The Reckoning

Hop reports the murder to Deputy Roy Lester. It has been 10 years since the last murder of a white man. No one in town can remember a murder of anyone as prominent as Pastor Bell.

Sheriff Gridley arrests Pete, who doesn’t resist. He tells the sheriff the murder weapon is on the front seat of his truck. Pete answers their questions by telling them that he has nothing to say. At the jail, they are met by John Wilbanks, the Banning family lawyer and longtime friend.

Meanwhile, Florry has received a letter from Pete telling her to call Pete’s children, Joel and Stella, and tell them what has happened, and that they are to stay away until he tells them otherwise.

News of the murder spreads through the town, and the townspeople are shocked and bewildered. Pastor Bill was an important and respected member of the community, and Pete is a hometown hero after his experiences in the war in the Philippines. The question that torments them is why in the world Pete did such a thing.

At the jail, Pete’s lawyer, Wilbanks, is trying to plan a defense. He asks Pete why he killed the pastor, but Pete refuses to offer a defense. Wilbanks suggests a plea of temporary insanity, but Pete insists he is perfectly sane.

Pete’s son, Joel, a senior at Vanderbilt College with plans to attend law school, receives a phone call from his Aunt Florry. Florry tells him about the murder. She tells Joel to stay at the college and that his father has forbidden him or his younger sister, Stella, to return to Clanton.

The following day, Florry meets with Wilbanks. Wilbanks tells her that Pete appears to have no defense. Furthermore, three weeks earlier, Pete signed ownership of the Banning farm over to Joel and Stella, indicating that he had been planning the murder for some time. By transferring the land, he hoped to prevent the property from being taken by Pastor Bell’s widow as damages for the murder. The land transaction will be used as evidence to prove premeditation. Because Pete obviously made the transfer in preparation for the murder, the transfer will almost certainly be overturned.

Wilbanks asks Florry if she saw any sign of mental illness in Pete after he returned from the Philippines, but Florry saw nothing out of the ordinary. Pete has always been reserved and controlled. She does know that Pete and his wife, Liza, had been fighting a lot, while Liza was spiraling into the mental health crisis that ended in her being admitted to the hospital. Wilbanks speculates that Liza and Pastor Bell might have had an affair when Liza thought Pete was dead. Florry protests that the idea is outrageous.

At the prison, Sheriff Gridley tells Pete that Pastor Bell’s widow and children are devastated but okay. Pete feels no sympathy for them. He considers saying something snide but doesn’t.

The next day, Florry visits Pete at the jail, bringing several small items Pete requested in the letter he sent to her before his arrest. The deputies make note of the fact that Pete planned for his arrest—more evidence of premeditation.

When Florry finally has a chance to talk to Pete alone, she demands an explanation, but all Pete will say was that he had no choice and has no intention of explaining himself.

Judge Ralph Oswald is presiding over Pete Banning’s arraignment. He warns Pete that he has been charged with first-degree murder, which is based on premeditation and can carry the death penalty. The judge says that if he pleads guilty to second-degree murder, he will receive a long prison sentence, but not the death penalty. Pete pleads not guilty of first-degree murder. The judge refuses bail, and Pete is returned to the jail.

Joel Banning disobeys his father’s injunction to stay away from Clanton. He first goes to his family home—now abandoned with both his parents gone. Even Nineva, the family housekeeper, and her husband, Amos, are gone. He goes next to his Aunt Florry’s cottage. He asks her what is happening to their family. Florry says she has no idea. Pete refuses to give his reasons for the murder, and Florry is convinced Pete will take the secret to his grave.

Trying to make sense of the situation, Joel goes through his memories of the years when he thought his father was dead and when they learned that Pete survived and had been rescued. He remembers his mother being overjoyed to have Pete back, then everything seemed to fall apart. He asks Florry if she knows what caused Liza’s breakdown, but Florry knows only that Liza needed help, and the only professionals who knew how to help her were at Whitfield Hospital. Pete had Liza committed.

Florry advises Joel to return to college without trying to see his father or talk to the lawyer. Joel says he wants to talk to the farm’s overseer and check the crops, but Florry reminds him that he’s not a farmer. Buford, the farm’s foreman, has everything under control. Seeing nothing he can do to help his father, Joel returns to school.

The grand jury meets to decide what crimes committed in the county need to be pursued. There are minor crimes, like bad checks, as well as a white man and Black woman who were caught violating the state’s laws against interracial sexual relationships. In the latter case, the jurors argue briefly. Many of the all-male jury members are known to have had relations with Black women. Nevertheless, the majority vote to indict.

Pete’s case is last on the docket. Some of the jurors refuse to vote on the case, but there are still enough to indict him.

Pete remains in jail and keeps himself busy by improving conditions for the other prisoners. Florry brings Pete’s favorite coffee and insists that the Black prisoners be allowed to drink the same coffee as Pete. Florry also brings enough food to feed all the prisoners and the deputies as well. Pete talks the sheriff into appointing him as jail trustee, serving meals to and improving conditions for all the prisoners. Pete is playing cribbage with one of the other prisoners when he receives the indictment papers. The trial is set for January 6, two months away. Pete asks if they can’t do it any sooner.

A month passes. Pastor Bell’s wife Jackie moves back to her birthplace in Georgia, where she encounters Errol McLeish, a former schoolmate. Errol isn’t especially interested in a widow with two children, but he knows that if Pete is convicted—which is virtually a certainty—Jackie will have an excellent case to demand Pete’s property as compensation for her husband’s murder. McLeish has extensive debts, and Jackie’s prospects make her a lot more attractive than she is to him without them.

Joel and Stella obey their father’s injunction to stay away from Clanton. They spend Thanksgiving with friends while Pete spends it at the jail. He is losing weight and pale from lack of sunlight.

John Wilbanks wants to file for a change of venue for the trial. He doesn’t believe Pete can get a fair trial from a jury of men who knew the victim. Sentiment is running against Pete. The townsfolk feel that regardless of the conflict between Pete and Bell, it should have been settled peacefully. Pete refuses the change of venue. He wants to be tried in Clanton by the people who know him.

Wilbanks proposes again that Pete plead not guilty by reason of insanity. It’s his only chance, but Pete once again refuses. He considers himself to have been perfectly sane at the time.