A Time for Mercy (Jake Brigance #3) - John Grisham Page 0,76

when the trial took place, would it be wise to put her on the stand when she was obviously pregnant? By proving the rapes and physical abuse, wasn’t Jake in effect putting Stuart Kofer on trial? If Kiera chose to abort, who would pay for it? If she didn’t, what would happen to the child? With no home, would Kiera be allowed to keep it?

As he drove, he had decided that these issues required an entire team. Lawyer, minister, at least two psychiatrists, some counselors.

Jake looked across the table at Josie and asked, point-blank, “Did Drew know that Kofer was raping Kiera?”

The tears were instant, the emotions raw and barely contained. “She won’t say,” Josie said. “Which leads me to believe that he did. Otherwise, why wouldn’t she just say no? I didn’t know. But I cannot believe she would tell Drew and not me.”

“And you had no clue?”

She shook her head and began sobbing. Meg poured Jake some coffee in a ceramic cup stained brown from decades of use. Like everything else in the room, it appeared to be well used but clean.

Josie wiped her face with a paper towel and said, “What will this do to Drew’s case?”

“It helps. It hurts. Some jurors might be sympathetic to Drew for taking matters into his own hands and protecting his sister, if that’s what he was thinking. We don’t know yet. The prosecutors will make much of the fact that he killed Kofer to stop him, so he knew what he was doing and can’t claim insanity. I honestly can’t tell you how it will play out. Keep in mind, I’m just on the case temporarily. There’s a good chance Judge Noose will appoint someone else for the trial.”

“You can’t leave us, Jake,” Josie said.

Oh yes I can, he thought. Especially now. “We’ll see.” In search of a subject slightly less depressing, he said, “I understand you spent time with Drew.”

She nodded.

“And how is he doing?”

“As well as can be expected. They put him on some meds, some antidepressants, and he says he’s sleepin’ better. He likes the doctors, says the food is good. He’d rather stay there than in the jail here. Why can’t he get out, Jake?”

“We’ve had this conversation, Josie. He has been indicted for capital murder. Nobody gets bail in a case like this.”

“But what about school? He’s two years behind anyway, and he’s just sittin’ there losin’ ground every day. They won’t put him in a class at Whitfield because he’s a security risk and only temporary. Bring him back here to wait for trial, and they ain’t got no tutors at the jail here. Why can’t they send him to a juvenile facility somewhere? Someplace where they at least make ’em go to class.”

“Because he’s not being treated like a juvenile. As of now he’s an adult.”

“I know, I know. Adult? What a joke. He’s just a little kid who’s not even shavin’ yet. One of his counselors down there told me she’d never seen a sixteen-year-old boy as physically immature as Drew.” A pause as she wiped her red cheeks. “His father was like that. Just a kid.”

Jake glanced at Meg, who glanced at Charles. Jake decided to dig a little. “Who is his father?”

Josie laughed and shrugged and would’ve said “What the hell” but she was in a church. “A guy named Ray Barber. He was a boy down the road and I sorta grew up with him. When we were fourteen we started foolin’ around one day, one thing led to another and we did it. Did it again and again and were havin’ some fun. Didn’t know a thing about birth control or basic biology, we were just a coupla stupid kids carryin’ on. I got pregnant at fifteen and Ray wanted to get married. He was afraid he might get cut off. My mother sent me to live with an aunt in Shreveport to have the baby. I don’t recall any discussion about terminatin’ the pregnancy. I had the baby and they wanted me to give it up, and I should have. I really should have. What I’ve put my kids through is nothin’ but a sin.”

She took a deep breath, then a sip of water from a bottle. “Anyway, I remember Roy worryin’ because the other boys were shavin’ and gettin’ hair on their legs and he wasn’t. He was afraid he was growin’ up late, like his father. Evidently, other parts were workin’ okay.”

“What happened