Quentin rotates his chair toward the jury box but continues to address Jelks. “Let’s go back to Cora Revels for a moment. Please characterize the relationship between Cora and her sister, as you came to understand it after you joined the family.”

“Well . . . it wasn’t good.”

“How do you mean?”

“Cora was always jealous of Viola. Viola was the pretty one, the smart one, she could sing and dance like somebody on TV. Like Martha and the Vandellas. The Supremes. Cora was like Mary Wells to Viola’s Diana Ross. Only Viola was like Diana Ross with Mary Wells’s voice. She had it all, brother.”

Suddenly Jelks catches sight of Cora sitting in the row behind the prosecution table. She looks as though she’s trying to shrink beneath her seat.

“There you is, Cee. Ha. Don’t crouch down, baby. You still looking good!”

Judge Elder says, “Mr. Jelks, don’t speak unless you are first asked a question.”

“Yes, sir, Judge.”

Quentin says, “How well did you come to know Cora during the thirty-five years you were married to her sister?”

“Well . . . about as good as a man can come to know a woman, if you know what I mean.”

A shocked murmur ripples through the crowd. Everyone is staring at Cora Revels.

“When Mae Ola was dying,” Jelks goes on, “—that’s Viola’s mama, Mrs. Mae Ola—Cora and me got a little closer than we should have. I ain’t proud of it. Just stating a fact. But a man’s got needs, and all Viola could think about during those weeks was taking care of her mama. She was bone tired every day. But Cora didn’t strain herself like that. Viola always did most of the work, ’cause she was a nurse, I reckon. But those two women were just different. Always was. And having this jealousy thing between them, Cora wanted to try me out, I guess. So I let her. I didn’t care what her reason was.”

So this is what Lincoln was referring to on the stand when he said his mother had lost a lot of sympathy for Junius Jelks after her mother died . . .

“You’re saying Cora slept with you out of a desire to hurt her sister?”

“Objection,” says Shad. “Is this soap opera leading to anything relevant?”

Judge Elder looks curiously at Shad. “When you were directing the soap opera, Mr. Johnson, you seemed quite content to hear this kind of lurid detail. Overruled.”

“Like I said,” Jelks intones, “being with me was one way of getting back at Viola for all those years of feeling second class. If Cora could take Viola’s man, then she could feel superior for just a little while.”

“Did Viola ever learn about this extramarital affair?”