"Shit!" Cooley's knees buckled and his arms dropped from his chest. "You're lying!"
Adam took a step toward him. "I'm not lying, and if you object to my presence here, then you need to call Chicago."
"This is awful," Cooley said as he retreated and headed for the door.
"Call Chicago."
"I might do that," he said, almost to himself, as he opened the door and disappeared, mumbling something else.
Welcome to Memphis, Adam said as he sat in his new chair and stared at the blank computer screen. He placed the scrap of paper on the table and looked at the name and phone number. A sharp hunger pain hit, and he realized he hadn't eaten in hours. It was almost four. He was suddenly weak and tired and hungry.
He gently placed both feet on the table next to the phone, and closed his eyes. The day was a blur, from the anxiety of driving to Parchman and seeing the front gate of the prison, from the unexpected meeting with Lucas Mann, to the horror of stepping onto the Row, to the fear of confronting Sam. And now the warden wanted to meet him, the press wanted to inquire, the Memphis branch of his firm wanted it all hushed up. All this, in less than eight hours.
What could he expect tomorrow?
They sat next to each other on the deep cushioned sofa with a bowl of microwave popcorn between them. Their bare feet were on the coffee table amid a half dozen empty cartons of Chinese food and two bottles of wine. They peered over their toes and watched the television. Adam held the remote control. The room was dark. He slowly ate popcorn.
Lee hadn't moved in a long time. Her eyes were wet, but she said nothing. The video started for the second time.
Adam pushed the Pause button as Sam first appeared, in handcuffs, being rushed from the jail to a hearing. "Where were you when you heard. he was arrested?" he asked without looking at her.
"Here in Memphis," she said quietly but with a strong voice. "We had been married for a few years. I was at home. Phelps called and said there had been a bombing in Greenville, at least two people were dead. Might be the Klan. He told me to watch the news at noon, but I was afraid to. A few hours later, my mother called and told me they had arrested Daddy for the bombing. She said he was in jail in Greenville."
"How'd you react?"
"I don't know. Stunned. Scared. Eddie got on the phone and told me that he and Mother had been instructed by Sam to sneak over to Cleveland and retrieve his car. I remember Eddie kept saying that he'd finally done it, he'd finally done it. He'd killed someone else. Eddie was crying and I started crying, and I remember it was horrible."
"They got the car."
"Yeah. No one ever knew it. It never came out during any of the trials. We were scared the cops would find out about it, and make Eddie and my mother testify. But it never happened."
"Where was I?"
"Let me see. You guys lived in a little white house in Clanton, and I'm sure you were there with Evelyn. I don't think she was working at the time. But I'm not sure."
"What kind of work was my father doing?"
"I don't remember. At one time he worked as a manager in an auto parts store in Clanton, but he was always changing jobs."
The video continued with clips of Sam being escorted to and from the jail and the courthouse, then there was the report that he had been formally indicted for the murders. He paused it. "Did any one of you visit Sam in jail?"
"No. Not while he was in Greenville. His bond was very high, a half a million dollars, I think."
"It was a half a million."
"And at first the family tried to raise the money to bail him out. Mother, of course, wanted me to convince Phelps to write a check. Phelps, of course, said no. He wanted no part of it. We fought bitterly, but I couldn't really blame him. Daddy stayed in jail. I remember one of his brothers trying to borrow against some land, but it didn't work. Eddie didn't want to go to jail to see him, and Mother wasn't able. I'm not sure Sam wanted us there."
"When did we leave Clanton?"
Lee leaned forward and took her wineglass from the table. She sipped and thought for a moment. "He'd been in jail about a month, I believe. I drove down one day to see Mother, and she told me Eddie was talking about leaving. I didn't believe it. She said he was embarrassed and humiliated and couldn't face people around town. He'd just lost his job and he wouldn't leave the house. I called him and talked to Evelyn. Eddie wouldn't get on the phone. She said he was depressed and disgraced and all that, and I remember telling her that we all felt that way. I asked her if they were leaving, and she distinctly said no. About a week later, Mother called again and said you guys had packed and left in the middle of the night. The landlord was calling and wanting rent, and no one had seen Eddie. The house was empty."
"I wish I remembered some of this."
"You were only three, Adam. The last time I saw you you were playing by the garage of the little white house. You were so cute and sweet."
"Gee thanks."
"Several weeks passed, then one day Eddie called me and told me to tell Mother that you guys were in Texas and doing okay."
"Texas?"
"Yeah. Evelyn told me much later that y'all sort of drifted westward. She was pregnant and anxious to settle down some place. He called again and said y'all were in California. That was the last call for many years."
"Years?"
"Yeah. I tried to convince him to come home, but he was adamant. Swore he'd never return, and I guess he meant it."
"Where were my mother's parents?"
"I don't know. They were not from Ford County. Seems like they lived in Georgia, maybe Florida."
"I've never met them."
He pushed the button again and the video continued. The first trial started in Nettles County. The camera panned the courthouse lawn with the group of Klansmen and rows of policemen and swarms of onlookers.
"This is incredible," Lee said.
He stopped it again. "Did you go to the trial?"
"Once. I sneaked in the courthouse and listened to the closing arguments. He forbade us to watch any of his three trials. Mother was not able. Her blood pressure was out of control, and she was taking lots of medication. She was practically bedridden."
"Did Sam know you were there?"
"No. I sat in the back of the courtroom with a scarf over my head. He never saw me."
"What was Phelps doing?"
"Hiding in his office, tending to his business, praying no one would find out Sam Cayhall was his father-in-law. Our first separation occurred not long after this trial."
"What do you remember from the trial, from the courtroom?"
"I remember thinking that Sam got himself a good jury, his kind of people. I don't know how his lawyer did it, But they picked twelve of the biggest rednecks they could find. I watched the jurors react to the prosecutor, and I watched them listen carefully to Sam's lawyer."
"Clovis Brazelton."
"He was quite an orator, and they hung on every word. I was shocked when the jury couldn't agree on a verdict and a mistrial was declared. I was convinced he would be acquitted. I think he was shocked too."