Juror #3(58)

I tried to snatch my arm away, but he held me fast. In a whisper I said, “I was trying to make a point.”

His eyes were wide with fury. He pulled me closer, and the odor of his cologne engulfed me.

“Your cross-examination of the hotel maid was a disaster. She made you look like a fool. And she made me look like some kind of freak, some criminal.”

With a mighty yank, I freed my arm. “You were in bed with a dead woman, Lee. That does look pretty bad.”

His head jerked as if I’d struck him. He said, “It sounds to me like you harbor doubts about my innocence. Well, I have doubts about you, Ruby. About your competence. Your ability to represent me in this case. To provide effective assistance of counsel. I’m beginning to think my father was right.”

The cologne made my eyes run, as well as my nose. I pulled my briefcase from its spot on the floor, pulled out a tissue and blew my nose.

Then I turned to Lee and said, “I’ve had a bellyful of your attitude.”

I shoved the soggy tissue into the briefcase, followed by my legal pad, and closed it with a vicious zip. Then I looked up at him and said, “You want another lawyer? No problem, it’s your privilege. If you want me to withdraw, I’d be delighted. I’ll go into chambers and tell the judge, right this minute. Your call.” I swiped at the allergic tears seeping out of my eyes.

Over Lee’s shoulder I saw a figure loom: my law partner, Suzanne Greene. She reached up and grabbed Lee’s left ear, then gave it a twist.

He howled. Pulling away from the assault and rubbing his ear, he turned to her and said, “Damn, Aunt Suze! That hurts.”

“What have you done now? You’ve made your lawyer cry?” Though Lee stood a head taller than me, he had no advantage on Suzanne. At six feet tall, she stood nose to nose with Lee, and she outweighed him by seventy pounds.

Lee lifted his chin, straightened his tie. “Glad you could make it, Aunt Suzanne. My daddy was thinking you’d lost interest in the fate of your only nephew.”

She squinted over the reading glasses that sat on the end of her nose. “Don’t you try to turn this around on me. I walk into court and find you disrespecting your attorney, my law partner. How dare you carry on like that in a court of law? Are you trying to hang yourself?”

He dropped his voice. “Oh, Ruby’s doing a fine job of that, with no help from me.”

Suzanne reached for Lee’s ear again, but when her hand rose, he stepped out of range. She paused and crossed her arms on her massive chest.

“Lee Greene, if you can’t follow your attorney’s lead and assist with the representation in a respectful fashion, then I believe you’d best go on back to Jackson and hire somebody else.”

He glanced around the courtroom. It was empty, save for a gray-haired spectator napping on a far bench. “Where’s my daddy? I’ll have him make some calls. To the Jackson defense firm we’ve been thinking about.”

Suzanne snorted. “You do that. You bring in some fancy-pants lawyer from Jackson. Stick him or her in court in Rosedale, in Williams County, where Ruby Bozarth is a rock star. The locals don’t cater much to city slickers.”

After a moment, he huffed a haughty chuckle. “So Ruby has dragged this trial to a hick town on the riverbank, and I’m stuck with her. Because of the hometown advantage.” He dropped into his wooden chair at the counsel table and rubbed his eyes.

The courtroom door opened and I tensed, glancing over to see who might witness the battle at the defense table. When I saw a tall figure making his way toward me with a paper bag in one hand and a plastic cup in the other, my shoulders sagged with relief.

“Shorty! You should be at the diner, hon; it’s gotta be packed today.”

“I was worried about you. Why didn’t you come over to eat lunch? You know I put a Reserved sign on your counter stool when you’re in trial.” He bent down and kissed my cheek, then set the bag on the table and handed the cup to me. “Sweet tea.”

“Oh, Lord, honey—you’re a saint.” I took a long drag on the striped straw.

From his seat at the counsel table, Lee said, “Ruby, darling, introduce me to your friend. I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure.”

I made the introductions as briefly as possible without being rude. To Suzanne, I said, “Suzanne and Lee, maybe y’all should go to the office and talk.”

“Talk? About what?” Lee wore a hurt expression.

“You know. About what you want to do regarding your representation.”

Lee laughed. “Now, Ruby, don’t get moody on me. I’ve known you too long for that.” To Shorty, he said, “She gets a little feisty sometimes.”

Shorty’s face was stony. He didn’t respond.

In a warning tone, Suzanne said, “Lee, you’d best come along with me. Let Ruby have some lunch.”

Lee ignored his aunt. He sighed and spoke to me in a wheedling tone, so sweet that butter wouldn’t melt. “Ruby, honey, you know I wouldn’t trust this case to anyone but you. You must have misread my meaning.”

I was standing within arm’s reach of his chair. He reached out to squeeze my calf.

“We’re old, old friends…”

The sentence was cut off when Shorty reached across the table, grabbed Lee’s striped necktie, and jerked him out of his chair.