The Summons

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Book: The Summons by John Grisham Read Free Book Online
Authors: John Grisham
Tags: Fiction, Suspense
have some relief. Booze, sex, drugs, they all get me eventually.”
    “You were clean for a hundred and forty days.”
    “A hundred and forty-one.”
    “What’s the record?”
    “Fourteen months. I came out of rehab a few years back, this great detox center that the old man paid for, and I kicked ass for a long time. Then I crashed.”
    “Why? What made you crash?”
    “It’s always the same. When you’re an addict you can lose it any time, any place, for any reason. They haven’t designed a wagon that can hold me. I’m an addict, Bro, plain and simple.”
    “Still drugs?”
    “Sure. Last night it was booze and beer, same tonight, same tomorrow. By the end of the week I’ll be doing nastier stuff.”
    “Do you want to?”
    “No, but I know what happens.”
    The waitress brought their food. Forrest quickly buttered a biscuit and took a large bite. When he could speak he said, “The old man’s dead, Ray, can you believe it?”
    Ray was anxious to change the subject too. If theydwelt on Forrest’s shortcomings they would be fighting soon enough. “No, I thought I was ready for it, but I wasn’t.”
    “When was the last time you saw him?”
    “November, when he had prostate surgery. You?”
    Forrest sprinkled Tabasco sauce on his scrambled eggs and pondered the question. “When was his heart attack?”
    There had been so many ailments and surgeries that they were difficult to remember. “He had three.”
    “The one in Memphis.”
    “That was the second one,” Ray said. “Four years ago.”
    “That’s about right. I spent some time with him at the hospital. Hell, it wasn’t six blocks away. I figured it was the least I could do.”
    “What did you talk about?”
    “Civil War. He still thought we’d won.”
    They smiled at this and ate in silence for a few moments. The silence ended when Harry Rex found them. He helped himself to a biscuit while offering the latest details of the splendid ceremony he was planning for Judge Atlee.
    “Everybody wants to come out to the house,” he said with a mouthful.
    “It’s off limits,” Ray said.
    “That’s what I’m tellin’ them. Y’all want to receive guests tonight?”
    “No,” said Forrest.
    “Should we?” asked Ray.
    “It’s the proper thing to do, either at the house or atthe funeral home. But if you don’t, it’s no big deal. Ain’t like folks’ll get pissed and refuse to speak to you.”
    “We’re doing the courthouse wake and a funeral, isn’t that enough?” Ray asked.
    “I think so.”
    “I’m not sittin’ around a funeral home all night huggin’ old ladies who’ve been talkin’ about me for twenty years,” Forrest said. “You can if you want, but I will not be there.”
    “Let’s pass on it,” Ray said.
    “Spoken like a true executor,” Forrest said with a sneer.
    “Executor?” said Harry Rex.
    “Yes, there was a will on his desk, dated Saturday. A simple, one-page, holographic will, leaving everything to the two of us, listing his assets, naming me as the executor. And he wants you to do the probate, Harry Rex.”
    Harry Rex had stopped chewing. He rubbed the bridge of his nose with a chubby finger and gazed across the diner. “That’s odd,” he said, obviously puzzled by something.
    “What?”
    “I did a long will for him a month ago.”
    All had stopped eating. Ray and Forrest exchanged looks that conveyed nothing because neither had a clue what the other was thinking.
    “I guess he changed his mind,” Harry Rex said.
    “What was in the other will?” Ray asked.
    “I can’t tell you. He was my client, so it’s confidential.”
    “I’m lost here, fellas,” Forrest said. “Forgive me for not being a lawyer.”
    “The only will that matters is the last one,” said Harry Rex. “It revokes all prior wills, so whatever the Judge put in the will I prepared is irrelevant.”
    “Why can’t you tell us what’s in the old will?” Forrest asked.
    “Because I, as a lawyer, cannot discuss a

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