“Get your ass off my property,” Ezra said, reaching out with his hands and pressing them hard into Bo’s chest.

Bo didn’t budge. “I’ll be seeing you, Ezra. Next weekend, I’ll be here to pick my kids up.”

He turned to go, but Ezra was determined to get the last word. “If General Lewis is so desperate that she asked for your help, then she must have done whatever she’s charged with.”

Bo didn’t bother with a response. He peeled asphalt as he left his former father-in-law’s house and made a beeline back to the farm, where he quickly packed his clothes and Lee Roy’s food. Then he and the dog were off to Pulaski. On the way, he tried to call the Professor’s son, Dr. Tommy McMurtrie, but he didn’t answer. Probably in surgery, Bo thought. He didn’t leave a message, resolving to set up a time to see Tommy in person when he visited T. J. and Lila next weekend.

After clicking off the phone, Bo spent the rest of the trek into Giles County praying that the General would relent and still let him represent her.

She did, but instead of getting the whole story in the holding cell, all Bo got was his client’s cryptic promise to tell him everything in good time.

“For now, you need to find out every piece of evidence they have against me.”

Realizing that the General’s mind was made up and that further questions would be futile, Bo left the jail at three o’clock, after requesting a copy of all the witness statements gathered by the sheriff’s office from a deputy at the front desk. The officer had smirked at him and said he’d see what he could do. If this case ran like any of the ones he’d had defending clients charged by General Lewis, Bo would be lucky to see any of the state’s evidence prior to the preliminary hearing.

What goes around comes around, Bo thought, shaking his head at the irony of his client’s situation.

From the jail, Bo drove out to Pecan Grove Drive and began knocking on doors, but most of Butch Renfroe’s neighbors were either not home or not answering their doors. One person, an elderly woman named Bonita Spencer, opened her door for him but politely declined to discuss the case, saying she was still very upset and had told the police everything she knew. As Bo was walking away, Ms. Spencer surprised him. “I sure was sad to hear about your wife.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Bo said, making a note to return in a couple of weeks to try again with Ms. Spencer.

By the time Bo left Butch’s neighborhood, it was past six o’clock, and he was exhausted. But alas, there would be no rest for the weary.