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"The sheriff and the overnor, and convinced him the National Guard was needed to preserve peace in Ford County They told hih for this trial"
"Where are they from?"
"Booneville and Columbus I counted two hundred and twenty around lunch"
"They&039;ve been here all day?"
"They wokeI&039;ve followed their movements all day They were pinned down a couple of tio they met the enemy when Miss Gatewood and her friends arrived with their candles She stared the cards"
Ellen finished her drink and left for more Jake picked up the stack of notecards for the hundredth tie, occupation, family, race, education-he had read and repeated the infor Round Two arrived with haste, and she took the cards
"Correen Hagan," she said, sipping
He thought a second "Age, about fifty-five Secretary for an insurance agent Divorced, two grown children Education, probably high school, no more Native of Florida, for what that&039;s worth"
"Rating?"
"I think I gave her a six"
"Very good Millard Sills"
"Owns a pecan orchard near Mays About seventy years old His nepheas shot in the head by two blacks during a robbery in Little Rock several years ago Hates blacks He will not be on the jury"
"Rating?"
"Zero, I believe"
"Clay Bailey"
"Age, about thirty Six kids Devout Pentecostal Works at the furniture plant west of town"
"You&039;ve given him a ten"
"Yeah I&039;m sure he&039;s read that part in the Bible about an eye for an eye, etc Plus, out of six kids, I&039;d think at least tould be daughters"
"Do you have all of them memorized?"
He nodded and took a drink "I feel like I&039;ve known thenize?"
"Very few But I&039;ll know more about them than Buck-ley"
"I&039;m impressed"
"What! What did you say! I have i other things"
"I feel so honored I&039;ve ihter of Sheldon Roark, whoever he is A real live summa cum laude Wait&039;111 tell Harry Rex"
"Where is that elephant? I miss him I think he&039;s cute"
"Go call him Ask him to join us for a patio party as atch the troops prepare for the Third Battle of Bull Run"
She headed for the phone on Jake&039;s desk "What about Lucien?"
"No! I&039;ht a fifth of tequila he found soued violently over the proper ingredients of a good arita Jake voted with his clerk
They sat on the balcony, calling na at the soldiers, and singing Jiht, Nesbit loaded Ellen in his patrol car and took her to Lucien&039;s Harry Rex walked home Jake slept on the couch
Monday, July 22 Not long after the last arita Jake bolted from the couch and stared at the clock on his desk He had slept for three hours A swarht violently in his storoin He had no tiover
Nesbit slept like an infant behind the wheel Jake roused him and jumped in the back seat He waved at the sentries, atched curiously from across the street Nesbit drove two blocks to Adaer, and waited in the driveway as instructed He showered and shaved quickly He chose a charcoal worsted wool suit, a white pinpoint button-down, and a very neutral, noncontro-versial, expressionless burgundy silk tie with a few narrow navy stripes for goodperfectly froreat, much ain when Jake released the dog and ju okay in there?" Nesbit asked, wiping the saliva from his chin
"I didn&039;t find any dynahed at this, with the sa They circled the square and Jake got out in front of his office Thirty hts and made the coffee
He took four aspirin and drank a quart of grapefruit juice His eyes burned and his head ached froun On the conference table he spread out his file on Carl Lee Hailey It had been organized and indexed by his law clerk, but he wanted to break it down and put it back together If a document or case can&039;t be found in thirty seconds, it&039;s no good He sanization She had files and sub-files on everything, all ten seconds away at a fingertip In a one-inch, three-ring notebook she had a summary of Dr Bass&039;s qualifi-
cations and the outline of his testimony She had made notes on anticipated objections froht his objections Jake took great pride in his trial preparation, but it was hu to learn from a third-year law student
He repacked the file in his trial briefcase, the heavy black leather one with his initials in gold on the side Nature called, and he sat on the toilet flipping through the index cards He knew them all He was ready
A few minutes after five, Harry Rex knocked on the door It was dark and he looked like a burglar
"Whatta you doing up so early?" Jake asked
"I couldn&039;t sleep I&039;rease spots "Dell sent these over They&039;re fresh and hot Sausage biscuits, bacon and cheese biscuits, chicken and cheese biscuits, you name it She&039;s worried about you"
"Thanks, Harry Rex, but I&039;ry My system is in revolt"
"Nervous?"
"As a whore in church"
"You look pretty haggard"
"Thanks"
"Nice suit though"
"Carla picked it out"
Harry Rex reached into the sack and produced a handful of biscuits wrapped in foil He piled them on the conference table and fixed his coffee Jake sat across frohten
"She write that?" Harry Rex asked with both cheeks full and his jaws grinding rapidly
"Yeah, it&039;s a seventy-five-page summary of the insanity defense in Mississippi It took her three days"
"She seeot the brains, and she writes fluidly The intellect is there, but she has trouble applying what she knows to the real world"
"Whatta you know about her?" Crumbs fell from his mouth and bounced on the table He brushed them onto the floor with a sleeve
"She&039;s solid Number two in her class at Ole Miss I
called Nelson Battles, Assistant Dean of the Law School, and she checked out fine She has a good chance of finishing number one"
"I finished ninety-third outta ninety-eight I would&039;ve finished ninety-second but they caught ured ninety-third was just as good Hell, I figured, who cares in Clanton These people were just glad I ca to Wall Street or some pjace like that"
Jake smiled at the story he had heard a hundred times
Harry Rex unwrapped a chicken and cheese biscuit "You look nervous, buddy"
"I&039;m okay The first day is always the hardest The preparation has been done I&039; now"
"What time does Row Ark make her entrance?"
