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"Yes I knoho you are Seen you in the news What brings you to Ford County?"

"Well, I gotta buddy in bad trouble Carl Lee Hailey, and I&039;m here to help"

"Okay Who&039;s he?" Ozzie asked, looking up at the bodyguard Ozzie was six feet four, and at least five inches shorter than the bodyguard He weighed at least three hundred pounds, most of it in his arms

"This here is Tiny Tom," Cat explained "We just call him Tiny for short"

"I see"

"He&039;s sort of like a bodyguard"

"He&039;s not carryin&039; a gun, is he?"

"Naw, Sheriff, he don&039;t need a gun"

rair enougn wny aon t you and liny step into my office?"

In the office, Tiny closed the door and stood by it while his boss took a seat across from the sheriff

"He can sit if he wants to," Ozzie explained to Cat

"Naw, Sheriff, he always stands by the door That&039;s the way he&039;s been trained"

"Sorta like a police dog?"

"Right"

"Fine What&039;d you wanna talk about?"

Cat crossed his legs and laid a diamond-clustered hand on his knee "Well, Sheriff, ether in &039;Naot hit in the head, and, ba Our squad disappeared, and the gooks was usin&039; us for target practice Carl Lee limped to where Fs layin&039;, put unfire to a ditch next to a trail I hung on his back while he crawled two ot a medal for it You know that?"

"No"

"It&039;s true We laid next to each other in a hospital in Saigon for two ot our black asses outta Vietnao back"

Ozzie was listening intently

"And now that my man is in trouble, I&039;d like to help"

"Did he get the M-16 frorunted and Cat smiled "Of course not"

"Would you like to see him?"

"Why sure It&039;s that easy?"

"Yep If you can et him"

Tiny stepped aside, and two minutes later Ozzie was back with the prisoner Cat yelled at hied him, and they patted each other like boxers Carl Lee looked aardly at Ozzie, who took the hint and left Tiny again closed the door and stood guard Carl Lee ether so they could face each other closely and talk

Cat spoke first "I&039; man, for what you did Real proud Why didn&039;t you tell un?"

"Just didn&039;t"

"Hoas it?"

"Just like &039;Nam, except they couldn&039;t shoot back"

"That&039;s the best way"

"Yeah, I guess I just wish none of this had to happen"

"You ain&039;t sorry, are you?"

Carl Lee rocked in his chair and studied the ceiling "I&039;d do it over, so I got no regrets about that I just wish they hadn&039;t irl I wish she was the saht It&039;s gotta be tough on you here"

"I ain&039;t worried &039;bout ht, right How&039;s the wife?"

"She&039;s okay She&039;ll make it"

"I saw in the paper where the trial&039;s in July You been in the paper more than et off I ain&039;t so sure &039;bout ood lawyer, don&039;t you?"

"Yeah He&039;s good"

Cat stood and walked around the office, ad Oz-zie&039;s trophies and certificates "That&039;s the main reason I came to see you, my man"

"What&039;s that?" Carl Lee asked, unsure of what his friend had in mind, but certain his visit had a purpose

"Carl Lee, you kno many times I been on trial?"

"Seems like all the time"

"Five! Five times they put me on trial The federal boys The state boys The city boys Dope, gauns, racketeerin&039;, whores You name it, and they&039;ve tried me for it And you know souilty of it all Evertiuilty as hell You kno many times I been convicted?"

"No"

"None! Not once have they got uilties"

Carl Lee smiled with admiration

"You knohy they can&039;t convict me?"

Carl Lee had an idea, but he shook his head anyway

"Because, Carl Lee, I got the smartest, meanest,

illinium lawyer in inese pans, ne plays dirty, and the cops hate him But I&039;m sittin&039; here instead of some prison He&039;ll do whatever it takes to win a case"

"Who is he?" Carl Lee asked eagerly

"You&039;ve seen him on television walkin&039; in and outta court He&039;s in the papers all the tiets in trouble, he&039;s there He gets the drug dealers, the politicians, s"

"What&039;s his name?"

"He handles nothin&039; but criminal cases, mainly dope, bribery, extortion, stuff like that But you knohat his favorite is?"

"What?"

"Murder He lovesones in Meers throwin&039; a dude off the bridge into the Mississippi Caught theo?"

"Yeah, I re trial for teeks, and they got off He was the uilty"

"I think I remember seein&039; him on TV"

"Sure you did He&039;s a bad dude, Carl Lee I&039;m tellin&039; you the man never loses"

"What&039;s his name?"

Cat landed in his chair and stared solemnly into Carl Lee&039;s face "Bo Marsharfsky," he said

Carl Lee gazed upward as if he reers with eight carats on Carl Lee&039;s knee "So he wants to help you, ot one lawyer I can&039;t pay How I&039;otta pay, Carl Lee That&039;s where I come in He&039;s on uy &039;bout a hundred thousand last year just to keep me outta trouble You don&039;t pay"

Suddenly, Carl Lee had a keen interest in Bo Marsharfsky "How does he know &039;bout me?"

