by John Grisham
Evidently, Jack Hogan had no way to prove how often Duffy had used the apartment. He moved on, to the subject of golf, and his cross-examination lost its steam. Duffy knew much more about golf than the prosecutor, and the two haggled and bickered for what seemed like an hour.
It was almost 6:00 p.m. when Jack Hogan finally sat down. Judge Gantry wasted no time before announcing, “I have decided not to hold court tomorrow. I think the jurors need a break. I hope you have a quiet and restful weekend, and I’ll see you here at nine Monday morning. At that time, we will have closing arguments, then you will finally get the case. Again, the usual instructions. Do not discuss this case. If anyone contacts you and attempts to discuss this case, please notify me immediately. Thank you for your service. I’ll see you Monday.”
The bailiffs escorted the jurors through a side door. Once they were gone, Judge Gantry looked at the lawyers and said, “Gentlemen, anything more?”
Jack Hogan stood and said, “Nothing at this time, Your Honor.”
Clifford Nance stood and shook his head no.
“Very well. This court is adjourned until nine Monday morning.”
Chapter 18
For the first time in several nights, Theo slept well. He awoke late on Saturday morning, and by the time he and Judge staggered downstairs he was aware that a family meeting of some variety was under way in the kitchen. His father was at the stove scrambling eggs. His mother, still in her night robe, sat at one end of the table pecking at a keyboard and studying the monitor. And Ike, who, to Theo’s knowledge, had not been present in the house during the thirteen years Theo had been on the Earth, sat at the other end with the morning newspaper spread out before him. He was studying the classified ads and making notes. He was wearing a faded orange jogging suit and an old Yankees cap. The air was thick with the smell of breakfast and of conversations interrupted and unfinished. Judge went straight to the stove and began his usual routine of begging for food.
Various versions of Good Morning were exchanged. Theo walked to the stove and looked at the food. “All eggs are scrambled,” his father said. His father cooked even less than his mother and the eggs looked a bit raw, at least in Theo’s opinion. He poured himself some grapefruit juice and took a seat at the table.
No one spoke until Ike said, “Here’s a two-bedroom garage apartment on Millmont. Six hundred a month. That’s not a bad part of town.”
“Millmont’s okay,” Mr. Boone said.
“She makes seven dollars an hour and works thirty hours a week,” Mrs. Boone said, without looking up. “After taxes and a few necessities, she’ll be lucky to have three hundred dollars a month for rent. She can’t afford it. That’s why they’re living in the shelter.”
“So where do you think we’ll find an apartment for three hundred bucks a month?” Ike asked with a slight edge to his voice. He did not look up, though. In fact, at the moment no one was making eye contact with anyone else.
Theo just listened and watched.
Mr. Boone said, “If it’s a garage apartment, then it’s probably a single owner. I doubt if they’ll rent to El Salvadorans or anyone else who’s not from here.” He thumped some eggs on a plate, added a toasted wheat muffin, and slid it in front of Theo, who quietly said, “Thanks.” Judge finally got some eggs in his bowl.
Theo took a bite, chewed slowly, listened to the silence. Their disinterest in his involvement in whatever they were discussing irritated him. The eggs were too mushy.
He finally said, “Apartment hunting, are we?”
Ike managed to grunt, “Uh-huh.”
El Salvadorans. Living at the shelter. The clues were adding up.
“Woods,” Mrs. Boone said, still pecking. “Nick Wetzel advertises for immigration work. Is he a reputable lawyer? I’ve never met him.”
“He advertises a lot,” Mr. Boone replied. “He used to be on television begging for car wrecks. I’d stay away.”
“Well, only two lawyers in town mention immigration work in their ads,” she said.
“Talk to both of them,” Ike said.
“I suppose so,” she said.
“What are we doing here?” Theo finally asked.
“We have a busy day, Theo,” his father said as he sat down with a cup of coffee. “You and I have a very important golf game.”
Theo couldn’t suppress a smile. They played almost every Saturday, but for the past several days Theo had forgotten about his game. He, along with the rest of the town, had assumed that the trial would continue into Saturday and he certainly planned to be in the courtroom.
“Great. When?”
“We should leave in about thirty minutes.”
Thirty minutes later they were putting their clubs into the back of Mr. Boone’s SUV and talking about how beautiful the weather was. It was mid-April, no clouds, temperature expected to reach seventy degrees, the azaleas were blooming, and the neighbors were toiling away in their flower beds.
After a few minutes, Theo said, “Dad, where are we going?” It was obvious they were not headed to the Strattenburg Municipal Course, the only place they’d ever played.
