C.: hmm. I'm a little confused. Maybe I would read the synopsis of this book before I read any further
THE MAGRUDER MYSTERIES A FULL PARDON; A GRAYING OF THE
LAW SYNOPSIS
This is the penultimate chapter of the Magruder Mysteries series. As the book begins, Jay Magruder had settled into his job as a private investigator when he received a telephone call from an old work acquaintance. Mark Joliet had run for and successfully secured the job as the Texas Attorney General. The A.G. informed Jay that he must meet him at the FBI headquarters to discuss a cold case from almost forty years before. Since Jay’s sideline job with the FBI involves solving cold cases, this didn’t arouse suspicion, at first. Jay did wonder why the D.A. wanted to meet him at the FBI office, though. He was soon to learn that the FBI had uncovered new evidence in a cold case in which Jay had been involved thirty-nine years before.
When the conversation began, Jay realized that the case was about the man whom he directed Jose` Leal to kill. The man was Jose’s Tio, Benito Suarez. At the time, the two believed that the cause of death for Benito Suarez would never be determined, because Jay and Jose` used a minute amount of Fentanyl. Jay obtained it as a patch for a shoulder injury from an accident he had while playing high school football. He didn’t want to use any drugs for any reason, because his parents were addicts who both (supposedly) died of overdoses. He was afraid that he would become addicted himself. However, Jay obtained the Fentanyl from his doctor to carry out this mission, under the pretense of using it for pain in his shoulder that was caused by tendonitis and arthritis at the old injury site.
Both men believed that Benito Suarez was a dangerous man who needed to be dealt with. He had threatened Jose’s life many times when he was high on narcotics or illegal drugs. Jay and Jose’ were afraid that he would carry through with this threat if left unchecked. Both knew that Suarez was a mass murderer as well.
When new procedures were discovered to figure out causes of death, the Suarez family asked that Benito’s remains be exhumed and tested for DNA. The only DNA on his remains was that of his nephew, Jose’ Leal.
Jay confessed that he was the person that convinced young Jose’ to kill his tio, so he should be the one to pay for the crime. The D.A., however, disagreed. The deal that he and Jay worked out was that, if Jose’ could be found and brought in for questioning, he wouldn’t face the death penalty. That would be a large problem, though, because Jose` fled the country thirty-nine years before and is traveling around the world trying not to get caught by and facing punishment by the leader of the Leal cartel. The Leal cartel now has the CIA and the FBI on their side. The organizations had told their snipers to bring in Jose’ Leal dead or alive. They post snipers in locations when they have heard of Jose’s last known whereabouts.
Jay must find Jose’ before the Leal cartel’s hired assassins or the CIA do. Fortunately, Jay makes friends with a high-powered attorney who is close friends with the governor of Texas. Jack Moore tells Jay that, if he can find Jose’ and bring him back to Texas, he will assure his safety until the young man’s trial. Jack has been assured by the governor that Jose’ Leal will receive a full pardon if convicted. The problem was that, unbeknownst to Jay, (because this kind of news was sometimes hard to obtain in a third-world country) the governor had been forced out of office by his lieutenant governor. Jose’ is brought back to Texas and tried for murder.
Even a lawyer with a 98% success rate cannot win this case. Jack Moore loses the one case he has for the entire year and Jose’s placed on death row in Huntsville, Texas. The new governor wants to make an example of the former gang member, so he hastens Jose’s punishment. He also believes that Jose` has some damning information about him, information that he doesn’t want anyone to know.
Jay and Jack are set to try to rescue Jose` Leal from what they feel is an unjust fate, and Jay Magruder finally finds the peace he seeks from his actions of almost forty years before.
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