The Laws of our Fathers

DECEMBER 13, 1995

Sonny

Every month or so, Raymen and Marietta vow to start again. There's always a new plan. This summer, she was slipping a chemical her sister-in-law gave her into his coffee, so he'd retch whenever he drank. Last week, they swore off credit cards and cigarettes. They're going to pay down their debts, she tells me. They're going to get out from under. She is ardent about this, even as she admits it's tough. Without the ciggies, he's drinking too much, maybe they both are.

'Are you getting on each other's nerves?'

'No, no,' she insists. 'He's sayin this here's the best it's been in years. He's happy. My daughter was on the phone with him a whole hour last night? She's thinkin he's a changed man.'

Leaving yesterday, I had every intention of reading-out Marietta this morning. Call her a busybody, a snoop, tell her to cease meddling. With a night's sleep, though, I was put out mostly with myself. Late last night, I thought of phoning Seth, then recalled he was out with Sarah. Yet listening to Marietta's proclamation of renewal, I'm nearly moved to tears. There's hope, I think, hope. Everyone wants hope.

'That's terrific,' I say, as we start into the courtroom. ‘I want to know how this turns out.'

By the chambers door, Fred Lubitsch is lurking, several yellow sheets – a search warrant – in hand. 'Quickie, Judge, I swear.' I'm glad to see him here, pleased he understands his honest testimony cost him nothing in my esteem. Wells and he want to toss the apartment of a mugger whom they took down an hour ago, on the street. They expect to find the booty of a number of recent armed robberies.

' "Subject apprehended at G amp;G's Pizza Parlor, 4577 North Greeley," ' I read aloud. 'Why do you always get them at pizza parlors, Fred?'

‘I guess they get hungry, Judge.' He looks on as I read. 'Trial's still going, huh?' 'Yep.'

'So, good guys winning?' 'Whoever they are.'

I eye him without further comment, initial the warrant, and go on my way. I will have to follow Marietta's example. Learn from my mistakes.

Hobie this morning is splendidly turned out – a corner of his silk braces can be seen through his open jacket; a yellow pocket hankie accents his dark suit. He's dressed for victory, a walking celebration. Approaching the bench, a man of many courtroom voices, he adopts his most grandiloquent mode. Beneath the lights, the hankie looks bright as a flower.

'As the court may have noted, my client is late.' He dips his chin to the defense table, where I had not yet noticed Nile's absence. 'I've asked someone to give him a call. In the meanwhile, Mr Molto tells me he intends to rest. Perhaps we can go on to the motions for directed verdict, while my client's gone. Then proceed to the defense case when he gets here. Should we have to.' With the last phrase, the large reddened eyes, rheumy and mysterious, rise to the bench and meet mine ever so briefly, only to transmit the message that Hobie believes he deserves to win right now. He'd like me to declare a TKO, finding that no reasonable person should convict on the basis of the evidence the state has offered.

Even Molto sees little reason to object to Hobie's proposed agenda. Tommy reoffers his exhibits, then gathers himself to his feet and announces, 'The People rest.' With Montague and Rudy beside him, I have a momentary vision of the revolutionary trio, the fife and drum and flag bearer, bandaged, gimping along to their own marching tune.

'The People rest,' I repeat. 'You have a motion, Mr Turtle?'

He takes some time adjusting himself behind the straight-lined oak podium. He is wearing little octagonal reading glasses that have appeared occasionally during the trial.

'First of all, Judge Klonsky, I recognize the standard here at the end of the state's case. I know you're not giving us your judgment now. You're just deciding whether the state's evidence, taken most favorably to the state, could ever be sufficient to convict. So I'm not going to bother myself to tell you now what we think really happened here. You got a good taste of that yesterday, but I realize you can't decide the case on that basis right now.

'What you can decide, Your Honor, and should decide, is that the state's case has failed. And it has failed for one reason, one huge reason: namely, they have chosen to rely on a human being who has been proved to be a terrible liar, a fellow whom we've all met here, named Ordell Hardcore Trent.

'Now I realize that ordinarily judgments of credibility don't come into play at the time of a motion for a directed verdict. But we all know of cases where they do, where the undisputed facts, the objective truth, show that a witness cannot be believed, and I tell you this is exactly such a case. Exactly.

