Free With His Dying Breath by Nancy Hogue Page B

you think, well, are my grades good enough in the right subjects? I mean, Am I smart enough to pass the test and learn it and everything?”
                  “I tell you what, why don’t I get the curriculum, make a call or two for you and see what we can find out. Is that what you want?”
                  “Yes ma’am, thank you so much. I need to know what to take for my senior year. I’m thinking I’ll need more math and science. I might be able to get some summer help to get me into an advanced class, if that’s what it takes.”
                  “JJ, I’m very happy you’re taking charge of your education. Have you talked to your Dad about this?”
                  “Well, not exactly. I think he’ll be very happy if I go to a local school. I think I’ll qualify for the Hope Grant, if I can maintain my average, even with the advanced classes. I will, won’t I?”
                  “I’ll have to pull your file and review your record, but we’ll have time to work with that. There’s probably other scholarship money out there for you as well.”
                  “Dr. Jacob, thank you for listening to me and not just brushing me off. I know I’ve not always been the best student, but some subjects are just really boring to me, and I have a hard time paying attention to them.”
                  “Don’t we all, my dear? You’ve taken a big step, a giant step today. Give me a few days to make the calls and gather up the information. Now don’t be late for your class. Math is very important to that field, you know!”
                  “Yes ma’am, thank you.”
                  JJ hurried on down the hall and turned into Room 105 just in time to take her seat before the bell rang. She looked over toward her best friend, Sara, with a big smile and a nod that meant, I did it, Sara, I really did it!
                  Mr. Grumman and Dr. Early walked into Dr. Jacob’s office and asked if JJ was in trouble again. Dr. Jacob simply said, “She wanted some college and career advice.”
                  Mr. Grumman stared at her with a surprised look. “JJ?”

Chapter 10
                  The crime scene investigation was still ongoing at eight that morning and was not near finished. After Jasper found a gun hidden behind a Bible with a bloody fingerprint, investigators removed everything from Blake’s office. Item by item his personal property was placed in bags or plastic containers.
                  One bookshelf held a row of books mounted together as camouflage to reveal a hidden room. Eight books cut in two and mounted together onto a metal frame. At a glance, the bookshelf held Presidential biographies. But as one officer tried to remove President Theodore Roosevelt’s biography off the shelf, fifth from the right, the entire four by eight shelving section swung forward.
                  The investigators had never seen something this high tech before except in the movies and on the TV crime shows. Behind the shelving unit was more shelves and file cabinets and a pull down staircase to the attic. In the attic, investigators discovered another hidden room. Banker’s boxes labeled with names, the month dating back fifteen years were stacked from floor to ceiling—hundreds of Banker’s boxes—thousands of files.
                  Each file cabinet, each file item that Blake Brockton wanted hidden would now be exposed to Bibb County investigators, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and probably the FBI. The murder investigation attracted numerous cable news stations, and their cameras captured it all for the world to watch as a moving van pulled into view.
     
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                  Cain stayed in the office all night pouring through the comic sections of the newspaper. The comic was not a daily just ran Wednesdays