ask for a phone cal ?"Judge Hol oway snapped, his eyes traveling around the room.
The two officers who had beat Matt up solemnly shook their heads. At this, the bailiff, whom Matt suddenly recognized as the guy who'd kept him in the jury room for around four hours, began wagging his head back and forth in the negative. They al three wagged, almost in unison.
"Then you forfeited that right by not asking for it,"the judge snapped. It seemed to be his only way of speaking. "You can't demand it in the middle of a trial. Now, as I was saying - "
"I object!" Matt shouted even louder. "They're al lying! Look at your own tapes of them interrogating me. Al I kept saying - "
"Counselor,"the judge snarled at Gwen, "control your client or you wil be held in contempt of court!"
"You have to shut up,"Gwen hissed at Matt.
"You can't make me shut up! You can't have this trial while you're breaking al the rules!"
"Shut your trap!" The judge belted out the words at a surprising volume. He then added, "The next person to make a remark without my express permission shal be held in contempt of court to the tune of a night in jail and five hundred dol ars."
He paused to look around to see if this had sunk in. "Now,"he said. "Prosecution, cal your first witness."
"We cal Caroline Beulah Forbes to the stand."
Caroline's figure had changed. Her stomach was sort of upside-down-avocado-shaped now. Matt heard murmurs.
"Caroline Beula Forbes, do you swear that the testimony you shal give wil be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"
Somewhere deep inside, Matt was shaking. He didn't know if it was mostly anger or mostly fear or an equal combination of both. But he felt like a geyser ready to blow - not necessarily because he wanted to, but because forces beyond his control were taking hold of him. Gentle Matt, Quiet Matt, Obedient Matt - he had left al those behind somewhere. Raging Matt, Rampaging Matt, that was about al he could be.
From a dim outside world, voices came filtering into his reverie. And one voice pricked and stung like a nettle.
"Do you recognize the boy you have named as your former boyfriend Matthew Jeffrey Honeycutt here in this room?"
"Yes,"the prickly nettle voice said softly. "He's sitting at the defense table, in the gray T-shirt."
Matt's head flew up. He looked Caroline straight in the eye.
"You know that's a lie,"he said. "We never went on one date together. Ever."
The judge, who had seemed to be asleep, now woke up.
"Bailiff!"he snapped. "Restrain the defendant immediately."
Matt tensed. As Gwen Sawicki moaned, Matt suddenly found himself being held while duct tape was wrapped round and round his mouth.
He fought. He tried to get up. So they duct-taped him around his waist to the chair. As they final y left him alone, the judge said, "If he runs off with that chair, you wil pay it out of your own salary, Miz Sawicki."
Matt could feel Gwen Sawicki trembling beside him. Not with fear. He could recognize the about-to-explode expression and realized that she was going to be next. And then the judge would hold her in contempt and who would speak up for him?
He met her eyes and shook his head firmly at her. But he also shook his head at every lie Caroline came up with.
"We had to keep it a secret, our relationship,"Caroline was saying demurely, straightening the gray dress. "Because Tyler Smal wood, my previous boyfriend, might have found out. Then he would have - I mean, I didn't want any trouble between them."
Yeah, Matt thought bitterly: you'd better walk careful y -
because Tyler's dad probably has as many good friends in here as yours does. More. Matt tuned out until he heard the prosecutor say, "And did anything unusual happen on the night in question?"
"Well, we went out together in his car. We went over near the boardinghouse...no one would see us there...Yes, I - I'm afraid I did give him a...a love-bite. But after that I wanted to leave, but he didn't stop. I had to try to fight him off. I scratched him with my nails - "
"The prosecution offers Peoples'Exhibit 2 - a picture of the deep fingernail scores on the defendant's arm - "
Gwen's eyes, meeting Matt's, looked dul . Beaten. She showed Matt a picture of what he remembered: the deep marks made by the huge malach's teeth when he had pul ed