Though obviously reluctant to hurt my father in any way, Gerry is forced to concede that the basis of their friendship centered around shared enthusiasm for various technologies. McGraw is a ham radio operator, and Dad loved to stop by his house and help him tinker with his setup. Both Gerry and Dad had photographic darkrooms in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and this memory makes me remember standing in our bathroom/darkroom as a boy, counting seconds as my wet hands moved between the trays of developer, stop bath, fixer. The pungent smell of those chemicals comes back in a powerful rush, and with it a sense of oneness with my father that I haven’t experienced in a long time.

Somehow Shad has even dug up the fact that both Gerry and my father were hi-fi fanatics, and built Heathkit receivers and speakers at home. Gerry is forced to concede that Dad was as good with a soldering iron as he was with a suturing needle, and even more damaging, that both men were familiar with—and owned—“bulk degaussers” used by enthusiasts to erase old reel-to-reel tapes.

By the time Shad releases Gerry, the damage has been done, and Quentin elects not to cross.

Judge Elder looks at his watch, then says, “Mr. Johnson, it’s almost eleven o’clock. Can you examine your next witness in an hour?”

“I believe so, Your Honor. The State calls Lincoln Turner.”

As Lincoln enters the courtroom wearing a sport coat and tie, I realize that things are about to get worse, not better.

Chapter 37

When Lincoln Turner enters the witness box to be sworn, every eye in the courtroom but my mother’s follows him, and every head but hers strains forward so as not to miss anything he might say. For if anyone knows the truth or the cost of Tom Cage’s past sins, they reckon, it is the big black man facing them now.

My half brother looks out over the assembled citizens with something between detachment and disdain. While the bailiff gives Lincoln the oath, I think back to last night, when Doris Avery revealed to me her darkest fear: that her husband and my father have bound themselves in an unholy bargain to provide services that only they could give each other. If my father will give Quentin a painless escape from this life, then Quentin will allow Dad to be convicted. This scenario only makes sense to me if my father believes he’s protecting one or all of us from pain or death by his sacrifice. If that is the case, then the evil he fears can only be Snake Knox and his henchmen. I know far better than to discount this threat, yet I can’t help but hope that Dad has not despaired of saving himself altogether.