The Confession

Content Warning: This section of the novel describes an execution.

DA Paul Koffee, understanding the potential for unrest in Slone, retreats to a cabin in the woods far from town. There, with friends, he considers the implications of Donté’s execution. Despite the scandal of his affair with Judge Grale, Koffee knows he will be remembered for bringing justice to Nicole’s family, securing the “prized death verdict” (312) without a body and with dicey evidence.

When Schroeder and Flak meet Donté at Huntsville, the pastor does not bring up Boyette, but rather focuses on Donté’s relationship with God. Donté dismisses the suggestion that he make amends with God. He is only dying because the jury was a “bunch of rednecks,” he says, adding, “I was a faithful servant, Reverend, and look where it got me” (318).

Back in Slone, unsteady and weak, Boyette meets the media gathered outside the law office and confesses to the crime, dramatically showing the cameras Nicole’s class ring. CNN carries the news conference live, and Joey Gamble, drunk in a bar in Houston, watches. He feels good. Surely now the innocent man will be spared, without his help.

At Huntsville, the families of Donté and Nicole gather to wait, in separate rooms, for the execution.