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"Lemme check" Cat phoned someone and iven, he hung up and explained it would take about an hour
"We can wait," Carl Lee said
Cat removed the patch from his left eye and wiped the eotta better idea" He snapped at the bodyguards "Get my car We&039;ll drive over and pick it up"
They followed Cat through a secret door and down a hall "I live here, you know" He pointed "Through that door is my pad Usually keep some naked women around"
"I&039;d like to see it," Lester volunteered
"That&039;s okay," said Carl Lee
Farther down the hall Cat pointed to a thick, black, shiny iron door at the end of a short hallway He stopped as if to aduard in there around the clock"
"How lared at him and continued down the hall Carl Lee frowned at his brother and shook his head Where the hall ended they climbed a narrow stairway to the fourth floor It was darker, and somewhere in the darkness Cat found a button on a wall They waited silently for a few " u,ht elevator with red carpet and a NO SMOKING sign Cat pushed another button
"You gotta walk up to catch the elevator goin&039; down," he said with amusement "Security reasons" They nodded approval and admiration
It opened in the baseuards waited by the open door of a clean white stretch liuests in for a ride They moved slowly past a row of Fleetwoods, several more limos, a Rolls, and an assortment of European luxury cars "They&039;re all mine," he said proudly
The driver honked and a heavy door rolled up to reveal a one-way side street "Drive slow," Cat yelled to the chauffeur and the bodyguard way up front "I wanna show you fellas around some"
Carl Lee had received the tour a few years earlier during his last visit to Cat There were rows of beaten and paintless shacks that the great man referred to as rental properties There were ancient red-bricked warehouses with blackened or boarded s and no clue as to as stored inside There was a church, a prosperous church, and a few blocks away, another one He owned the preachers too, he said There were dozens of corner taverns with open doors and groups of young blacks sitting on benches outside drinking quart bottles of Stag beer He pointed proudly to a burned-out building near Beale and told with great zeal the story of a coain a foothold in the topless business He had no competitors, he said And then there were the clubs, places with naels and Cat&039;s House and Black Paradise, places where a ood music, naked women, and possibly ht of theht Plus what seemed like most of the real estate in south Memphis At the dead end of a nameless street near the river, the driver turned sharply between two of the red-bricked warehouses and drove through a narrow alley until a gate opened to the right Past the gate a door opened next to a loading dock and the liuard got out
"Keep your seats," Cat said
The trunk opened, then shut In less than athe streets of Memphis
"How &039;bout lunch?" Cat asked Before they answered he yelled at the driver, "Black Paradise Call and tell them I&039;m comin&039; for lunch
"Got the best priht here in one of my clubs Course you won&039;t read about it in the Sunday paper I&039;ve been shunned by the critics Can you iine?"
"Sounds like discrimination," Lester said
"Yeah, I&039;m sure it is But I don&039;t use that until I&039;m indicted"
"We ain&039;t read about you lately, Cat," Carl Lee said
"It&039;s been three years since my last trial Tax evasion Feds spent three weeks puttin&039; on proof, and the jury stayed out twenty-seven minutes and returned with the two uilty&039; "
"I&039;ve heard them myself," Lester said
A door bodyguards, different bodyguards, escorted the great one and his guests to a private booth away from the dance floor Drinks and food were served by a squad of waiters Lester switched to Scotch and was drunk when the prime rib arrived Carl Lee drank iced tea and swapped war stories with Cat
When the food was gone, a bodyguard approached and whispered to Cat He grinned and looked at Carl Lee "Y&039;all in the red Eldorado with Illinois plates?"
"Yeah But we left it at the other place"
"It&039;s parked outsidein the trunk"
"What?" said Lester "How-"
Cat roared and slapped him on the back "Don&039;t ask, my man, don&039;t ask It&039;s all taken care of, "
As usual, Jake worked Saturday , after breakfast at the Coffee Shop He enjoyed the tranquility of his office on Saturday-no phones, no Ethel He locked the office, iguuicu anized files, read recent decisions froy if a trial was approaching His best thoughts and ideas cas
At eleven he phoned the jail "Sheriff in?" he asked the dispatcher
"Lemme check," came the reply
Moments passed before the sheriff answered "Sheriff Walls," he announced
"Ozzie, Jake Brigance How are you?"
"Fine, Jake You?"
"Fine Will you be there for a while?"
"Coupla hours What&039;s up?"
