora was a post-conviction attorney Claire had contacted six months earlier after reading about one of her exoneration cases.
Nora had reviewed Ethan's trial transcript for free, then told Claire she needed new evidence before she could reopen the case.
"What did she say?"
"She wants the drive delivered to her office without opening it."
"Good."
"Ethan, there is something else."
He closed his eyes.
"Of course there is."
"Someone called the house at two this morning."
"Who?"
"Blocked number."
"What did they say?"
Claire's voice became smaller.
"They asked whether Lily enjoyed hugging her father."
Ethan's hand tightened around the phone.
"What exactly did they say?"
"They said, 'That was a beautiful reunion. It would be a shame if it were the last one.'"
For a moment, Ethan could hear nothing except the blood pounding in his ears.
"Where is Lily?"
"At school."
"Take her out."
"Ethan."
"Take her out today."
"I cannot keep pulling her from her life every time someone tries to frighten us."
"They knew about the contact visit."
Claire went silent.
Ethan lowered his voice.
"That visit was not public."
"I know."
"Someone knew we would be in that room, and someone got inside Lily's coat."
"I know."
"Then get her out of school."
Claire was quiet for several seconds.
"I already did."
Ethan sank back into the chair.
"Where are you?"
"At Nora's office."
"With Lily?"
"She is sitting beside me drawing a purple horse."
Despite everything, Ethan almost smiled.
"Unicorn."
Claire laughed once, but fear swallowed the sound immediately.
"Nora is sending the flash drive to a forensic lab."
"How long?"
"She said the first step is making a bit-for-bit copy without changing the metadata."
"Can they tell where it came from?"
"Maybe."
A buzzer sounded outside the room.
Grant opened the door and held up two fingers, warning Ethan that he had two minutes left.
"Claire, listen to me."
"I am listening."
"Do not go home alone."
"Nora already arranged a hotel."
"Do not tell my mother where you are."
Claire paused.
That pause bothered Ethan more than an immediate answer would have.
"Why did you say your mother?"
Ethan looked through the narrow window in the legal room door.
Grant stood outside with his back turned.
"Because my mother knew about yesterday's visit."
"So did your brother."
Ethan's jaw tightened.
His younger brother, Ryan, had attended every day of the trial and had sworn he would spend the rest of his life proving Ethan was innocent.
Then, eighteen months after the conviction, Ryan had stopped visiting.
He said work was busy.
He said the drive was long.
He said watching Ethan behind glass was too difficult.
Ethan had believed each excuse because the alternative hurt too much.
"Did you tell Ryan about the contact room?"
"No."
"Then how did he know?"
"Your mother told him."
Ethan felt a small relief that lasted less than a second.
Claire continued.
"But your mother says she never told him."
The buzzer sounded again.
Grant opened the door.
"Time."
Ethan held the receiver tighter.
"Claire, do not trust anyone until Nora checks that drive."
"Including Ryan?"
Ethan looked down at the bolted desk.
He remembered Ryan at seventeen, crying in the hospital hallway after Ethan took a broken bottle away from him during a stupid fight.
He remembered teaching Ryan to drive.
He remembered lending Ryan his pickup whenever Ryan's old sedan broke down.
He remembered the prosecution witness saying the getaway vehicle was a dark blue pickup registered to Ethan Walker.
A memory that had always seemed insignificant suddenly felt enormous.
"Ethan?"
"Including Ryan."
The call disconnected.
Grant escorted Ethan back toward the unit.
Halfway there, Ethan stopped.
"Did you know I was getting that contact visit?"
Grant's eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
"Answer me."
"I was assigned to escort you twenty minutes before it happened."
"Who changed the visit order?"
"Deputy Warden Bell."
"Why?"
"I told you, I don't know."
Ethan took a step closer.
"Someone used my daughter to get evidence into this prison."
Grant's face changed.
"What evidence?"
Ethan instantly regretted saying too much.
Grant studied him.
"Walker, if someone is passing contraband through a child, you need to report it."
"It was paper."
"What paper?"
"Something connected to my case."
Grant looked toward the camera.
"Then you need to be careful who hears you say that."
Ethan stared at him.
"Why?"
Grant resumed walking.
"Because Deputy Warden Bell did not authorize your contact visit."
Ethan followed him.
"You just said he did."
Grant kept his voice low.
"That is what the paperwork says."
"What does Bell say?"
Grant stopped beside the unit door.
"Bell says his electronic signature was copied."
The door buzzed open.
Before Ethan stepped through, Grant added one more sentence.
May you like
"And he says someone inside this prison wanted you in that room badly enough to forge it."
