PEE WEE

The other officers shined bright five cell flashlights into the bottom which held about a foot of black water. Although black in color the water was very clear under the lights. It had been darkened by tannic acid from the layer of leaves that lay at the bottom of the water. As the beams of the lights played along the bottom Query was shocked by the sudden iridescence of what he suddenly realized was an upside down smile flashing at him. “Ever seen that before?” asked Henderson as he noticed Query’s shocked reaction. “They call it the death grin. The teeth stay white while the rest of the skull turns gray and when the light hits them it’s like a reflector. There you can see the rest of the skull clearly once you get past the glare from the teeth.” … “Chief, I think it is really very important that this not be any more demeaning for Donna than is absolutely essential for safety and security. Throwing a mattress on the floor of a room the size of a closet does not exactly imply that she has the option to either sit and talk with her husband or participate in a conjugal visit. Could they meet in your office? It’s huge.” “I don’t know if we can secure it. There is a window and there are letter openers, maybe even guns or knives that I haven’t thought about in months. It would take us all night to search it thoroughly. But you make a good point about her feelings and for that matter public opinion, if this ever got out to the newspapers. By the way I hope that’s not what you have in mind.” “Not to worry. I won’t say anything. I’m just trying to obtain a benefit for my client in a situation that doesn’t lend itself to any normal course of action. This is what he wants in return for his cooperation. I’ve asked him to let me go to Summerford and Sheriff Barnes about immunity, but he only wants to work with you and he says he wouldn’t trust what Summerford said anyway. I’ve told him there are ways to enforce that but he insists that this is what he wants,” Query explained. “He knows that even with immunity on the remaining cases, he still has at best a life sentence from the Bellamy conviction.” “Give us a minute. We’ll do the best that we can.” Query walked down out of the hallway and over to the holding cell where he explained briefly to Gaskins that the chief was trying to make suitable arrangements. “Seems like they woulda figured this out ahead of time,” offered Gaskins. “I think they are surprised that it got this far,” said Query. “I’ll go tell Donna what’s going on. She’s in the conference room by herself.” “Yeh, go ahead in there and stay with her. She’s probably wonderin’ what the hell we’ve gotten her into.” “I imagine you are right about that.” She and I have that in common, Query mused as he walked back past the chief’s office where the police were now gathered and stepped into the conference room. Donna sat alone at the conference table her hands in her lap. “This is kind of weird isn’t it?” she said rhetorically and then asked, “Have you done this for people before?” “No, I’ve helped men get clearance to visit overnight in tents with their wives until some fanatic decided that was somehow morally wrong and pressured the prisons into stopping it. The people actually running the prisons realized that it was great for morale and a reward system for best behavior. It was also a good transition for men who were soon to be released.” “Chief, I think it is really very important that this not be any more demeaning for Donna than is absolutely essential for safety and security. Throwing a mattress on the floor of a room the size of a closet does not exactly imply that she has the option to either sit and talk with her husband or participate in a conjugal visit. Could they meet in your office? It’s huge.” “I don’t know if we can secure it. There is a window and there are letter openers, maybe even guns or knives that I haven’t thought about in months. It would take us all night to search it thoroughly. But you make a good point about her feelings and for that matter public opinion, if this ever got out to the newspapers. By the way I hope that’s not what you have in mind.” “Not to worry. I won’t say anything. I’m just trying to obtain a benefit for my client in a situation that doesn’t lend itself to any normal course of action. This is what he wants in return for his cooperation. I’ve asked him to let me go to Summerford and Sheriff Barnes about immunity, but he only wants to work with you and he says he wouldn’t trust what Summerford said anyway. I’ve told him there are ways to enforce that but he insists that this is what he wants,” Query explained. “He knows that even with immunity on the remaining cases, he still has at best a life sentence from the Bellamy conviction.” “Give us a minute. We’ll do the best that we can.” Query walked down out of the hallway and over to the holding cell where he explained briefly to Gaskins that the chief was trying to make suitable arrangements. “Seems like they woulda figured this out ahead of time,” offered Gaskins. “I think they are surprised that it got this far,” said Query. “I’ll go tell Donna what’s going on. She’s in the conference room by herself.” “Yeh, go ahead in there and stay with her. She’s probably wonderin’ what the hell we’ve gotten her into.” “I imagine you are right about that.” She and I have that in common, Query mused as he walked back past the chief’s office where the police were now gathered and stepped into the conference room. Donna sat alone at the conference table her hands in her lap. “This is kind of weird isn’t it?” she said rhetorically and then asked, “Have you done this for people before?” “No, I’ve helped men get clearance to visit overnight in tents with their wives until some fanatic decided that was somehow morally wrong and pressured the prisons into stopping it. The people actually running the prisons realized that it was great for morale and a reward system for best behavior. It was also a good transition for men who were soon to be released.” … “Well if it’s as easy as he says to just walk down a ditch and find the body, that doesn’t seem too complicated to check that out,” the judge commented in a conversation that took place in his chambers after he moved the discussion from the courtroom. “I’ll tell the jury not to come in until 2:00 tomorrow afternoon. Can y’all get out there at daybreak and see if there is anything to this? I think his lawyers may be right that this goes directly to his credibility. If he gave this to law enforcement months ago, and now he is being made to appear to have lied about it when no one has checked it out, the jury could believe that he was a target.” “But he chose to bring this up,” argued Young. “It actually has nothing to do with this case.” “It takes a lot to set it up to take him out there, Judge,” offered Tom Henderson from SLED. “I’m not saying take him out there,” growled the judge. “He’s made it look like we are willing to do anything necessary to convict him for killing this white farmer but we won’t even walk down a ditch to find the body of a black woman that he very well might have killed.” “He’ll deny killing her,” said the chief deputy. “Chief that’s not my point. He’s really set y’all up to look like you’ll do anything and everything to convict him here but you won’t even investigate the murder of a black woman. It makes perfect sense that you didn’t believe him but now he’s testified to it under oath and put it on the front page of the newspapers and I think you better have somebody in that ditch in the morning.” “We’ll be there, Judge,” the chief deputy answered. McJunkin walked into the hall and spoke to one of the SLED agents. “Let me talk to him before you haul him back. I want to be sure on the directions.”