"I don&039;t know"
"Lord, I wonder what she&039;ll wear"
"Or not wear I just hope she&039;s decent You knohat a prude Noose is"
"You&039;re not gonna let her sit at counsel table are you?"
"I don&039;t think so She&039;ll stay in the background, sort of like you She ht offend some of the woht"
Harry Rex wiped hiswith her?"
"No! I&039;m not crazy, Harry Rex"
"You&039;re crazy if you don&039;t That woot enough on my mind"
"She thinks I&039;m cute, don&039;t she?"
"She says she does"
"I think I&039;ll give it a shot," he said with a straight face, then he s the bookshelves
The phone rang Jake shook his head, and Harry Rex picked up the receiver "He&039;s not here, but I&039;ll be glad to give hie" He winked at Jake "Yes sir, yes sir, uh huh, yes sir It&039;s a terrible thing, ain&039;t it Can you believe a ree one hundred percent Yes sir, and what&039;s your name, sir? Sir?" Harry Rex smiled at the receiver and laid it down
"What&039;d he want?"
"Said you was a shaer&039;s lawyer, and that he didn&039;t see how any lawyer could represent a nigger such as Hailey And that he hoped the Klan got ahold of you, and if they didn&039;t he hoped the bar association looked into it and took away your license for helping niggers Said he knew you were no &039;count because you were trained by Lucien Wilbanks who lives with a nigger woreed with him!"
"Why not? He was really sincere, not hateful, and he feels better now that it&039;s off his chest"
The phone rang again Harry Rex snatched the receiver "Jake Brigance, Attorney, Counselor, Consultant, Adviser, and Guru at Law"
Jake left for the restroom "Jake, it&039;s a reporter!" Harry Rex yelled
"I&039;ot the runs!" Harry Rex told the reporter
At six-seven in Wil the paper, drinking coffee He told her about Bud Twitty, and Mickey Mouse&039;, and the promise of more violence No, he wasn&039;t afraid of that It did not bother him He was afraid of the jury, of the twelve ould be chosen, and their reaction to him and his client His only fear, at the ht do to his client Everything else was irrelevant For the first ti ho up, he heard a commotion downstairs Ellen had arrived, and Harry Rex was talking loudly She&039;s wearing a see-through blouse with a ht Jake as he walked downstairs She was not Harry Rex was congratulating her on dressing like a Southern wolen plaid suit with a V-necked jacket and short slim skirt The silk blouse was black, and apparently the necessary garment was underneath Her hair was pulled back and braided in some fashion Incredibly, traces of mascara, eyeliner, and lipstick were visible In the words of Harry Rex, she looked as much like a lawyer as a woman could look
"Thanks, Harry Rex," she said "I wish I had your taste in clothes"
"You look nice, Row Ark," Jake said
"So do you," she said She looked at Harry Rex, but said nothing
"Please forgive us, Row Ark," Harry Rex said "We&039;re iar you and we kno much this infuriates your little liberated heart Yes, we&039;re sexist pigs, but you chose to come to the South And in the South we, as a rule, drool over well-dressed attractive females, liberated or not"
"What&039;s in the sack?" she said
"Breakfast"
She tore it open and unwrapped a sausage and biscuit "No bagels?" she asked
"What&039;s that?" asked Harry Rex
"Forget it"
Jake rubbed his hands together and tried to sound enthusiastic "Well, now that we&039;ve gathered here three hours before trial, ould y&039;all like to do?"
"Let&039;s aritas," said Harry Rex
"No!" said Jake
"It&039;ll take the edge off"
"Not me," said Ellen "This is business"
Harry Rex unwrapped a biscuit, the last of the sack "What happens first today?"
"After the sun comes up, we start the trial At nine, Noose will say a feords to the jurors and we start the selection process"
"How long will it take?" asked Ellen
"Two or three days In Mississippi, we have the right to interrogate each juror individually in chambers That takes time"
"Where do I sit and what do I do?"
"She certainly sounds experienced," Harry Rex said to Jake "Does she knohere the courthouse is?"
"You do not sit at counsel table," said Jake "Just me and Carl Lee"
She wiped her mouth "I see Just you and the defen-
dant sitting alone, surrounded by the forces of evil, facing death alone"
"So like that"
"My father uses that tactic occasionally"
"I&039;lad you approve You&039;ll sit behindI&039;ll ask Noose to allow you into chambers for the private discussions"
"What about me?" asked Harry Rex
"Noose doesn&039;t like you, Harry Rex He never has He&039;d have a stroke if I asked if you could go in chambers It&039;d be best if you pretended we&039;d never met"
"Thanks"
"But we do appreciate your assistance," Ellen said
"Up yours, Ellie Mae"
"And you can still drink with us," she said
"And furnish the tequila"
"There will be no more alcohol in this office," Jake said
"Until the noon recess," said Harry Rex
"I want you to stand behind the clerk&039;s table, just loiter about like you always do, and take notes on the jury Try to match them with the notecards There&039;ll probably be a hundred and twenty"
"Whatever you say"