AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 37
BATTLE HAD SET UP HIS legal war room at the Carter City government building. They were ushered into his office, where he sat behind a large, cluttered desk. His jacket was off and his tie loosened. He was methodically packing a pipe with loose, pungent tobacco from a tin of it, and he looked up as they were escorted in.
“My, my, that didn’t take long,” he said with mirth in his eyes, as he struck a match and lit the pipe. “Have a seat.”
They sat down across from him.
He puffed on the pipestem. “Well?”
“Our client would like to make a deal,” began Jack.
“What sorta deal?”
“Jerome Washington will plead guilty in exchange for all charges against his wife being dropped with prejudice. And he will accept a life sentence.”
“How kind of the man,” replied Battle sarcastically.
“So?” said DuBose. “What do you say, Edmund?”
He eyed her with an amused expression. “You are royally upset, Desiree, because you so badly want to try this case.”
“I believe my client to be innocent.”
“And yet he’s willing to say he did it?”
“To save his wife, and allow his children to have a mother to raise them.”
Clenching his pipe in one corner of his mouth, Battle said, “Now, here’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna try this case, and I’m gonna win this case. And I’m gonna get the death penalty for both of them. She’s as guilty as he is, in my mind.”
Jack said, “Jerome is willing to accept life in prison. Isn’t that enough?”
Battle took his pipe out. “No, Mr. Lee, it’s not enough. Two fine people who should still be alive are not. Because of your clients. And yet you ask me to spare his life? And let her go free to live her life? No, sir. Life for a life. In this case, two lives for two lives. So you can go back and tell your clients that the commonwealth has no interest in a plea from either of them now. And that the electric chair over in Richmond is where they will take their final breaths.”
“They have young children,” said Jack.
“You’re not gonna persuade me trying sympathy, Mr. Lee. I’m plum out.”
“You mean for defendants with a certain color skin?” said DuBose.
“As a judge and a prosecutor I’ve overseen many a white man on an appointment with Mr. Sparky,” said Battle, referring to the electric chair. “And not everything in the whole damn world is based on race.”
“It is for people like me,” retorted DuBose.
“I’m real sorry to hear that. Whole years go by without me checking my skin. Now if I were you, I’d start preparing for trial.” He motioned to the door.
Outside, Jack said, “Well, I guess we better let Jerome and Pearl know.”
“A big, scary Black man and his evil, scheming wife kill two old white people in their home? Can you imagine how that will play out across this country?”
“And how does that added pressure make you feel?” asked Jack.
She glanced at him. “Nervous, but energized and optimistic. You?”
“Right now, honestly, I’m just feeling the nervous part.”
CHAPTER 38
THEY MET WITH JEROME AND then Pearl, and told them both what had happened with Battle, and that the trial would commence in two weeks.
