on her mind. You and I can handle this mess.”
She touched his knee, and •wanted to cry. Someone knocked on the door, and she said loudly, “Just a minute.”
“The judge is ready,” came the reply.
Mark breathed deeply and stared at her hand on his knee. “Can I just take the Fifth Amendment?”
“No. It won’t work, Mark. I’ve already thought about it. The questions will not be asked to incriminate you. They will be asked for the purpose of gathering information you may have.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I don’t blame you. Listen to me carefully, Mark. I’ll try to explain it. They want to know what Jerome Clifford told you before he died. They will ask you some very specific questions about the events immediately before the suicide. They will ask you what, if anything, Clifford told you about Senator Boyette. Nothing you tell them with your answers will in any way incriminate you in the murder of Senator Boyette. Understand? You had nothing to do with it. And, you had nothing to do with the suicide of Jerome Clifford. You broke no laws, okay? You’re not a suspect in any crime or wrongdoing. Your answers cannot incriminate you. So, you cannot hide under the protection of the Fifth Amendment.” She paused and watched him closely. “Understand?”
“No. If I didn’t do anything wrong, why was I picked up by the cops and taken to jail? Why am I sitting here waiting for a hearing?”
“You’re here because they think you know something valuable, and because, as I stated, every person has a duty to assist law enforcement officials in the course of their investigation.”
“I still say it’s a stupid law.”
“Maybe so. But we can’t change it today.”
He rocked forward and set the chair on all fours. “I need to know something, Reggie. Why can’t I just tell them I know nothing? Why can’t I say that me and old Romey talked about suicide and going to heaven and hell, you know, stuff like that.”
“Tell lies?”
“Yeah. It’ll work, you know. Nobody knows the truth but Romey, me, and you. Right? And Romey, bless his heart, ain’t talking.”
“You can’t lie in court, Mark.” She said this with all the sincerity she could muster. Hours of sleep had been lost trying to formulate the answer to this inevitable question. She wanted so badly to say “Yes! That’s it! Lie, Mark, lie!”
Her stomach ached and her hands almost shook, but she held firm. “I cannot allow you to lie to the court. You’ll be under oath, so you must tell the truth.”
“Then it was a mistake to hire you, wasn’t it?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Sure it was. You’re making me tell the truth, and in this case the truth might get me killed. If you weren’t around, I’d march in there and lie my little butt off and me and Mom and Ricky would all be safe.”
“You can fire me if you like. The court will appoint another lawyer.”
He stood and walked to the darkest corner of the room, and began crying. She watched his head sink and
his shoulders sag. He covered his eyes with the back of his right hand, and sobbed loudly.
Though she’d seen it many times, the sight of a child scared and suffering was unbearable. She couldn’t keep from crying too.
The Client
24
1 WO DEPUTIES ESCORTED HIM INTO THE COURTROOM
from a side door, away from the main hallway where the curious were known to lurk, but Slick Moeller anticipated this little maneuver and watched it all from behind a newspaper just a few feet away.
Reggie followed her client and the deputies. Glint waited outside. It was almost a quarter after noon, and the jungle of Juvenile Court had quieted a bit for lunch.
The courtroom was of a shape and design Mark had never seen on television. It was so small! And empty. There were no benches or seats for spectators. The judge sat behind an elevated structure between two flags with the wall just behind him. Two tables were in the center of the room, facing the judge, and one was already occupied with men in dark suits. To the judge’s right was a tiny table where an older woman was nipping through a stack of papers, very bored with it all, it seemed, until he entered the room. A gorgeous young lady sat ready with a stenographic machine directly in front of the judge’s bench. She
wore a short skirt and her legs were attracting a lot of attention. She couldn’t be older than sixteen, he