The Chamber (Page 32)

Adam flipped the remote and the video moved. The clear, modern images of the third and final trial moved by quickly, and there was Sam, suddenly thirteen years older, with a new lawyer as they darted through a side door of the

Lakehead County Courthouse. "Did you go to the third trial?"

"No. He told me to stay away."

Adam paused the video. "At what point did Sam realize they were coming after him again?"

"It’s hard to say. There was a small story in the Memphis paper one day about this new district attorney in Greenville who wanted to reopen the Kramer case. It was not a big story, just a couple of paragraphs in the middle of the paper. I remember reading it with horror. I read it ten times and stared at it for an hour. After all these years, the name Sam Cayhall was once again in the paper. I couldn’t believe it. I called him, and, of course, he had read it too. He said not to worry. About two weeks later there was another story, a little larger this time, with David McAllister’s face in the middle of it. I called Daddy, he said everything was okay. That’s how it got started. Rather quietly, then it just steam-rolled. The Kramer family supported the idea, then the NAACP got involved. One day it became obvious that McAllister was determined to push for a new trial, and that it was not going to go away. Sam was sickened by it, and he was scared, but he tried to act brave. He’d won twice he said, he could do it again."

"Did you call Eddie?"

"Yeah. Once it was obvious there would be a new indictment, I called him and broke the news. He didn’t say much, didn’t say much at all. It was a brief conversation, and I promised to keep him posted. I don’t think he took it very well. It wasn’t long before it became a national story, and I’m sure Eddie followed it in the media."

They watched the remaining segments of the third trial in silence. McAllister’s toothsome face was everywhere, and more than once Adam wished he’d done a bit more editing. Sam was led away for the last time in handcuffs, and the screen went blank.

"Has anyone else seen this?" Lee asked.

"No. You’re the first."

"How did you collect it all?"

"It took time, a little money, a lot of effort."

"It’s incredible."

"When I was a junior in high school, we had this goofy teacher of political science. He allowed us to haul in newspapers and magazines and debate the issues of the day. Someone brought a front page story from the L.A. Times about the upcoming trial of Sam Cayhall in Mississippi. We kicked it around pretty good, then we watched it closely as it took place. Everyone, including myself, was quite pleased when he was found guilty. But there was a huge debate over the death penalty. A few weeks later, my father was dead and you finally told me the truth. I was horrified that my friends would find out."

"Did they?"

"Of course not. I’m a Cayhall, a master at keeping secrets."

"It won’t be a secret much longer."

"No, it won’t."

There was a long’ pause as they stared at the blank screen. Adam finally pushed the power button and the television went off. He tossed the remote control on the table. "I’m sorry, Lee, if this will embarrass you. I mean it. I wish there was some way to avoid it."

"You don’t understand."

"I know. And you can’t explain it, right? Are you afraid of Phelps and his family?"

"I despise Phelps and his family."

"But you enjoy their money."

"I’ve earned their money, okay? I’ve put up with him for twenty-seven years."

"Are you afraid your little clubs will ostracize you? That they’ll kick you out of the country clubs?"

"Stop it, Adam."

"I’m sorry," he said. "It’s been a weird day. I’m coming out of the closet, Lee. I’m confronting my past, and I guess I expect everyone to be as bold. I’m sorry."

"What does he look like?"

"A very old man. Lots of wrinkles and pale skin. He’s too old to be locked up in a cage."

"I remember talking to him a few days before his last trial. I asked him why he didn’t just run away, vanish into the night and hide in some place like South America. And you know what?"

"What?"

"He said he thought about it. Mother had been dead for several years. Eddie was gone. He had read books about Mengele and Eichmann and other Nazi war criminals who disappeared in South America. He even mentioned Sao Paulo, said it was a city of twenty million and filled with refugees of all sorts. He had a friend, another Klansman I think, who could fix the paperwork and help him hide. He gave it a lot of thought."

"I wish he had. Maybe my father would still be with us."

"Two days before he went to Parchman, I saw him in the jail in Greenville. It was our last visit. I asked him why he hadn’t run. He said he never dreamed he would get the death penalty. I couldn’t believe that for years he’d been a free man and could’ve easily run away. It was a big mistake, he said, not running. A mistake that would cost him his life."

Adam placed the popcorn bowl on the table, and slowly leaned toward her. His head rested on her shoulder. She took his hand. "I’m sorry you’re in the middle of this," she whispered.

"He looked so pitiful sitting there in a red death row jumpsuit."

Chapter 12

CLYDE PACKER poured a generous serving of a strong brew into a cup with his name on it, and began filling out the morning’s paperwork. He had worked the Row for twenty-one years, the last seven as the Shift Commander. For eight hours each morning, he would be one of four Tier Sergeants, in charge of fourteen condemned men, two guards, and two trustees. He completed his forms and checked a clipboard. There was a note to call the warden. Another note said that F. M. Dempsey was low on heart pills and wanted to see the doctor. They all wanted to see the doctor. He sipped the steaming coffee as he left the office for his morning inspection. He checked the uniforms of two guards at the front door and told the young white one to get a haircut.

MSU was not a bad place to work. As a general rule, death row inmates were quiet and well behaved. They spent twenty-three hours a day alone in their cells, separated from each other and thus unable to instigate trouble. They spent sixteen hours a day sleeping. They were fed in their cells. They were allowed an hour of outdoor recreation per day, their `hour out’ as they called it, and they could have this time alone if they chose. Everyone had either a television or a radio, or both, and after breakfast the four tiers came to life with music and news and soap operas and quiet conversations through the bars. The inmates could not see their neighbors next door, but they conversed with little trouble. Arguments erupted occasionally over the volume of someone’s music, but these little spats were quickly settled by the guards. The inmates had certain rights, and then they had certain privileges. The removal of a television or a radio was devastating.

The Row bred an odd camaraderie among those sentenced there. Half were white, half were black, and all had been convicted of brutal killings. But there was little concern about past deeds and criminal records, and generally no real interest in skin color. Out in the general prison population, gangs of all varieties did an effective job of classifying inmates, usually on the basis of race. On the Row, however, a man was judged by the way he handled his confinement. Whether they liked each other or not, they were all locked together in this tiny corner of the world, all waiting to die. It was a ragtag little fraternity of misfits, drifters, outright thugs, and cold-blooded killers.