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"We towed it in and examined it this mornin&039; Lot of blood stains"
"What else?"
"We found a small T-shirt covered with blood"
"Whose T-shirt?"
"It belonged to Tonya Hailey, the little girl as raped Her daddy, Carl Lee Hailey, identified it this ·nin&039;"
Carl Lee heard his naht at him Jake turned and saw Carl Lee for the first time
"Describe the truck"
"New yellow Ford half-ton pickup Big chro in the rear "
"Owned by who?"
Ozzie pointed at the defendants "Billy Ray Cobb"
"Does it irl?"
"Yes"
Childers paused and reviewed his notes "Now, Sheriff, what other evidence do you have against these defendants?"
"We talked to Pete Willard this ned a confession"
"You did what!" Cobb blurted Willard cowered and looked for help
"Order! Order!" shouted Bullard as he banged his gavel Tyndale separated his clients
"Did you advise Mr Willard of his rights?"
"Yes"
"Did he understand then a statement to that effect?"
"Yes"
"Who was present when Mr Willard made his stateator, Rady, and Lieutenant Griffin with the Highway Patrol"
"Do you have the confession?"
"Yes"
"Please read it"
The courtroom was still and silent as Ozzie read the short statelared at Willard, who picked dirt off his boots
"Thank you, Sheriff," Childers said when Ozzie finished "Did Mr Willard sign the confession?"
"Yes, in front of three witnesses"
"The State has nothing further, Your Honor"
Bullard shouted, "Youat this tiically, for the delisten, take notes, let the court reporter record the testirand jury would see the case anyway, so why bother? And never allow the defendants to testify Their testimony would serve no purpose and haunt them at trial Jake knew they would not testify because he knew Tyndale
"Call your next witness," de further, Your Honor"
"Good Sit down Mr Tyndale, do you have any witnesses?"
"No, Your Honor"
"Good The court finds there is sufficient evidence that numerous crimes have been committed by these defendants, and the court orders Mr Cobb and Mr Willard to be held to await action by the Ford County grand jury, which is scheduled to meet on Monday, May 27 Any questions?"
Tyndale rose slowly "Yes, Your Honor, ould request the court to set a reasonable bond for these de-"
"Forget it," snapped Bullard "Bail will be denied as of now It&039;s irl is in critical condition If she dies, there will of course be other charges"
"Well, Your Honor, in that case, I would like to request a bail hearing a few days from now, in the hopes that her condition improves"
Bullard studied Tyndale carefully Good idea, he thought "Granted A bail hearing is set for next Monday, May 20, in this courtroom Until then the defendants will remain in the custody of the Ford County sheriff Court&039;s adjourned"
Bullard rapped the gavel and disappeared The deputies swarmed around the defendants, handcuffed them, and they too disappeared fro room, down the back stairs, past the reporters, and into the squad car
The hearing was typical for Bullard-less than twenty minutes Justice could be very swift in his courtroom
Jake talked to the other lawyers and watched the crowd file silently through the enormous wooden doors at the rear of the courtroom Carl Lee was in no hurry to leave, and motioned for Jake to follow him They met in the rotunda
Carl Lee wanted to talk, and he excused himself from the crowd and promised tostaircase to the first floor
"I&039;m truly sorry, Carl Lee," Jake said
"Yeah, me too"
"How is she?"
"She&039;ll make it"
"How&039;s Gwen?"
"Okay, I guess"
"How about you?"
They walked slowly down the hall toward the rear of the courthouse "It ain&039;t sunk in yet Iwas fine Now look at us My little girl&039;s layin&039; up in the hospital with tubes all over her body My wife&039;s, crazy and ettin&039; my hands on those bastards"
"I wish I could do so, Carl Lee"
"All you can do is pray for her, pray for us"
"I know it hurts"
"You gotta little girl, don&039;t you, Jake?"
"Yeah"
Carl Lee said nothing as they walked in silence Jake changed the subject "Where&039;s Lester?"
"Chicago"
"What&039;s he doing?"
"Workin&039; for a steel company Good job Got ? Lester, irl"
"White girl! What&039;s he ith a white girl?"
"Aw, you know Lester Always an uppity nigger He&039;s on his way hoht"
"What for?"
They stopped at the rear door Jake asked again: "What&039;s Lester co in for?"
"Fa?"
"Nope He just wants to see his niece"
"Y&039;all don&039;t get excited"
"That&039;s easy for you to say, Jake"
"I know"
"What would you plan, Jake?"
What do you irl Suppose she&039;s layin up in the hospital, beat and raped What would you do?"
Jake looked through theof the door and could not answer Carl Lee waited
"Don&039;t do anything stupid, Carl Lee"
"Answer my question What would you do?"
"I don&039;t know I don&039;t knohat I&039;d do"
"Leirl, and if it o niggers, and you could get your hands on them, ould you do?"
"Kill thehed "Sure you would, Jake, sure you would Then you&039;d hire so-shot lawyer to say you&039;s crazy, just like you did in Lester&039;s trial"
"We didn&039;t say Lester was crazy We just said Bowie needed killing"
"You got him off, didn&039;t you?"
"Sure"
Carl Lee walked to the stairs and looked up "This how they get to the courtroo at Jake
"Who?"
"Those boys"
"Yeah Most of the time they take them up those stairs It&039;s quicker and safer They can park right outside the door here, and run them up the stairs"
Carl Lee walked to the rear door and looked through theat the veranda "How many murder trials you had, Jake?"
"Three Lester&039;s and two more"
"How many were black?"
"All three"
"How many you win?"
"All three"
"You pretty good on nigger shootin&039;s, ain&039;t you?"
"I guess"
"You ready for another one?"
"Don&039;t do it, Carl Lee It&039;s not worth it What if you&039;re convicted and get the gas chamber? What about the kids? Who&039;ll raise them? Those punks aren&039;t worth it"
"You just told me you&039;d do it"
Jake walked to the door next to Carl Lee "It&039;s different with et off"
"How?"
"I&039;m white, and this is a white county With a little luck I could get an all-white jury, which will naturally be sympathetic This is not New York or California A man&039;s supposed to protect his family A jury would eat it up"
"And me?"
&039; "Like I said, this ain&039;t New York or California Some whites would ad It would be much harder to win an acquittal"
"But you could do it, couldn&039;t you, Jake?"
"Don&039;t do it, Carl Lee"
"I have no choice, Jake I&039;ll never sleep till those bastards are dead I owe it to irl, I owe it to myself, and I owe it to my people It&039;ll be done"
They opened the doors, walked under the veranda and down the driveway to Washington Street, across from Jake&039;s office They shook hands Jake promised to stop by the hospital tomorrow to see Gwen and the fa, Jake Will you meet me at the jail when they arrest ht Carl Lee miled and walked down the sidewalk to his truck
Lester Hailey h she still professed love for hi to fade She was terrified of Mississippi, and flatly refused to travel south with Lester even though he assured her she would be safe She had never met his family Not that his people were anxious to meet her-they were not It was not uncoirls, but no Hailey had ever o; most were kin, and all married black The family was not impressed with Lester&039;s blonde wife He drove to Clanton in his new Cadillac, by hiht when he arrived at the hospital and found so room He embraced Carl Lee They had not seen each other since the Christo trooped home to Mississippi and Alabama
They stepped-, into the hall, away from the relatives "How is she?" Lester asked
"Better Much better Might go home this weekend"
Lester was relieved When he left Chicago eleven hours earlier she had been near death, according to the cousin who had called and scared hin and stared at his big brother "You okay?"
Carl Lee nodded and glanced down the hall