Aggravating Factor

Everett Devlin swore he would never take another death penalty case. Not after they strapped his last client to the table and made him watch.

Then a triple-murder appeal lands on his desk with nine days left on the warrant, and the condemned man turns out to be the coach who once believed in Everett's kid brother. So he opens the box. And inside it he finds a serology report the defense was never given, one that points away from the man the state is about to kill.

Within a day, the sample it describes is gone from the evidence vault. Someone inside the system wants this execution to happen on schedule, and they will burn a lab's dirtiest secret to keep the date.

To save an innocent man, Everett has to force a new trial before the clock runs out, seat twelve jurors willing to vote for death, and beat the one prosecutor who taught him everything. Frances Dahl still trusts the verdict she inherited, and she is the best the state has.

But the truth Everett is chasing has a price. The alibi that could free his client has stayed buried for a reason. And when it finally comes out, the man walks free and something worse walks in behind him.

The execution is in nine days. The evidence that could stop it is already gone.