Sparring Partners

Two months later, Mack reaches out again, asking Jake and Harry Rex to meet him at a hotel bar in Oxford, Mississippi. Mack asks Jake to reach out to Drew Pettigrew, Mack’s brother-in-law, to establish contact with Lisa. Lisa immediately rejects Mack’s advances, warning that if Mack attempts to contact her or their daughters again, she’ll call the police. Shortly after, Lisa’s father, Herman Bunning, hires another Clanton lawyer named Walter Sullivan to help Herman track down and prosecute Mack. Bunning argues that Mack never properly supported Lisa and her daughters during their marriage, and that he owes her more money in their divorce.

Freda, Mack’s former secretary, reflects on the days leading up to his disappearance. One day, he came back from his lunch break drunk. Freda chastised him for missing two client meetings and he suddenly fired her. He continued drinking through the evening, and slipped on a patch of ice while walking home, sending him to the hospital for two days. While Mack was in the hospital, Freda returned to his office and looked through his books to see if he had been stealing money. She took note of the chainsaw lawsuits and the number of the New York firm that had called Mack on the day that he fired her.

Freda now lives in Tupelo. When a private investigator sent by Walter asks if she’s heard from Mack since his return to the United States, she says no. Freda is saddened to hear that Lisa is sick; Freda also resents Mack for firing her and for the rumors that she helped him escape. She passes along the information about the law suit and the New York firm to Walter’s investigator. Walter contacts the New York firm, which acknowledges that a settlement was reached, but refuses to give him any additional details without a subpoena.

Walter travels to Oxford, Mississippi to meet with a senior prosecutor in the US Attorney’s office named Judd Morrissette. Walter convinces Judd of his current theory: that Mack quickly settled the chainsaw lawsuit, gave his two surviving clients less than they were owed, and took the rest, lying about his financial situation to declare bankruptcy and finalize his divorce with Lisa. Judd agrees to contact the FBI and the New York firm to investigate.

Margot, Mack’s oldest daughter, contacts Jake and asks him to put her in contact with her father. Jake agrees, and arranges a meeting in his office. That day, Jake and Mack meet at a restaurant outside of town. Mack tells Jake that he regrets taking the money and leaving the country, but that he isn’t sure whether he’ll fight for custody of his daughters. He speculates that if Lisa dies, the girls will go to her parents or sister. Jake drives Mack to Clanton for his meeting with Margot.

During their meeting, Margot is cold to Mack and refers to him by his first name. She tells him that Lisa is very sick and weighs only 80 pounds. She asks Mack why he’s returned to Clanton; he responds that he’s tired of running and wants to rectify his mistakes. Margot is dissatisfied with his response, and accuses him of abandoning their family. Mack tells her in detail about his marital troubles with her mother, and tries to explain why he felt like he had to leave. He claims that Lisa’s family’s extreme religious faith and her materialism were paralyzing, and that he felt trapped. Margot knew her parents’ marriage was strained, but she was humiliated by the divorce and her father’s disappearance. She leaves, but agrees to see Mack again.

An FBI agent named Nick Lenzini is assigned to investigate Mack’s bankruptcy and disappearance. He travels to New York City to the firm of Durban & Lang, who settled Mack’s chainsaw injury lawsuit. Lawyers at the firm provide evidence that Mack accepted $100,000 for each of his four clients, plus an additional $100,000 in lawyer’s fees.

Agent Lenzini also approaches Freda, Mack’s former secretary and notary, with the help of Walter’s private investigator. Lenzini shows Freda the notarized documents confirming transfer of the lawsuit money to Mack’s clients. Freda denies notarizing the documents, and Lenzini infers that Mack must have forged them. She assures Lenzini that she had no knowledge of the settlement or Mack’s forgeries.

In Clanton, Lenzini learns from Sheriff Ozzie Walls that one of the four clients is in jail, and that one is dead. A third, Odell Grove, is still living in Clanton. When a sheriff’s deputy visits Odell, he confirms that Mack gave him $25,000, rather than the full amount he was owed, and that he had not signed the documents in front of a notary.

