A time to kill

He ate with Tim Nunley, a mechanic down at the Chevrolet place, and two brothers, Bill and Bert West, who worked at the shoe factory north of town. He splashed three drops of Tabasco on his grits and stirred them artfully with a slice of butter-. He covered the toast with a half inch of homemade strawberry jelly. Once his food was properly prepared, he tasted the coffee and started eating. They ate quietly and discussed how the crappie were biting.

In a booth by the window a few feet from Jake's table, three deputies talked among themselves. The big one, Marshall Prather, turned to Jake and asked loudly, "Say, Jake, didn't you defend Billy Ray Cobb a few years ago?"

The cafe was instantly silent as everyone looked at the lawyer. Startled not by the question but by its response, Jake swallowed his grits and searched for the name.

"Billy Ray Cobb," he repeated aloud. "What kind of case was it?"

"Dope," Prather said. "Caught him sellin' dope about four years ago. Spent time in Parchman and got out last year."

Jake remembered. "Naw, I didn't represent him. I think he had a Memphis lawyer."

Prather seemed satisfied and returned to his pancakes. Jake waited.

Finally he asked, "Why? What's he done now?"

"We picked him up last night for rape."

"Rape!"

"Yeah, him and Pete Willard."

"Who'd they rape?"

"You remember that Hailey nigger you got off in that murder trial a few years ago?"

"Lester Hailey. Of course I remember."

"You know his brother Carl Lee?"

"Sure. Know him well. I know all the Haileys. Represented most of them."

"Well, it was his little girl."

"You're kidding?"

"Nope."

"How old is she?"

"Ten."

Jake's appetite disappeared as the cafe returned to normal. He played with his coffee and listened to the conversation change from fishing to Japanese cars and back to fishing. When the West brothers left, he slid into the booth with the deputies.

"How is she?" he asked.

"Who?"

"The Hailey girl."

"Pretty bad," said Prather. "She's in the hospital."

"What happened?"

"We don't know everything. She ain't been able to talk much. Her momma sent her to the store. They live on Craft Road behind Bates Grocery."

"I know where they live."

"Somehow they got her in Cobb's pickup and took her out in the woods somewhere and raped her."

"Both of them?"

"Yeah, several times. And they kicked her and beat her real bad. Some of her kinfolks didn't know her, she was beat so bad."

Jake shook his head. "That's sick."

"Sure is. Worst I've ever seen. They tried to kill her. Left her for dead."

"Who found her?"

"Buncha niggers fishin' down by Foggy Creek. Saw her floppin' out in the middle of the road. Had her hands tied behind her. She was talkin' a little-told them who her daddy was and they took her home."

"How'd you know it was Billy Ray Cobb?"

"She told her momma it was a yellow pickup truck with a rebel flag hangin' in the rear window. That's about all Ozzie needed. He had it figured out by the time she got to the hospital."

Prather was careful not to say too much. He liked Jake, but he was a lawyer and he handled a lot of criminal cases.

"Who is Pete Willard?"

"Some friend of Cobb's."

"Where'd y'all find them?"

"Huey's."

"That figures." Jake drank his coffee and thought of Hanna.

"Sick, sick, sick," Looney mumbled.

"How's Carl Lee?"

Prather wiped syrup from his mustache. "Personally, I don't know him, but I ain't ever heard anything bad about him. They're still at the hospital. I think Ozzie was with them all night. He knows them real well, of course, he knows all those folks real well. Hastings is kin to the girl somehow."

"When's the preliminary hearing?"

"Bullard set it for one P.M. today. Ain't that right, Looney?"

Looney nodded.

"Any bond?"

"Ain't been set yet. Bollard's gonna wait till the hearing. If she dies, they'll be lookin' at capital murder, won't they?"

Jake nodded.

"They can't have a bond for capital murder, can they, Jake?" Looney asked.

"They can but I've never seen one. I know Bullard won't set a bond for capital murder, and if he did, they couldn't make it."

"If she don't die, how much time can they get?" asked Nesbit, the third deputy.

Others listened as Jake explained. "They can get life sentences for the rape. I assume they will also be charged with kidnapping and aggravated assault."

"They already have."

"Then they can get twenty years for the kidnapping and twenty years for the aggravated assault."

"Yeah, but how much time will they serve?" asked Looney.

Jake thought a second. "They could conceivably be paroled in thirteen years. Seven for the rape, three for the kidnapping, and three for the aggravated assault. That's assuming they're convicted on all charges and sentenced to the maximum."

"What about Cobb? He's got a record."

"Yeah, but he's not habitual unless he's got two prior convictions."

"Thirteen years," Looney repeated, shaking his head.