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"We did," answered Agee
"You ht I ave the money to me, and I deposited it in a special bank account"
"Yeah, and you deposited every nickel you received?"
"Of course I did"
"Of course Let me ask you this How much of the ee looked a bit pale, or as pale as possible, and quickly searched the faces of the other reverends, who, at theon the carpet They offered no help Each knew Agee had been taking his cut, and each knew the faee had profited more than the family They knew it, and Carl Lee knew it
"How much, Reverend?" repeated Carl Lee
"Well, we thought the money-"
"How onna be spent on lawyer fees and stuff like that"
"That ain&039;t what you told your church, is it? You said it was for the support of the faht starve to death if the folks didn&039;t donate all they could Didn&039;t you, Reverend?"
"The ht noe think it could be better spent on your defense"
"And what if I don&039;t want your lawyers? What happens to the twenty thousand?"
Jake chuckled "Good question What happens to the money if Mr Hailey doesn&039;t hire you, Mr Reinfeld?"
"It&039;s not ee?" asked Jake
The reverend had had enough He grew defiant and belligerent He pointed at Carl Lee "Listen here, Carl Lee We busted our butts to raise this money Six thousand bucks
from the poor people of this county, people who didn&039;t have it to give We worked hard for this iven by poor people, your people, people on food stamps and welfare and Medicaid, people who couldn&039;t afford to donate a diave for one reason, and only one reason: they believe in you and what you did, and they want you to walk outta that courtroom a free man Don&039;t say you don&039;t want the money"
"Don&039;t preach to me," Carl Lee replied softly "You say the poor folks of this county gave six thousand?"
"Right?"
"Where&039;d the rest of the money come from?"
"NAACP Five thousand from Atlanta, five from Memphis, and five from national And it&039;s strictly for your defense fees"
"If I use Mr Reinfeld here?"
"Right"
"And if I don&039;t use hiht"
"What about the other six thousand?"
"Good question We ain&039;t discussed that yet We thought you&039;d appreciate us for raisin&039; money and tryin&039; to help We&039;re offerin&039; the best lawyers and obviously you don&039;t care"
The room was silent for an eternity as the preachers, the lawyers, and the sheriff waited for soe from the defendant Carl Lee chewed on his lower lip and stared at the floor Jake lit another cigar He had been fired before, and he could handle it again
"You gotta know right now?" Carl Lee asked finally
"No," said Agee
"Yes," said Reinfeld "The trial is less than three weeks away, and we&039;re two months behind already My time is too valuable to wait on you, Mr Hailey Either you hire ot a plane to catch"
"Well, I&039;ll tell you what you do, Mr Reinfeld You go and catch your plane and don&039;t ever worry &039;bout comin&039; back to Clanton on my behalf I&039;ll take my chances with my friend Jake"
The Ford County Klavern was founded at ht, Thursday, July 11, in a small pasture next to a dirt road deep in a forest somewhere in the northern part of the county The six inductees stood nervously before the huge burning cross and repeated strange words offered by a wizard A dragon and two dozen white-robed Klansun stood quietly down the road, occasionally watching the cereuests There were none
Precisely at ht the six fell to their knees and closed their eyes as the white hoods were ceremoniously placed onto their heads They were Klansmen now, these six Freddie Cobb, brother of the deceased, Jerry Maples, Clifton Cobb, Ed Wilburn, Morris Lancaster, and Terrell Grist The grand dragon hovered above each one and chanted the sacred vows of klanhood The flames from the cross scorched the faces of the new members as they knelt and quietly suffocated under the heavy robes and hoods Sweat dripped froon to shut up with his nonsense and finish the cere stopped, the new members rose and quickly retreated frorabbed their shoulders firmly and pounded primal incantations onto their sweaty collarbones The heavy hoods were removed, and the Klansmen, both new members and old, walked proudly from the pasture and into the rustic cabin across the dirt road The sauard sat on the front steps as the whiskey was poured around the table and plans were made for the trial of Carl Lee Hailey
Deputy Pirtle pulled the graveyard shift, ten to six, and had stopped for coffee and pie at Gurdy&039;s all-night diner on the highway north of tohen his radio blared out the news
that he anted at the jail It was three
Pirtle left his pie and drove a mile south to the jail "What&039;s up?" he asked the dispatcher
"We got a call a few o, anonymous, from someone lookin&039; for the sheriff I explained that he was not on duty, so they asked for whoever was on duty That&039;s you They said it was very important, and they&039;d call back in fifteen minutes"
Pirtle poured so chair The phone rang "It&039;s for you," yelled the dispatcher
"Hello," answered Pirtle
"Who&039;s this?" asked the voice
"Deputy Joe Pirtle Who&039;s this?"
"Where&039;s the sheriff?"
"Asleep, I reckon"
"Okay listen, and listen real good because this is iain You know that Hailey nigger?"
"Yeah"
"You know his lawyer, Brigance?"
"Yeah"
"Then listen Soonna blow up his house"
"Who?"
"Brigance"
"No, I onna blow up his house?"
