"All right, Mr. Reinfeld, how much do you have to spend?"
Reinfeld squirmed and looked hard at the reverends, who looked hard at Carl Lee.
"Approximately twenty thousand, so far," Reinfeld admitted sheepishly.
Jake laughed and shook his head in disbelief. "Twenty thousand! Y'all are really serious about this, aren't you? Twenty thousand! I thought you guys played in the big leagues. You raised a hundred and fifty thousand for the cop killer in Birmingham last year. And he was convicted, by the way. You spent a hundred thousand for the whore in Shreve-port who killed her customer. And she, too, was convicted, I might add. And you think this case is worth only twenty thousand."
"How much do you have to spend?" asked Reinfeld.
"If you can explain to me how that's any of your business, I'll be glad to discuss it with you."
Reinfeld started to speak, then leaned forward and rubbed his temples. "Why don't you talk to him, Reverend Agee."
The reverends stared at Carl Lee. They wished they were alone with him, with no white folks around. They could talk to him like he was a nigger. They could explain things to. him; tell him to fire this young white boy and get him some
real lawyers. NAACP lawyers. Lawyers who knew how to fight for blacks. But they were not alone with him, and they couldn't curse him. They had to show respect for the white folks present. Agee spoke first.
"Look here, Carl Lee, we tryin' to help you. We brought in Mr. Reinfeld here, and he's got all his lawyers and ever-body at your disposal, to help you now. We ain't got nothin' against Jake here; he's a fine young lawyer. But he can work with Mr. Reinfeld. We don't want you to fire Jake; we just want you to hire Mr. Reinfeld too. They can all work together."
"Forget that," said Jake.
Agee paused and looked helplessly at Jake.
"Come on, Jake. We ain't got nothin' against you. It's a big chance for you. You can work with some real big lawyers. Get some real good experience. We-"
"Let me make it real clear, Reverend. If Carl Lee wants your lawyers, fine. But I'm not playing gofer for anyone. I'm either in or out. Nothing in between. My case or your case. The courtroom is not big enough for me, Reinfeld, and Ru-fus Buckley."
Reinfeld rolled his eyes and looked at the ceiling, shaking his head slowly and grinning with an arrogant little smirk.
"You sayin' it's up to Carl Lee?" asked Reverend Agee.
"Of course it's up to him. He's hired me. He can fire me. He's already done it once. I'm not the one facing the gas chamber."
"How 'bout it, Carl Lee?" asked Agee.
Carl Lee uncrossed his arms and stared at Agee. "This twenty thousand, what's it for?"
"Really, it's more like thirty thousand," answered Reinfeld. "The local folks have pledged another ten thousand. The money will be used for your defense. None of it's attorney fees. We'll need two or three investigators. Two, maybe three, psychiatric experts. We often use a jury psychologist to assist us in selecting the jury. Our defenses are very expensive."
"Uh huh. How much money has been raised by local people?" asked Carl Lee.
"About six thousand," answered Reinfeld.
"Who collected mis money:
Reinfeld looked at Agee. "The churches," answered the reverend.
"Who collected the money from the churches?" asked Carl Lee.
Chapter Seventeen
"We did," answered Agee.
"You mean, you did," said Carl Lee.
"Well, uh, right. I mean, each church gave the money to me, and I deposited it in a special bank account."
"Yeah, and you deposited every nickel you received?"
"Of course I did." .
"Of course. Let me ask you this. How much of the money have you offered to my wife and kids?"
Agee looked a bit pale, or as pale as possible, and quickly searched the faces of the other reverends, who, at the moment, were preoccupied with a stink bug on the carpet. They offered no help. Each knew Agee had been taking his cut, and each knew the family had received nothing. Agee had profited more .than the family. They knew it, and Carl Lee knew it.
"How much, Reverend?" repeated Carl Lee.
"Well, we thought the money-"
"How much, Reverend?"
"The money is gonna be spent on lawyer fees and stuff like that."
"That ain't what you told your church, is it? You said it was for the support of the family. You almost cried when you talked about how my family might starve to death if the folks didn't donate all they could. Didn't you,