'Let us be clear: the state's case rests completely on Hardcore.

This Miss Bug, Miss Lovinia, she adds nothin to this case, not a thing, because, Your Honor, as we learned from Detective Lubitsch, she didn't do any more'n repeat what the po-lice had told her. Shot-caller said roll, she rolled. Po-lice sang "A, B, C," she picked up the tune. As she said herself in her own truthful way, she ain never said nothin’ gainst Nile.' He rolls the phrase, just so we all know that when he wants, the accent, the words can be his completely.

'So all we have in the end is this fellow Core. And I won't bother you now to tell you what a terrible, hardened person he is. I won't spend a lot of time telling you he has no respect, no need for the truth, that as far as he's concerned, he shouldn't have any regard for this system – I won't bother with that, because, Your Honor, we proved, we proved he's lying.' At the podium, his eyes tilt up through the watery lower regions of his lenses. 'We' is solely euphemistic. ‘I is the right word. 'Me.' Hobie took Core down on his own. He briefly savors the achievement.

'He says, Your Honor, my client gave him $10,000 to kill his father. Well, Judge, we know now my client did give him $10,000. We finally found that out yesterday. But not in August. In July. And not to kill his father, but rather at his father's request. And it's not the defense witnesses who say that. It's the state's witness, its star witness, in a phrase, Senator Eddgar. The state's star witness tells us that Hardcore's a liar.' Hobie waves the check around. He again recounts the trail of funds from the State Democratic Party to the Senator's campaign fund and then out and into Nile Eddgar's hands in cash. 'Where else does a probation officer get $10,000? Your Honor, his salary is $38,000 a year, his bank accounts show less than $3,000.' Tommy properly objects that those documents are not yet in evidence. 'Well, his father said he had to borrow money for his rent, his security. So Mr Trent is lying. My Lord, Your Honor, there's dope on that money.'

'Why?' I ask. 'I've been wondering.'

'He saved this bag, sure, he saved a few bills so he'd have Nile Eddgar's fingerprints. Judge, a dope peddler like Hardcore – the risk of apprehension and planning for what he'll do, that's as much a part of his profession as you conferring with Ms Raines to decide what case you'll be trying next week.' Marietta's woolly head rises and she sits up straighter at mention of her name. 'Core saved the bag, the bills, so he'd have a sacrifice if he ever got himself in trouble again, and when, sure as night follows day, he got in trouble, he filled this bag, Your Honor, with the money from his own stash. He's a dope-peddling liar, Judge, and this money is a dope peddler's lie. That's obvious.' He spends a few more minutes on other points, then yields to Molto.

Tommy and Rudy have waited tensely throughout, scribbling notes. If I follow the law, take Core's word for the moment, the case should go on. But there are many judges who would just call it quits, especially since a ruling against the state at this point is not appealable. Fittingly, Molto devotes a lengthy preamble to the legal standard applicable here, before talking about the proof.

'Judge, I know you've followed the evidence closely, so I won't go over it ad nauseam. Let me just say I think we fulfilled our promises in opening statement. There's no dispute that Mrs Eddgar was murdered, no doubt that Mr Trent ordered it. Mr Trent says he was paid to do this by Mr Eddgar, his probation officer. Mr Trent – of course, the People know Mr Trent is not a letter from home. Mr Trent is a criminal. Mr Trent is a murderer. But you know the line, Judge, and it's true: We didn't choose Mr Trent, Nile Eddgar did.

'And Mr Trent is corroborated, Judge. Mr Trent is corroborated first by Bug, by Lovinia Campbell, who says Mr Trent told her this murder – which was intended to be of Nile's father – this murder was being set up "on account of Nile." I know there are disputes about aspects of that testimony, but for purposes of this motion, Judge, you have to consider it most favorably to the state. And that means Core's corroborated.

