Sycamore Row - John Grisham

happened to be looking for a part-time maid. She went through her history with Mr.
Hubbard, his rules, habits, routines, and, later, his preferences in food and cooking.
Three days a week became four. He gave her a raise, then another. He traveled a lot
and she was often in the house with little to do. Not once in three years did he entertain
or have another person over for a meal. She met Herschel and Ramona, but rarely saw
them. Ramona visited once a year, and for only a few hours, and Herschel’s drop-ins
were not much more frequent. She had never met any of Mr. Hubbard’s four
grandchildren.
“But I didn’t work on the weekends so I don’t know who came and went then,” she
said. “Mr. Hubbard could’ve had all sorts of company.” She was trying to appear fair,
but only to a point.
“But you worked every Monday, correct?” Jake asked from the script.
“I did.”
“And did you ever see evidence of weekend guests in the home?”
“No sir, never.”
Being nice to Herschel and Ramona was not part of the plan at this point. They had
no plans to be nice to Lettie; indeed, based on their depositions, it was safe to expect
them to lie considerably.
After an hour on the stand, Lettie felt more comfortable. Her answers were clearer,
more spontaneous, and she occasionally smiled at the jurors. Jake eventually got around
to Mr. Hubbard’s lung cancer. She described how her boss went through a string of
unimpressive home-health-care nurses, and finally asked Lettie if she would work five
days a week. She described the low points, when the chemo knocked him flat and almost
killed him, when he couldn’t walk to the bathroom or feed himself.
Do not show emotion, Portia had lectured. Do not show any feelings whatsoever for
Mr. Hubbard. The jurors cannot get the impression there was an emotional bond
between the two of you. Of course there had been, the same as any dying person and his
caregiver, but do not acknowledge it on the witness stand.
Jake hit the high points but did not spend much time on Mr. Hubbard’s cancer. Wade
Lanier would certainly do so. Jake asked Lettie if she had ever signed a will. No, she had
not.
“Have you ever seen a will?”
“No sir.”
“Did Mr. Hubbard ever discuss his will with you?”
She managed a chuckle, and sold it perfectly. She said, “Mr. Hubbard was extremely
private. He never discussed business or anything like that with me. He never discussed
his family or kids or anything. He just wasn’t like that.”
The truth was that Seth had twice promised Lettie he would leave something behind
for her, but he had never mentioned his will. She and Portia had discussed it, and it was
Portia’s opinion that Wade Lanier and the lawyers on the other side would blow this out
of proportion if she admitted it. They would twist it, exaggerate it, and turn it into
something lethal. “So you did discuss his last will with him!” Lanier would yell in front
of the jury.