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“No, Mr. Lee. She never miss work. She miss work she ain’t get paid.”
DuBose urged, “We have to know, Jerome.”
“Can I talk to her?”
Jack said, “We can arrange a phone call.”
“You do that then.”
“Now Jerome, the police searched your house and property,” said Jack.
“Why they done that?”
DuBose said, “They found fifty dollars in an envelope in a hole in the wall of your lean-to. Do you know how that might have gotten there?”
Jack’s gut clenched when he saw the expression on Jerome’s face. It was not surprise, or confusion, but nervousness, perhaps guilt.
“Um... Miss Anne gimme that money.”
“When and why?” asked Jack sharply.
“When we was at the house for lunch. Miss Anne, she pull me aside when they in the pool and she say I doin’ a good job and I had a nice family. And—”
“And what?” asked DuBose.
“Pearl’s birthday comin’ up, and I wanted to get her somethin’ nice.”
“Did Mrs. Randolph know that?”
“Yeah, I told her. I think that one reason why she gimme the money. But I ain’t ask for it. And fifty dollars is mor’n I make in a week. But she wanted me to take it, so’s I did.”
“Did you tell anyone else about this?” asked Jack.
“No sir, I wanted to surprise Pearl.”
“Did anyone other than Mrs. Randolph know about the gift?”
“She maybe told Mr. Leslie.”
“And now they’re both dead,” said DuBose, giving Jack an ominous look. She sat down next to Jerome. “See, the thing is, Jerome, the commonwealth will argue that you stole that money when you killed the Randolphs.”
“But that be a lie!” he said angrily.
“With no one to show that it was a gift, it looks bad.”
Jerome rubbed his face with his hand and shook his head wearily. “It don’t matter. White man who brought you in here say they got the electric chair all fired up again. He say that where I be goin’.”
“Not if we can do something about it,” said DuBose. “And we can.”
Jerome did not appear to be listening to her. “Look, how I get Pearl outta this? The kids got to have their momma. How do I do that?” He looked at them pleadingly. “How? Tell me.”
Jack glanced at DuBose and said, “If you’re really serious about this, we could talk to the prosecutor and see if he’ll accept a guilty plea from you on the condition that the charges against Pearl are dropped, with prejudice, meaning they can never bring them again. Then she’ll be free.”
“Then you got to do that, Mr. Lee. You got to,” Jerome said emphatically.
Jack again looked at DuBose, who was now gazing stonily at the concrete floor. He said, “We have Pearl’s arraignment tomorrow. And then we can address it.”
“Don’t wait too long. Tear me up, Pearl bein’ in a damn cage like this.”
