The Midnight Call

The Midnight Call

Nightmares will come flooding back into the heart and mind of Jessie Martin as a late night phone call will haunt her forever. The words spoken by the caller and their ramifications and consequences to follow with forever change her life dragging her down a dark and deadly path. Teachers at times form strong bonds with some students as Jessie hears the voice and words of her former teacher and mentor, Terrence Butterfield , with a deadly sounding and confusing voice he claims to have killed a teen boy. Based on a real life murder in Poughkeepsie,NY in 1979, a homicide that was committed by a popular teacher who brutally maimed and butchered a popular student who was randomly trespassing through his yard one night. Based on her real-life experience and the fact that she knew the real killer and had been one of his students, plus she knew the victim’s family, attorneys, and judges, this novel and its story are personal to the author. Jessie realizes from the moment she outs down her phone she needs to tell Kyle , protect their unborn child and make the one phone call to the person who can help. She’s corporate law and Jeremy Kaplan is the best at criminal law and he needs this case for many reasons. 

The author takes us inside the minds of both the defense and prosecution lawyers teaching us about legal procedures, police protocols and procedures plus past histories, Jessie’s link to both the victim and his older brother plus dark secrets that when uncovered could destroy her life. 

As Hal Samuels is the chief assistant district attorney on the case he has difficult choices to make with an unscrupulous boss that has a vendetta against Jessie and makes sure she has to testify in front of the grand jury even though he disagrees. Police and court proceedings are described and jury selection in detail author Jode Millman writes from personal experience. 

The scenes are tense as Jessie and Kyle face off and you realize that their relationship is going south. The grand jury convenes and the ME explains his findings and the author describes the injuries, the causes, photos snd procedures from her own experiences and possibly from the real murder in 1979.