Hildegardes of this world take over, a little at a time.”
“Ty, you’re upset—”
“A couple hours ago I had a knife in my cupcake. Yeah, I’m upset. And now your commandant is putting the screws to the best nun in the whole place. It makes me sick.”
“May I suggest you cool off?”
It took me the rest of the weekend to do that.
154
ON SUNDAY MORNING I called Daryl and made sure he was all right. He was. Basically watching TV and ducking out to McDonald’s, trying to stretch my twenty bucks. I told him I’d get him more.
He said I was the man. So maybe I really was.
I called Sister Mary and we talked for about twenty minutes or so. Neither one of us mentioned the Sister Hildegarde thing. But it seemed to be hanging between us just the same.
155
ON MONDAY MORNING I limped into court. The clerk and bailiff asked if I was all right, and I told them I’d had an unfortunate accident and wouldn’t be sitting down much.
The bailiff said Preparation H was actually very good for this sort of thing. I think he was serious. I thanked him and said, “Let us never speak of this again.”
I went back to chambers and met with Radavich and Hughes. “Tom’s not putting on rebuttal evidence,” Hughes said. “We’ll go right into closing arguments.”
“Fine,” I said. “And can you explain to the jury that, due to a slight injury, I may have to stand for most of the proceedings?”
“Injury?” Judge Hughes said.
“I’d rather not go into it right at the moment, if you don’t mind.”
He shook his head. “You have a very dangerous way of practicing law, it seems.”
“My problems are all behind me now,” I said.
I went back in to a packed courtroom. The deputies brought Eric in. He looked tired. Or in complete denial.
Kate was in her usual spot. She was chewing on a scarf.
Me, I was chewing on the insides of my cheeks. There’s nothing like the anticipation of a closing argument. If you’ve done your job, you’ll be okay once you start talking. It’s the lead anticipation that juices you. You try not to show it, but the other lawyer knows what you’re feeling, because he’s feeling it, too.
Eric leaned over and whispered, “You nervous?”
“Me? Why should I be nervous?”
“Because they’re going to convict me. They hate me. There’s no way we can win this thing.”
“You’ve calmed me down now just fine, Eric. Don’t say anything else.”
156
JUDGE HUGHES ENTERED and called for the jury. The courtroom got real quiet. This is the high point, the closing arguments. Last chance at the sale. What lawyers call the law of recency, meaning jurors tend to remember most the last thing you say to them.
You need a boffo exit.
In a criminal case the prosecutor gets to argue first, since he has the burden of proof. Then comes the defense, and then the prosecutor gets one last bite at the apple, in a rebuttal argument.
Radavich was great. Workmanlike, dispassionate. Laid out his case in logical order, covering all the evidence, and leaving Leilana Salgado until last. Then he got out the long knives.
He said, “And then the defense comes up with its only possible card, an alibi witness, but a complete surprise. Conveniently waiting for maximum impact. You didn’t hear about this witness in Mr. Buchanan’s opening statement, did you? No, it was only at the last second, with all the evidence pointing at guilt, that this woman is produced.”
Radavich paused. I couldn’t see his face because he was at the podium and his back was to me. But if you can read the back of a guy’s head, his spelled out total contempt.
“What kind of a witness? A prostitute. A call girl. Yet one who desperately wanted you to think of her as something else. Some noble woman of great purpose. Yet she lives a life making up illusions for others, and she wants you to believe an illusion now.”
The way he said it didn’t sound hateful. He wasn’t spitting the words. But the impression was unmistakable.
When he sat down, the courtroom was dead silent.
Except for the sound of Kate Richess issuing a single, pathetic sob.
Judge Hughes said, “You may begin, Mr. Buchanan.”
I stood up and buttoned my coat, and started the way I usually do, with “Ladies and gentlemen…”
157
… THANK YOU FOR your attention during the course of this trial. Sometimes trials are complicated. You have hours and days and weeks of expert testimony and exhibits and recollections from