Saturday, January 13, 2024

the dead man - 13. some news


by nick nelson

part thirteen of 31

for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here



mrs cotton, the head jailer, leaned back in her chair and looked closely at lucas.

i have some news for you, jackson.

yes, ma’am.

any idea what it is?

no, ma’am, i can’t say that i do.

you know ms hester johnson, your lawyer?

lucas considered the question. of course i know her, she’s my lawyer. she was my lawyer.

why do you say was your lawyer?

she told me she was quitting her job.

you knew she was retiring?

retiring?

that means quitting her job.

yes, she told me. i am supposed to get a new lawyer but i ain’t seen her yet.

ms johnson was killed yesterday. sometime in the afternoon. you were the last client she saw.

wow.

is that all you have to say - wow?

what do you want me to say?

so you don’t know anything about it?

no. she didn’t tell me she was going to get killed.

mrs cotton paused and looked sternly at lucas. did ms johnson ever talk to you about her own life?

what? about her own life? no, she never did.

are you sure?

i don’t recall that she ever did.

she was all business?

you got that right. always hurrying me up, saying , i got other people to talk to.

mrs cotton laughed. yes, i can believe that. so she didn’t say anything about where she was going next?

lucas considered. just that she was going to lunch. and she said goodbye to me.

that was nice of her.

yeah. look here, if you are going to be asking me these questions, maybe i should get my new lawyer in here. or perry mason or matlock or somebody.

i have no more to ask you. if the police want to talk to you, i will make sure that your new lawyer, or some lawyer, will be here.

thank you.

you can go now.


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