“Now, the witness will answer the question, whether she can see you or not.”

“No, sir,” says Cora. “Viola didn’t say nothin’ about strange white men comin’ to the house. Any white men, except Mr. Henry. God rest his soul.”

“Miss Cora, earlier you testified that Viola returned to Natchez in 1996 to care for your mother. Do I have that right?”

“Yes. Mama was dying, and we needed her.”

“I see. And did Viola take a tour of her old hometown? Did she go out and see the sights of Natchez? Visit some old restaurants? Or maybe new ones?”

“No, sir. No indeed.”

“Objection, Your Honor,” Shad interrupts. “Relevance.”

“Overruled.”

“Please continue, Miss Cora,” Quentin says gently.

After a pause, Cora Revels says, “Vee and Junius flew into Baton Rouge, then drove up in a rental car after dark. Vee didn’t leave our house the whole time she was in Natchez. She even stayed out of sight when anybody who wasn’t family visited. That way word never got out that she was home. Not out to any white folks, anyway.”

“And why did Viola take those precautions?”

“She didn't want any old klukkers finding out she was here.”

“Because she was under a standing death threat?”

“Objection, Your Honor. Leading the witness.”

“Sustained.”

“I don’t know about any death threat,” Cora says. “But Vee sure didn’t want anybody on the other side of town finding out she was home.”

“By ‘the other side’ of town, did you mean the white side of town?”

“That’s right.”

There’s a silence in which I hear nothing, not even Quentin’s wheelchair. Then, in an incisive voice, he says, “Regarding this crime Viola told you had been bothering her. When was your impression that this had occurred?”

My pulse is still accelerating. Why the hell is Quentin pressing an issue that could lead to new murder charges against his client?

“Oh, long ago. Back before she left Natchez, when she was working for Dr. Cage.”

“I see. Did Viola tell you why she hadn’t told anyone about it before?”

“Judge, I’m forced to point out that counsel is purposefully blocking my view of the witness again.”

“Please return to the podium, Mr. Avery,” Judge Elder says wearily.

This time I don’t hear a whir, but Cora Revels goes on without prompting. She sounds as though she wants to be done with this topic. “Whatever it was, she said the law might have taken her away from Lincoln for it, and that terrified her. They could have hurt Dr. Cage, too. But now that she could see the end coming, she felt like it needed to be told.”

“You had the feeling there was still risk in telling what she’d done?”

“Oh, yes, sir.”

“What about the risk to Dr. Cage? He wasn’t facing a terminal illness. He would have to live with the outcome of whatever Viola got off her chest.”