A Time for Mercy (Jake Brigance #3) - John Grisham Page 0,44

pot.

Mick Swayze had traded several motorcycles with Dog and knew him well. He stopped by the shop after dark on Monday and, after assuring him that he was off-duty, took a beer. Mick got right to the point and promised Dog that Ozzie was not looking for people to accuse. He just wanted to know what happened on Saturday night.

“I’m not worried about Ozzie,” Dog said confidently. They were outside, leaning on his Mustang, smoking cigarettes. “I’ve done nothin’ wrong. I mean I wish I hadn’t drunk so much so maybe I could’ve stopped Stu before he got lit, you know? I should’ve stopped him, but I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“We know that,” Swayze said. “And we know there were five of you at your cabin, passin’ around a jug. Who were the other three?”

“I ain’t snitchin’.”

“How can you snitch, Dog, if there’s no crime?”

“If there’s no crime, what are you doin’ here askin’ questions?”

“Ozzie wants to know, that’s all. Kofer was one of us and Ozzie liked him a lot. We all liked Stuart. Good cop. Great guy. He was also drunk as a skunk, Dog. Point-three-six.”

Dog shook his head in disbelief at this news and spat on the ground. “Well, I’ll tell you the truth. When I woke up yesterday mornin’ my head felt like it was point-five-five. I stayed in bed all day and barely got out this mornin’. Crazy shit, man.”

“What was it?”

“Fresh batch from Gary Garver. Peach flavored.”

“That’s three. Who were the other two?”

“This is confidential, right? You ain’t tellin’ nobody.”

“Got it.”

“Calvin Marr and Wayne Agnor. We started off with a case of beer, just playin’ poker in my cabin, no big plans really. Then Gary showed up with two quarts of his good stuff. We all got hammered. I mean, blacked out. First time in a long time and it was bad enough to make me think about quittin’.”

“What time did Kofer leave?”

“Don’t know. I wasn’t awake when he left.”

“Who was awake?”

“Don’t know, Mick. I swear. I think we all passed out and things went black. I don’t remember much. At some point in the night, have no idea when, Stu and Gary left the cabin. When I woke up late Sunday, Calvin and Wayne were still there, in rough shape. We got up, tried to stir around, drank a couple of beers to kill the pain, then the phone rang and my brother told me Stu was dead. Shot in the head by some kid. Hell, he was just there, right there at the card table, shufflin’ cards and sippin’ peach whiskey from a coffee cup.”

“You been hangin’ out with Stu?”

“I don’t know. What kind of question is that?”

“A simple one.”

“Not as much as a year ago. He was losin’ control, Mick, you know? We’d play poker once a month, usually at the cabin, and you could always count on Stu to overdo things, drink too much. Who am I, right? But there was talk about Stu. Some of his friends were concerned. Hell, we all drink too much, but sometimes it’s the drunks who see what’s really goin’ on. We figured Ozzie knew about it and turned a blind eye.”

“I don’t think so. Stu showed up for work every day and did his job. He was one of Ozzie’s favorites.”

“Mine too. Everybody liked Stu.”

“Will you talk to Ozzie?”

“Well, I don’t want to.”

“No rush, but he’d just like to have a chat. Maybe after the funeral.”

“Like I got a choice?”

“Not really.”

10

As with most hot courthouse rumors, the source would never be known. Did it spring to life behind a hint of the truth, or was it someone’s idea of a joke down in the Office of Land Records on the first floor? Did a bored lawyer create the fiction with one eye on the clock to see how soon the story would make the rounds and find its way back to him? Since the courthouse, indeed the entire town, was still buzzing with the details of the murder, it was not too far-fetched to believe that someone with a bit of authority, perhaps a deputy or a bailiff, might have said something like “Yep, we’re bringin’ the boy over today.”

At any rate, early Tuesday morning half the county knew for a fact that the kid who killed Stuart Kofer would appear in court for the first time, and for good measure the rumor was soon amended to include the irresistible fact that he would probably be released! Something to do with his