He could simply say “No,” and the ballgame was over. No sir, Mr. Clifford did not say anything else. He just rambled on like an idiot for about five minutes, then fell asleep, and I ran like hell. If he’d never met Reggie, and had not heard her lecture about being under oath and telling the truth, then
he would simply say “No sir.” And go home, or back to the hospital, or wherever.
Or would he? One day in the fourth grade the cops put on a show about police work, and one of them demonstrated a polygraph. He wired up Joey McDermant, the biggest liar in the class, and they watched as the needle went berserk every time Joey opened his mouth. “We catch criminals lying every time,” the cop had boasted.
With cops and FBI agents swarming around him, could the polygraph be far away? He’d lied so much since Romey killed himself, and he was really tired of it.
“Mark, I asked you if Mr. Clifford said anything else.”
“Like what?”
“Like, did he mention anything about Senator Boyd Boyette?”
“Who?”
Harry flashed a sweet little smile, then it was gone. “Mark, did Mr. Clifford mention anything about a case of his in New Orleans involving a Mr. Barry Muldanno or the late Senator Boyd Boyette?”
A tiny spider was crawling next to the court reporter’s brown pumps, and Mark watched it until it disappeared under the tripod. He thought about that damned polygraph again. Reggie said she would fight to keep it away from him, but what if the judge ordered it?
The long pause before his response said it all. Fink’s heart was laboring and his pulse had tripled. Aha! The little bastard does know!
“I don’t think I want to answer that question,” he
said, staring at the floor, waiting tor me spiaer to reappear.
Fink looked hopefully at the judge.
“Mark, look at me,” Harry said like a gentle grandfather. “I want you to answer the question. Did Mr. Clifford mention Barry Muldanno or Boyd Boy-ette?”
“Can I take the Fifth Amendment?”
“No.”
“Why not? It applies to kids, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, but not in this situation. You’re not implicated in the death of Senator Boyette. You’re not implicated in any crime.”
“Then why did you put me in jail?”
“I’m going to send you back there if you don’t answer my questions.”
“I take the Fifth Amendment anyway.”
They were glaring at each other, witness and judge, and the witness blinked first. His eyes watered and he sniffed twice. He bit his lip, fighting hard not to cry. He clenched the armrests and squeezed until his knuckles were white. Tears dropped onto his cheeks, but he kept staring up into the dark eyes of the Honorable Harry Roosevelt.
The tears of an innocent little boy. Harry turned to his side and pulled a tissue from a drawer under the bench. His eyes were wet too.
“Would you like to talk to your attorney, in private?” he asked.
“We’ve already talked,” he said in a fading voice. He wiped his cheeks with a sleeve.
Fink was near cardiac arrest. He had so much to say, so many questions for this brat, so many sugges-
tions for the court on how to handle this matter. The kid knew, dammit! Let’s make him talk!
“Mark, I don’t like to do this, but you must answer my questions. If you refuse, then you’re in contempt of court. Do you understand this?”
“Yes sir. Reggie’s explained it to me.”
“And did she explain that if you’re in contempt, then I can send you back to the Juvenile Detention Center?”
“Yes sir. You can call it a jail if you like, it doesn’t bother me.”
“Thank you. Do you want to go back to jail?”
“Not really, but I have no place else to go.” His voice was stronger and the tears had stopped. The thought of jail was not as frightening now that he’d seen the inside of it. He could tough it out for a few days. In fact, he figured he could take the heat longer than the judge. He was certain his name would appear in the paper again in the very near future. And the reporters would undoubtedly learn he was locked up by Harry Roosevelt for not talking. And surely the judge would catch hell for locking up a little kid’who’d done nothing wrong.
Reggie’d told him he could change his mind anytime he got tired of jail.
“Did Mr. Clifford mention the name Barry Mul-danno to you?”
“Take the Fifth.”
“Did Mr. Clifford mention the name Boyd Boy-ette to you?”
“Take the Fifth.”
“Did Mr. Clifford say anything about