"Not much Just need to talk for a minute I&039;ll be there in thirty minutes"
"I&039;ll be waitin&039;"
Jake and the sheriff had a hed hi cross-exa personal Jake cans, so Ozzie didn&039;ttrial He liked to watch Jake at trial And he liked to kid hiame In 1969, when Jake was a sophomore quarterback at Karaway, Ozzie was a senior all-conference, all-state tackle at Clanton The two rivals, both undefeated, a quarters Ozzie terrorized the Karaway offense, which was utsy but battered sopho 44-0, Ozzie broke Jake&039;s leg on a blitz
For years now he had threatened to break the other one He always accused Jake of li
"What&039;s on your mind, buddy?" Ozzie asked as they sat in his small office
"Carl Lee I&039;m a little worried about him"
"What way?"
"Look, Ozzie, whatever we say here is said in confidence I don&039;t want anyone to know about this conversation"
"You sound serious, Jake"
"I a He&039;s out of hisabout killing the boys, and he sounded serious I just think you ought to know"
"They&039;re safe, Jake He couldn&039;t get to them if he wanted to We&039;ve had some phone calls, anonymous of course, with all kinds of threats Black folks are bad upset But the boys&039;re safe They&039;re in a cell by themselves, and we&039;re real careful"
"That&039;s good I haven&039;t been hired by Carl Lee, but I&039;ve represented all the Haileys at one time or another and I&039;m sure he considers me to be his lawyer, for whatever reason I feel a responsibility to let you know"
"I&039;m not worried, Jake"
"Good Let hter, and you&039;ve got a daughter, right?"
"Got two of the? Iyou&039;d be thinkin&039;"
"And what&039;s that?"
Ozzie reared back in his chair and crossed his arht for a moment "He&039;s wonderin&039; if she&039;s okay, physically, I onna live, and if she does, how bad is she hurt Can she ever have kids? Then he&039;s wonderin&039; if she&039;s okay mentally and emotionally, and hoill this affect her for the rest of her life Thirdly, he wants to kill the bastards"
"Would you?"
"It&039;s easy to say I would, but a man don&039;t knohat he&039;d do I think my kids need me at home a whole lot more than Parchman needs me What would you be thinkin&039;, Jake?"
"About the sao crazy" He paused and stared at the desk "But I hty hard to lie down at night knowing he was still alive"
"What would a jury do?"
"Depends on who&039;s on the jury You pick the right jury and you walk If the DA picks the right jury you get the gas It depends strictly on the jury, and in this county you canand killing I knohite folks are"
"Everbody is"
"My point is that there&039;d be a lot of sympathy for a father who took matters into his own hands People don&039;t trust our judicial syste a jury Just convince one or two that the bastard needed to die"
"Like Monroe Bowie"
"Exactly Just like Monroe Bowie He was a sorry nigger who needed killing and Lester took a walk By the way, Ozzie, why do you suppose Lester drove froo?"
"He&039;s pretty close to his brother We&039;re watchin&039; hied and Ozzie finally asked about the leg They shook hands and Jake left He drove straight ho with her list She didn&039;tas he was home by noon and pretty much followed orders thereafter
On Sunday afternoon a crowd gathered at the hospital and followed the little Hailey girl&039;s wheelchair as it was pushed by her father down the hall, through the doors, and into the parking lot, where he gently raised her and sat her in the front seat As she sat between her parents, with her three brothers in the back seat, he drove away, followed by a procession of friends and relatives and strangers The caravan moved slowly, deliberately out of town and into the country
She sat up in the front seat like a big girl Her father was silent, her id
Another throng waited at the house and rushed to the porch as the carsfront yard The crowd hushed as he carried her up the steps, through the door, and laid her on the couch She was glad to be home, but tired of the spectators Her hbors, and everybody walked to her and touched her and s Her daddy went outside and talked to Uncle Lester and thethe pile of food
Rocky Childers had been the prosecutor for Ford County for more years than he cared to remember The job paid fifteen thousand a year and required most of his time It also destroyed any practice he hoped to build At forty-two he ashed up as a lawyer, stuck in a dead-end part-time, full-time job, elected perood job so they could drive new Buicks and afford the country club dues and in general put on the necessary airs of educated white people in Ford County At a younger age he had political ambitions, but the voters dissuaded hi drunks, shoplifters, and juvenile delinquents, and being abused by Judge Bullard, whom he despised Excitement crept up occasionally when people like Cobb and Willard screwed up, and Rocky, by statutory authority, handled the prelirand jury and then to Circuit Court, and then to the real prosecutor, the big prosecutor, the district attorney, Mr Rufus Buckley, from Polk County It was Buckley who had disposed of Rocky&039;s political career
Nor affair for Childers, but this was a bit different Since Wednesday he had received dozens of phone calls fro to be, ere very concerned about Cobb and Willard being released from jail They wanted the boys locked up, just like the black ones who got in trouble and could not make bail before trial Childers promised his best, but explained the bonds would be set by County Judge Percy Bullard, whose nuton Street They promised to be in court Monday to watch him and Bullard
At twelve-thirty Monday, Childers was sue&039;s chae was so nervous he could not sit
"How much bond do you want?" he snapped at Childers
"I dunno, Judge I haven&039;t thought much about it"
"Don&039;t you think it&039;s about tiht about it?" He paced rapidly back and forth behind his desk, then to the , then back to his desk Ozzie was amused and silent
"Not really," Childers answered softly "It&039;s your decision You&039;re the judge"
"Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! How much will you ask for?"
