Chapter 1: Land Line

Inside the small, windowless booth of the execution chamber, I was prepping the equipment and dosing the chemicals. We were hours away from the appointed time. The work normally takes fifteen minutes on a bad day, but I could barely concentrate. I was more nervous than the first time I’d performed an execution. My eyes were clouded with tears and my hands trembled as I filled the syringes and transferred the chemicals into canisters so they could disperse into the veins of the convicted. They...