'Secondly, Judge, the circumstances corroborate Mr Trent. He says he had no choice but to do what his probation officer demanded, because his probation officer in essence held the keys to the jailhouse. And that makes sense. It makes sense he'd want to keep Nile Eddgar happy. More important, Judge, Mr Trent says he got $10,000 from the defendant Eddgar, and, in fact, Judge, he has produced bills with Nile Eddgar's fingerprints on them. Three of Nile Eddgar's prints. And, Judge, we know Senator Eddgar was told by the defendant to come to this meeting. We know the defendant was aware of it. And we know from telephone records that he called Mr Trent within minutes of the murder. Finally, Judge – and I notice Mr Tuttle doesn't mention this – we know Nile Eddgar told Al Kratzus, when he heard of his mother's murder, "my father was supposed to be there.'' So we know, just as Hardcore told us, that Nile Eddgar had prior knowledge of this plan.

'Now that, Judge, leaves Senator Eddgar-' That's a lot, of course. Even Molto pauses, contemplating what lies ahead for him. He brings his fingertips, the bitten nails, halfway to his mouth, then catches himself and lets his hand fall again. 'Judge, I've been thinking all night about what I can say. And let me just say this: I was surprised. The Senator admitted he never told the People anything about this $10,000 check. And of course I wonder why. And this is hard to say, but let me say it. He's a skillful, powerful politician, and perhaps, Judge – I mean no disrespect -but perhaps, Judge, he's been manipulating this system in the ways someone in his position can.' He looks at me once, starkly: a laser of absolute truth. Tommy knows Ray Horgan didn't arrive in this courtroom yesterday on a whim, that the resistance to this case from higher-ups in the PA's Office, which Montague mentioned, which Dubinsky suggested, may well have had an outside source. But why not infer Eddgar was protecting himself? That Hobie is right?

'I'm not really following, Mr Molto.'

'Judge, I can't tell you what Senator Eddgar's agenda is. And I know we put him on the stand. But, Judge, he lied to the police at the start. So maybe you should hesitate before taking all of this stuff he came up with yesterday at face value. I'd say he lied on

September 7 to protect his son. And maybe that's what he's doing now. Maybe, Judge, he finds the People's justice harsh. He may even feel, Judge, that because he was the intended victim, he may feel it's up to him to forgive and forget. I don't know, Judge. I can't give you chapter and verse.'

This is a desperate tactic, assailing your own witness in this fashion. Yet in a way I respect Tommy for it, for not giving up, for not abandoning his own view of the truth. Throughout his presentation, I've felt the force of a personal appeal: Don't direct me out. Don't say the case was a stinker. Let me lose on the merits – say the evidence raised too many questions to travel to the land beyond reasonable doubt. But don't say we never should have been here in the first place. Don't let the pols in the PA's Office cover themselves with told-you-so's. He's urging this for pride, and also because he knows that technically, legally, adhering to the rules he adores, the very sticks and bones of his character, he's correct. Tommy is a lawyer to the core. It's both his glory and his weakness that he believes so potently in the rules.

'But here's one thing, Judge,' says Tommy, 'about that $10,000 check from the state party. Now, I saw the check. I know it's a real check. But we still haven't heard testimony that Nile actually delivered any cash from that check to Hardcore. We haven't heard that.'

'Your Honor!' Hobie's on his feet. ‘I tried to ask that very question.'

'Sit down, Mr Turtle.' As usual, Hobie's being diversionary. He' d prefer I not notice what Tommy' s doing, which is challenging him to put Nile on the stand. Down to his last dollar, Tommy's betting he can turn his case around with Nile's cross. A good move, in these circumstances. But not bait I expect Hobie to rise to. I interrupt Tommy.

'As long as we're on the money, Mr Molto, I've heard Mr Turtle's theory – why don't you tell me yours for the cocaine traces on those bills.'

'Judge, again, that's not in evidence yet. And I'd argue, given the discovery violation, the way Mr Tuttle hid those lab results, that proof never should be received. But since you've asked, let me just say this: I think if you get paid to kill someone, you'd store the money in the same place, in the same way, you'd store other contraband. That's what I would suggest. I don't think you take it to the bank. If you have a floorboard, or a stash pad, or a medicine cabinet you pull out of the wall to hide your dope, Judge, I'd think that's where this money would go.'

'Except your witness, Hardcore, said he kept those funds carefully segregated.'

