“Were Sticks and T.S. around when he said this?”
“Oh, yeah. Sticks was teasin’ and sayin’ how they shouldn’t take me, but Zack said I could come.”
“And T.S.?”
“He didn’t say nothin’ I can remember.”
“Okay, what happened when you got to the park?”
“Well, it took a while. I remember Sticks was driving, but Zack had to take over because Sticks was tired and got lost. Then, when we got to the place where Zack said it was, we didn’t find it right away.
“We parked the car and Sticks crawled into the backseat to sleep. Then me and Zack and T.S. went into the woods a ways until we came to the railroad tracks. There was one shovel, which Zack carried, and T.S. had a flashlight. I remember about four trains goin’ by, because Zack would say to turn off the flashlight when they came, so no one would see us.
“Anyway, we walked up and down the tracks and every so often Zack would say he thought this was it. Then he’d change his mind. Finally he said this was it at a spot about twenty feet from the tracks, and we started digging.”
“Did you dig, too?”
The girl looked directly at David and smiled, as if amused by some private joke.
“Yeah, I dug. I dug almost the whole goddamn hole. Zack did almost nothin’ and T.S. dug a little, but mostly he held the flashlight. And when I’d get tired, Zack would say to keep diggin’ or I wouldn’t get any of the weed.”
“Did you get sore?”
“Sure, but I wanted the pot.”
“Do you think there really was marijuana out there?”
“I really kind of doubt it in my mind now, because…well, at first, I thought…yeah, really, I thought there was some out there, because Zack kept sayin’ dig, dig, dig, like he was determined to get it. But, now, well, when I got shot, I was in the hole and I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Now I think they was having me dig my own grave.”
David felt a chill. Just a moment, then it was gone. He saw the acne-marked, hollow-cheeked face of Tony Seals during their interview at the county jail. The eyes dull, the dirty, uncombed hair thick with grease. He was suddenly sick with himself.
“How did it happen?” David asked. “The shooting, I mean.”
“Like I said, the tracks was behind us and I had been digging for a long time and I was tired. T.S. was standing above me and behind me to my right with the flashlight. I couldn’t see Zack, but I think he was to my left, because when the train came, he was the one that said to put out the light, and I’m pretty sure the voice came from there.
“Every time a train would come the light would go out. This time the light went out and Zack said, ‘Keep digging.’ I said okay, then I heard the shot out of my left ear.”
“What happened then?”
“I was in the hole and I froze. I didn’t feel no pain right then, but I was scared. I called for T.S. and Zack, but they didn’t say nothing. It was dark and cold, and when the light didn’t go back on, I called again. I was feeling weak and I slumped down in the hole and I was leaning against the side of the hole on my stomach with my head and arms just over the rim.
“I called again and this time I seen their shadow. They was about forty-five feet away near some trees and I yelled, ‘I’ve been shot,’ and they walked back. Zack said, ‘Let’s see,’ and he squatted on the edge of the hole and said he didn’t see nothin’, just a clot of dirt on my shirt. Then T.S. and Zack looked under the shirt with the flashlight, and they said they still didn’t see nothin’.
“I told ’em again I was shot and I was getting more tired. They said they’d go for help and walked off. I said, ‘No,’ I was comin’ with them, but they just walked off and I crawled out of the hole by myself.”
The look of boredom had disappeared from Jessie’s eyes, and David could see that she was reliving the incident. She had a faraway look, and there was a rigidity in her body that had not been there before. Monica gave Jessie a glass of water, then looked across at David. He could read her unspoken criticism of him for representing Tony Seals.
“The car wasn’t far from where we was digging, but it was hard getting back. I was feeling weak and I couldn’t breathe. By the time I got there, all three of ’em was by the back of the car talkin’. I asked ’em to help me, but they acted scared and stood away, like they didn’t want to be near me. The back door was open where Sticks had got out, so I laid down in the backseat. The pain started gettin’ real bad then and I was cryin’ and blood started coming out of my mouth and nose and I got so dizzy I shut my eyes and just laid there. I could taste the blood and that was scaring me worse than the pain. Someone started the car and I thought we were going to the hospital, ’cause that’s what I asked them and they said they would.”
“Do you remember the car stopping?”
“When they dumped me out?” Jessie asked bitterly. “Yeah, I remember that. I was lying with my head on the driver’s side, but facing the back of the car and the car had been bouncing a lot like we was on a dirt road and then they stopped and the passenger door opened. Sticks or Zack, I don’t know who, said to get out. That there was a kind of a plant that would stop the bleeding. I knew what they were up to, so I said I couldn’t move, I was in pain. Then T.S. and Sticks grabbed my legs and pulled and Zack was on the other side pushing me out. I tried to go into the front seat and I was hanging on underneath the seat and they was pulling me out by the feet. I was really scared then, ’cause it was so dark and I didn’t want to be alone. Then Zack said again how I should let go because there was a plant that stopped bleeding and I said, ‘Bullshit, there’s no plant that stops bleeding. Take me to the hospital.’ And that’s when Zack hit my fingers with the gun and I let go and they dragged me onto the ground a ways from the car.
“I lay there. I think I was cryin’ ’cause they were gonna leave me alone in the dark and the pain was gettin’ worse. I heard the car door slam and I yelled to them to take me with them. I even said I wouldn’t take none of the pot. Then I heard two shots and I just shut up. I laid there not moving until the car drove off. I didn’t move then, either. I thought maybe one of them was waiting for me to move.
“About two minutes later they turned around and fired the rest of the shots in the gun off at me.”
It was very quiet in the room. David was having trouble taking this in, which was unusual for him. He was an old pro at this sort of thing. How many mutilated bodies had he seen in photographs or in person? How many human tragedies had he been involved in? What was this girl to him?
“How close did the shots come to you?” David asked.
“One bullet spit up dirt right near my head. So did another.”
“Did you hear any of them say anything when they left?”
“Yeah, someone said, ‘I think we got her,’ but I don’t know who.”
“Do you know who shot at you from the car?”
She shook her head and put it down on her crossed arms again. She looked very tired.
“How did you get down to the bottom of the mountain? It’s several miles from where the shots were fired.”
“I crawled.”
“Crawled?”
“I got scared lying there. I stayed curled up for a while, but the pain wouldn’t stop and there was no sound up there. Just the wind and animals in the woods. I didn’t want to stay put, so I crawled. And it took hours and it hurt so much.”
There were tears in her eyes and David felt dead inside.
“But I wasn’t gonna let them do this to me. So I crawled and sometimes I walked a ways and I got to the bottom and just fell in that ditch, and anytime a car come by or a truck I’d pull myself up. That was the worst. Even worst than the shooting and being alone. No one would stop for me or help me.”
The tape recorder spun on. The rays of the sun created splotches of light on the tabletop. Monica placed her arm around Jessie’s heaving shoulders and spoke soothingly. David stared at the wall. It took every ounce of control he had learned in the courtroom to keep his features from showing any emotion. Sometimes he wondered if that wasn’t one trick he could do now without trying.
