Sycamore Row - John Grisham

stairwell shook. Roxy called after him, protesting. Badly overweight and pathetically out
of shape, he was almost gasping when he kicked open Jake’s door and began with a
friendly “Damn woman’s gone crazy.” He tossed a copy of the newspaper onto Jake’s
desk.
“Morning Harry Rex,” Jake said as his friend collapsed in a chair and worked on his
heavy breathing, each gasp a bit softer, each exhalation delaying cardiac arrest.
“She tryin’ to piss off everybody?” he asked.
“It sure looks that way. You want some coffee?”
“Got a Bud Light?”
“It’s nine o’clock in the morning.”
“So? I’m not goin’ to court today. On days off, I’m startin’ earlier.”
“Do you think you’re drinking too much?”
“Hell no. With my clients, I’m not drinkin’ enough. Neither are you.”
“I don’t keep beer in the office. Don’t keep it at home.”
“What a life.” Harry Rex suddenly reached forward, grabbed the newspaper, held it
up, and pointed to the photo of Lettie. “Tell me something, Jake, what does the average
white person in this county say when he sees this photo. You got a black housekeeper,
who’s lookin’ all right, and she somehow got herself inserted into the old boy’s will, and
now she’s hired these slick African lawyers from the big city to come down here and
grab the money. How does this play over at the Coffee Shop?”
“I think you know.”
“Is she stupid?”
“No, but they got to her. Simeon has kinfolks in Memphis, and somehow a connection
was made. She has no idea what she’s doing and she’s getting bad advice.”
“You’re on her side, Jake. Can’t you talk to her?” He tossed the paper back onto the
desk.
“No. I thought I could, then she hired Sistrunk. I tried to speak to her in court
yesterday, but they were guarding her too closely. Tried to speak to the Hubbard kids,
too, but they weren’t too friendly.”
“You’re a popular man these days, Jake.”
“I didn’t feel too popular yesterday. But Judge Atlee likes me.”
“I heard he wasn’t too impressed with Sistrunk.”
“No, he wasn’t. The jury won’t be either.”
“So you’re askin’ for a jury?”
“Yes, His Honor wants one, but you didn’t hear it from me.”
“I did not. You gotta figure out a way to get to her. Sistrunk’ll piss off everybody in
the state and she won’t get a dime.”
“Should she?”
“Hell yeah. It’s Seth’s money, if he wants to leave it to the Communist Party then it’s
his business. He made it all by himself, he can damned sure give it away as he pleases.
Wait till you deal with those two kids, a couple of sacks-a-shit if you ask me, and you’ll
understand why Seth picked somebody else.”
“I thought you hated Seth.”