At their second meeting, Margot reveals to Mack that Lisa’s parents, Herman and Honey Bunning, are having financial difficulties, and that this is exacerbating their worries about Lisa’s death. Margot’s grandparents are planning to sell Lisa’s house and use the money to support the girls after her death. Margot plans to leave Clanton and the South forever after graduation. Mack offers to pay her college tuition and tells her to lie to her mother and grandparents, saying she’s visiting Rhodes College in Memphis when she is really visiting Mack.

Agent Lenzini visits Lowell Dyer, the district attorney for the Judicial District covering Clanton, and lays out the extent of his investigation. Mack forged the signatures of two of the chainsaw clients, and gave the other two less than they were owed. In total, Mack took $400,000, when he was only owed $200,000. The district attorney, who knew Mack, is at first reluctant to prosecute; he eventually decides to pursue the case because it offers an exciting change from his usual docket.

Margot drives to the bar where Mack now works for a lunch meeting. Her grandfather told her not to drive into Memphis, and refuses to pay for private college tuition. Margot has also heard her grandfather discussing the FBI on the phone. Mack asks her to continue to listen to his conversations, and report back. After their meal, Mack joins Margot for a tour of Rhodes College.

Margot returns home and tells her sister Helen and her mother about her visit to Rhodes College. Helen asks to leave Clanton with Margot after graduation. Lisa encourages Margot’s interest art college. Shortly afterward, Lisa dies.

Agent Lenzini visits Walter, Lisa’s family’s lawyer, and informs him that the district attorney plans to prosecute Mack if they can locate him, and that they money they recover may help take care of Lisa’s children.

A few days after the funeral, one of Jake’s lawyer friends sees men dressed as electricians placing recording devices on the phones in Jake’s office. Jake is alarmed by the intrusion, and assumes that the men were FBI agents in disguise. He schemes with Harry Rex to discover the truth: The two men stage a call, knowing the line is tapped, discussing plans to meet with Mack at a bar in Tupelo. Their secret plan is to confirm that, in fact, FBI agents are tapping Jake’s phone. When Harry Rex and Jake show up at the bar, they see a white van advertising the same electrical company that broke into Jake’s office, seemingly confirming their suspicions. Inside the bar, Agent Lenzini observes Jake and Harry Rex waiting for Mack, unaware that they do not expect him to arrive. Lenzini and Jake make eye contact, and Jake wonders if he’s the agent searching for Mack.

The next day, Jake visits the Bunnings to pay his condolences to Lisa’s family. While there, he delivers a letter to Margot, telling her not to call him because of the wiretap, and giving her Mack’s number. Meanwhile, in Oxford, a grand jury indicts Mack for one count of bankruptcy fraud and four counts of tax evasion. The indictment is sealed, so that Mack won’t know that he’s in trouble until he’s arrested. Still, Harry Rex gets news of the indictment, which he quickly shares with Jake. Jake advises him to tell Mack to leave the country.

Two weeks later, Margot is touring Millsap University when her father suddenly appears. Mack offers his condolences for the death of her mother, and he asks about Helen. Margot describes Helen as pathetic and not ready to accept Mack back into her life. Mack explains that he has to leave again, and that Margot may hear stories about his arrest. He plans to hide out for a few years, and then attempt to pay restitution in order to avoid arrest. She can contact him via Jake’s secretary. Margot asks if he will still pay her tuition, and Mack promises to do so.

Later that day, Mack meets up with Jake and Harry Rex in a national park in Vicksburg. They discuss Mack’s indictment and his options for the future. Harry Rex, as Mack’s lawyer, recommends that Mack turn himself in to the authorities, given the evidence against him. Jake, as Mack’s friend, recommends that he return to Costa Rica and wait until the prosecutors lose interest in the case. Mack thanks them both and leaves. That night, he drives to the Mexican border and walks across with $40,000 in cash and four passports.