A Time for Mercy (Jake Brigance #3) - John Grisham Page 0,189

do you want to call it?! She’s fourteen years old, he was thirty-three.”

“Mr. Brigance,” Noose said.

Jake ignored him and took another step toward Dyer. “You want to use something a bit lighter than ‘rape,’ say ‘sexual attack,’ ‘molestation,’ ‘sexual abuse’?”

“Mr. Brigance.”

“You pick the words, Lowell. The jury’s not stupid. It’s obvious what happened.”

“Mr. Brigance.”

Jake took a deep breath and glared at the judge, as if he might attack him when he was finished with the district attorney.

“You’re out of order, Mr. Brigance.”

Jake said nothing, just kept glaring. His shirt was even wetter, the sleeves rolled up, as if he was ready to start swinging.

“Mr. Dyer?”

Dyer had actually stepped back and was reeling. He cleared his throat and said, “Your Honor, it’s just that I object to the word ‘rape.’ ”

“Objection overruled,” Noose said clearly, loudly, and with no doubt that Mr. Dyer should remain in his seat whenever possible. “Proceed.”

As Jake stepped back to the podium, he glanced at Joey Kepner, number twelve, and saw a contented face.

“Kiera, how many times were you raped by Stuart Kofer?”

“Five.”

“Okay, let’s go back to the first time. Do you remember the date?”

She pulled a small, folded sheet of paper from a pocket and looked at it. It wasn’t necessary because she and Jake, along with Josie, Portia, and Libby, had covered the dates so often that all the details were memorized.

“It was a Saturday, December the twenty-third.”

Jake slowly waved his hand at the jury box and said, “Please tell the jury what happened that day.”

“My mother was workin’ and my brother was at a friend’s house. I was alone upstairs when Stuart came home. I locked my door. I had noticed him starin’ at my legs and I just didn’t trust him. I didn’t like him and he didn’t like us, and, well, things were pretty lousy around the house. I heard him walk up the stairs and then he knocked on the door and rattled the knob. I asked him what he wanted and he said we needed to talk. I said I didn’t want to talk and maybe later. He rattled the doorknob again and told me to unlock the door, said it was his door, his house, and that I had to do what he said. But he was kind of nice for a change, he wasn’t yellin’ or cussin’, and said he wanted to talk about my mother, said he was worried about her. So I unlocked the door and he came in. He was already undressed and was wearin’ nothin’ but his boxer shorts.”

Her voice broke and her eyes watered.

Jake waited patiently. No one was about to rush this testimony. A good cry was always helpful. Carla, Libby, and Portia were locked onto the female jurors, watching every reaction.

Jake said, “I know this is difficult but it’s very important. What happened next?”

“He asked if I’d ever had sex and I said no.”

Dyer reluctantly got to his feet and said, “Objection. Hearsay.”

“Overruled,” Noose snapped.

“He said he wanted to have sex and wanted me to enjoy it with him. I said no. I was terrified and tried to back away from him, but he was very strong. He grabbed me, threw me onto the bed, ripped off my T-shirt and shorts, and he raped me.” She burst into tears as her entire body shook. She shoved the mike away and sobbed with both hands over her mouth.

Half the jurors watched her break down, the other half looked away. Number seven, Mrs. Fife, and number eight, Mrs. Satterfield, were wiping their eyes. Oddly enough, number three, Mr. Kingman, believed by the defense to be one of the staunchest defenders of law and order, glanced at Libby with a curious look, and she caught the unmistakable glow of moisture in his eyes.

After a moment, Jake asked her, “Would you like to take a break?”

The question was rehearsed, as was the answer. A quick “No.” She was a tough girl who had survived a lot and could get through this.

“Now, Kiera, what happened after he was finished?”

“He got up, put on his boxer shorts, and told me to stop cryin’. He said that I’d better get used to it because we were gonna do it all the time, as long as I lived in his house.”

On the way up, Dyer said, “Objection. Hearsay?”

“Overruled,” Noose said without looking at the prosecutor.

On the way down, he tossed a legal pad that fell off the table and landed on the floor. Noose ignored that too.

Jake