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LeRoy smiled maliciously. “Good luck provin’ that.”
“Did the dispatcher say who had called them?”
“Why’s that matter?” said LeRoy.
“Well, how did the person know that two people were dead and the killer was still in the house? Did you see anybody else?”
They both shook their heads.
“Did you search the house to make sure no one else was there?”
“No need to,” said Gene. “We got the bastard who done it.”
“On your way there did you see anyone else? In a car? On foot?”
Gene snapped, “Just the Negro. Who was resistin’ arrest real bad.”
Jack put his pen down. “That’s all I have for now. I’ll take formal statements from you both later.”
The deputies rose and put their hats back on.
Jack stood, glanced at Gene’s gun belt, and said, “That billy club of yours. What are the notches for? One looks new.”
Gene grinned and tapped the wood. “You know how some fellers mark the bedpost with their women? Well, this is sort of like that, only different.”
“Uh-huh.”
Gene drew chin to chin with Jack and said, “Now, look here, lawyer, you know your boy done it. In your heart, you do.”
“He’s not my boy. He’s my client. And you must have a very different heart from me, Deputy.”
“You just get paid to say that,” replied Gene, grinning and stepping back. “You know how things stand. You let coloreds start thinkin’ they’re equal to us, then where are we white folks?”
LeRoy said, “Not in America no more, that’s for damn sure. Even Abe Lincoln himself wanted to ship ’em all back to Africa. God’s honest truth. Read it in a book.”
As they were leaving, LeRoy added, “We’re in this fight together, mister. You know that and I know that. We need folks like you who know the law real good and how it should be done proper and all. If we’re going to win this.”
“And Lord help us if we don’t,” added his partner.
CHAPTER 17
HOW ANY SON OF MINE,” began his mother.
Jack stared dully at her from the other side of the dining room table with the space between them resembling a potential no-man’s-land of risky engagement.
“When I saw that on Channel Six, I almost had a heart attack. And the Randolphs, of all people. And then they had you talking to that man from George Wallace’s campaign. The things you said to him. He’s a millionaire, the TV said.”
“He’s a horse’s ass, and I know for a fact you can’t stand George Wallace. If it had been you there instead of me, you would have put that man in his place so fast it would have made my efforts look downright feeble.”
Hilly glanced at her husband, who sat worrying at a grease spot on his thumb. “Why do I think this has something to do with Miss Jessup coming around, Francis? And you and Robert drove off somewhere last night. Well, now I know where you went. You put him up to this, didn’t you?”
“I made the decision to represent the man, Momma. I think he’s innocent.”
“Innocent or guilty, this is going to ruin our reputation.”
Frank said, “I wasn’t aware we had any particular reputation, Hilly.”
“And you always taught me to stand up for what I believed in,” added Jack.
