A Time for Mercy (Jake Brigance #3) - John Grisham Page 0,97

flushed by the ambitions and greed of a lawyer who deliberately sidestepped the rules and arrogantly believed he wouldn’t get caught.

The litigation loan was at $70,000.

He glanced at his watch—10:05. At that moment he should have been standing before the panel of prospective jurors. Eighty had arrived that morning and Jake knew all eighty names, knew where they lived, worked, worshipped. He knew where some were born, knew where some of their families were buried. He knew their ages, skin color, some of their children. He, Harry Rex, and Murray Silerberg had spent hours secluded in the workroom memorizing all the data the team had gathered.

There was not another decent case in his office and he was behind on his bills. He was arguing with the IRS.

A road sign pointed to Karaway, his hometown. He turned in the other direction, fearful that his mother might see him driving aimlessly around on a beautiful Monday morning in late April.

And now he was stuck with Drew Gamble and a losing case that would only drain away time and money, not to mention causing a lot of bad will around town.

* * *

—

HE DIDN’T DELIBERATELY drive through Pine Grove, but he passed the settlement anyway and was close to the Good Shepherd Bible Church before he realized it. He pulled into the gravel lot with the idea of turning around, but caught a glimpse of a woman sitting at a picnic table near the small cemetery behind the church. It was Josie Gamble, reading a book. Kiera came into view and sat near her mother.

Jake switched off his engine and decided to have a chat with two people who knew nothing of his morning’s disaster, nor would they care. As he walked over, they smiled and were obviously pleased to see him. But then Jake figured they would be happy to see any visitor.

“What brings you out here?” Josie asked.

“Just passing through,” he said as he sat across the table. An old maple tree shaded them. “How are you doing, Kiera?”

“I’m okay,” she said and blushed. Under her loose sweatshirt there were no signs of her pregnancy.

Josie said, “I’ve never known anyone to just pass through Pine Grove.”

“It happens. What are you reading?”

She folded a page in the paperback and said, “A history of ancient Greece. Pretty excitin’ stuff. Let’s just say the church’s library is rather small.”

“You read a lot?”

“Well, Jake, I think I told you that I spent two years in prison in Texas. Seven hundred and forty-one days. I read seven hundred and thirty books. When they released me I asked if I could stay two more weeks so I could average a book a day. They said no.”

“How do you read a book a day?”

“You ever spent time in prison?”

“Not yet.”

“Granted, most of them were not that thick or complicated. One day I read four Nancy Drew mysteries.”

“Still a lot of books. Do you read, Kiera?”

She shook her head and looked away.

Josie said, “When I went in I could barely read, but they had a decent education program. Got my GED and started reading. The more I read, the faster I got. We saw Drew yesterday.”

“How was that?”

“It was nice. They let us all three sit together in a little room, so we got to hug him and give him kisses, or at least I did. A lot of tears but we managed a few laughs too, didn’t we Kiera?”

She nodded and smiled but said nothing.

“It was real sweet. They let us visit for over an hour, then ran us off. I don’t like that jail, you know?”

“You’re not supposed to like it.”

“Guess not. Now they’re talkin’ death row. They can’t really send him away, can they?”

“They’ll certainly try. I saw him last Thursday.”

“Yeah, he said you hadn’t been by in a few days, said you had a big trial comin’ up. How’d it go?”

“Is he taking his meds?”

“Says he is. Says he feels a lot better.” Her voice cracked and she covered her eyes for a moment. “He looks so little, Jake. They got him wearin’ some old faded orange coveralls, says ‘County Jail’ across the back and front, the smallest they had and still way too big. Got his sleeves and pants rolled up. Damned things just swallow him, and he just looks like a little boy because that’s what he really is. Just a kid. And now they want to put him in the gas chamber. I can’t believe this, Jake.”

Jake glanced at Kiera,