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“How I stand up and say stuff I ain’t done?”
“I understand, but we were duty bound to present the offer to you. Do I take it that you do not want to accept that offer?”
Jack said, “Jerome, we mean to defend you with all we have. But they may very well bring back the death penalty.”
“But even if we do lose at the trial level, I’m confident that we will win on appeal,” said DuBose, drawing a surprised look from Jack.
“You may want to talk to your wife before you decide,” Jack suggested.
“I ain’t sayin’ I killed them people, ’cause I didn’t do it.”
“Fine,” said DuBose decisively. “We will communicate your decision.”
Jack took a deep breath. “All right, Jerome. Now, do you remember anything about the man who came by to see the Randolphs a while back and where Mr. Randolph got so mad? Pearl and Miss Jessup told us about it. And do you recall the make and model of the car he drove?”
Jerome looked down at his shoes. “It be light gray with white trim. I remember that. It be a four-door... a Chrysler hardtop.” He thought some more, scrunching up his features, and then he looked up. “Yeah, it be one of them New Yorkers. Nice car.”
Jack wrote all of this down. “And the man? Can you describe him?”
“He a little shorter than you, and thicker. He got on a dark suit and tie and he was carryin’ a black bag.”
“A bag? What did it look like?” asked Jack.
“Uh, you know, like a doctor carries ’round.”
DuBose and Jack exchanged a puzzled look.
“How old was he?” she asked.
“I reckon he maybe ’bout forty or so.”
“And he was white?” asked DuBose.
“Oh, yeah. He gone in the house and all. And he come out the front door.”
“Okay,” DuBose said with a glance at Jack. “And Mr. Randolph said nothing other than nobody was going to make him leave his house?”
“That right. Ain’t nobody makin’ him get out his own house. He say that.”
“And you never saw the man again after that?” asked Jack.
“No sir, not one time.”
“Pearl said that the Randolphs invited you and your family over for lunch and a swim in the pool,” said DuBose.
Jerome grinned. “Yeah. They take us ’round to the back and we ate out there o’course. But then Miss Anne say, ‘Hey, kids, you wanna go swimmin’?’ Now, Miss Anne tell me she gonna ask that, so Pearl had got ’em some swimsuits and she got one for herself, too. They changed in the garage. They ain’t never been in no water ’cept the bathtub. But they had a real good time.”
“And Christine Randolph showed up at some point?” said Jack.
“Yeah, Miss Christine and her husband and their kids walked in the backyard when we was fixin’ to leave. They real nice. Asked how we liked the food and the pool and all. Just a real nice day. So I don’t see how nobody think I could kill these folks who been so good to me and my family. Now I ain’t got a job. And I’m in here.” He shook his head in frustration.
Jack said quietly, “We understand that you have bad dreams from time to time?”
Jerome glanced sharply up at him for a moment before looking away. “I don’t really have ’em no more.”
“Did they make you angry or...?”
“I seen things, Mr. Lee, over in Vietnam, that I ain’t never seen before. And I hope to God I don’t never see again, so long as I live.”
