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Chapter 103

AFTER CAREFUL DELIBERATION, Jonah Curtis had chosen to wear a navy blue suit, a crisp white shirt, and a bright red tie He didn’t look exactly like an A, but all the colors were there for the patriotic effect he intended for his opening statement to the jury

“Gentlean “I was sent here by the Supreme Court of the state of Mississippi to seek justice If in the name of justice you reach the verdict I truly believe you ree of punishment that you feel is appropriate for these crimes”

“Let us begin, though, not at the ending,” he said, “but at the beginning A hot suht You knohat thatto a Mississippito a fish about the water”

This little joke brought an involuntary s the jury

“So there we are on that hot su Down in the Quarters, inside a poor man’s house

“And here, on a bed in the parlor, an old

His granddaughter is tending to hih”

All thehim now, even those whose expressions revealed their innate distaste for a Negro attorney dressed in a suit

“On the porch of this hohters or thugs One is an attorney, well known to the most powerful men in our nation’s capital The other is the inventor of the Stringer Automatic Baler, the most successful businessman in Eudora—heck, let’s be honest—in all of south Mississippi”

There was a patter of quiet chuckling; everyone in the courtroo at this description of him

“These gentleht,” Jonah said, “because the dying man is their friend They’ve heard rumors of trouble They have a well-reasoned fear that so

“Lord, it’s hot The old hter cannot help the tears that come to her eyes The old man is all she has on this earth

“Then there comes a sound, the sound of hoofbeats on the road There area cloud of dust in the darkness”

A couple of the jurors looked ostentatiously bored, and aBut the others seemed attentive, and a feere even transfixed, as if Jonah were telling them a scary story