Louella studied him closely again. “I remembered you. You told me your name was Jake Harkner. You wrapped a blanket around me and held me, and you told me not to be afraid of you. I remember the awful gunfire, the hard ride on that horse. You’re older now, but the face isn’t so different, especially not the eyes. I always remembered your eyes, how they could be so ruthless one minute and so kind the next. When I heard you were sitting in prison, that you had a wife and a son and a daughter, I knew I had to do something.” She reached out and touched his arm. “You saved me, Jake. Those men would have killed me. You gave me a chance at life again. Now I can do the same for you. I have already talked to the judge. That’s why he ordered you back here, so I could identify you. I couldn’t be sure until I actually set eyes on you again. We’re going over to the courthouse in a few minutes. I’ll testify for the record that you had nothing to do with that robbery or the killings that took place or with what happened to me. I don’t know what the judge will do then. I can only tell my side of the story. I’m just sorry I wasn’t here when you were tried, but then my husband was still alive and I probably couldn’t have spoken up anyway. I never wanted him to know.” Her cheeks flushed. “I’m sure you can understand why.”
He looked down at the slender hand on his arm, touched it hesitantly with his own hand. “I don’t know what to say, except thank you. My wife and daughter are here with me. They have prayed and prayed for something to happen that might get me out of this. Seeing you walk in here is like a miracle. You’re a godsend, Louella.”
She met his eyes. “And you were a godsend all those years ago. Sometimes God uses the most unlikely people to answer prayer, Jake. He used you that day to answer my prayers that I be freed from those awful men.”
He grinned. “I can’t quite see myself in that light, but you can look at it however you want. I’m just glad as hell you’re here.”
She moved away from him and went to the door, turning again for a moment. “I went to the courthouse and saw your wife and daughter. They’re both quite beautiful. I heard a reporter interviewing them, and I could tell by the way your wife spoke that she loves you very much. Your daughter talked about what a good father you were all of her life, wept with the hope that maybe you were going to be released. I knew then I was doing the right thing.” She glanced at his hips. “You don’t look fully dressed without those guns you wore. I’ll always remember how fast you were.” She turned and called for the guard. The door opened, and she left.
Jake stared after her, wondering if it was real. Louella Griffith had finally emerged from the past to tell the truth.
***
Judge Mitchell pounded his gavel and commanded the courtroom to quiet. Word had spread that Jake was back and that there was new evidence regarding his case, and by the time he was brought to court, the room was filled with curious onlookers. Louella Griffith Adams had just finished her testimony. “Jake Harkner is not guilty of any of the charges for which he has been imprisoned for the last four years,” she concluded. “He had nothing to do with the bank robbery that day, or with my abduction and abuse. The man saved my life and risked his own in doing so.”
The filled courtroom had come alive, and reporters wrote rapidly on their tablets. A photographer who had been allowed to set up his camera near Jake took a quick picture, the flash powder exploding in a poof. Jake turned and scowled at the man, and he backed away, grinning nervously. The judge kept pounding the gavel for quiet, and Miranda clung to Evie’s hand, unable to control her tears. Louella Adams was like an angel from heaven as far as she was concerned.
Attorney Mattson rose. “Your Honor, I move that all charges against Jake Harkner be dropped and that he be set free,” the man spoke up.
The courtroom quieted again, waiting for the judge’s decision. Judge Mitchell told Louella to step down. The woman left the stand, glancing at Miranda with a gentle smile before taking her seat. The judge ordered Jake to rise, and all whispering stopped as everyone waited to hear Jake’s fate.
“Jake Harkner, I have heard Mrs. Adams’s testimony, and I am fully convinced the woman is telling the truth. She has no reason to make up such a story, and after the unspeakable acts committed against her, she most certainly would not now testify in your favor if you had anything to do with those acts. Her story coincides in every detail with the story you told me in this courtroom four years ago. All charges in this particular case will be removed from your record. However—”