Chamber

'Fine. Give me a call, or just tell Packer. What about witnesses?'

'Sam will have no witnesses.'

'What about you?'

'No. He won't allow it. We agreed on it a long time ago.'

'Fine. I can't think of anything else. I have a fax and a phone, and things may be a bit quieter in here. Feel free to use my office.'

'Thanks,' Adam said, stepping from the office. He drove slowly to the Row and parked for the last time in the dirt lot next to the fence. He walked slowly to the guard tower and placed his keys in the bucket.

Four short weeks ago he had stood there and watched the red bucket descend for the first time, and he'd thought how crude but effective this little system was. Only four weeks! It seemed like years.

He waited for the double gates, and met Tiny on the steps.

Sam was already in the front office, sitting on the edge of the desk, admiring his shoes. 'Check out the new threads,' he said proudly when Adam entered.

Adam stepped close and inspected the clothing from shoes to shirt. Sam was beaming. His face was cleanshaven. 'Spiffy. Real spiffy.'

'A regular dude, aren't I?'

'You look nice, Sam, real nice. Did Donnie bring these?'

'Yeah. He got them at the dollar store. I started to order some designer threads from New York, but what the hell. It's only an execution. I told you I wouldn't allow them to kill me in one of those red prison suits. I took it off a while ago, never to wear one again. I have to admit, Adam, it was a good feeling.'

'You've heard the latest?'

'Sure. It's all over the news. Sorry about the hearing.'

'It's in the Fifth Circuit now, and I feel good about it. I like our chances there.'

Sam smiled and looked away, as if the little boy was telling his grandfather a harmless lie. 'They had a black lawyer on television at noon, said he was working for me. What the hell's going on?'

'That was probably Hez Kerry.' Adam placed his briefcase on the desk and sat down.

'Am I paying him too?'

'Yeah, Sam, you're paying him at the same rate you're paying me.'

'Just curious. That screwball doctor, what's his name, Swinn? He must've done a number on me.'

'It was pretty sad, Sam. When he finished testifying, the entire courtroom could see you floating around your cell, scratching your teeth and peeing on the floor.'

'Well, I'm about to be put out of my misery.' Sam's words were strong and loud, almost defiant. There was not a trace of fear. 'Look, I have a small favor to ask of you,' he said, reaching for yet another envelope.

'Who is it this time?'

Sam handed it to him. 'I want you to take this to the highway by the front gate, and I want you to find the leader of that bunch of Kluckers out there, and I want you to read it to him. Try and get the cameras to film it, because I want people to know what it says.'

Adam held it suspiciously. 'What does it say?'

'It's quick and to the point. I ask them all to go home. To leave me alone, so that I can die in peace. I've never heard of some of those groups, and they're getting a lot of mileage out of my death.'

'You can't make them leave, you know.'

'I know. And I don't expect them to. But the television makes it appear as if these are my friends and cronies. I don't know a single person out there.'

'I'm not so sure it's a good idea right now,' Adam said, thinking out loud.

'Why not?'

'Because as we speak, we're telling the Fifth Circuit that you're basically a vegetable, incapable of putting together thoughts like this.'

Sam was suddenly angry. 'You lawyers,' he sneered. 'Don't you ever give up? It's over, Adam, stop playing games.'

'It's not over.'

'As far as I'm concerned it is. Now, take the damned letter and do as I say.'

'Right now?' Adam asked, looking at his watch. It was one-thirty.

'Yes! Right now. I'll be waiting here.'

Adam parked by the guardhouse 'at the front gate, and explained to Louise what he was about to do. He was nervous. She gave a leery look at the white envelope in his hand, and yelled for two uniformed guards to walk over. They escorted Adam through the front gate and toward the demonstration area. Some reporters covering the protestors recognized Adam, and immediately flocked to him. He and the guards walked quickly along the front fence, ignoring their questions. Adam was scared but determined, and more than a little comforted by his newly found bodyguards.

He walked directly to the blue and white canopy which marked the headquarters for the Klan, and by the time he stopped, a group of white-robes was waiting for him..The press encircled Adam, his guards, the Klansmen. 'Who's in charge' here?' Adam demanded, holding his breath.

'Who wants to know?' asked a burly young man with a black beard and sunburned cheeks. Sweat dripped from his eyebrows as he stepped forward.

'I have a statement here from Sam Cayhall,' Adam said loudly, and the circle compressed.

Cameras clicked. Reporters shoved microphones and recorders into the air around Adam.

'Quiet,' someone yelled.

'Get back!' one of the guards snapped.

A tense group of Klansmen, all in matching robes but most without the hoods, packed tighter together in front of Adam. He recognized none of them from his last confrontation on Friday. These guys did not look too friendly.

The racket stopped along the grassy strip as the crowd pushed closer to hear Sam's lawyer.

Adam pulled the note from the envelope and held it with both hands. 'My name is Adam Hall, and I'm Sam Cayhall's lawyer. This is a statement from Sam,' he repeated. 'It's dated today, and addressed to all members of the Ku Klux Klan, and to the other groups demonstrating on his behalf here today. I quote: `Please leave. Your presence here is of no comfort to me. You're using my execution as a means to further your own interests. I do not know a single one of you, nor do I care to meet you. Please go away immediately. I prefer to die without the benefit of your theatrics.''

Adam glanced at the stern faces of the Klansmen, all hot and dripping with perspiration. 'The last paragraph reads as follows, and I quote: `I am no longer a member of the Ku Klux Klan. I repudiate that organization and all that it stands for. I would be a free man today had I never heard of the Ku Klux Klan.' It's signed by Sam Cayhall.' Adam flipped it over and thrust it toward the Kluckers, all of whom were speechless and stunned.

The one with the black beard and sunburned cheeks lunged at Adam in an attempt to grab the letter. 'Gimme that!' he yelled, but Adam yanked it away. The guard to Adam's right stepped forward quickly and blocked the man, who pushed the guard. The guard shoved him back, and for a few terrifying seconds Adam's bodyguards scuffled with a few of the Kluckers. Other guards had been watching nearby, and within seconds they were in the middle of the shoving match. Order was restored quickly. The crowd backed away.

Adam smirked at the Kluckers. 'Leave!' Adam shouted. 'You heard what he said! He's ashamed of you!'

'Go to hell!' the leader yelled back.

The two guards grabbed Adam and led him away before he stirred them up again. They moved rapidly toward the front gate, knocking reporters and cameramen out of the way. They practically ran through the entrance, past another line of guards, past another swarm of reporters, and finally to Adam's car.

'Don't come back up here, okay?' one of the guards pleaded with him.

McAllister's office was known to have more leaks than an old toilet. By early afternoon, Tuesday, the hottest gossip in Jackson was that the governor was seriously considering clemency for. Sam Cayhall. The gossip spread rapidly from the capitol to the reporters outside where it was picked up by other reporters and onlookers and repeated, not as gossip, but as solid rumor. Within an hour of the leak, the rumor had risen to the level of near- fact.

Mona Stark met in the rotunda with the press and promised a statement by the governor at a later hour. The