“We’re checking out a new course today.”
“Which one?” Theo knew of only three in the area.
“Waverly Creek.”
Theo allowed this to sink in, then said, “Awesome, Dad. The scene of the crime.”
“Something like that. I have a client who lives out there and he invited us to play. He won’t be around, though. Just the two of us. We’ll play the Creek Course, so maybe there won’t be a crowd.”
Ten minutes later, they pulled into the rather grand entrance of Waverly Creek. A massive stone wall lined the road and disappeared around a bend. Heavy gates stopped all traffic. A man in a uniform stepped out of the guardhouse and approached them as Mr. Boone came to a stop and lowered his window.
“Good morning,” the guard said, with a smile and a clipboard.
“Good morning. Name’s Woods Boone. Here to play a little golf. Tee time at ten forty. Guests of Max Kilpatrick.”
The guard studied his notes, then said, “Welcome, Mr. Boone. Put this on your dash.” He handed over a bright yellow card and said, “Hit ’em straight.”
“Thanks,” Mr. Boone said, and the gates began to open.
Theo had been through them once before, a couple of years earlier, for the birthday party of a friend who had since moved away. He remembered the large homes, long driveways, fancy cars, and front lawns perfectly landscaped. They drove along a narrow road shaded with old trees, and passed a few fairways and greens. The course was manicured, like something out of a golf magazine. At every tee there were golfers taking practice swings and on every green there were more bent over their putters. Theo began to fret. He liked nothing more than eighteen holes with his dad on an uncrowded course, yet nothing was more unpleasant than trying to hit a ball with a foursome waiting and watching impatiently from behind.
The clubhouse was busy. Dozens of golfers were out on this fine day. Mr. Boone checked in with the starter, got a cart, and they began limbering up at the practice range. Theo couldn’t help but look around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Julio’s cousin. Or maybe he just might see Pete Duffy himself, out for a few holes with some friends after a rough week in court. He had posted bond the day of his arrest and had never been near a jail cell.
And, the way the trial was going, he was unlikely to be locked up.
But Theo saw neither man. The fact that he was thinking about them meant that he was not thinking about his golf swing. He sprayed a few balls around the range, and began to worry about his game.
They teed off on time, Mr. Boone from the blue tees, Theo from the whites, a little farther down the fairway. His drive was a line shot that barely covered a hundred yards. “Keep your head down,” his father said as they sped away in the cart. There would be more advice as the day progressed. Mr. Boone had been playing for thirty years and was an average golfer, and like most golfers he often could not res
ist the urge to give advice, especially to his son. Theo took it well. He needed lots of help.
There was a foursome in front of them and no one behind. The Creek Course was shorter, narrower, and therefore, less favored by the other golfers. It was designed to sort of follow the winding route of Waverly Creek, a pretty but treacherous little stream known to devour golf balls. The North Nine and South Nine were crowded, but not the Creek Course.
As they sat in the cart by the tee box and waited for the foursome to putt out on number three, Mr. Boone said, “Okay, Theo, here’s the plan. Ike is looking for an apartment for the Pena family. Something small and affordable. If they need a little help with the rent, then your mother and I can kick in some money. This is something we’ve been talking about for several months, so it’s nothing new. Ike, who’s got a big heart but a small bank account, is willing to help, too. If we can find a place real fast, then maybe Carola can convince her nephew, Julio’s cousin, to live with them. It will be a much more stable environment for all of them. Ike is searching right now. And your mother is talking to immigration attorneys. There might be a way, under federal law, to allow an illegal immigrant to become legal if he has a sponsor who is a U.S. citizen, and if he has a job. Let’s hit.”
They teed off, got back in the cart, and eased along the cart path. Both drives were in the rough.
Mr. Boone continued as he drove. “Your mother and I are willing to sponsor Julio’s cousin. I can probably find him a better job, a legitimate one, and if he lives with his aunt and her family he can probably obtain legal status within two years. Full citizenship is another matter.”
“What’s the catch?” Theo asked.
“There’s no real catch. We want to help the Pena family get out of the shelter, and we’ll do so regardless of what happens to the cousin. But we have to convince him to come forward and be willing to testify, to tell the truth, to take the witness stand and tell the jury what he saw.”
“And how do we convince him to do that?”
“That part of the plan is still evolving.”
Theo’s ball was near the cart path, a nice distance off the fairway. He hit a five iron well and put the ball fifty yards from the green.
“Nice shot, Theo.”
“I get lucky every now and then.”
