Elena filed again.
At 3:46, a second court requested a response from the attorney general’s office.
At 4:20, the governor’s legal advisers began reviewing the recording.
The prison seemed to hold its breath.
Gavin sat on the edge of his bunk.
He had spent five years imagining this day. He thought fear would overwhelm him when it finally came.
Instead, he felt strangely calm.
Not because he was ready to die.
He was not.
But Chloe had found the truth.
Even if it arrived too late for him, perhaps it would protect her from growing up believing her father was a murderer.
At 5:03 p.m., officers came to escort him away from the cell.
Warden Mitchell’s radio suddenly crackled.
“Hold position.”
Everyone stopped.
Another message followed.
“Temporary stay issued by the Court of Criminal Appeals. Execution suspended pending review of newly discovered evidence.”
