FROM THE EYES OF A JUROR
By Frank Terranova
Copyright 2012 Frank Terranova
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarities to actual persons, living or dead, or real events, are entirely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Special Thanks
To my friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances that inspired the characters in this novel (you know who you are!).
To the 15 wonderful people I had the pleasure of working with in the month of June, 2008.
And last but not least, to Marianne, wherever she might be in this great big world. You said that I would always be an artist…and surely, an artist I will always be.
Table of Contents
Slow Death -- A Song to Set the Scene
Prologue - Built to Last?
Chapter 1 – A Summons (He had to Look Back)
Chapter 2 – Momma’s Boy
Chapter 3 – Three Horrible Hubbys, One Horrible Vision
Chapter 4 – May God Forgive Me
Chapter 5 – Lines and Queues
Chapter 6 – Tracy Stone’s Sad Anniversary
Chapter 7 – On Trial?
Chapter 8 – Ships in the Night and Sacrificial Lambs
Chapter 9 – Rhyme or Reason (God’s Plan)?
Chapter 10 – Counselor R. J. Gleason’s Colorful People
Chapter 11 – A Bus Ride and ‘a View’
Chapter 12 – The Smell of Blood
Chapter 13 – Dreams so Real
Chapter 14 – Saeed Kahn’s Gibberish
Chapter 15 – A Wonderfully Terrible Idea
Chapter 16 – Show Time
Chapter 17 – Cam Miller’s Burden
Chapter 18 – All Rise, Jurors Entering
Chapter 19 – Just a Theory
Chapter 20 – Meet the Jurors
Chapter 21 – The Wise Judge Gershwin
Chapter 22 – DA Lyons’ Roar
Chapter 23 – Jurors and Witnesses
Chapter 25 – No Signs of Life
Chapter 26 – O’Toole’s Tavern and Grill (Celtics Pride)
Chapter 27 – The Only Woman He Ever Loved
Chapter 28 – Two Tough Cops
Chapter 29 – Rearview Mirror (He Always Looked Back)
Chapter 30 – The Red Car
Chapter 31 – An Unexpected Visitor (Janis Barry’s Story)
Chapter 32 – The Riderless Chariot
Chapter 33 – An Unexpected Letter (Marianne Plante’s Story)
Chapter 34 – Saeed Kahn’s Congregation
Chapter 35 – Monday Morning Blues
Chapter 36 – Fear of Falling
Chapter 37 – Brent Blain, Private Detective Extraordinaire
Chapter 38 – Recommendations & Suggestions, Guns & DNA
Chapter 39 – Two Years to the Day (The Moral Compass)
Chapter 40 – Three Old Friends, One Haunted House
Chapter 41 – Love’s Addiction (The Tide Can Turn So Quickly)
Chapter 42 – Remembering the Dead
Chapter 43 – Ringing Phones and Roller Coaster Rides
Chapter 44 – The Temptress
Chapter 45 – A Split Second
Chapter 46 – Saeed Kahn’s Vision
Chapter 47 – White Flags
Chapter 48 – Turned to Stone
Chapter 49 – Dead Heads and Love Letters
Chapter 50 – To a Man, To a Woman (We All Make Choices in Life)
Chapter 51 – Mahoney’s Pub (Dead on Arrival)
Chapter 52 – Dream a Little Dream…of Me
Chapter 53 – Friday the 13th (Everything’s Gonna be Alright?)
Chapter 54 – Saeed Kahn’s Errand (A License to Kill)
Chapter 55 – Three Little Letters, S O S
Chapter 56 – More Silent Communiqués
Chapter 57 – Sisters, Only by Name
Chapter 58 – The Good Doctor
Chapter 59 – Domestic Violence
Chapter 60 – A Reunion; 20 Years in the Making
Chapter 61 – Surveillance Systems Converging
Chapter 62 – Who Knows What Another Man Would Have Done?
Chapter 63 – Playing With Fire
Chapter 64 – Landslides and Falling Stars
Chapter 65 – Another Man’s Woman
Chapter 66 – An Incident in Progress
Chapter 67 – If Someone Wants You Dead Bad Enough
Chapter 68 – There’s not a Damn Thing You Can Do About it
Chapter 69 – Saeed Kahn’s Meeting with the Master
Chapter 70 – Childhood Miracles (Live to See Another Day)
Chapter 71 – Brilliant Disguises
Chapter 72 – I’ve Got a Feeling…Somebody’s Watching Me
Chapter 73 – Learning to Let Go (A Mother’s Love)
Chapter 74 – The Chase…for Banner 17
Chapter 75 – Bar Hopping
Chapter 76 – The Crime of the Century (Twenty Two Pages)
Chapter 77 – Confrontations (A Gun in Her face)
Chapter 78 – Revenge in Motion
Chapter 79 – Familiar Territory (Welcome to the Club)
Chapter 80 – Real Men?
Chapter 81 – Counterfeit Bills
Chapter 82 – Betrayal & Subterfuge, Legitimate & Imagined
Chapter 83 – Blood on the Tracks
Chapter 84 – Broomsticks and Daggers
Chapter 85 – The Prosecution Rests
Chapter 86 – The Right to Testify
Chapter 87 – His Own Worst Enemy
Chapter 88 -- Arachnophobia
Chapter 89 – Astronomy (Life’s too Short)
Chapter 90 – Anyone Else Would Have Done the Same Thing
Chapter 92 – Reason for Hope?
Chapter 93 – A Visit to the Cemetery (Whispers in the Wind)
Chapter 94 – Juror Number 8
Chapter 95 – Symbolic Coincidences or Psychic Revelations?
Chapter 96 – The Master’s Edict
Chapter 97 – Not Dead Yet
Chapter 98 – Juror Number 8 (An Alternate Take)
Chapter 99 – Closing Arguments & Crosses to Bear
Chapter 100 – Buns in the Oven
Chapter 101 – Temptations (People Everywhere)
Chapter 102 – Repressed Memories
Chapter 103 – A Stroke of Pride
Chapter 104 – A Sudden Change of Plans
Chapter 105 – Jane’s Tricky Day
Chapter 106 – Deliberations Begin
Chapter 107 – There’s Always Hope (Until There’s no Hope)
Chapter 108 – A Stalemate?
Chapter 109 – They’re Ready for you Your Honor
Chapter 110 – Over a Woman
Chapter 111 – Relieved of Duty
Chapter 112 – Dueling Press Conferences
Chapter 113 – Grateful Dead Drinks (More Ships in the Night)
Chapter 114 – A Solemn Goodbye
Chapter 115 – A Combined Evil
Chapter 116 – Shots Fired
Chapter 117 – Fade to Black
Chapter 118 – Closure for Some
Chapter 119 – End of the Road
Chapter 120 – The Man on the Moon
Epilogue – We Will Never Forget