A Time for Mercy (Jake Brigance #3) - John Grisham Page 0,153

decision at trial,” Noose said, reminding them of who was in charge.

“And what about the girl?” Dyer asked. “I assume she’ll testify that she was sexually assaulted by Kofer.”

“Correct. She was repeatedly raped.”

“But how do we know? Did she tell her mother? Did she tell anyone? We know she didn’t call the authorities.”

“That was because Kofer threatened to kill her if she did.”

Dyer threw up his hands and said, “See, Judge, how do we know she was raped?”

Just wait, thought Jake. You’ll find out soon enough.

Dyer went on, “It’s just not fair, Judge. They can say anything they want about Stuart Kofer and we have no way to counter.”

“The facts are the facts, Lowell,” Jake said. “They were living a nightmare and were afraid to tell anyone. That’s the truth and we can’t hide it or change it.”

“I want to talk to the girl,” Dyer said. “I have the right to know what she’ll say on the stand, assuming I’m forced to call her as a witness.”

“If you don’t call her I will.”

“Where is she?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Come on, Jake. Are you hiding another witness?”

Jake took a deep breath and held his tongue. Noose showed them his palms and said, “We’re not going to bicker, gentlemen. Jake, do you know where they are?”

Jake glared at Dyer and said, “Cheap shot.” He looked at Noose and said, “I do and I’m sworn to secrecy, Your Honor. They’re not far away and they’ll be in court when the trial starts.”

“Are they hiding?”

“You could say that, yes. After I was attacked they were rattled and left the area. Who can blame them? That, plus Josie has bill collectors hounding her, so she’s gone underground. Nothing new for her, really, because she’s been running most of her life. She’s moved around more than the three of us combined. They’ll be in the courtroom when the trial starts, I guarantee it. They will be witnesses and they have to be there for Drew.”

“I’d still like to talk to her,” Dyer said.

“You’ve done that twice already, both times in my office. You asked me to make them available and I did.”

“Are you going to put the defendant on the stand?” Dyer asked.

“Don’t know yet,” Jake said with a sappy smile, because he didn’t have to answer the question. “I’ll wait and see how the trial goes.”

Noose took a bite of his sandwich and chewed for a while. “I don’t like the idea of putting the deceased on trial. However, there was obviously a violent encounter with the mother just moments before he died. There are allegations of abuse of the children, and threats to keep them silent. Taken as a whole, I see no way to keep this from the jury. I’d like you to submit briefs on this issue and we’ll talk again before the trial.”

They had already submitted briefs and had nothing to add. Noose was stalling and looking for a way to avoid a tough decision. “Anything else?” he asked.

“What about the list of potential jurors?” Jake asked.

“It will be faxed to your respective offices at nine a.m. next Monday. I’m working on it now. We purged our voter registration rolls last year, at my direction, and this county is in good shape. We’ll summon about a hundred for jury selection. And I’m warning both of you to stay away from the pool. Jake, as I recall, there were a lot of rumors about contact with the pool in the Hailey trial.”

“Not by me, Your Honor. Rufus Buckley was out of control and the prosecution was stalking people.”

“Whatever. This is a small county and I know most of the people. If anyone is contacted I’ll hear about it.”

“But we can conduct our basic investigations, right, Judge?” Dyer asked. “We have the right to gather as much background as possible.”

“Yes, but no direct contact.”

Jake was already thinking about Harry Rex and wondering who he might know in Van Buren County. And Gwen Hailey, Carl Lee’s wife, was from Chester and had grown up not far from the courthouse. And years ago Jake had handled a land dispute for a nice family out in the county, and won it. And Morris Finley, one of the few lawyers left in Chester, was an old friend.

Across the table, Lowell Dyer was having similar thoughts. In the race to dig up dirt on the potential jurors, he would have the upper hand because Ozzie would lean on the local sheriff, an old-timer who knew