Sycamore Row - John Grisham

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was empty after the salads, and they needed more wine. Instead, Carla poured iced tea and they managed to finish the meal. After Hanna was in bed, they sipped decaf coffee, ate cookies, and talked about worldly matters. Of Lettie and the will and its related issues, not one word was uttered.
20 Ancil Hubbard was no longer Ancil Hubbard. The old name and self had been discarded in a hurry years earlier when a pregnant woman found him and made allegations and demands. She wasn’t the first to cause him trouble, or a name change. There was an abandoned wife in Thailand, some jealous husbands here and there, the IRS, some type of police in at least three countries, and a cranky drug dealer in Costa Rica. And these were just the most memorable highlights of a chaotic and sloppily lived life, one he would have happily traded long ago for something more traditional. But traditional was not in the cards for Ancil Hubbard. He was working in a bar in Juneau, Alaska, in a seedy section of town where sailors and deckhands and roustabouts gathered to drink and shoot dice and blow off steam. A couple of ferocious bouncers kept the peace, but it was always fragile. He went by Lonny, a name he’d noticed in an obituary in a newspaper in Tacoma two years earlier. Lonny Clark. Lonny knew how to game the system, and if Lonny had so chosen he could have obtained a Social Security number, a driver’s license in any state he wanted, even a passport. But Lonny was playing it safe, and there were no records of his existence in any government file or computer. He did not exist, though he had some fake papers in the event he got cornered. He worked in bars because he was paid in cash. He rented a room in a flophouse down the street and paid cash. He rode bikes and buses, and if he needed to vanish, which was always a possibility, he would pay cash for a Greyhound ticket and flash a fake driver’s license. Or hitchhike, something he’d done for a million miles. He worked behind the bar and studied every person who came and went. Thirty years on the run and you learn how to watch, to look, to catch the prolonged glance, to spot someone who doesn’t fit. Because his misdeeds involved no bodily harm to others, nor did they, regretfully, involve huge sums of money, there was a good chance he wasn’t being chased at all. Lonny was a small-time operator whose principal weakness was an attraction to flawed women. No real crime there. There were some crimes—petty drug dealing, pettier gunrunning—but, hell, a man’s gotta make a living somehow. Perhaps a couple of his crimes were more serious. Nonetheless, after a lifetime of drifting, he had become accustomed to looking over his shoulder. The crimes were now behind him, as were the women, for the most part. At sixty-six, Lonny was accepting the fact that a fading libido might just be a good thing after all. It kept him out of trouble, kept him focused on other things. He dreamed of buying a fishing boat, though it would be impossible to save enough from his meager earnings.
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This book is a work of fiction. Nam
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Contents Cover Title Page Copyright
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1 They found Seth Hubbard in the ge
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Touching nothing, he backed away an
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2 Jake Brigance stared at the brigh
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shift and whose primary responsibil
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Dell was an old tart with the quick
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indictment. Secretly, Jake hoped Ma
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she left; now, though, he almost mi
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in knowing I will not be there to s
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She did as he instructed, and when
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“They’ll make all sorts of clai
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4 The drive from central Memphis to
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Lettie carefully poured the coffee
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minutes of near silence, they lost
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suicide. The second was addressed n
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5 By noon Monday the entire bar ass
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Jake said, “Tell me about Seth Hu
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“My client wants me to wait until
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and her husband rarely made things
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6 The parking lot of the Irish Road
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pretending to mourn at $200 an hour
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disbelief, then pointed to the park
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“I just got home and you’re rea
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“It’s very important, Ms. Lang,
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ead the two-page will. Slowly, her
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“You have a filthy mind. I love i
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8 Russell Amburgh hid behind a news
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good hurricane season, lots of dama
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was out of his mind. You can’t ma
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fictionalized, but through it all t
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seen liquor in the house; Seth didn
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the picnic table. An hour earlier,
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in ten years. And your family, with
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10 Three well-dressed lawyers from
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in different circles. As the favore
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everyone who crossed him and defend
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“Sure. I’d fight over a lot les
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11 A nosy paralegal sniffing throug
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Herschel was sitting behind the whe
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estate here and there. One of my jo
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“No comment, Dumas,” Jake said,
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the law than you do anyway. And, I
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Judge Atlee said, “Before we get
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“Skole, Your Honor. Skole, Rumky,
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people in the courtroom. Even Judge
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out of state. Otherwise, everyone i
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stairwell shook. Roxy called after
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To Jake, it was significant that Ha
Page 101 and 102: “No. My job is to protect the wil
Page 103 and 104: contest. Hell, we got three trials
Page 105 and 106: 14 The Berring Lumber Company was a
Page 107 and 108: “That was my job. We talked every
Page 109 and 110: Kamila said, “He got pretty aggre
Page 111 and 112: “But why?” she managed to ask.
