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“I’m impressed. Most white lawyers I know hardly keep up on such matters except to bitch about them.”
“White folks can be pigeonholed, too, I suppose.”
She compressed her lips. “I’m sorry if that’s how you interpreted my remark.”
Jack looked back at the article. “You marched at Selma.”
She rose and walked around his office, keeping her gaze roaming.
“I never thought anyone could be meaner or crazier than Bull Connor in Birmingham, but I hadn’t yet run into Jim Clark in Selma on Bloody Sunday. When we came over that bridge Clark ordered his state troopers to charge and they came at us with batons and bullwhips and tear gas and anything else they could get their hands on.”
“Is that where you got that scar on your face?”
“A policeman hit me there. I woke up in a hospital the next day. But two weeks later Dr. King led us across the Pettus Bridge with thousands of supporters, all under federal protection. It was a glorious sight.”
“I’m sure.”
A few seconds of silence followed until DuBose sat back down and assumed a businesslike tone. “And, more pertinent to your situation, I’ve handled over two dozen capital murder cases, and I’ve won more than I lost.”
“And now you’re here in Freeman County. Why?”
“I go where I’m needed. And Virginia seems to be calling me once again.”
“Would that be because Howard Pickett and George Wallace are focused on my case?”
“I do know of their involvement and that is one reason I’m here.”
“And the other reasons?”
“Jim Crow is finally, finally, on his last damn legs, Mr. Lee.”
“Make it Jack. And I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Laws are laws, but people are people, Miss DuBose.”
“Please call me Desiree. And laws shape people and their behavior, otherwise too many folks would be thieves and murderers. So my job is to keep driving the stake into that son of a bitch’s heart until it beats no more.” She crossed her legs, smoothing down her skirt and resettling her canny gaze on him. “And this case was made known to me. And then I was told that Edmund Battle is to lead the prosecution.”
“You know him?”
“We last butted heads in the Loving case, when he was representing the commonwealth before the United States Supreme Court. It was the battle of constitutional amendments. Virginia relied on the Tenth, while we went with the due process and equal protection clauses under the Fourteenth Amendment. And our argument prevailed.” Excitement danced in her expression. “And now if I can win this case, we might have Virginia solidly in our column.”
“If you win it?”
“I’ve devoted my life to this, Jack. I can find a Virginia attorney engaged in the cause to be my local counsel. Then you can step away.”
“Jerome has already retained me as his attorney and his wife has paid me money.”
“You can return the money less what you’ve billed, and they can retain me.”
“And what if I don’t want that?”
“Have you ever represented a Black person before?” she asked.
“There’s a first time for everything.”
She said, “You’ve already been beaten up. The next time might be far worse.”
“If you get to know me you’ll find that just makes me try harder. And I grew up here. I know things about Freeman you never will.”
“Are you absolutely sure you understand the risks?”
