Sycamore Row - John Grisham

19
The word was leaked from a legitimate source and it spread like wildfire through the
courthouse and around the square. Come 9:00 a.m., Judge Atlee would reconvene and
allow his prisoners the opportunity to apologize. The very notion of seeing Rufus
Buckley and Booker Sistrunk dragged into court, hopefully in chains and rubber shower
shoes and orange county overalls, was impossible to resist.
Their story had gained traction and was the source of enthusiastic gossip and
speculation. For Buckley, it was an enormous humiliation. For Sistrunk, it was nothing
but another chapter.
The Memphis morning paper ran every word of Dumas’s report on the front page of
the Metro section, and accompanied it with a huge photo of the two handcuffed cocounsels
leaving the courthouse the day before. The headline alone was worth it for
Sistrunk: PROMINENT MEMPHIS LAWYER JAILED IN MISSISSIPPI. In addition to
Dumas’s startlingly accurate story, there was a smaller one about the petition for habeas
corpus relief filed by the Sistrunk & Bost firm in federal court in Oxford. A hearing was
scheduled for 1:00 that afternoon.
Jake sat on his balcony overlooking the square, sipping coffee with Lucien and
waiting for the patrol cars to arrive. Ozzie had promised to call with a heads-up.
Lucien, who hated early mornings and with good reason, looked surprisingly fresh
and clear-eyed. He claimed he was drinking less and exercising more, and he was
certainly working harder. Jake was finding it increasingly difficult to avoid him around
his (their) office.
Lucien said, “I never thought I would see the day when Rufus Buckley was hauled
away in handcuffs.”
“Beautiful, just beautiful, and still hard to believe,” Jake said. “I’m going to call
Dumas and see if I can buy the photo of Buckley being led into the jail.”
“Please do, and make me a copy.”
“Eight-by-ten, framed. I could probably sell them.”
Roxy was forced to climb the stairs, enter Jake’s office, and walk to the balcony where
she found her boss. She said, “That was Sheriff Walls. They’re on the way over.”
“Thanks.”
Jake and Lucien hurried across the street, and it was impossible to miss the fact that
other law offices were being vacated as attorneys from around the square suddenly had
urgent business in the courthouse. Poor Buckley had made so many enemies. The
courtroom was far from packed, but quite a few of those enemies were milling about. It