Summary

Tish and her mother go to see Hayward, Fonny’s lawyer. Tish is nervous, uncomfortable, and angry, ill-at-ease with this white man in his expensive office. He is reassuring in his efforts to convince her that he will get Fonny released, but also honest about the challenges they all face in doing so. Conversation reveals that Fonny is in prison on charges of raping a Puerto Rican woman (Victoria Rogers), who has since disappeared; that the testimony of a the racist white police officer who arrested him (Bell) is the primary evidence against Fonny; and that Fonny’s alibi, that he had been with Tish and their friend Daniel at the time, is likely to be disregarded, in part because Daniel himself has been arrested and is likely to be “convinced” to change his evidence. Tish...