Number six was a dogleg to the left, a wider fairway with beautiful homes along the right-hand boundary. From the tee box, they could see the rear of the Duffy home 150 yards down the cart path. Next door to it, a gardener was busy mowing grass. Theo thought, The way I’m hitting, that man’s in danger.
But the gardener was not injured after both Boones teed off. They crept along the cart path. Mr. Boone said, “You told me you had aerial maps of this place.”
“Yes, sir. At the office.”
“You think you can find the spot where our witness was hiding?”
“Maybe. It’s over there.” Theo pointed to a patch of thick trees across the fairway. They drove to the edge of the woods, got out, and began stomping around like golfers do when they’ve hit bad shots and can’t find their balls. A dry creek bed ran through the woods, and on one side there was a short retaining wall of eight-by-eight treated timbers. The perfect spot to sit and hide and have a quiet lunch, all alone.
“That might be it,” Theo said, pointing. “He said he was sitting on some logs, with a perfect view of the house.”
Theo and Mr. Boone sat on the timbers. The view of the rear of the Duffy house was unobstructed. “How far away, you think?” asked Theo.
“A hundred yards,” Mr. Boone said without hesitation, the way most golfers readily estimate distances. “It’s a great hiding place. No one would ever see him sitting here. No one would ever think to look in these trees.”
“When you study the aerial, you can see the maintenance shed just over there, through the woods.” Theo was pointing in the other direction, opposite the fairway. “According to the cousin, the workers meet for lunch at eleven thirty at the shed. On most days, he slipped away to eat by himself. I guess he came here.”
“I brought a camera. Let’s take some photos.” Mr. Boone retrieved a small digital camera from his golf bag on the cart. He photographed the wooded area, the creek bed, the retaining wall, then turned and took some of the fairway and the homes on the other side.
“What are the photos for?” Theo asked when they were back in the cart.
“We might need them.”
They took photos for a few minutes, then emerged from the woods and were almost to the golf cart when Theo looked across the fairway. Pete Duffy was standing on his patio, watching them through binoculars. There were no other golfers around. “Dad,” Theo said softly.
“I see him,” Mr. Boone replied. “Let’s hit.”
They tried to ignore him as they hit their second shots, neither of which landed anywhere near the green. They quickly hopped in the cart and drove away. Pete Duffy never lowered the binoculars.
They finished nine holes in two hours, then decided to buzz around in the cart to have a look at the North and South Courses. The layout of Waverly Creek was impressive, with fine homes tucked neatly against some of the fairways, a row of expensive condos wrapped around a small lake, a park for children, biking and jogging trails that crisscrossed the golf cart paths, and, most importantly, beautiful fairways and greens.
A foursome was teeing off at number fourteen when they approached. Golf etiquette demands silence around the tee, and Mr. Boone stopped the cart before he and Theo could be seen. When the golfers took off, Mr. Boone drove to the tee box. There was a watercooler, a trash can, and a ball cleaner at the edge of the cart path near a row of boxwoods.
Theo said, “According to Julio, his cousin saw the man drop the gloves into the trash can on number fourteen. This must be it.”
“The cousin didn’t tell you this?” Mr. Boone asked.
“No. I’ve talked to the cousin only once, Wednesday night at the shelter. Julio came to our office the following night with the gloves.”
“So we have no idea where the cousin was or how or why he saw the man toss his gloves here at fourteen?”
“I guess not.”
“And we’re not sure why the cousin felt the need to get the gloves?”
“According to Julio, the boys who work out here always go through the trash.”
They quickly took some photos, then eased away as another foursome approached.
Chapter 19
After golf, Theo and his father stopped by the Highland Street Shelter to check on Julio and his younger brother and sister. Carola Pena washed dishes in the kitchen of a downtown hotel and worked every Saturday, which meant her three children were left at the shelter. There were games and activities for the children who lived there, but Theo knew that Saturdays were not that pleasant. They watched a lot of television, played kick ball on the small playground, and, if lucky, rode a church bus to a cinema if a supervisor could find the money.
While Theo and his father were playing golf, they had an idea. Stratten College was a small private school that had been founded in the town a hundred years earlier. Its football and basketball teams couldn’t compete with a decent high school, but its baseball team was a Division III powerhouse. There was a doubleheader at 2:00 p.m.
Mr. Boone checked in with the supervisor at the shelter. Not surprisingly, Julio, who was in charge of the twins, Hector and Rita, jumped at the chance to leave the shelter. The three practically ran to the SUV and jumped into the rear seat. Minutes later, Mr. Boone stopped at the hotel, parked illegally at the curb, and said, “I’ll run and tell Mrs. Pena what we’re doing.” He was back in an instant, all smiles, and reported, “Your mother thinks it’s a great idea.”
