Sycamore Row - John Grisham

After dark, Lucien went to the hotel bar and said good evening to Bo Buck, the
bartender, who was now a close friend. Bo Buck had once been a judge in Nevada
before things conspired to wreck his life, and he and Lucien enjoyed swapping stories.
They talked for a moment as Lucien waited on his first Jack and Coke. He took it to a
table and sat down, alone and loving the solitude. Just a man and his sour mash. A
minute later, Ancil Hubbard materialized from nowhere and sat across the table.
“Evening Lucien,” he said casually.
Startled, Lucien stared at him for a few seconds to make sure. He was wearing a
baseball cap, a sweatshirt, and jeans. That morning he’d been unconscious in a hospital
bed with tubes running everywhere.
“Didn’t expect to see you here,” Lucien said.
“I got tired of the hospital, so I walked out. I guess I’m a fugitive, but that’s nothing
new. I kinda like being on the run.”
“What about your head, and the infection?”
“My head’s sore, though not nearly as sore as they thought. Remember, Lucien, I was
scheduled to go from the hospital to the jail, a transfer I preferred not to make. Let’s just
say I wasn’t nearly as unconscious as they thought. The infection is under control.” He
pulled out a bottle of pills. “When I left I took my antibiotics. I’ll be all right.”
“How’d you leave?”
“Walked out. They rolled me downstairs for a scan. I went to the restroom. They
thought I couldn’t walk, so I ran down some steps, found the basement, found a locker
room, changed clothes. Came out through the service ramp. Cops were swarming last
time I checked. I was drinking coffee across the street.”
“This is a small town, Ancil. You can’t hide for long.”
“What do you know about hiding? I have some friends.”
“You want something to drink?”
“No, but I’d love a burger and fries.”
Harry Rex scowled at the witness and demanded, “Did you touch his penis?”
Lettie looked away, embarrassed, then managed a tepid “Yes, yes I did.”
“Of course you did, Lettie,” Jake said. “He was unable to bathe himself, so you had to
do it, and you did it more than once. A bath means bathing the entire body. He couldn’t
do it; you had to. There was nothing intimate or even remotely sexual about it. You
were simply doing your job.”
“I can’t do this,” Lettie said, looking helplessly at Portia. “He won’t ask me these
questions, will he?”
“He damned sure will,” Harry Rex growled. “He’ll ask you these and many more and
you’d better be ready with the answers.”
“Let’s take a break,” Jake said.
“I need a beer,” Harry Rex said, climbing to his feet. He stomped out of the room as if
he were sick of them all. They had been rehearsing for two hours and it was almost