Jake could not believe the amount of butterflies in his stomach as the jury walked out to take their seats again. He slowly turned and looked at Carl Lee, who didn’t look quite as nervous, but you could still tell this was important to him. Gwen on the other hand, was not doing so well. Her eyes were bright red and tearing as she stared at her husband, praying that he would be let off.
Noose slowly examined each juror, trying to make out their faces. Two were crying, two were smiling, three looked like they were about to get sick, and the rest looked like they just wanted this to be over.
“Well, I can agree to that,” thought Noose silently. “Well, I’d better get this going.”
He sat up very straight in his chair, adjusted him glasses nervously, and said, “Jury, have you reached a verdict?”
“Yes we have Your Honor,” the head juror replied.
“And what would that be?” Noose asked.
The whole courtroom became quieter than a grave all of a sudden, as the audience said their final prayers that Carl Lee would be turned loose.
The head juror slowly recited off a sheet of paper, “Your Honor, we have found the defendant guilty on two charges of murder and assault of a uniformed officer.”
That was when all hell broke loose. A collective gasp ran through the courtroom. Women started crying, people were storming the jurors, and some people were running around in rage, breaking everything they saw.
Jake and Gwen had it the worst. Jake had vomited as soon as he heard the verdict. Then when he saw the triumphant look on Buckley’s face, he vomited again. Gwen had fainted, and was now coming around again. The look on her face was crushingly sad—like she had just lost her husband, which in a sense, she had.
Then came the aftershock of the blacks parading outside. Agee was leading the war cry. Blacks were storming everywhere, running into the courthouse to try to get a look at the jurors who had sentenced Carl Lee. Others fell down in tears.
When the Klan became aware, they triumphantly started chanting various racial slurs. When the blacks heard this, they immediately rushed the Klan, who was outnumbered five to one. There was kicking and punching and killing everywhere. In all, about 50 Klan were killed, and 10 blacks.
Jake ran out of the courtroom with his head down low, where he was congratulated by the Klan. That was it. He snapped.
“Shut the heck up you miserable scum!” he roared. “You burn down my house, murder my secretary’s husband, shoot a National Guard, kidnap Row Ark, and try to scare off the jurors. You should be ashamed. If I were Carl Lee right now, I’d shoot each and every one of you!”
Then he ran to his office. Lucien was waiting for him.
“Hey kid sorry to hear about the trial,” he told Jake. “We all have our bad cases. Maybe a drink will help you.”
Without saying a word, Jake took the mixer, and downed the whole jug of margaritas. He then passed out on the couch. Lucien covered him with a blanket, and stayed with him until he woke up again.
Just as he woke up, there was another surprise. Ellen walked into the room looking very healthy, but almost completely bald.
“Ellen!” Jake said as he ran to hug her. “I’m so glad you’re feeling better.”
“Thanks,” she replied. “I heard about the trial. I’m so sorry Jake. I know how hard you worked at this case.”
“Well there’s nothing we can do about it,” said Jake.
Then he fell again into the sofa as he remembered something—Carla. He would have to tell her everything, from losing the trial, to barely getting paid, to the house being burned down. He would wait a couple more hours then make the long drive to be reunited with Carla. But until then, he would enjoy the time he had, if that was possible, and hope she wouldn’t ask for a divorce.
He knew things would eventually work out back to normal, but it would take time, which was one thing he had a lot of. This was just the beginning.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 11.10.2009

Alle Rechte vorbehalten