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 good measure. The pleated pants hung perfectly from his trim waist. He looked great, much more stylish than the enemy.
Nesbit was asleep again when Jake released the dog and jumped in the back seat.
"Everything okay in there?" Nesbit asked, wiping the saliva from his chin.
"I didn't find any dynamite, if that's what you mean."
Nesbit laughed at this, with the same irritating, laughing response he made to almost everything. They circled the square and Jake got out in front of his office. Thirty minutes after he left, he turned on the front lights and made the coffee.
He took four aspirin and drank a quart of grapefruit juice. His eyes burned and his head ached from abuse and fatigue, and the tiring part had not yet begun. 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't be found in thirty seconds, it's no good. He smiled at Jier talent for organization. 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's qualifi-
cations and the outline of his testimony. She had made notes on anticipated objections from Buckley, and provided case authority to fight his objections. Jake took great pride in his trial preparation, but it was humbling 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't sleep. I'm kinda nervous." He thrust forward a loaded paper sack with grease spots. "Dell sent these over. They're fresh and hot. Sausage biscuits, bacon and cheese biscuits, chicken and cheese biscuits, you name it. She's worried about you."
"Thanks, Harry Rex, but I'm not hungry. 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 from him and flipped through Ellen's brief on M'Naghten.
"She write that?" Harry Rex asked with both cheeks full and his jaws grinding rapidly.
"Yeah, it's a seventy-five-page summary of the insanity defense in Mississippi. It took her three days."
"She seems very bright."
"She's got 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'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've finished ninety-second but they caught me cheating on an exam. I started to protest, but I figured ninety-third was just as good. Hell, I figured, who cares in Clanton. These people were just glad I came back here to practice when I graduated instead of going 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'm okay. The first day is always the hardest. The preparation has been done. I'm ready.. It's just a matter of waiting now."
"What time does Row Ark make her entrance?"
"I don't know."
"Lord, I wonder what she'll wear."
"Or not wear. I just hope she's decent. You know what a prude Noose is."
"You're not gonna let her sit at counsel table are you?"
"I don't think so. She'll stay in the background, sort of like you. She might offend some of the women jurors."
"Yeah, keep her there, but outta sight."
Harry Rex wiped his mouth with a huge paw. "You sleeping with her?"