Prather.
"Looks like they're back," said Jake.
Carla stood frozen, her hand over her mouth, terrified. The glow of the fire reddened her face. "Do something, Jake. Put it out."
Jake watched the fire and again glanced up and down the street. The snapping and popping grew louder and the orange flames reached higher into the night. For a moment he hoped it would die quickly without being seen by anyone other than the three of them, and that it would simply go away and be forgotten and no one in Clanton would ever know. Then he smiled at his foolishness.
iiamci giumcu, anu it was oovious he was tired of standing on the porch. "Say, Jake, uh, I don't mean to bring this up, but accordin' to the papers they got the wrong lawyer. That true?"
"I guess they can't read," Jake muttered.
"Probably not."
"Tell me, Prather, do you know of any active Klan members in this county?"
"Not a one. Got some in the southern part of the state, but none around here. Not that I know of. FBI told us the Klan was a thing of the past."
"That's not very comforting."
"Why not?"
"Because these guys, if they're Klan members, are not from around here. Visitors from parts unknown. It means they're serious, don't you think, Prather?"
"I don't know. I'd worry more if it was local people workin' with the Klan. Could mean the Klan's comin' back."
"What does it mean, the cross?" Carla asked the deputy.
"It's a warnin'. Means stop what you're doin', or the next time we'll do more than burn a little wood. They used these things for years to intimidate whites who were sympathetic to niggers and all that civil rights crap. If the whites didn't stop their nigger lovin', then violence followed. Bombs, dynamite, beatings, even murder. But that was a • long time ago, I thought. In your case, it's their way of tellin' Jake to stay away from Hailey. But since he ain't Hailey's lawyer no more, I don't know what it means."
"Go check on Hanna," Jake said to Carla, who went inside.
"If you got a water hose, I'll be glad to put it out," offered Prather.
"That's a good idea," Jake said. "I'd hate for the neighbors to see it."
Jake and Carla stood on the porch in their bathrobes and watched the deputy spray the burning cross. The wood fizzed and smoked as the water covered the cross and snuffed out the flames. Prather soaked it for fifteen minutes, then neatly rolled the hose and placed it behind the shrubs in the flower bed next to the front steps.
"Thanks, Marshall. Let's keep this quiet, okay?"
Prather wiped his hands on his pants and straightened his hat. "Sure. Y'all lock up good. If you hear anything, call the dispatcher. We'll keep a close watch on it for the next few days."
He backed from the driveway and drove slowly down Adams Street toward the square. They sat in the swing and watched the smoking cross.
"I feel like I'm looking at an old issue of Life magazine," Jake said.
"Or a chapter from a Mississippi history textbook. Maybe we should tell them you got fired."
"Thanks."
"Thanks?".
"For being so blunt."
"I'm sorry. Should I say discharged, or terminated, or-"
"Just say he found another lawyer. You're really scared aren't you?"
"You know I'm scared. I'm terrified. If they can burn a cross in our front yard, what's to stop them from burning the house? It's not worth it, Jake. I want you to be happy and successful and all that wonderful stuff, but not at the expense of our safety. No case is worth this."
"You're glad I got fired?"
"I'm glad he found another lawyer. Maybe they'll leave us alone now."
Jake put his arm around her, and pulled her into his lap. The swing rocked gently. She was beautiful, at three-thirty in the morning in her bathrobe.
"They won't be back, will they?" she asked.
"Naw. They're through with us. They'll find out I'm off the case, then they'll call and apologize."
"It's not funny, Jake."
"I know."
"Do you think people will know?"
"Not for another hour. When the Coffee Shop opens at five, Dell Perkins will know every detail before she pours the first cup of coffee."
"What're you going to do with it?" she asked, nodding at the cross, now barely visible under the half moon.
i vc goi an idea. Let s load it up, take it to Memphis, and burn it in Marsharfsky's yard." "I'm going to bed."
By 9:00 A.M. Jake had finished dictating his motion to withdraw as counsel of record. Ethel was