'And he must have made a mistake in saying that, I concede that,' says Tommy, although he can't quite force his glance to meet mine, as he makes this gallant admission.' He' s not the FBI, Judge. He doesn't keep an evidence log. And again, Judge. Right now, as the case stands, the defense has not actually established there was cocaine on the currency.'

He's right about that. If I end the case now, I'd reward Hobie for his miserable behavior. With that in mind, I eventually deny the motion, careful to say that my ruling reflects no evaluation of credibility and is, accordingly, no prediction of my ultimate judgment in the case. The lawyers are seated at their tables as I rule, and I eye each of them to make sure the message is clear. I have given Tommy the latitude he deserves, and the last he's getting. Singh actually grips Molto's arm in mild delight.

'Now, Mr Tuttle, where's your client?'

He asks for a recess so he can check. When I return to the bench, perhaps a quarter of an hour later, Seth, improbably, is seated beside Hobie at the defense table, drawn close to him in urgent, hushed conversation. My heart does another of those ballet jumps at the sight of him within the well of the court and comes down crashing when I take in the significance of the two of them in league. By this morning, I had put yesterday's suspicions aside to sleep-deprived paranoia.

With my appearance, Seth jumps to his feet. He parts from Hobie, with a pointed finger and a sharp downstroke of his head, leaving the impression they're cross with one another. Seth walks to the jury box, but does not step inside, waiting there in his rumpled khakis and his blazer. His tie knot is pulled down several inches from his open collar.

'Your Honor,' Hobie says. He stands but for some time says nothing. The light makes two bright balls on the open regions over his forehead. 'We'll have to adjourn, if the court please. My client cannot be located.'

We all take a moment with that.

'He's on my bond, Mr Turtle. Don't you think I'm entitled to a little fuller account?'

'Your Honor, I called him three times this morning. When he didn't appear, I asked a friend of his to go to his apartment, but he's not around. Your Honor,' he says, ‘I would speculate, estimate, if I have to – I would think, Judge Klonsky, he might, unwisely, have been doing some premature celebrating after yesterday. That's a guess.'

‘I see.' It strikes me at once that Hobie's up to something again. Briefly, I look at Seth. He's watching both Hobie and me tensely.

'Judge,' says Tommy, ‘I' m not going to agree to an adjournment. The defendant knows our schedule. I'm not agreeing at all. He's absented himself voluntarily, we should go ahead.'

'Your Honor, I don't know where Nile Eddgar is. And neither does Molto. He can't just say he's voluntarily absent. Maybe there's a car wreck. Maybe my client picked a fight in a barroom. Maybe he's in a hospital or a police station. Lord, he could be a victim of some kind of foul play. His face has been all over the TV. Who knows what's happened?'

But it's Seth and his knitted expression that has my attention. Recollecting what he told me yesterday about his continued relationship with Nile, I finally catch on.

'Mr Turtle, whom did you send to look for your client?' Caught short, Hobie doesn't answer. 'I think I should hear from him directly. Don't you, Mr Turtle?'

Hobie looks as big and empty as a kettledrum. A hand, glistening with his manicure, loiters midair. 'Well' is all he finally brings out. Seth's already started forward.

'Mr Molto,' I say, 'Mr Weissman has been a personal friend of mine for twenty-five years. I'm sure he can help inform the court, but only if that doesn't present a problem to you.'

Tommy shrugs. 'Suit yourself, Judge.'

And so the moment. Oh, it's mad! I think. Is this every woman's dream, to swear him under oath and make him speak the truth? To see if he will place her above others? Beleaguered, Seth shuffles to the center of the courtroom. What did he say? Everyone six feet below me and remote? Not remote. My heart races. As he addresses me, his eyes are deep and even. With the first word, I know he's telling me the truth.

He recites the story in a few strokes. The janitor let him into Nile's apartment. The bedroom was a mess. There were two soft-sided bags on the bed, the drawers were empty. it looked to me like he left town,' Seth adds. Hobie has just lifted a hand in hopes of dashing that remark. Now we all are silent.

'He's fled?' The words, like so many before them, leap from me impulsively. They sail into the courtroom causing a sudden hushed consternation among the smaller group of spectators behind the glass today.

'Well, "fled," ' says Hobie. 'He had an emotional reaction to yesterday's testimony, probably. That's how I'd assess it.'

