A Time to Kill

He tallied for a few seconds and said, "That’s five guil-ties, five undecideds, one pass, and one not guilty. Looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us."

They worked through the exhibits, photographs, fingerprints, and ballistics reports. At six, they informed the judge they had not reached a verdict. They were hungry and wanted to go. He recessed until Tuesday morning.

They sat for hours on the porch, saying little, watching as darkness surrounded the town below and ushered in the mosquitoes. The heat wave had returned. The soggy air clung to their skin and moistened their shirts. The sounds of a hot summer night echoed softly across the front lawn. Sallie had offered to cook. Lucien declined and ordered whiskey. Jake had no appetite for food, but the Coors filled his system and satisfied any hunger pangs stirring within. When things were good and dark, Nesbit emerged from his car, walked across the porch, through the front screen door, and into the house. A moment later he slammed the door, walked past them with a cold beer, and disappeared down the driveway in the direction of his car. He never said a word.

Sallie stuck her head through the door and made one last offer of food. Both declined.

"Jake, I got a call this afternoon. Clyde Sisco wants twenty-five thousand to hang the jury, fifty thousand for an acquittal."

Jake began shaking his head.

"Before you say no, listen to me. He knows he can’t guarantee an acquittal, but he can guarantee a hung jury. It just takes one. That’s twenty-five thousand. I know it’s a lot of money, but you know I’ve got it. I’ll pay it and you can repay me over the years. Whenever, I don’t care. If you never repay it, I don’t care. I’ve got a bankful of C.D.’s. You know money means nothing to me. If I were you I’d do it in a minute."

"You’re crazy, Lucien."

"Sure I’m crazy. You haven’t been acting so good yourself. Trial work’ll drive you crazy. Just take a look at what this trial has done to you. No sleep, no food, no routine, no house. Plenty of booze, though."

"But I’ve still got ethics."

"And I have none. No ethics, no morals, no conscience. But I won, bubba. I won more than anybody has ever won around here, and you know it."

"It’s corrupt, Lucien."

"And I guess you think Buckley’s not corrupt. He would lie, cheat, bribe, and steal to win this case. He’s not worried about fancy ethics, rules, and opinions. He’s not concerned about morality. He’s concerned with one thing and only one thing-winning! And you’ve got a golden chance to beat him at his own game. I’d do it, Jake."

"Forget it, Lucien. Please, just forget it."

An hour passed with no words. The lights of the town below slowly disappeared. Nesbit’s snoring was audible in the darkness. Sallie brought one last drink and said good night.

"This is the hardest part," Lucien said. "Waiting on twelve average, everyday people to make sense of all this."

"It’s a crazy system, isn’t it?"

"Yes, it is. But it usually works. Juries are right ninety percent of the time."

"I just don’t feel lucky. I’m waiting on the miracle."

"Jake, my boy, the miracle happens tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes. Early tomorrow morning."

"Would you care to elaborate?"

"By noon tomorrow, Jake, there will be ten thousand angry blacks swarming like ants around the Ford County Courthouse. Maybe more."

"Ten thousand! Why?"

"To scream and shout and chant ‘Free Carl Lee, Free Carl Lee.’ To raise hell, to scare everybody, to intimidate the jury. To just disrupt the hell out of everything. There’ll be so many blacks, white folks will run for cover. The governor will send in more troops."

"And how do you know all this?"

"Because I planned it, Jake."

"You?"

"Listen, Jake, when I was in my prime I knew every black preacher in fifteen counties. I’ve been in their churches. Prayed with them, marched with them, sang with them. They sent me clients, and I sent them money. I was the only white radical NAACP lawyer in north Mississippi. I’ filed more race discrimination lawsuits than any ten firms in Washington. These were my people. I’ve just made a few

phone calls. They’ll start arriving in the morning, and by noon you won’t be able to stir niggers with a stick in downtown Clanton."

"Where will they come from?"

"Everywhere. You know how tracks love to march and protest. This will be great for them. They’re looking forward to it."

"You’re crazy, Lucien. My crazy friend."

"I win, bubba."

In Room 163, Barry Acker and Clyde Sisco finished their last game of gin rummy and made preparations for bed. Acker gathered some coins and announced he wanted a soft drink. Sisco said he was not thirsty.

Acker tiptoed past a guardsman asleep in the hall. The machine informed him it was out of order, so he quietly opened the exit dqpr and walked up the stairs to the second floor, where he found another machine next to an ice maker. He inserted his coins. The machine responded with a diet Coke. He bent over to pick it up.

Out of the darkness two figures charged. They knocked him to the floor, kicked him and pinned him in a dark corner beside the ice maker, next to a door with a chain and padlock. The large one grabbed Acker’s collar and threw him against the cinder block wall. The smaller one stood by the Coke machine and watched the dark hall.

"You’re Barry Acker!" said the large one through clenched teeth.

"Yeah! Let go of me!" Acker attempted to shake free, but his assailant lifted him by the throat and held him to the wall with one hand. He used the other hand to unsheathe a shiny hunting knife, which he placed next to Acker’s nose. The wiggling stopped.

"Listen to me," he demanded in a loud whisper, "and listen good. We know you’re married and you live at 1161 Forrest Drive. We know you got three kids, and we know where they play and go to school. Your wife works at the bank."

Acker went limp.

"If that nigger walks free, you’ll be sorry. Your family will be sorry. It may take years, but you’ll be awfully sorry." He dropped him to the floor and grabbed his hair. "You

breathe one word of this to anyone, and you’ll lose a kid.

Understand?"

They vanished. Acker breathed deeply, almost gasping

for breath. He rubbed his throat and the back of his head.

He sat in the darkness, too scared to move.

At hundreds of small black churches across north Mississippi, the faithful gathered before dawn and loaded picnic baskets, coolers, lawn chairs, and water jugs into converted school buses and church vans. They greeted friends and chatted nervously about the trial. For weeks they had read and talked about Carl Lee Hailey; now, they were about to go help. Many were old and retired, but there were entire families with children and playpens. When the buses were full, they piled into cars and followed their preachers. They sang and prayed. The preachers met other preachers in small towns and county seats, and they set out in force down the dark highways. When daylight materialized, the highways and roads leading to Ford County were filled with caravans of pilgrims.

They jammed the side streets for blocks around the square. They parked where they stopped and unloaded.

The fat colonel had just finished breakfast and stood in the gazebo watching intently. Buses and cars, many with horns honking, were coming from all directions to the square. The barricades held firm. He barked commands and the soldiers jumped into high gear. More excitement. At seven-thirty, he called Ozzie and told him of the invasion. Ozzie arrived immediately and found Agee, who assured him it was a peaceful march. Sort of like a sit-in. How many were coming? Ozzie asked. Thousands, said Agee. Thousands.