Page 115 of The Wrong Side of the Law

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Emily

Once the opening statements are finished, Gabriel begins presenting the prosecution’s case. His first witness is Lieutenant Mayfield from the Point Lookout Police Department. He’d been the watch commander the night that Frank was arrested. Anderson does his cross-examination, but there’s nothing surprising or new here. David Mayfield is not the key to victory or defeat, for either side.

After Mayfield’s testimony comes Ernesto Arnal, the K-9 officer who discovered the drugs. Gabriel’s questions for him are simple,pro forma, and Judge Merryweather orders a recess for lunch after he’s done.

Margaret’s gone outside for some fresh air, but Mark and Frank and I have lunch brought to a small conference room just outside the entrance to the courtroom. The attorney’s the only one that’s got any appetite, though. Frank nibbles at the edges of a turkey sandwich; I just push bits of chicken Caesar salad around inside a clear plastic bowl until it’s time to go back inside.

The courtroom has changed.

This morning the benches were half-full of retirees, but this afternoon it’s going to be standing room only. Everywhere I look there are reporters. All the local stations have someone here, though I only see a camera crew from Channel 6.

Frank and Mark take their seats at the defense table, and the sweet little old lady who’d shared the front row with me this morning waves me over, moving her large bag out of the way so I can sit down.

“I saved your spot, dear,” she says, patting the spot next to her. “I knew you’d be back.”

“Thank you so much.” It’s such a small kindness, but it means so much today. Interesting, though, that she saved only one spot. Margaret will have to fend for herself.

“Do you suppose we’re going to be on the news?” The lady peers around me, looking at the camera. “I hope so. I’ve never been on television before. I wonder why they’re all here? This didn’t seem like a big deal. Who was that man? The one that the defense attorney mentioned?”

I have to chuckle and shake my head at the realization that Gabriel is finally getting his television case. Of course, it’s going to wind up being the case that breaks his winning streak, and that certainly can’t be quite what he’d hoped for.

And there he is. Gabriel Cooper himself, in the flesh, walking into the courtroom. He stops, blinking in surprise when he sees the crowd and the camera crew, but quickly regains his footing and plasters on a charming fake smile as he’s mobbed by reporters holding out recorders.

“Look, hey, folks!” Gabriel holds his hands up and the chattering throng around him settles down. “Yes, I heard the allegations made by the defense this morning. I’ve had exactly as much time to look stuff up as you have since then, and-” the wattage of his smile increases “-a much smaller research staff to help me dig into it.”

Though the reporters waited politely enough for him to finish speaking, the reporters start throwing questions at him the very instant that he stops talking. They heard what he said, but they didn’tlisten.

Gabriel holds his hands up again, asking for quiet.

“People! Listen to me! I have no comment to make at this time. I’d love to be able to answer your questions, but I’m still working my way through all this, too!” He’s calm and relaxed, and that smile will play so well on the cameras.

“Look, I want to find out more about this just as much as y’all do,” Gabriel continues. “How about you let me through to my table so we can continue the trial, though? You’ll be right there with me as this all unfolds.”

Gabriel jostles and cajoles his way down the crowded aisle toward the front of the gallery, shaking hands and smiling at each reporter as he passes. He somehow seems to be looking at everyone in the room simultaneously. Except me. His eyes seem to slide past me as if I’m invisible.

I’d thought I was ready to see him again today, but I wasn’t. I panicked this morning, when we made eye contact. I was the deer, his eyes were the headlights of the tractor-trailer. For a moment I’d thought I could almost feel an echo in him of the crushing, aching, loneliness that bears down on me every second of every day, but that moment passed so quickly that I don’t know if it was real or just wish fulfillment.

A claw-like grasp on my arm pulls me back to reality. The elderly woman beside me has clamped on, and tight.

“If I was twenty years younger,” she purrs, “I would climb that man like a tree.”

“You’re terrible!” I can’t help but giggle, in spite of the swirling mess of tangled-up feelings in my head.

“No, I’m Maureen,” she says, her eyes still tracking Gabriel. “Terrible’s only my middle name. And twenty years? Who’m I kidding? Five years. Look at the shoulders on him!”

“You have no idea, Maureen.”

My new friend assesses me with a gaze that speaks to long years of experience.

“I might not, at that,” she says finally. “But I think you do.”

I don’t answer. At least, not with words. The tightness around my eyes and mouth speaks volumes, and Maureen is a fast reader.

“ALL RISE!” The bailiff’s command rescues me from the conversation.

The K-9 officer is brought back to the witness stand, and Mark Anderson begins his cross-examination.

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