The meeting deteriorated and Jesse stormed out. His message had been delivered.
In their first race, Dubisson had the advantage of incumbency, name recognition, and plenty of money. Now, though, because of Camille and its ensuing litigation, the landscape had shifted, in more ways than one. Jesse Rudy was a household name and viewed by many as a gutsy and talented trial lawyer who fought the insurance companies, and won. In legal circles, the gossip was that his firm was doing well and he was making money. He had been campaigning for four years and had made plenty of friends. His partners, the Pettigrew boys, were from Hancock County and their family was well connected. The tragic death of their father in Camille had touched the entire community. Their popularity would be good for an extra thousand votes.
After he left, Dubisson locked the door to his office and called Fats Bowman. They might have a problem.
* * *
During Jesse’s initial assault on the insurance industry, he met a young lawyer named Egan Clement. She was thirty years old and worked in Wiggins, up in Stone County, where her family had lived for the past century. Her father was the superintendent of education for the county and highly regarded.
Egan had never sued an insurance company before, but she had clients with property damage claims that were being ignored. Jesse took the time to walk her through the ins and outs of the litigation and they became friendly. He helped with her lawsuits and told her when to settle and when to go to trial.
Stone County had the smallest population in the Second District, and Dubisson had carried it by thirty-one votes. Jesse did not intend to lose it again. He startled Egan with the suggestion that she enter the race for district attorney. A three-way race would further dilute Dubisson’s strength and divert some of his attention and money away from Jesse. By running, she would gain name recognition, something every small-town lawyer needed. The deal was simple: If Egan ran and lost, Jesse would hire her as his assistant district attorney.
The deal was hardball politics, but nothing unethical. Jesse had seen Egan in action and knew she had potential. He also liked the idea of having a tough female prosecutor on his team.
In April, Egan Clement officially entered the race for district attorney. The deal was kept quiet, of course, and existed only by virtue of a handshake.
* * *
After his last exam in early May, Keith hustled home to jump into the middle of the campaign. Still motivated by the first loss, he had continually encouraged his father to run again. He had been bitten by the bug, loved politics, and was as determined as Jesse to win and win big. He toyed with the idea of another session of summer school, but needed a break. His first year had gone well, his grades were impressive, but he would rather spend the next three months in the rough-and-tumble world of Coast politics.
He wrote the first campaign ads and had them ready to go when, and if, Dubisson started his direct mail mischief. They didn’t have to wait long. In the first week of June, the district was flooded with ads that repeated the theme of an incumbent “Tough On Crime.” There were the statistics boasting of a 90 percent conviction rate, and so on. There was a photo, an action shot of Dubisson in court pointing angrily at a witness, unseen. There were testimonials from crime victims expressing their unabashed admiration for the prosecutor who had put away the perpetrators. There was nothing original about the ads, just the usual slick offering from an incumbent DA. They were fair and balanced and did not mention either Jesse Rudy or Egan Clement.
The Rudy campaign countered quickly with a mailing that hit back, and hit hard. The ad listed seven unsolved murders in the past six years. Seven murders that were still in the “unprosecuted” category. The implication was clear: The DA wasn’t doing a very good job with the serious crimes. In all fairness, Dubisson couldn’t prosecute murders that law enforcement hardly investigated. At least five of them were gang-related, and Fats Bowman had never shown much interest when the mobsters were settling scores. But that wasn’t mentioned in the ad. It went on to list the crimes that had led to apprehension and punishment, with heavy emphasis on petty burglaries, small drug deals, domestic violence, and drunk driving. In bold print at the bottom was a tagline that would be remembered and repeated: “Rex Dubisson—Tough On Shoplifters.”