"Don&039;t worry about that, Deputy, just listen to me This ain&039;t no joke, and if you think it&039;s a joke, just sit there and wait for his house to go up It may happen any minute"
The voice became silent but did not disappear Pirtle listened "You still there?"
"Good night, Deputy" The receiver clicked
Pirtle jumped to his feet and ran to the dispatcher "Did you listen?"
"Of course I did"
"Call Ozzie and tell hiance house"
Pirtle hid his patrol car in a driveway on Monroe Street and walked across the front lawns to Jake&039;s house He saw noth-
ing It was 12:55 AM He walked arounounusual Every house on the street was dark and asleep He unscrewed the light bulb on the front porch and took a seat in a wicker chair He waited The odd-looking foreign car was parked next to the Oldsmo-bile under the veranda He would wait and ask Ozzie about notifying Jake
Headlights appeared at the end of the street Pirtle slumped lower in the chair, certain he could not be seen A red pickup ance house but did not stop He sat up and watched it disappear down the street
Mo from the direction of the square He unbuttoned his holster and reer than the second, and seerace It was Ozzie The other was Nesbit Pirtle met the two in the driveway and they retreated into the darkness of the front porch They whispered and watched the street
"What exactly did he say?" asked Ozzie
"Said soonna blow up Jake&039;s house between now and three AM Said it was no joke"
"Is that all?"
"Yep He wasn&039;t real friendly"
"How long you been here?"
"Twenty minutes"
Ozzie turned to Nesbit "Give o hide in the backyard Stay quiet and keep your eyes open"
Nesbit scurried to the rear of the house and found a s on all fours, he disappeared into the shrubs From his nest he could see the entire rear of the house
"You gonna tell Jake?" asked Pirtle
"Not yet We ht in a minute If we knock on the door, they&039;ll be turnin&039; on lights and we don&039;t need that right now"
"Yeah, but what if Jake hears us and coht think we&039;re just a couple of niggers tryin&039; to break in"
Ozzie watched the street and said nothing
"Look, Ozzie, put yourself in his place The cops have
your house surrounded at one o&039;clock in the mornin&039; waitin&039; for somebody to throw a bomb Noould you wanna stay in bed asleep or would you wanna know about it?"
Ozzie studied the houses in the distance
"Listen, Sheriff, we better wake them up What if we don&039;t stop whoever&039;s plannin&039; this, and soht?"
Ozzie stood and punched the doorbell "Unscrew that light bulb," he ordered, pointing at the porch ceiling
"I already did"
Ozzie punched the doorbell again The wooden door swung open, and Jake walked to the stor a wrinkled nightshirt that fell just below his knees, and he held a loaded 38 in his right hand He slowly opened the storm door
"What is it, Ozzie?" he asked
"Can I co on?"
"Stay here on the porch," Ozzie told Pirtle "I&039;ll be just a minute"
Ozzie closed the front door behind theht in the foyer They sat in the dark living roo the porch and the front yard
"Start talking," Jake said
" &039;Bout a half hour ago we took an anonymous call from someone who said that someone planned to blow up your house between now and three AM We&039;re takin&039; it serious"
"Thanks"
"I&039;ve got Pirtle on the front porch and Nesbit in the backyard &039;Bout ten o Pirtle saw a pickup drive by real interested like, but that&039;s all we&039;ve seen"
"Have you searched around the house?"
"Yeah, nothin&039; They ain&039;t been here yet But so"
"Why?"
"Just a hunch"
Jake laid the 38 beside hiestion?"
"Sit and wait That&039;s all we can do You got a rifle?"
"I&039;ve got enough guns to invade Cuba"
"Why don&039;t you get it and get dressed Take a position
in one of those cute little s upstairs We&039;ll niae oui-side and wait,"
"Have you got enough ure there&039;ll only be one or two of them"
"Who&039;s them?"
"Don&039;t know Could be the Klan, could be some freelancers Who knows?"
Both ht and stared at the dark street They could see the top of Pirtle&039;s head as he slumped in the wicker chair just outside the
"Jake, you rehts workers killed by the Klan back in &039;64? Found them buried in a levee down around Philadelphia"
"Sure I was a kid, but I remember"
"Those boys woulcPve never been found if someone hadn&039;t told where they was That someone was in the Klan An informant Seems like that always happened to the Klan Somebody on the inside was always squealin&039;"
"You think it&039;s the Klan?"
"Sure looks like it If it was just one or two freelancers, then who else would know about it? The bigger the group, the better the chance of someone tippin&039; us off"
"That makes sense, but for some reason I&039;m not comforted by it"
"Of course, it could be a joke"
"Nobody&039;s laughing"
"You gonna tell your wife?"
"Yeah I&039;d better go do that"
"I would too But don&039;t be turnin&039; on lights You ht scare them off"
"But I would like to scare them off"
"And I&039;d like to catch theain, and next tiet to call us ahead of time"
Carla dressed hurriedly in the dark She was terrified Jake laid Hanna on the couch in the den, where sheand went back to sleep Carla held her head and watched Jake load a rifle
"I&039;ll be upstairs in the guest roohts The cops have the place surrounded, so don&039;t worry"