A Long Road to Redemption

Chapter 36

It was after 11 pm when Brady, Taylor, and Lee could get together again. As usual, Taylor was the first to arrive, and Shelia arrived shortly after. Luke knew this would be an important meeting tonight. He hoped he wasn't making a mistake. He thought back to the many times he spent at the Lewis' home after he and Todd played golf. He watched Sidney grow up and knew the separation from their daughter was killing Todd and Sophia.

He met Todd in college after his discharge from the Navy. They were friends from the first moment they met. Brady believed he owed this to the Lewis family.

After making small talk for several minutes, Luke got to the point of the meeting. "I'm afraid I've not been completely honest with you both. Please understand I have to think about my client and her family, but I don't think we can go much further until you know this information." He took a deep breath as Taylor and Shelia shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

"You both have proven that you are committed to this investigation, and I thank you for it. Sidney's a girl I watched grow up, and I've known her mother and father for years. Her safety is my greatest concern. That's why I never told you," Luke said.

"What didn't you tell us, Mr. Brady?" asked Shelia.

"The missing flash drive is not missing at all. I've had it the whole time. There I said it."

Neither of the others could believe what they heard. "You had the flash drive the whole time?" Taylor said as he stood up. "Why didn't you tell us that in the first place? You know how long I've been spinning my wheels trying to find leads on this case?"

"Not to mention all the time I spent trying to find some of those women. I had to spend time with that creep friend of Lawson's to get just one name," Shelia said as she stood up.

Luke began to fidget in his chair as both continued arguing with him about a lack of trust and other accusations. "Okay, okay," he said through the other's raised voices. "Damn it, I said enough." Shelia and Taylor finally quieted down but were far from finished, he could tell. "I didn't know if I could trust either of you. We are up against arguably the most powerful man in this area. I don't have to tell you that Pierson influences both the police department and the district attorney's office. What was I supposed to think?"

"So what's changed then? Why trust us now?" Shelia asked him. She suspected Brady knew more than what he let on, but this was a shock. As a reporter, one always wants to know the truth and develop ways of telling when someone is not being honest or leaving things out of a story. This revelation surprised her more than usual.

"Because it's been over two years, I can't do this alone. So if I'm going to help Sidney, I need you both to know the truth." The tension in the air continued to hang there as everyone calmed, but Luke could tell there was still much frustration in the room. "Look, Taylor, you think she got a bad deal, or you wouldn't be here. Shelia, you want a big story. Right? You both want to take down Pierson, so here's your chance."

The three of them sat in an awkward silence for several minutes that, to Luke, felt more like hours. "So why all the secrecy? What happened between the time Sidney was arrested and the sentencing?" asked Shelia. It was time for answers, and she resolved not to leave until she got them.

"Sidney told me where she hid the flash drive when I talked to her after her arrest. I went to her apartment and retrieved it; to say the least, it was revealing. It had about twenty sex videos on it, and she was only in five of them. One video was dated a week after Lawson proposed to her. So yes, all of that is true, and none of it made it into the record." Luke could see he had their attention now. Taylor took notes in a small pocket-sized notebook as Shelia sat and listened.

"The reason for the secrecy is obvious, considering who we are dealing with, but there's more. Sidney told me that Leonard Pierson visited her in her cell at night before she accepted the plea. He threatened and bullied her into taking Cooper's deal. He even changed it himself while he was talking with her."

"How can he do that?" Shelia asked.

"Because Jim Cooper has been shielding him for years," Taylor said. "I always believed he was working for Pierson, but I could never prove it."

"Well, this time, he messed up," Luke said. "Lawson didn't just put videos on the flash drive; he also put documents. I agreed to give the flash drive to Pierson in return for him leaving Sidney alone."

"You gave it back to him?" Taylor said, feeling the anger well up in him again.

"No. I gave Peirson a copy of the original. He thinks I gave him the original, but I also told him I had a copy made that would be sent to every law enforcement agency and news organization in the country if he harmed Sidney or myself."

"But now he knows what's on the drive. By now, he must have changed things or deleted the documents. The information is probably useless now," Shelia said.

"Well, not exactly," Luke said in a confident voice. "I didn't give him an exact copy of the drive. I left a few very nice documents off his copy."

"How many and how nice?" asked Taylor.

"Enough to make the both of you very happy and keep you busy."