Nancy Hughes

The Innocent Hour: A Mystery Novel Nancy Hughes

Vietnam veteran Charlie Alderfer, having defied the odds and regained his health in the VA's hospice, goes home to resume his well-earned retirement. He hires Ben, an 18-year-old high school senior, to help with heavier chores. The poor, shy kid is a hard-working athlete whom teachers, coaches, classmates, and their parents adore.

Until--Ben's adoptive parents accuse him of assaulting their ten-year-old bio-daughter. The police and DA, pressured to close 90% of their cases without a trial, lie and terrorize Ben to plead guilty to something. In return, they'll make the charges go away. Otherwise, he'd go to a super-max prison, labeled a sexual predator. Honest Ben believes them and makes something up about his early childhood.

Charlie, shocked to read the guilty plea in the newspaper, extracts the story from Ben, who has no idea why his parents, and the police, would do this to him. Outraged, Charlie takes Ben to a leading polygraph expert who verifies what Charlie knows of his character. But his family, police and DA refuse to back down. And the test isn't admissible in court.

Charlie hires a criminal lawyer who withdraws the guilty plea. But Ben's only defense is his word against a sweet little girl's, which no jury would buy. Outraged by the impending miscarriage of justice, Charlie digs into the case, researching the players, their motives, and holes in the prosecution's case. He's appalled that everyone lies--except Ben. Charlie could not anticipate that his digging would expose Ben and himself to mortal danger from a much larger criminal enterprise in progress.