Summary

In Chapter 5, Jake discussed with Carla, his wife, his concern that if he refused to take Drew’s case, Noose would deliberately delay the Smallwood case, a civil lawsuit for which they might get a large settlement. In that case, Jake and Harry Rex were suing a railway company because Taylor and Sarah Smallwood and two of their children were killed when they crashed into a boxcar at a railway crossing that was badly maintained. There had been wrecks there before. A witness said the warning lights were not working. Grace, the two-month-old child of the Smallwoods, survived because she was with her aunt.

In the present, Carla pointed out there were no racial tensions associated with the case so it might not get as heated as the Hailey case, but there was a 16-year-old boy who needed their help. When Noose called...