' I thought your assessment was your client was out celebrating.'

Gunned down, Hobie pulls a mouth, but otherwise looks up without apology, or resentment. We both know the score now. He takes the constant fooling around as his job, his duty. Tommy raises a hand.

'Judge, I want to proceed,' he says.

'Come on,' Hobie answers.

'Judge, we should go ahead.' Molto has not had much opportunity to ponder. All he knows is that something is different, and given where things were going, that can't be bad for him.

'I'm sure he'll turn up,' says Hobie. 'Why don't you give him a day, Your Honor?'

Tommy is on his drumbeat now. The defense should be forced to proceed.

'For Godsake, Your Honor,' answers Hobie. 'He's my only witness. I have a few stipulations, a few exhibits, and Nile. I can't proceed.'

'Two o'clock. You find your client, Mr Turtle. Otherwise, we're going on without him.'

Seth has shrunk back in the courtroom and watches somberly from the rear wall, awaiting my reaction, my judgment.

Lunch in chambers, signing orders. Annie is still clearing files from yesterday's call. Out the door, Marietta, who has brought in carryout, has skillfully deployed a napkin between her pizza slice and her TV. I remain agitated.

'He's up to something,' I say to Marietta from my desk.

She cocks one earphone. 'Who?'

'Hobie. Tuttle. What's he doing, Marietta?'

She shakes her head for some time. 'You know, the boy is not right, Judge. The defendant? He's crazy as a coot.' We all know that. Watching Nile day in and out you can't escape that impression. Functional, but not a mainstream personality. Eccentric.

'It's another trick. Like Dubinsky. Like the chemist's report or the check. Hobie can't walk a straight line. If Nile's run, who do you think told him to do it?' I check Annie, who, as always, listens carefully, attempting to learn from our assessments, while she continues loading files into the steel carts from the chief clerk's office.

'Probably. Only thing is, Judge,' says Marietta, 'what's he get? Molto's gonna kick and carry on. He's gotta know that.'

That's the clue: Hobie knew Tommy would demand that the case go forward.

'Don't you see, Marietta? It's an excuse for not putting Nile on. Did you hear that malarkey just now how Nile's his only witness?'

'He's just tryin to slow you down, Judge. No way that young fella's gettin up there. Uh-uh,' adds Marietta, envisioning Nile on cross.

But perhaps that's the point. Nile surely is under no obligation to take the stand, and the law forbids me from making anything of his failure to testify. But Molto's already thrown down the gauntlet; he'll point out every detail of the defense which is unsupported. This way, Hobie's got an excuse. Whatever he's up to, I'm hellbound that Hobie won't get away with more smelly antics.

When I resume the bench, the courtroom is tense. Before, without the defendant present, many of the journalists didn't even bother to come in from the corridor. Now word has circulated that something of consequence is at hand. The jury box is full, all the familiar faces, except for Seth, who is probably on the street, a one-man posse. The sketchers have their pads open. Hobie and the large white cardboard boxes are by themselves at the defense table.

'Mr Turtle?'

'Your Honor, I have to move for a further continuance.' 'You haven't found him?'

'Not yet, Your Honor.' He turns his large head to the corners of the courtroom, as if he might find Nile here. He'd rather not look at me.

'And, Mr Molto, you still desire to proceed?'

Tommy comes to the podium. 'The People move to reopen their case,' he says. ‘I want to offer Mr Eddgar's non-appearance as evidence of flight, of consciousness of guilt.' He and Rudy have cooked this one up in the interval and it's clever. The law has always reasoned that an innocent person would stay to defend himself. Only the guilty run away. Privately, the logic of this rule has eluded me. Who, having been falsely accused, would have enough faith in the system to stick around for trial? It's an assumption from a more formal era, when people lived by concepts like Honor and Obedience. But rule it is, age-old. Hobie explodes.

'Consciousness of guilt! Any person with eyes in his head could see what went on in this courtroom yesterday. That's ridiculous, Your Honor.'

'Mr Tuttle, you know the law as well as I do. Tell me why the state is not entitled to urge the traditional inference from the defendant's absence?'

'Because it makes no sense. Judge Klonsky, this case is going well from the defendant's perspective. Your Honor knows that. He has no reason to flee. None.'

