Alex Cross's Trial Chapter 34 Summary

  • Abraham and Ben ride two mules out to a nearby lynching tree.
  • It doesn't take them very long to get there, and Ben realizes which one is the lynching tree all on his own. There's a big, sturdy branch that doesn't have much bark on it anymore, and dark spots fill the ground all around him—he knows this is from people's blood.
  • Ben shudders to think what happened here.
  • Next to the tree, there's a sign that warns "C***s" and "C*** Lovers" to beware, hung up with a white nail.
  • When Ben comments that he's never seen a nail that color, Abraham informs him it was made from a human bone. Yikes.
  • Ben goes to take the sign down, but Abraham tells him not to bother—another will just be put up in its place before he knows it.
  • Before Ben can saying anything else, Abraham warns him that they have company.