A Time for Mercy (Jake Brigance #3) - John Grisham Page 0,89

still moving by. Most important, the red warning lights were not flashing.

Jake had always worried about Grayson. He believed the man was telling the truth—he had nothing to gain by lying—but he was timid, could not maintain eye contact, and had a squeaky voice. In other words, he did not project veracity. Plus, on the night in question he had been drinking.

Harry Rex pounced on this during cross-examination. Grayson stuck to his story of having only three beers at a joint down the road. He was far from drunk, knew exactly what he had seen, and spoke with several policemen in the aftermath. Not a single officer asked him if he had been drinking.

In the mock trial, Nate Feathers, the jury consultant, was a far better witness than the real Grayson would ever be.

The next witness was a railroad-crossing expert, played by Silerberg, who was holding a copy of their expert’s deposition and knew his testimony well. Using the enlarged photos, Jake proved in abundant detail that Central & Southern had done a lousy job maintaining the crossing. The lenses over the red flashing lights were choked with dirt, some were broken. One pole was leaning. Paint was peeling from around the lights. On cross, Harry Rex argued a few points but didn’t score.

So far, Lucien had said little and appeared to be napping, just like a real judge.

The next witness was another railroad safety expert, played by Portia Lang. She explained to the jury the various warning systems now used by railroads at their crossings. The one used by Central & Southern was at least forty years old and badly outdated. She described its shortcomings in abundant detail.

At ten o’clock, Judge Lucien woke up long enough to call for a recess. Coffee and doughnuts were passed to the jurors as everyone took a break. After the recess, Lucien told Jake to proceed. He called to the stand Dr. Robert Samson, professor of economics at Ole Miss, played by none other than Stan Atcavage, who would rather have been on the golf course, but Jake would not take no for an answer. As Jake had explained, if Stan were really worried about the litigation loan, he should do anything to help the cause. Stan was definitely worried about the loan. The real Dr. Samson was charging $15,000 for his testimony at the real trial.

The testimony was dull and filled with too many numbers. The expert’s bottom line was that Taylor and Sarah Smallwood would have earned $2.2 million if they had worked for another thirty years. Harry Rex scored a few points on cross by pointing out that Sarah had always been a part-timer and that Taylor changed jobs frequently.

The next witness was Nate Feathers again, this time in the role of the state trooper who investigated the accident. After him, Portia was back as the doctor who pronounced the family dead.

Jake decided to rest the plaintiff’s case at that point. At trial, he planned to call two close relatives to the stand to personalize the family and hopefully rouse up some sympathy, but that would be difficult with a mock jury.

Lucien, who by noon was thoroughly bored with life on the bench, said he was hungry and Jake broke for lunch. He led the entire group out of the courthouse and across the street to the Coffee Shop where Dell had a long table waiting with ice tea and sandwiches. Jake had asked the jurors not to discuss the case until their deliberations, but he and Harry Rex and Silerberg couldn’t help themselves. They sat at one end of the table and replayed the testimony and the reactions from the jurors. Silerberg was delighted with Jake’s opening statement. He had carefully watched each juror and thought all were on board. However, he was worried about the simplicity of the defense: How does an alert driver not see a moving train covered with reflective lights? Back and forth they went at their end of the table, while the mock jurors chatted among themselves over a free lunch.

His Honor went home for lunch and returned in a better mood, no doubt bolstered by a cocktail or two. He called things to order and the trial reconvened at 1:30.

For the defense, Harry Rex called the train’s engineer to the stand. Portia played the role and read his sworn testimony from a deposition taken eight months earlier. He testified that he had twenty years’ experience with Central & Southern and had