Sycamore Row - John Grisham

Some come and go.”
Jake glared at Stillman as if to say, “Don’t even think about wanting all eleven
names. Can we just move along?”
Stillman was tempted, but moved along. “How much are you paying in rent?”
“Seven hundred a month.”
“And you’re unemployed as of today?”
“Correct.”
“Where is your husband working right now?”
“He’s not.”
“Since Mr. Sistrunk is no longer your lawyer, how do you plan to repay him?”
“We’ll worry about that later.”
Roxy had sandwiches and chips ready for lunch, and they ate in the conference room
where Lucien joined them. “How’d it go?” he asked.
“The usual first round of worthless questions,” Jake said. “Lettie was great but she’s
already tired.”
Lettie said, “I can’t do this for another day and a half.”
“Modern discovery,” Lucien said in disgust.
“Tell us how it was back in the old days, Lucien,” Jake said.
“Well, back in the old days, and the old days were much better than all these new
rules you got now—”
“I didn’t write them.”
“You weren’t required to divulge all of your witnesses and describe what they were
going to say, no sir. It was trial by ambush. You get your witnesses, I’ll get mine, and
we’ll show up at the courthouse and have us a trial. It made you a better lawyer too
because you had to react on the fly. Nowadays, everything has to be fully disclosed and
every witness has to be available for a deposition. Think of the time. Think of the
expense. It was far better back then, I swear it was.”
“Why don’t you take a large bite of that sandwich?” Jake said. “Lettie needs to relax
and no one can relax when you’re on your soapbox.”
Lucien took a small bite and asked, “What’d you think, Portia?”
She was nibbling on a chip. She laid it down and said, “It’s pretty cool, I mean, being
in a room full of that many lawyers. Makes me feel important.”
“Don’t be too impressed,” Jake said. “Most of those guys couldn’t try a shoplifting
case in city court.”
“I’ll bet Wade Lanier can,” Lettie said. “He’s smooth. I get the impression he knows
what I’m gonna say before I say it.”
“He’s very good,” Jake admitted. “Believe me, Lettie, we will learn to despise him. He
seems to be a nice guy now, but you won’t be able to stand the sight of him before this is
over.”
The thought of a long fight seemed to deflate Lettie. Four hours into the initial