horsefly the size of a small sparrow buzzed around his nose and retreated to the top of the swing with each thunderous exhalation. A rancid vapor emanated with the snoring and hung like an invisible fog over the end of the porch.
"He's a doctor?" Jake asked as he sat next to Lucien.
"Psychiatry," Lucien said proudly.
"Did he help you with those?" Jake nodded at the bottles.
"I helped him. He drinks like a fish, but he's always sober at trial."
"That's comforting."
"You'll like him. He's cheap. Owes me a favor. Won't cost a dime."
"I like him already."
Lucien's face was as red as his eyes. "Wanna drink?"
"No. It's three-thirty in the afternoon."
"Really! What day is it?"
"Wednesday, June 12. How long have y'all been drinking?"
" 'Bout thirty years." Lucien laughed and rattled his ice cubes.
"I mean today."
"We drank our breakfast. What difference does it make?"
"Does he work?"
"Naw, he's retired."
"Was his retirement voluntary?"
"You mean, was he disbarred, so to speak?"
"That's right, so to speak."
"No. He still has his license, and his credentials are impeccable."
"He looks impeccable."
"Booze got him a few years ago. Booze and alimony. I handled three of his divorces. He reached the point where all of his income went for alimony and child support, so he quit working."
"How does he manage?"
"We, uh, I mean, he stashed some away. Hid it from his wives and their hungry lawyers. He's really quite comfortable."
"He looks comfortable."
"Plus he peddles a little dope, but only to a rich clientele. Not really dope, but narcotics which he can legally prescribe. It's not really illegal; just a little unethical."
"What's he doing here?"
"He visits occasionally. He lives in Jackson but hates it. I called him Sunday after I talked to you. He wants to meet Hailey as soon as possible, tomorrow if he can."
The doctor grunted and rolled to his side, causing the swing to move suddenly. It swung a few times, and he moved again, still snoring. He stretched his right leg, and his foot caught a thick branch in the shrubbery. The swing jerked
sideways and threw the good doctor onto the porch. His head crashed onto the wooden floor while his right foot remained lodged through the end of the swing. He grimaced and coughed, then began snoring again. Jake instinctively started toward him, but stopped when it was apparent he was unharmed and still asleep.
"Leave him alone!" ordered Lucien between laughs.
Lucien slid an ice cube down the porch and just missed the doctor's head. The second cube landed perfectly on the tip of his nose. "Perfect shot!" Lucien roared. "Wake up, you drunk!"
Jake walked down the steps toward his car, listening to his former boss laugh and curse and throw ice cubes at Dr. W.T. Bass, psychiatrist, witness for the defense.
Deputy DeWayne Looney left the hospital on crutches, and drove his wife and three children to the jail, where the sheriff, the other deputies, the reserves, and a few friends waited with a cake and small gifts. He would be a dispatcher now, and would retain his badge and uniform and full salary.
The fellowship hall of the Springdale Church had been thoroughly cleaned and shined, and the folding tables and chairs dusted and placed in perfect rows around the room. It was the largest black church in the county and it was in Clanton, so the Reverend Agee deemed it necessary to meet there. The purpose of the press conference was to get vocal, to show support of the local boy who made good, and to announce the establishment of the Carl Lee Hailey Legal Defense Fund. The national director of the NAACP was present with a five-thousand-dollar check and a promise of serious money later. The executive director of the Memphis branch brought five thousand and grandly laid it on the table. They sat with Agee behind the two folding tables in the front of the room with every member of the council seated behind them and two hundred black church members in the crowded audience. Gwen sat next to Agee. A few reporters and cameras, much fewer than expected, grouped in the center of the room and filmed away.
Agee spoke first and was inspired by the cameras. He talked of the Haileys and their goodness and innocence, and of baptizing Tonya when she was only eight. He talked of a family wrecked by racism and hatred. There were sniffles in the audience. Then he got mean. He tore into the judicial system and its desire to prosecute a good and decent man who had done no wrong;