Chapter 2

"They stopped it in time!" Greenaway said with a particularly heavy sigh. She was immediately joined by Morgan, and by Frank and Gayle Sheffield who began sobbing in each other's arms.

"Thank God!" Gayle breathed.

"Hotch says Sarah Jean was actually strapped in with the hood down," Greenaway continued, "and they were probably within a minute of throwing the switch when the Deputy Warden came in with the stay from the Governor."

Morgan briefly glanced over at seventeen year old Byron Sheffield still sitting alone in his parents' car with a confused and worried look. He let the Sheffields continue to cry for several more seconds, then said softly, "Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield, I think the best way to handle this is for us to come back later after your son's asleep. In fact, if you can tell us the brand, type and color of toothbrush he has, we passed a couple of 24-hour pharmacies not too far away from here. We'll try to get one exactly like it and with luck, he won't even notice it's a different toothbrush."

Gayle composed herself, then gave Morgan the information. Morgan handed the Sheffields a business card and said, "Call us after you're sure Byron's asleep."

"Thank you, Agent-" Frank looked at the card "-Morgan."

Sarah Jean Dawes strained against the leather straps around her wrists and ankles, screaming "God damn you! Let me die! Kill me!"

"Close the curtain!" Warden Diehl directed.

As one of the Corrections Officers drew the curtain cords, Sarah Jean glared venomously through the plexiglas panel. "God damn you, Jason Gideon! Why did you have to do this?"

Gideon remained dumbfounded. "I had nothing to do with this!" he managed to yell back before the curtains closed.

"Warden, do we unstrap her?" the ranking Corrections Officer shouted over Sarah Jean's continued screaming.

"Not yet!" Diehl looked at the tension on the straps, then turned to the prison doctor, who had been standing by to pronounce Sarah Jean dead after the electrocution. "Doctor, do you have something to sedate her with?"

"In my office," the doctor replied.

"Get it!" Diehl nodded, then turned back to the ranking Corrections Officer: "Wait until she's sedated before unstrapping her, then take her back to her cell and keep her under suicide watch!" He drew a deep breath, then turned to the still struggling and screaming convict, placing his hand firmly on her shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to go through this, Sarah Jean. But I'm not sorry they stopped us! Not if you can be proven innocent!"

"God damn you all!" she screamed back. "Let me die! Kill me! Please!"

Diehl drew another deep breath and stepped out of the chamber. He stopped in the hall and took the hard copy of the Stay of Execution from the Senior Deputy Warden, who had managed to extricate himself from the Gallery. Diehl then continued into the Gallery, which was in total chaos with most of the attendees standing up and shouting or crying.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Diehl called out. It took several seconds for the room to quiet down. "The Governor has given Sarah Jane Dawes a stay of execution." He paused for the resultant murmur. "New evidence has been brought to light which raises significant questions as to her guilt. Her conviction has not been reversed or vacated and her death sentence has not been lifted, but the execution has been postponed indefinitely pending review of the new evidence by the Attorney General. That is all the information we have at this time."

The Gallery began to empty after he stepped out. Aaron Hotchner fought his way through the door against the crowd flow and sat next to Gideon, who had his elbows on his lap and his face in his hands and then lifted his head to face him.

"What happened?" Gideon asked.

"The Sheffields figured out why Morgan and Elle were there," Hotch replied. "They wanted to stop the execution and clear Sarah Jean's name if they could keep Riley from finding out he was her son."

"Did they?"

"So far. They're still working it out. Morgan and Elle aren't going to have contact with Riley or swab his cheek for DNA. They're going to leave and go back later, and the Sheffields are going to give them his toothbrush after he goes to sleep." Hotch glanced over at the closed curtain of the execution chamber. "Gideon, we really shaved this one close."

"She was ready to die. She wanted to do. Still does from what we can hear coming out of there."

Hotch's jaw dropped. "That's not the point! Riley Dawes is alive and you and I knew it! And we almost let an innocent woman- his mother- get put to death for his murder!"

Morgan was on his way from the Toothbrush and Toothpaste aisle to the checkout at the pharmacy, with Greenaway waiting in the SUV, when his phone rang. He looked at the Caller ID and saw that it was "STATE OF FLORIDA" with a Tallahassee Area Code.

"Derek Morgan," he answered.

"Good evening, Agent Morgan," a man spoke. "This is the Office of the Governor of Florida calling. Please hold for a call from the Governor."

"Yes, sir."

He waited only a couple of seconds before a different but now familiar voice came on. "Hello, Agent Morgan, it's Jeb Bush again. How are you holding up tonight?"

"I'm fine, Governor. I'm used to it. And yourself?"

"I'm fine too, but I'm sure glad we don't have this kind of crisis happening every night. And I'm sure that you do too!"

"Yes, sir!" Morgan managed to laugh.

"And I'm sorry I had to keep our earlier conversation so short!"

"That's okay, Governor! Time was definitely of the essence!"

"It sure was!" the Governor laughed. "Listen, I just got off the phone with Warden Diehl. I don't know if you're aware exactly how close we came to being too late for Ms. Dawes. He tells me they were about twenty to thirty seconds from throwing the switch when the Stay of Execution reached the death chamber."

"Yes, sir. I just spoke to SSA Hotchner, my Unit Chief, a little while ago. He's been at the prison the whole time."

"Your Behavioral Analysis Unit did excellent work today, Agent Morgan. In a little over twenty-four hours, you took us from having every indication that Sarah Jean Dawes cold-bloodedly murdered her own son and deserved to die along with her husband, to finding her son alive with strong indication that she was innocent of all capital crimes. That's something else that doesn't happen every day!"

"No, sir, not even for us!" Morgan laughed again. "The whole team deserves the credit."

"I'm sure. Listen, the President and our dad and I are getting together for a fishing trip next weekend. I'm going to be sure to put in a good word with the President for your whole team."

"Thank you, sir!"

"And I'm going to put in an especially good word for you, Agent Morgan!"

"Oh, no, sir! That won't be necessary!"

"I insist, Agent Morgan! For you and your partner Agent..."

"Greenaway, sir. Elle Greenaway. It's not an initial. That's E-L-L-E."

"Got it. And don't downplay your part in this, Agent Morgan. Another thing Warden Diehl told me is that your people who stayed at the prison seemed aware that you and Agent Greenaway had apparently found the young man in question. But for whatever reason, they didn't feel certain enough to pass that information on to me. If you'd tried to go back through your chain of command instead of taking the initiative to call me directly, it definitely would've been too late for Ms. Dawes!" The Governor paused, then said, "Can you put Agent Greenaway on the phone?"

"She's outside in our vehicle. I'm actually at a drugstore buying a toothbrush. A very specific kind of toothbrush, as part of our trying to keep the young man in question from finding out that he is the young man in question!"

"Oh, yes. I think I understand that part. And you have my assurance that the Attorney General will do his best toward that effort as well. Could you give me Agent Greenaway's number?"

"Same number as mine, Governor, except for the last digit. Hers is eight."

"All right. A pleasure talking to you again, Agent Morgan. And again, I'll be sure to tell the President about the outstanding job you did. Good night."

Author's notes:

Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, I've been a hardcore Republican even before I was naturalized and registered to vote 36 years ago, and former President George H. W. Bush is tied with General Douglas MacArthur as the most famous person I've ever met. But the conversation at the end of this chapter is not just a partisan plug for the Bush family. There will be implications in upcoming chapters!