The love nest wasn't a bad place for a nap after all. It was a long narrow room with dust and spiderwebs and one light hanging in the center of the vaulted ceiling. The lone window had been painted sometime in the last century and overlooked the square. The bed was an iron antique with no sheets or blankets, and he tried not to think about Harry Rex and his misadventures on that very mattress. Instead, he thought of the old house at Maple Run and the glorious way it went into history. By the time the roof collapsed, half of Clanton was there. Ray had sat alone, on the low limb of a sycamore across the street, hidden from all, trying in vain to pull cherished memories from a wonderful childhood that simply had not happened. When the flames were shooting from every window, he had not thought of the cash or the Judge's desk or his mother's dining room table, but only of old General Forrest glaring down with those fierce eyes.
Three hours of sleep, and he was awake by eight. The temperature was rising rapidly in the den of iniquity, and heavy steps were coming his way.
Harry Rex swung the door open and turned on the light. "Wake up, felon," he growled. "They want you down at the jail."
Ray swung his feet to the floor. "My escape was fair and square." He had lost Elmer and Haney in the crowd and simply left with Harry Rex.
"Did you tell them they could search your car?"
"I did."
"That was a dumb-ass thing to do. What kinda lawyer are you?" He pulled a wooden folding chair from the wall and sat down near the bed.
"There was nothing to hide."
"You're stupid, you know that? They searched the car and found nothing."
"That's what I expected."
"No clothes, no overnight bag, no luggage, no toothbrush, no evidence whatsoever that you were simply leaving town and going home, per your official story."
"I did not burn the house down, Harry Rex."
"Well, you're an excellent suspect. You flee in the middle of the night, no clothes, no nothing, you drive away like a bat outta hell. Old lady Larrimore down the street sees you in your funny little car go flyin' by, then about ten minutes later here come the fire trucks. You're caught by the dumbest deputy in the state doin' ninety-eight, drivin' like hell to get away from here. Defend yourself."
"I didn't torch it."
"Why did you leave at two-thirty?"
"Someone threw a rock through the dining room window. I got scared."
"You had a gun."
"I didn't want to use it. I'd rather run away than shoot somebody."
"You've been up North too long."
"I don't live up North."
"How'd you get cut up like that?"
"The brick broke the window, you see, and when I checked it out, I got cut."
"Why didn't you call the police?"
"I panicked. I wanted to go home, so I left."
"And ten minutes later somebody soaks the place with gasoline and throws a match."
"I don't know what they did."
"I'd convict you."
"No, you're my lawyer."
"No, I'm the lawyer for the estate, which by the way just lost its only asset."
"There's fire insurance."
"Yeah, but you can't get it."
"Why not?"
"Because if you file a claim, then they'll investigate you for arson. If you say you didn't do it, then I believe you. But I'm not sure anybody else will. If you go after the insurance, then those boys will come after you with a vengeance."
"I didn't torch it."
"Great, then who did?"
"Whoever threw the brick."
"And who might that be?"
"I have no idea. Maybe some guy who got the bad end of a divorce."
"Brilliant. And he waits nine years to get revenge on the Judge, who, by the way, is dead. I will not be in the courtroom when you offer that to the jury."
"I don't know, Harry Rex. I swear I didn't do it. Forget the insurance money."
"It's not that easy. Only half is yours, the other half belongs to Forrest. He can file a claim for the insurance coverage."
Ray breathed deeply and scratched his stubble. "Help me here, okay?"
"The sheriff's downstairs, with one of his investigators. They'll ask some questions. Answer slowly, tell the truth, blah, blah. I'll be there, so let's go slow."
"He's here?"
"In............