Jake was stunned and could think of no reason the FBI, or anyone else, would be listening to his phone calls. Indeed, things were so slow around the office that he was contemplating another painful trip to the bank to beg for more credit.
“So it has to be Mack, right?” Lucien asked.
Jake was flabbergasted, and also angry at the intrusion. When his thoughts cleared, his first impulse was to hire a private detective to inspect his phones, to confirm things. Lucien didn’t like the idea because he had no doubt about what had happened. And, why include anyone else? Someone might say too much. It was best to play along and be careful about what he said on the phone. His office had not been bugged, only the phones.
He said, “It’s safe to assume they’re listening here, too. You’d better tell Carla.”
“Of course,” Jake said, dreading that conversation.
“And you gotta tell Harry Rex.”
“They can’t bug his lawyer’s phones, can they?”
“They can and they will. You can’t trust the FBI. Hell, you can’t trust anyone.”
“Do I tell Mack?”
Lucien sipped his tea and considered this. “I’d be careful. I’d whisper this to Harry Rex and let him deal with it.”
“You whisper it. I’m afraid to use the phones. Tell him to meet me on your front porch at five this afternoon.”
As soon as Lucien left, Carla was on the patio and asking, “What was that all about?”
“You are not going to believe it.” He told her everything, and she did not believe it. His words of caution were not well received. Assume someone is listening to every phone, including those in our house. Use them as always, keep things normal, but stay away from sensitive matters. And whatever you do, don’t mention Mack Stafford or anyone in his family.
Carla was furious at the violation and wanted to hire someone to confirm the wiretaps. They had to be illegal and she wanted something done. Jake promised her he would get to the bottom of it, he just needed some time. He was stunned too and trying to clear his thoughts. He and Harry Rex would meet at Lucien’s and decide what to do.
But that afternoon they met at Lucien’s and couldn’t agree on what to do. They assumed that Harry Rex’s phones were tapped too, and he was ready for war. The surveillance was illegal, in his opinion, and he wanted to sue the government. Lucien kept things calm and thought they could use the knowledge to their advantage, or at least have some fun with it.
（33）
Monday morning, Jake’s first phone call, and the first with a potential audience, was to the circuit clerk’s office across the street, routine business. He made three more and tried to grow accustomed to the possibility that someone else was listening. He was careful with his language and tried to sound natural. It was still difficult to believe. He went downstairs to the kitchen, poured some more coffee, walked to the closet, stared at the phone lines and wires running everywhere, and kicked himself because he didn’t know beans about his own systems. Somewhere hidden in one of those boxes was a wiretap. Touching nothing, he retreated and returned to his office. At precisely 11:00 a.m., as rehearsed, he called Harry Rex and they discussed a zoning dispute they had been arguing about for three months. As usual, Harry Rex showed no signs of controlling his tongue, regardless of who might be listening.
Then Jake said, “Look, something’s come up. You’re alone, right?”
“Of course I’m alone. I’m locked in my office. It’s Monday morning and half of my idiot clients out there have either guns or knives. What do you want?”
“I heard from Mack.”
A long pause, in which both Jake and Harry Rex smiled at the visual of some half-asleep FBI flunky with a headset getting jolted in the ass with the reference to Mack.
Quietly, suspiciously, Harry Rex asked, “Where is he?”
“Says he’s living in a cheap apartment on the south end of Tupelo. Wants us to drive over this afternoon for a drink.”
“Where’s he been all this time?”
“He’s not too generous with the facts, but he did mention a trip to Florida. Now he’s back and says he’s found a job.”
“A job? What’s he want with a job? I thought he stole enough.”
Harry Rex thought this was clever, sort of a left-handed admission that his client had indeed stolen something. Jake smiled too. Both were almost snickering at the fun and games.
“We didn’t talk about that, but he said he’s bored and needs to get busy. Said he’s going to work as a paralegal in Jimmy Fuller’s law office.”