AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why does that matter?”
“If you could please answer the question?” said DuBose.
“No, I don’t think I will,” Gates declared petulantly.
“All right, just to be clear, if Christine predeceases Sam he gets the house and property free and clear and Christine’s children get nothing?” said DuBose. “And vice versa?”
“Correct,” Gates said grudgingly.
“Can you tell us how much the house and property are worth?” inquired DuBose.
Gates perked up. “It was actually appraised about a year ago. The valuation came back at nearly two million dollars. And I know of at least three developers who would pay more than that and just for the land. It’s near the country club and is also adjacent to Faulkner’s Woods. And that amount doesn’t come close to its potential.”
“What do you mean?” asked Jack.
“You knock down all those trees on the forested part of their property, you could put up over fifty luxury estate homes and sell them for over a quarter of a million or more each. My son, Walter, is a developer, so I know more about that business than most.”
“Why would the Randolphs have done that?” asked Jack. “Making sure that only one child benefitted and having to wait until the other died?”
“Once again, that is privileged information and I have no intention of sharing it with you. Or... her,” Gates said, glancing disgustedly at DuBose. “Now, if there’s nothing else?”
He spoke into his phone and his secretary came in to take away the tray. She scrutinized the glasses after glancing at Gates, who inclined his head to the right. Neither of them noticed DuBose picking up on this unspoken exchange.
As they were leaving, DuBose poked her head into the small kitchen off the main reception area in time to see Gates’s secretary dump one of the water glasses into the wastebasket. She was about to tell the woman that she had drunk from the other glass, just to let her know that DuBose knew what was going on. But her anger faded and she returned to Jack, who looked at her curiously.
“Anything wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” DuBose said wearily.
CHAPTER 31
WHEN THEY RETURNED TO JACK’S office, they found an envelope tacked to his door.
“Battle strikes again,” he said after reading the document inside. “He’s asking for the trial to commence in one week, and there’s a hearing scheduled for that on Monday. He also says that based on the evidence they will make no formal plea offer. However, if Jerome confesses his guilt they will take the possibility of execution off the table, if the death penalty becomes active again. But he will be sentenced to life without the chance of parole. And he will have to provide an allocution in court.” He looked up at DuBose. “We have to present this offer to Jerome.”
“Which is why Battle made it.”
It took DuBose showing her ID along with her Illinois bar card to three different guards, and Jack swearing on a stack of Bibles that she was his co-counsel, before they would allow DuBose in to see her own client.
Jerome gazed up curiously at DuBose while Jack introduced her.
She said, “I work for the Legal Defense Fund. Have you heard of them?”
“No ma’am.”
“It used to be part of the NAACP. You’ve probably heard of it.”
Jerome nodded. “But why they care ’bout the likes ’a me?”
DuBose sat in the chair opposite him. “Because it’s our job to make sure you get the same rights as anyone else.” She paused. “First thing, Mr. Washington, did you sign a letter asking that Mr. Lee be removed as your counsel?”
He shook his head. “Letter? Nobody brought me no letter in here.”
DuBose glanced at Jack. “Okay. Now, the commonwealth has made an offer to you, Mr. Washington.”
“Just call me Jerome.”
“All right, Jerome. The offer says that if you plead guilty and stand up in court and say how and why you committed the murders, the state will waive any right it may have to ask for your execution, and you will spend the rest of your life in prison without the chance of ever being paroled.”
