"No. Sam is my father's father."
"All right. Why do you have different last names?"
"Because my father changed his name."
I hy?"
don't want to answer that. I don't want to go into a lot of family background."
"Did you grow up in Clanton?"
"No. I was born there, but left when I was three years old. My parents moved to California. That's where I grew up."
"So you were not around Sam Cayhall?"
"No."
"Did you know him?"
"I met him yesterday."
Marks considered the next question, and thankfully the beer arrived. They sipped in unison and said nothing.
He stared at his notepad, scribbled something, then asked, "How long have you been with Kravitz & Bane?"
"Almost a year."
"How long have you worked on the Cayhall case?"
"A day and a half."
He took a long drink, and watched Adam as if he expected an explanation. "Look, uh, Mr. Hall - "
"It's Adam."
"Okay, Adam. There seem to be a lot of gaps here. Could you help me a bit?"
No.
"All right. I read somewhere that Cayhall fired Kravitz & Bane recently. Were you working on the case when this happened?"
"I just told you I've been working on the case for a day and a half."
"When did you first go to death row?"
"Yesterday."
"Did he know you were coming?"
"I don't want to get into that."
"Why not?"
"This is a very confidential matter. I'm not going to discuss my visits to death row. I will confirm or deny only those things which you can verify elsewhere."
"Does Sam have other children?"
"I'm not going to discuss family. I'm sure your paper has covered this before."
"But it was a long time ago."
"Then look it up."
Another long drink, and another long look at the notepad. "What are the odds of the execution taking place on August 8?"
"It's very hard to say. I wouldn't want to speculate."
"But all the appeals have run, haven't they?"
"Maybe. Let's say I've got my work cut out for me."
"Can the governor grant a pardon?"
"Yes."
"Is that a possibility?"
"Rather unlikely. You'll have to ask him."
"Will your client do any interviews before the execution?"
"I doubt it."
Adam glanced at his watch as if he suddenly had to catch a plane. "Anything else?" he asked, then finished off the beer.
Marks stuck his pen in a shirt pocket. "Can we talk again?"
"Depends."
"On what?"
"On how you handle this. If you drag up the family stuff, then forget it."
"Must be some serious skeletons in the closet."
"No comment." Adam stood and offered a handshake. "Nice meeting you," he said as they shook hands.