Hard Row

“I give my men a long leash,” she said with a rueful

smile. “Buck hates to talk on the phone and I don’t

push it.”

“What about you?” Dwight asked Reid.

Reid shrugged. “As she said, Mr. Harris doesn’t like

to talk on the phone. I left messages on all his answer-

ing machines and at his office. When Ms. Smith came

in today, I checked with my secretary. According to our

records, the last time he actually spoke to me was Friday

the seventeenth. I told him that the judge was running

out of patience and he promised to be in court this past

Wednesday.”

Dwight turned back to Flame Smith. “Do you know

if Mr. Harris ever broke his arm?”

“No, but I just remembered. He has a tiny little mole,

right about here.” One coral-tipped finger touched an

area of her jeans halfway below her waist. “Oh, and he’s

an ‘outie,’ too,” she added with an electric smile.

Dwight reached for a notepad. “Tell me the name of

his housekeeper out at the Buckley place.” He glanced

at Reid. “And maybe you’d better give me his wife’s

contact numbers, as well.”

“Oh God!” Flame Smith moaned. Her peaches-and-

cream complexion had turned to ivory. “It is Buck,

isn’t it?”

136

C H A P T E R

16

City folks eat their meals more from habit than hunger, but

country folks love to hear the horn blow.

—Profitable Farming in the Southern States, 1890

Deborah Knott

Monday Morning, March 6

% Monday morning and my turn to handle felony

first appearances. The State of North Carolina is

obligated to bring an accused person before a judge

within ninety-six hours of arrest and incarceration in the

county jail or at the next session of district court, which-

ever occurs first. First appearance is where the judge in-

forms the accused of the charges, sets the bond if bail is

deemed appropriate, appoints an attorney if so re-

quested, and calendars a trial date. Innocence or guilt is

irrelevant. Neither plea can be accepted. This is just to

get the case into the system and onto a calendar so that

it can be moved along in a judicious manner.

When I first came on the bench, Monday mornings

might bring me twenty or thirty people—forty after a

real hot August weekend if it followed a week of unre-

mitting heat. (Heat and humidity cause tempers to flare

137