Page 113 and 114: suspect. He ran a ten-man litigatio
Page 115 and 116: too few square feet. Now, though, t
Page 117 and 118: “I think so.” Benjy dealt black
Page 119 and 120: so much, and with such authority, t
Page 121 and 122: the window. They rode in silence un
Page 123 and 124: panel. He was brash, loud, smart, f
Page 125 and 126: mother had been blown away by a saw
Page 127 and 128: jury also ruled against nasty littl
Page 129 and 130: 17 The usual white-collar crowd gat
Page 131 and 132: The lawyer calmly said, “Ethics a
Page 133 and 134: went to court. “I hear he’s got
Page 135 and 136: closed his eyes and heard the voice
Page 137 and 138: taken. He shook hands with Wade Lan
Page 139 and 140: client can get a fair trial. This i
Page 141 and 142: They looped twice around the square
Page 143 and 144: was blatantly obvious they were the
Page 145 and 146: Jake welcomed her into his office.
Page 147 and 148: Jake nodded and smiled. This woman
Page 149 and 150: had been a long time since he viewe
Page 151: Portia said. “It’s a lot easier
Page 155 and 156: start slingin’ all your racist sh
Page 157 and 158: “In due course,” Jake said. “
Page 159 and 160: office, one of three empty ones ups
Page 161 and 162: corrected Jake in open court on two
Page 163 and 164: Hubbard is Wednesday, his sister Th
Page 165 and 166: When everyone was in place and some
Page 167 and 168: Lanier introduced himself with a sa
Page 169 and 170: Some come and go.” Jake glared at
Page 171 and 172: incident when a friend or business
Page 173 and 174: Death by deposition continued on We
Page 175 and 176: 23 Leaving the courthouse in a hurr
Page 177 and 178: “I suppose. Herschel and Ramona c
Page 179 and 180: and I think he paid something like
Page 181 and 182: 24 On the morning of Christmas Eve,
Page 183 and 184: “What’s the point here, Lucien?
Page 185 and 186: To be fair, there were some Langs i
Page 187 and 188: might just know how to throw one. T
Page 189 and 190: 25 For those contesting the handwri
Page 191 and 192: for pursuing Lettie, but was met wi
Page 193 and 194: typewriters, law books, and more fi
Page 195 and 196: 26 On the last Friday in January, R
Page 197 and 198: adviser had already worn thin. Luci
Page 199 and 200: “And these are the guys from D.C.
Page 201 and 202: Such a conspicuous purchase would n
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He produced some paperwork, and the
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worked the front while his sister h
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28 On Monday, February 20, Judge At
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courtroom, but there were advantage
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Judge Atlee relit his pipe with a m
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“I’m not his lawyer, okay? Neve
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“Chuck Bennett, but I didn’t wa
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“I have no idea. Probably one app
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since Hubbard died. And now this. N
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30 Early Thursday morning Simeon La
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nonetheless serious rules was one t
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Lang’s daughter,” he said, and
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He owned two furniture factories in
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settlement. He has a strategy to fo
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32 Eight days after the Roston trag
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“Saturday is your day off. I’m
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dean was waiting on us at school, t
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case so screwed up it’ll never ge
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me he was no longer counsel of reco
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notoriously clannish and sensitive
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was napping, Lettie gently shook hi
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facing me in Chancery Court, in thi
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everywhere. There are gaps in every
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35 Two weeks before the scheduled s
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clients with the greatest interests
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on, “Now, and listen to me, I wil
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They went through all ninety-seven
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oughly $1.5 million. It took the po
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“No, Lucien, I’m more concerned
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awake. He assumed he was an officer
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37 Jake walked into the Coffee Shop
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Mr. Eli Rady, had filed four lawsui
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“I’m always sober in the mornin
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ack was cramping and Lonny tried to
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“Where’s Mr. Willie going to li
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In six months, he’d gone through
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enough. They drove to a fish shack
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pot, flirting with the clerks who k
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ickering for later.” After the re
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So far, his firm had either spent o
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Jake said, “Judge, I’d like to
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40 Lucien shuffled the deck and def
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“I did,” Lonny said. “Tell me
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“Should I tell Judge Atlee?” Ha
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41 In his defense of Carl Lee Haile
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this?’ However, it is not your re
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was rich, and she also knew his rel
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Funeral Instructions: I want a simp
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holographic will, thus entitled to
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42 The detective was leaving the ho
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eight doses a day of Demerol, at a
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“Not to my knowledge. There was n
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10:00 p.m. Jake asked the easy ques
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happened to be looking for a part-t
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windows, arranged magazines, even w
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“About a year, then she moved awa
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here, Wade. Judge, this is a clear
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Fritz said, “Seventy-five hundred
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“Don’t bet on it. You can’t l
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Lettie stared at him, dumbfounded.
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her deposition back in December and
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“Twelve.” “So it’s been twe
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as a witness until two weeks ago, i
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“We’ll see. Maybe it’s not ov
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airport lounges, all of which he no
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victims. He was well acquainted wit
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emember all the white families she
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46 After butting heads with the Mem
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not a single way to get it in.”
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awake and eager to witness this une
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or so away, and she was yelling and
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And we were certain the sheriff wou
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47 The jurors filed silently out of
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“I’m afraid to ask,” Jake sai
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thought he looked lost. When he cou
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“Are you okay?” Jake whispered
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sipped wine by Harry Rex’s pool a
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admitted to college will qualify fo
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“I’d be delighted.” He was th
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