“Thank you, Mr. Boone,” Julio said. The twins were too excited to speak.
Stratten College played its games at Rotary Park, a wonderful old stadium on the edge of the town’s center, near the small campus. Rotary Park was almost as old as the college and in years past had
been the home to several minor league teams, none of which stayed very long. Its claim to fame was that a Hall of Famer, Ducky Medwick, had played one season there in 1920 with a Double A team before moving on to the Cardinals. There was a plaque near the front gate reminding fans of Ducky’s brief stint in Strattenburg, but Theo had never seen anyone reading it.
Mr. Boone bought the tickets at a booth with only one window. The same old man had been working there since Ducky passed through. Three dollars for an adult, a dollar each for the kids. “How about some popcorn?” Mr. Boone asked as he looked down at the glowing faces of Hector and Rita. Five bags of popcorn, five sodas, twenty bucks. They walked up a ramp and into the bleachers, just down from the home dugout near first base. There were a lot of seats and few fans, and the ushers didn’t care where they sat. The ballpark could hold two thousand, and the old-timers liked to brag about how big the crowds used to be. Theo watched five or six Stratten College games each season and had never seen the stadium even remotely close to half full. He loved the place, though, with its old-fashioned grandstand, overhanging roof, wooden bleachers close to the field, bull pens next to the foul lines, and an outfield wall covered with brightly painted ads for everything in Strattenburg from pest control to a local beer to lawyers in need of injured clients. A real ballpark.
There were those who wanted to tear it down. It was practically empty in the summertime, after the college season ended, and there were gripes about how much it cost for upkeep. This puzzled Theo because, looking around, it was hard to pinpoint exactly where any “upkeep” money was spent.
They stood for the national anthem, then Stratten College took the field. The four kids sat close together while Mr. Boone sat on the row behind them, listening. “All right,” said Theo, the boss. “Nothing but English, okay? We’re working on our English.”
The Pena children naturally slid back into Spanish when chatting among themselves, but they instantly obeyed Theo and switched to English. Hector and Rita were eight years old and knew little about baseball. Theo began explaining.
Mrs. Boone and Ike arrived in the third inning and sat with Mr. Boone, who had eased away from the children. Theo tried to listen as they whispered among themselves. Ike had found an apartment, with rent of five hundred dollars a month. Mrs. Boone had not yet discussed the matter with Carola Pena because she was working at the hotel. They talked about other matters, but Theo couldn’t catch it all.
Baseball can be boring for eight-year-olds who don’t understand it, and by the fifth inning Hector and Rita were tossing popcorn and crawling around the bleachers. Mrs. Boone asked them if they wanted ice cream, and they jumped at the offer. When they left, Theo made his move. He asked Julio if he wanted to see the game from the center field bleachers. He said yes, and they drifted along the grandstand, past the bull pen, and eventually settled into an old section of seating just over the right center field wall. They were alone.
“I like the view from out here,” Theo said. “Plus, it’s always empty.”
“I like it, too,” Julio said.
They talked about the center fielder for a moment, then Theo changed subjects. “Look, Julio, we need to talk about your cousin. I can’t remember his name. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever known his name.”
“Bobby.”
“Bobby?”
“It’s really Roberto, but he likes to go by Bobby.”
“Okay. Is his last name Pena?”
“No. His mother and my mother are sisters. His last name is Escobar.”
“Bobby Escobar.”
“Sí. Yes.”
“Does he still work at the golf course?”
“Yes.”
“And he still lives by the Quarry?”
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
“He’s a very important person right now, Julio. He needs to come forward and tell the police everything he saw the day the woman was murdered.”
Julio turned and looked at Theo as if he’d lost his mind. “He can’t do that.”
“Maybe he can. What if he could be promised protection? No arrest. No jail. Do you know what the word immunity means?”
“No.”
“Well, in legal terms, it means he might be able to cut a deal with the police. If he comes forward and testifies, then the police won’t bother him. He’ll be immune. There may even be a way for him to get legal papers.”
“Have you talked to the police?”
“No way, Julio.”
“Have you told anyone?”
“I have protected his identity. He is safe, Julio. But I need to talk to him.”
A player for the other team hit a ball that bounced off the right field wall. They watched him slide into third for a triple. Theo had to explain the difference between the ball going over the wall and one bouncing against it. Julio said there wasn’t much baseball in El Salvador. Mainly soccer.
“When will you see Bobby again?” Theo asked.