A Time for Mercy (Jake Brigance #3) - John Grisham Page 0,36

coaxed Kiera into joining them. The other girls were terrific, some knew her from school, but she had a difficult time relaxing at the little party.

Portia had put down her cake and was taking notes. When Mrs. Huff paused for a breath, Portia pounced with “When you say the family had been through some awful things, what do you mean? If you don’t mind telling us.”

These two women would tell anything. But they did glance at each other as if thinking perhaps they should throttle back. Mrs. Huff said, “Well, when they were younger they were separated. Not sure how or why, but I think Josie, and she is a dear, had to go away, maybe got in some trouble, you know? The kids were sent away. Something like that.”

Mrs. Whitaker added, “Drew’s teacher said the class was doing pen-pal letters to boys and girls in orphanages and Drew said he’d been there once, to an orphanage, and he wasn’t ashamed to talk about it. Seems like he’s more outgoing than his sister.”

“Any family around here?” Jake asked.

Both ladies shook their heads. No. Mrs. Huff said, “And I’m not sure how or why she took up with that Kofer fellow. He had a bad reputation in the area.”

“For what?” Portia asked.

“Well, there were a lot of rumors about the guy, down our way. Even though he was a deputy, he had a darker side.”

Jake was keen to pursue the dark side when a doctor walked in. The ladies proudly introduced him to the family’s lawyer and his paralegal. As in most hospitals, the presence of a lawyer chilled the conversation with the doctor. He assured them the patient was doing fine, still in pain, but getting restless. Once the swelling was under control, they would do the surgery to reset the broken bones in her cheek and jaw.

“Can she talk?” Jake asked.

“A little. She struggles but she wants to talk.”

“Could we see her?”

“Sure, just don’t overdo it, okay?”

Jake and Portia hurried from the room as Mrs. Whitaker and Mrs. Huff were pointing the doctor toward the latest casseroles and talking about lunch. It was 10:20.

The deputy on hall duty was Lyman Price, probably the oldest member of Ozzie’s force and the one least able to stalk drug dealers and chase down criminals. When he wasn’t pushing papers around his desk at the jail, he worked the courtrooms keeping order in the court. Killing hours outside a hospital room was another perfect job for old Lyman.

He greeted Jake with his usual gruffness, with no hint of an edge because of the Kofer business.

Jake knocked on the door as he opened it and smiled at Kiera, who was sitting in a chair, reading a teen magazine. Josie was on her back but propped up and alert. Jake introduced himself and Portia, and said hello to Kiera, who put down the magazine and stood near her mother’s feet.

Jake said they would just be there for a moment, but he had met with Drew the night before and promised him that he would see his mother and make sure she was okay. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it and through the gauze mumbled something like “How is he?”

“He’s okay. We’re on our way back to the jail to see him now.”

Kiera had moved closer and was sitting on the edge of the bed. Her eyes were moist and she wiped her cheeks, and Jake was struck by the fact that she was much taller than her brother, though two years younger. Drew could pass for a little boy far away from puberty. Kiera was physically mature for her age.

“How long in jail?” Josie asked.

“A long time, Josie. There’s no way to get him out for weeks or months. He’ll be charged with murder and face a trial and that’ll take a lot of time.”

Kiera leaned forward with a tissue and wiped her mother’s cheeks, then wiped her own. There was a long silent pause as a monitor beeped and nurses laughed in the hallway. Jake flinched first and was suddenly eager to leave. He clutched Josie’s hand, leaned down and said, “I’ll be back. Right now we’re going to check on Drew.”

She tried to nod but the pain hit and she grimaced. Backing away, Jake handed Kiera a business card and whispered, “There’s my number.” At the door he turned around for a last glance and saw the two clutching each other in a tight embrace, both crying, both terrified of