The Testament

Delirious with fever, Nate imagines that Rachel is with him, talking to him and holding him to keep him from dying. Jevy forces water into his mouth and pours it over his hair. They finally arrive in Corumbá at eleven at night. Jevy calls Ruiz, who meets him at the dock. They rush Nate to the local hospital, where he is immediately washed. The doctor confirms the dengue diagnosis and orders IV antibiotics. “Because he [is] a rich American” (335), Nate receives the best treatment and medicine. Ruiz asks Jevy if they found the woman, and Jevy confirms that they did. Ruiz phones Josh with the news.

Rex reads all six of the Phelan children’s petitions and realizes that they are all virtually interchangeable. If the family members could cooperate, they could cut down their costs. He meets with Troy to suggest that they all sign on with Hark. Troy hates him, but Rex points out that it was Hark who found Snead, and unlike Troy’s lawyers, Hark has no principles.

To make the two-day journey to Corumbá without a motorboat, Rachel must travel south in a canoe and wait for a boat to pass that will give her a ride. Now on her way there with her best friend, Lako, they are caught in a storm. Huddled under a lean-to, they hold hands and pray for Nate’s health.

Josh receives a memo on dengue fever and considers sending a private plane with a doctor and nurse to collect Nate. Ruiz tells him that Nate will need to rest after leaving the hospital. Josh is frustrated that Nate is not yet able to speak and regrets sending him on this mission in such a fragile state.

In the hospital, Nate wakes up at peace and fever-free. He peels off the bandage over his eyes and sees the sore-covered, shriveled bodies of his roommates. He wants to run from the room, but he doesn’t to have the strength. Instead, the fastens the bandage back over his eyes.

Snead and Hark meet to discuss his testimony. Snead struggles to provide Hark the answers that he wants. Hark makes it clear that Snead and Nicolette must have iron-clad stories that match up and provide evidence that Phelan was not in his right mind. Hark feeds him some suggestions.

Nate meets with Jevy and Welly in the hospital courtyard. Ruiz arrives and phones Josh, who cannot get a clear answer from Nate whether he met the right woman. Nate only says that her name was not Rachel Lane, but she was lovely and he asked her to marry him. Tired of Ruiz telling him to be patient, Josh barks at him to get Nate healthy. Later, he discusses developments with Durban. They wonder what happened between Nate and Rachel. Durban asks if she signed the papers, and Josh assumes that she must have, since Nate left her.

The doctor comes to check on Nate in the courtyard and allows him to remain there with Jevy keeping watch. A man housed in the psychiatric hospital adjacent comes to the bars of the building screaming and urinating in their direction. Nate convinces Jevy to get him out of the hospital. Jevy believes that the fever will come back, as is the case with dengue, but finally agrees. Nate thinks about the mess waiting for him back home and his passport, money, gadgets, and papers that sank with the boat in the Pantanal. The hunt for Rachel had kept him focused, but now he feels the familiar darkness closing in, knowing that he must go home “to face the music one more time” (360).

Nate faints while dressing himself. Jevy knows that the escape is a bad idea but brings Nate back to the hotel. Hearing from the doctor that Nate left the hospital, Ruiz tracks them down and finds Jevy drinking beer in the pool. He orders him not to leave Nate’s side. The fever returns in the night, climbing to 105 degrees. Jevy gets Nate into his truck and calls Ruiz, who curses him but agrees to contact the doctor.

At the hospital, Nate endures more bouts with delirium. He feels Rachel beside him. She tells him that God has sent her to protect him; God has plans for him. He dreams of angels. The following day, he leaves the hospital with the doctor’s consent, better but still weak. No one has seen Rachel. Later, Nate phones Josh from Ruiz’s office. Josh wants to send down a jet, but Nate tells him to wait, adding that he found Rachel, and she wants no part of the money. Nate warns Josh that he will not be able to change her mind.

Jevy cannot find Rachel and considers that his friend may have been hallucinating again. Later, Nate wanders the city streets and happens upon a chapel. Thinking that Rachel might be there, he goes inside and finds himself praying for forgiveness. He feels the presence of God but does not know if he can take the next step and become a follower. He needs to find Rachel.

Three weeks after leaving to find Rachel, Nate is on his way home. Ruiz has hired a despachante, a facilitator with the right contacts to push through the complicated bureaucracy in Brazil. A passport is quickly acquired for a high fee. Nate continues searching for Rachel until the last moment and never finds her. Jevy believes that Nate must have dreamed of her. Given the locals’ love of exchanging stories, if a white woman who lived with Indigenous people had appeared in Corumbá, someone would have seen her. Before Nate departs, Jevy asks if he can find him a job in the United States, and Nate promises to see what he can do.