"Because he reads the paper and watches the tube You

knoyers are I was in his office yesterday and he was studyin&039; the paper with your picture on the front I told him &039;bout me and you He went crazy Said he had to have your case I said I would help"

"And that&039;s why you&039;re here?"

"Right, right He said he knew just the folks to get you off"

"Like who?"

"Doctors, psychiatrists, folks like that He knows them all"

"They cost money"

"I&039;ll pay for it, Carl Lee! Listen to me! I&039;ll pay for it all You&039;ll have the best lawyer and doctors money can buy, and your old pal Cat will pay the tab Don&039;t worry &039;bout ood lawyer"

"How old is he?"

"I guess &039;bout thirty"

Cat rolled his eyes in amazement "He&039;s a child, Carl Lee He ain&039;t been outta school long enough Marsharfsky&039;s fifty, and he&039;s handled more murder cases than your boy&039;ll ever see This is your life, Carl Lee Don&039;t trust it to no rookie"

Suddenly, Jake ful young But then there was Lester&039;s trial when Jake had been even younger

"Look, Carl Lee, I been in many trials, and that crap is coone If this kid ht be the difference between life and death You can&039;t afford to have no young kid in there hopin&039; he don&039;t ers for special effect, "and you&039;re in the gas chamber Marsharfsky don&039;t make mistakes"

Carl Lee was on the ropes "Would he ithcompromise

"No! No way He don&039;t ith nobody He don&039;t need no help Your boy&039;d be in the way"

Carl Lee placed his elbows on his knees and stared at his feet A thousand bucks for a doctor would be impossible He did not understand the need for one since he had not felt insane at the time, but evidently one would be necessary Everyone seemed to think so A thousand bucks for a cheap doctor Cat was offering the best money could buy

i naic 10 uo mis 10 my lawyer, ne muttered quietly

"Don&039;t be stupid, man," Cat scolded "You better be lookin&039; out for Carl Lee and to hell with this child This ain&039;t no time to worry &039;bout hurtin&039; feelin&039;s He&039;s a lawyer, forget hiet over it"

"But I already paid hiers at Tiny

"Nine hundred bucks"

Tiny produced a wad of cash, and Cat peeled off nine one-hundred-dollar bills and stuffed them in Carl Lee&039;s shirt pocket "Here&039;s somethin&039; for the kids," he said as he unraveled a one-thousand-dollar bill and stuffed it with the rest

Carl Lee&039;s pulse ju his heart He felt it ainst his chest He wanted to look at the big bill and hold it firht, food for his kids

"We gotta deal?" Cat asked with a smile

"You want me to fire my lawyer and hire yours?" he asked carefully

"Right, right"

"And you gonna pay for everthing?"

"Right, right"

"What about this money?"

"It&039;s yours Lehty nice of you, Cat"

"I&039;m a very nice man I&039;o, and the other saves my ass ever two years"

"Why does he want my case so bad?"

"Publicity You knoyers are Look at how much press this kid&039;s already otta deal?"

"Yeah It&039;s a deal"

Cat struck him on the shoulder with an affectionate blow, and walked to the phone on Ozzie&039;s desk He punched the numbers "Collect to 901-566-9800 From Cat Bruster Person to person to Bo Marsharfsky"

On the twentieth floor in a don office building, Bo Marsharfsky hung up the phone and asked his secretary if the press release was prepared She handed it to him, and he read it carefully

"This looks fine," he said "Get it to both newspapers iraph, the new one See Frank Fields at the Post Tell hi He owes me a favor"

"Yes, sir What about the TV stations?" she asked

"Deliver them a copy I can&039;t talk now, but I&039;ll hold a news conference in Clanton next week"

Lucien called at six-thirty SaturdayCarla was buried deep under the blankets and did not respond to the phone Jake rolled toward the wall and grappled with the laed weakly

"What&039;re you doing?" Lucien asked

"I was sleeping until the phone rang"

"You seen the paper?"

"What tiet the paper and call me after you read it"

The phone was dead Jake stared at the receiver, then placed it on the table He sat on the edge of the bed, rubbed the fog from his eyes, and tried to remember the last time Lucien called his house It must be i, and walked quickly in his gye of the street where the threepapers had fallen within ten inches of each other He rolled the rubber bands off onto the kitchen table and spread the papers next to his coffee Nothing in the Jackson paper Nothing from Tupelo The Memphis Post carried a headline of death in the Middle East, and, then, he saw it On the bottoe he saw hiance-Out" Next was a picture of Carl Lee, and then a splendid picture of a face he had seen before Under it, the words: "Bo Marsharfsky-In" The headline announced that the noted Meilante killer"

aureiy n was a mistake He had seen Carl Lee only yesterday He read the story slowly There were few details, just a history of Mar-sharfsky&039;s greatest verdicts He promised a news conference in Clanton He said the case would present new challenges, etc He had faith in the jurors of Ford County

Jake slipped silently into starched khakis and a button-down His as still lost somewhere deep in the bed He would tell her later He took the paper and drove to the office The Coffee Shop would not be safe At Ethel&039;s desk he read the story again and stared at his picture on the front page

Lucien had a feords of comfort He knew Marsharf-sky, or "The Shark," as he was known He was a sleazy crook with polish and finesse Lucien admired him