“Not really.”
Quentin nods, but he looks troubled. “According to the testimony of both you and your aunt, money was pretty scarce in your household. I’m trying to understand how your mother could have saved seventy-two thousand dollars when her husband was spending everything she made, and she was putting you through college and law school.”
“Once Daddy went to prison, and I was out of school, her bills weren’t so bad. And Mama was always resourceful.”
“I see. So you assume the money came from her salary as a nurse?”
“Where else?”
“Exactly. But let’s leave that for now. Mr. Turner, what did you think of the challenge of your mother’s will by Mr. Sexton’s mother?”
“I thought it was bullshit.”
“Mr. Turner,” the judge snaps. “You know better than that.”
“I’m sorry, Judge. But Judge Carroll in Chicago didn’t think any more of that claim than what I just said.”
“Just watch your language.”
“So the challenge was denied,” Quentin says, “and the original will was affirmed. Tell me, do you know what Mr. Sexton’s movie-in-progress was about?”
“It was a documentary, I think. About the civil rights movement.”
“Don’t you think that’s a cause your mother might have sympathized with?”
“The cause, yes. A homemade film by some white reporter from Ferriday, no.”
“I see. Did your mother ever speak to you about changing her will before she died?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Objection, Your Honor,” Shad says with obvious irritation. “If the defense has a copy of some other will, they should produce it. If they have a reputable attorney who can testify that he drew up such a will, they should call him as a witness. Otherwise, this is all just a waste of the court’s time.”
“We talked about this subject during the sidebar, Mr. Johnson. I will decide what is worthy of the court’s time. Your objections are overruled. Mr. Avery, continue.”
Quentin looks back at Lincoln. “Did your mother ever ask you about how a person might make a holographic will?”
“No. Never.”
“Can you explain to the jury what a holographic will is?”
“I can.”
“Will you, please?”
Lincoln looks at Judge Elder, who nods.
“A holographic will is a handwritten will,” Lincoln says testily. “Handwritten, dated, and signed. All you need to make one is a pen and a piece of paper.”
“Just so,” says Quentin. “Did you ever see any such will written by your mother? Either before or after she died?”
I’m looking for fear in Lincoln’s eyes, but all I see is sullen anger. Yet this time there’s a second of awkward hesitation before his answer.
“No,” he says. “Absolutely not.”
Quentin seems pleased by this answer. “Were you surprised that your mother would leave money to her husband, a man who treated her rather poorly?”
“It was her money. He was her husband. That makes it her business.”
“I see. And were you happy with your share of the seventy-two thousand dollars?”
“I’ve got no complaints.”
“No. Clearly not. Thank you, Mr. Turner. I tender the witness.”
This time, as Quentin rolls back to the defense table, Shad gazes at Lincoln on the stand. The district attorney looks like a man in a poker game with people he thought he knew, but who have turned out to be imposters.
“Mr. Johnson?” prompts the judge.
“No questions, Your Honor.”
“The witness may step down.”
As Lincoln returns to his seat, he glances at Quentin only a moment, but held in that moment is rage sufficient to drive a knife into Quentin’s chest. Quentin responds with a knowing smile.
“Call your next witness, Mr. Avery.”
“The defense calls Mrs. Virginia Sexton.”
A few moments later, a deputy escorts Henry Sexton’s mother through the back doors. She looks like my maternal grandmother once did: an elderly country wife dressed for church, in a white blouse and a skirt that falls well below her knees. After she seats herself and is sworn in—in a shaky voice, I notice—Quentin rolls up to the witness box and smiles.
“Thank you for coming, Mrs. Sexton.”
The old woman nods once, her expression grave.
“Were you related to Henry Sexton, the newspaper reporter?”
“He was my son.”
“Did your son ever talk to you about interviewing Viola Turner?”
“Yes, he did. He talked to me about most of his cases.”
“What did he tell you?”
“He believed Viola Turner was the source he had been looking for since he’d begun his work. Henry called her his ‘dream’ source.”
“What did he mean by that?”
“Objection,” says Shad. “Opinion rule. Irrelevant.”
“Overruled on both counts,” says Judge Elder.
“Henry worked on a lot of cases from the civil rights period, but the three major ones were the murder of Albert Norris, the kidnap-murder of Joe Louis Lewis, and the kidnap-murders of Jimmy Revels and Luther Davis. He told me that—”
“Objection,” Shad says irritably. “Hearsay. Irrelevant.”
“Overruled.”
“Exception.”
“Noted.”
Quentin says, “Did he talk to you about these cases on the day Viola died, Mrs. Sexton?”
“Yes. Henry believed the Double Eagle group was responsible for all those crimes, and he said that Viola was one of the rarest things around here.”
“What was that?”
“A Double Eagle victim who had survived. He believed she knew a lot about the group, but that fear had kept her quiet for decades. He thought Viola was getting close to telling him what she knew. That’s why he left that video camera at her house. He left an audio recorder, too, early on, but that’s never been found.”
Mrs. Sexton’s last sentence sends a strong echo back to my internal radar. This is the first I’ve heard of any audio recorder left with Viola. Henry never mentioned it to me.
“Tell us why you contested Viola Turner’s will,” Quentin says.
Mrs. Sexton’s face goes red and splotchy before she speaks. “Henry told me that Viola Turner was very interested in his work. So far as she knew, Henry was the only person who had been working almost continuously on her brother’s case. She’d tried to contact the FBI several times, but they would never tell her anything. Viola was amazed at the things Henry had uncovered, and she wanted to help him any way she could. After her second long interview with Henry, she told him she was going to leave him a bequest in her will to help fund his work, for the film he was working on.”
“Tell us more about that.”