His flight lands in Dulles during a winter storm. Josh picks him up at the airport and brings him back to Josh’s own home. There, Nate compares everything to Corumbá and realizes that he is tougher than he had thought. When they meet to debrief, Nate recounts his experience to Josh, who informs him that Rachel must have representation for the case to proceed. As Phelan’s attorney, he feels a responsibility to uphold the will. Josh shares Phelan’s horror at the thought of his children getting the money. He wants Nate to present himself as Rachel’s lawyer, both to represent her interests and to avoid a media frenzy if the press learns that Rachel plans to decline the bequest. Nate is uncomfortable with the lie, but Josh promises to “do the lying” and to hold off the IRS for the time being (385).

Nate is anxious to leave Washington, DC, and goes to Josh’s cottage in St. Michaels on Chesapeake Bay. Walking away from his legal career makes him feel excited. He achieved success, but it “had brought him nothing but misery” (388). He thinks of his friends in Corumbá and vows to contact them. He tries to reach his oldest son, but the call goes to voicemail. He thinks of his other children and plans to make amends as soon as possible. At a café, he listens to the news while eating breakfast, noting that the “news never changed” (390). Josh’s cottage is a richly appointed four-bedroom, four-bath home in which the couple spends only a handful of nights per year. Heading out to find coffee, Nate hears the church bells ring.

Nate attends the church service. Though he has trouble paying attention, he prays, thanking God for being alive and for Rachel, and he feels at peace. He feels God “pulling him in some direction,” though he does not yet know where, and exhorts himself to “[b]e patient” (393). After the service, the rector, Phil Lancaster, invites him to lunch with his wife, Laura. Nate tells them his story, leaving Rachel’s name out of it. Later, he sees a beer display and feels no temptation.

When the Phelan family lawyers gather to prepare Snead for cross-examination, Hark giddily announces that Mary Ross has fired her lawyer, Grit. The other lawyers become anxious that Hark is poaching clients and ponder how to protect their interests. Too much money is at stake to allow anyone to trust each other. The lawyers coach Snead. They record him giving his testimony while they grill him as they imagine their opposition will, then send him home to study the recording.

Josh informs Wycliff that they have found Rachel, claiming that she made them promise not to disclose her location and that she does not yet know her plans. Wycliff wants the court to have jurisdiction over her, but Josh insists that, since she has legal representation, they can begin proceedings “and see what the other side has” (405). Wycliff agrees to an off-the-record lunch with Josh and Nate.

Father Phil phones Nate to ask if he can help him on a remodeling project. He is renovating the basement to construct Bible study classrooms and a fellowship room. Nate jumps at the offer. As they put up wallboard, Nate shares his current troubles. Father Phil tells him that God will “show [him] the way” (409).

Devoted to helping Father Phil with the renovation, Nate feels dread when Josh contacts him to meet with Wycliff but reminds himself that he is doing this for Rachel, even though she herself does not care. The three men meet at the courthouse. Though it will become a circus, the case itself is simple: Was Phelan of sound mind when he wrote his final will? Nate is frustrated by feeling like a pawn in a game, but he plays his part. Josh convinces the judge that they can move ahead, with a few small lies about Rachel’s participation. Nate deflects Wycliff’s apparent desire to gossip about the case.

After the meeting, Nate reflects on his dark days with alcohol and drugs, the ways he let his family down, and his bleak financial situation. But Father Phil is teaching him to trust God with his future; he wonders “if God was getting more than He bargained for” (419). Back home, he writes a letter to Rachel, which he sends to World Tribes headquarters in Houston, hoping that it finds its way to her. He wants to see her again.

Grit threatens Hark to reveal the Snead scheme to the judge, but Hark reminds him that he will be violating client confidentiality and admitting to his own wrongdoing in the process. Grit swears that he is not finished with Hark, who “enjoy[s] the moment” (418).

The remaining Phelan family lawyers have recognized the benefit of working as a team. They meet to discuss the issues. The first two orders of business are Snead and Nicolette and what their testimony needs to establish. They next discuss preparing their experts to be grilled in cross-examination and determining whether there are any other potential witnesses. Finally, they discuss the alleged appearance of Rachel Lane and its implications. Hark notes that her signature has not been presented on any documents; technically, she is not under the court’s jurisdiction. He suggests that she may not want the money, and the other lawyers balk. He reveals that Nate traveled to Brazil to meet her. They all wonder why, if so, Nate does not have signed papers from her.