Blackjack

54

“That’s a goddamn lie!” Black shouted as he towered up out of his chair, knocking over the table in front of him.

Callison banged his gavel.

“A goddamn lie!” Black said.

A boisterous eruption of gasps and shouts echoed loudly in the courtroom as Callison continued to bang his gavel over and over.

“Quiet,” he said. “Silence... Sit down, Mr. Black... Quiet. Sit down, Mr. Black!”

“It’s a goddamn lie,” Black said as he pointed a rigid finger at Lawrence LaCroix and moved toward him. “A goddamn lie!”

Chastain and Book were quick to get in front of Black. They got ahold of Black and moved him back away from the stand.

“A goddamn lie!”

“Mr. Jones,” Callison said. “Sit him down and shut him up. Right now!”

Juniper practically climbed aboard Black, trying to get him down in his chair with the help of Chastain and Book.

The noise in the courtroom was still at a loud level, and Callison banged and banged his gavel until everyone stopped clamoring.

“Enough,” Callison said.

Chastain and Book helped Juniper get Black back in his chair. Juniper nodded to Chastain and Book.

“Thank you,” he said. “We’ll be okay.”

Chastain and Book backed away and Juniper stood between Black and LaCroix, blocking Black’s view of LaCroix.

Valentine leaned in to Virgil and me.

“How about that?” he said in a whisper. “Damn sure didn’t see that one coming.”

“Nope,” I said. “Me, neither.”

“Don’t think ol’ Juniper saw that in his orbit, either,” Valentine said.

Juniper was in Black’s face, talking a blue streak to Black, trying to calm him. Black continued to try to get a look at LaCroix, but Juniper kept moving, stepping from side to side, blocking Black’s view. Finally Black looked down, like a little boy taking his medicine, but he was fuming.

By the time Callison got the room quieted, Juniper had Black settled, but Black was now beyond seething rage.

“He’s fit to be tied,” Valentine said with a hush.

Black had turned inward and it was obvious that his fury continued to mount. His neck was bulging, brimming above the collar of his shirt. The veins in his dark red face looked as if they would explode and he was close to foaming at the mouth. His eyes were bored in, locked solid, staring downward as if he were trying to burn a hole in the floor with his bloodshot, angry eyes.

“You may continue, Mr. Simmons.”

“And what did you do then, Mr. LaCroix?” Dickie said.

“Well, I was confused,” LaCroix said.

“How so?”

“I did not know what to do,” LaCroix said as he looked out to the courtroom, seeking some kind of kinship with everyone that was looking at him.

“Go on,” Dickie said.

“I just watched, I’m afraid,” LaCroix said. “At first I thought I should do something, but then I thought I should not. I should mind my own business. He, of course, is an intimidating man. I made some sort of judgment, some assumption that what I was witnessing was most likely a lovers’ quarrel, you see, and I should simply stay out of it.”

The crowd half agreed and half disagreed.

“So you did nothing?” Dickie said.

LaCroix shook his head.

“I... I did not, I’m mortified to admit. And now, now that we know the heinous outcome of this... I am frankly ashamed of myself.”

“No further questions at this time, Your Honor,” Dickie said.

“He’s going to leave it at that?” Valentine said under his breath. “Not ask what, if anything else, he witnessed?”

Callison nodded and looked to Juniper.

“Mr. Jones?”

“Dickie is smart,” I said. “He’s setting Juniper up, he’s making it where Juniper will be the one dropping the blade.”

Juniper looked to Black, who was still about to explode. Juniper whispered something to Black as he stared at the floor. Juniper whispered to him again, and Black’s eyes looked up at Juniper, then shifted to LaCroix. Juniper said something to Black and Black nodded slightly.

“Mr. Jones,” Callison said. “You may cross-examine, and if you do not wish to do so, say so.”

“I do, Your Honor,” Juniper said, and he got to his feet and moved away from Black.

“Juniper is smart, and he knows the trap Dickie has left for him,” I said. “How he gets around it is another story.”