A Time for Mercy (Jake Brigance #3) - John Grisham Page 0,109

meet you.”

“You drove up from the beach, right?”

“Yes.” Jake glanced around and took in the decor. The walls were covered with framed portraits of young people in prison whites and jail coveralls, some looking out from behind bars, others in handcuffs.

“Welcome to our headquarters,” Roswell said with another cheerful smile. “That’s quite a case you have down there. I’ve read your summaries. Libby expects us to read everything.” He waved at a door as he spoke. “She’s waiting.”

Jake followed him into a hallway and they stopped at the first door. Roswell said, “Libby, Mr. Brigance is here. Mr. Brigance, meet the real boss, Libby Provine.”

Ms. Provine was waiting in front of her desk and quickly offered a hand. “A pleasure, Mr. Brigance. Mind if I call you Jake? We’re quite informal around here.” The accent was thick Scottish. The first time they had spoken on the phone, Jake struggled to handle the brogue.

“Jake’s fine. Nice to meet you.”

Roswell disappeared and she pointed to a small conference table in the corner of her office. “I thought you might want some lunch.”

On the table were two deli sandwiches on paper plates and bottles of water. “Lunch is served,” she said. They took their places at the table but neither made a move for the food.

“An easy drive?” she asked.

“Uneventful. I was happy to get away from the beach and the in-laws.”

Libby Provine was about fifty, with red curly hair that was graying, and she wore sleek designer frames that made her almost attractive. From his research he knew she had founded the nonprofit twenty years earlier, not long after she finished law school at Georgetown. KAF, as it was known, had a staff of paralegals and four lawyers, all in-house. Its mission was to assist in the defense of teenagers on trial for serious crimes, and, more specifically, to try and rescue them during the sentencing phase after they had been convicted.

After a few minutes of chitchat, with neither reaching for the sandwiches, though Jake was starving, Libby asked, “And you expect the State to proceed with capital murder?”

“Oh yes. We have a hearing in two weeks on the issue, but I do not expect to win. The State is going full speed ahead.”

“Even though Kofer was not actually on duty?”

“That’s the issue. As you know, the statute was changed two years ago and the new one is hard to ignore.”

“I know. Such a needless change of law. What’s it called, the Death Penalty Enhancement Act? As if the State needed more muscle in its quest to fill up death row. Total rubbish.”

She knew everything. Jake had spoken to her twice on the phone and sent a forty-page review that he and Portia had put together. He had talked to two other lawyers, one in Georgia, one in Texas, who had relied on KAF at trial and their opinions were glowing.

She said, “Only Mississippi and Texas allow the death penalty for the killing of an officer regardless of whether he was on duty. It makes no sense.”

“We’re still fighting the war down there. I’m starving.”

“Chicken salad or turkey-and-Swiss?”

“I’ll take the chicken salad.”

They unwrapped the sandwiches and took a bite, hers much smaller than his. She said, “We dug up some newspaper reports about the Hailey trial. Sounds like a real show.”

“You could call it that.”

“Looks like the insanity defense worked for a man who wasn’t insane.”

“It was all about race, something that will not be a factor with Gamble.”

“And your expert, Dr. Bass?”

“I wouldn’t dare use him again. He’s a drunk and a liar and I used him only because he was free. We got lucky. Have you found us the right expert?”

She nibbled on the crust of her sandwich and nodded. “You’ll need at least two experts. One for the insanity defense, which I believe is all you have, and one for sentencing, assuming he’s convicted. That’s where we can help. Virtually all of our clients are guilty, and some of their crimes are pretty horrific. We just try to keep them alive and out of prison for the rest of their lives.”

Jake had a mouthful so he just nodded. Libby apparently was a light eater.

She continued, “One day in this great land the Supreme Court will rule that sending juveniles to death row is cruel and unusual punishment, but we’re not there yet. The Court may also see the light and rule that sentencing kids to prison for life without parole is nothing but a death sentence. Again,