"I always ask for hly enjoying the judge&039;s neurosis
"How ht much about it"
Dullard&039;s neck turned dark red and he glared at Ozzie "Whatta you think, Sheriff?"
"Well," Ozzie drawled, "I would suggest pretty stiff bonds These boys need to be in jail for their own safety Black folk are restless out there They h"
"How ot?"
"Willard&039;s broke Can&039;t tell about Cobb Drug ht could find twenty, thirty thousand I hear he&039;s hired so-shot Memphis lawyer Supposed to be here today He must have some s Who&039;d he hire?"
"Bernard Peter K Bernard," answered Childers "He called "
"Never heard of hih he memorized some kind of judicial rap sheet on all lawyers
Bullard studied the trees outside theas the sheriff and prosecutor exchanged winks The bonds would be exorbitant, as always The bail bondseous bonds They watched with delight as desperate faed to collect the ten percent preh, and he didn&039;t care It was politically safe to set theh and keep the criminals in jail The blacks would appreciate it and that was important even if the county was seventy-four percent white He owed the blacks a few favors
"Let&039;s go a hundred thousand on Willard and two hundred on Cobb That oughtta satisfy them"
"Satisfy who?" asked Ozzie
"Er, uh, the people, the people out there Sound okay to you?"
"Fine with ?" he asked with a grin
"We&039;ll give the, then I&039;ll set the bonds at a hundred and two hundred"
"And I suppose you want me to ask for three hundred apiece so you can look fair?" asked Childers
"I don&039;t care what you ask for!" yelled the judge
"Sounds fair to me," said Ozzie as he headed for the door "Will you call me to testify?" he asked Childers
"Nae don&039;t need you I don&039;t guess the State will call anybody since we&039;re having such a fair hearing"
They left the chambers and Bullard stewed He locked the door behind theulped it furiously Mr Pate waited outside the door Five ed into the packed courtroom
"All rise for the court!" Mr Pate shouted
"Be seated!" screae before anyone could stand "Where are the defendants? Where?"
Cobb and Willard were escorted fro room and seated at the defense table Cobb&039;s neyer smiled at his client as the handcuffs were renored him
The same crowd of blacks had returned froht some friends They closely followed the movements of the thite boys Lester saw them for the first time Carl Lee was not in the courtroom
From the bench Bullard counted deputies-nine in all That had to be a record Then he counted blacks-hundreds of the at the two rapists, who sat at the saood He took a sip of what appeared to be ice water frorin It burned slowly doard and his cheeks flushed What he ought to do was order the deputies out of the courtrooers That would be fun to watch, and justice would be served He could just see the fat nigger wo up and dohile their men carved on the boys with switchblades and machetes Then, when they were finished, they would collect themselves and all march quietly from the courtroom He smiled to himself
He ot a half pint of ice water in my desk drawer," he whispered "Pour me some in a Styrofoam cup"
Mr Pate nodded and disappeared
"This is a bail hearing," he declared loudly, "and I don&039;t intend for it to last long Are the defendants ready?"
"Yes, sir," said Tyndale
"Yes, Your Honor," said Mr Bernard
"The State ready?"
"Yes, sir," answered Childers without standing
"Good Call your first witness"
Childers addressed the judge "Your Honor, the State will call no witnesses His Honor is well aware of the charges against these two defendants, since His Honor held the preli the victirand jury will be asked next Monday to indict the two defendants for rape, kidnapping, and aggravated assault Because of the violent nature of these crie of the victim, and because Mr Cobb is a convicted felon, the State would ask for the maximum bonds, and not a penny less"
Bullard almost choked on his ice water Whatas a est, Mr Childers?"
"Half a million apiece!" Childers announced proudly and sat down
Half a ht Bullard He sipped furiously and glared at the prosecutor Half a million! Double-crossed in open court He sent Mr Pate after more ice water
"The defense may proceed"
Cobb&039;s neyer stood purposefully He cleared his throat and relasses "May it please the court, Your Honor, my name is Peter K Bernard 1 am irom jviempms, aim i uavt been retained by Mr Cobb to represent him-"