“Aren’t we going to bail him out?” Wick asked. “Let him rot,” Stroud replied. “Let Primrose do what he likes with him.” The old man turned to me. “Mr. Parker, give me my car keys.” “We can’t just leave him, Gill,” Wick said. “He’s our client. He’s a prick from hell, but he’s our client.” The two of us finally convinced Stroud that we should get Bevo released. The justice of the peace had already set bail at twenty-five thousand dollars, but when we called the only bondsman in Mule Springs, we found that he would take nothing but cash, and the three of us together had nowhere near the twenty-five hundred he wanted to post the bond. One of us would have to drive back from Jenks with the money. “It’s Primrose,” said Wick as we headed home. “He must have called the justice of the peace and got him to set the bond so goddamned high. Otherwise we could’ve gotten Bevo out with postage stamps. Hell, they don’t set bonds that high on capital murderers in this county.”