'Then why's he gone, Mr Turtle?'

Hobie gasps and blusters; he might as well be a landed fish. For the first time in the trial, Tommy appears to have outflanked him. After all of Hobie's tricks, it's hard not to relish his comeuppance. He tries again.

'Your Honor, with all respect, you have to think about the emotional aspects of this case. This is pretty hard on the defendant. His mother's gone. And then he had to confront yesterday. That had to be a terrible moment. He had an emotional reaction. But that's not a guilty reaction. His reaction, I guess, it would appear, was "I can't stand this, I can't handle this." Your Honor, how hard is it for you, for any of us, to understand his feeling that way?' Very eloquent – and very much what my reflections in chambers led me to suspect. Hobie wouldn't have sent Nile away without cooking up a compelling explanation, one that would make me willing to recall the bond forfeiture warrant when Nile appears an hour or so after the case has come to a close. I tell Hobie he can argue that at the end of the case.

'Judge,' says Tommy, 'let me suggest that the defendant didn't like watching his father take the blame for a crime he knew he committed himself. I think that makes a lot more sense than what Turtle's saying.'

'Mr Tuttle, why isn't the prosecution entitled to make that point? Tell me why not.' I motion toward Tommy. Hobie again looks around the courtroom for help.

'Your Honor, you can't,' he finally says. 'You just can't do this.'

'Mr Turtle, in my first years out of law school, I was law clerk to Justice Ringler, and one of the things he taught me, which I have never forgotten, is that the three most dangerous words in the English language are "Judge, you can't." I can and I will.'

'Judge Klonsky. Please!'

'Mr Turtle, I'll give you until tomorrow morning to find your client. If he doesn't appear, we're going to proceed. And at that point, I'm going to allow the People to reopen. I will take notice that the defendant is absent, and I will allow the parties to argue the inferences that flow from that non-appearance, including availing the state of the traditional presumption that flight implies a consciousness of guilt. That's my ruling.' I drop my head decisively. No more bullshit. No more playing chicken.

Furious with me, Hobie stands before the bench, rowdily tossing his head. 'Your Honor, if you allow them to reopen -'

'Mr Turtle, there is no "if." I've ruled.'

'Judge, I'm going to have no choice but to move for a mistrial.'

It's as if the world has divided, right in front of me. What did Seth say about Hobie? He can't get over himself? Intent on having his way, he seems not to have noticed how angry I am. And of course he'd never sense how welcome the opportunity is which he's presented. Without a mistrial motion by the defendant, double jeopardy requires the trial to proceed to conclusion. But Hobie is claiming that by allowing the state to make hay from Nile's absence, I've so prejudiced the defense that he'd rather call the trial a washout and start over from scratch whenever Nile turns up. I can feel the courtroom trained on me, aware I've grown unusually still.

'Your motion is allowed, Mr Turtle.'

Utter stillness. Across the entire floor, in all eight courtrooms, it seems to be one of those breathless moments in which no one even moves. Hobie stares up at me, searching for a clue as to what he must do now.

'Judge, I'll withdraw my motion.'

‘I just granted it.'

'Your Honor, I said – I said I was going to make the motion. It was what I was contemplating for tomorrow morning. I didn't make the motion.'

'Your motion is deemed made and granted.'

'Then I move you to reconsider. I move you reconsider and take a day to think about it. I offended Your Honor. I can see that. I apologize. Humbly. Humbly, Judge Klonsky. But please reconsider.'

And so I reconsider – but only momentarily. In some part of me, I will always be sitting up here in judgment of myself, speaking out for my beliefs, fearing my own weaknesses, struggling with my past. Objectivity is, at best, a matter of degree. But after all the strange outside forces that have buffeted me – after Brendan Tuohey and Seth, after Hobie himself and his antics with Dubinsky – I'm no longer in the comfort zone that passes for impartiality. Probably, I should have known to start I'd end up here. I would go on if I had to. But I won't -1 can't – let this opportunity pass. It's the saddest thing in life to make the same mistake twice.

'Mr Turtle, this case is over. And because I have presided as the finder of fact, it would be inappropriate for me to hear the case again. I'm going to send it back to Chief Judge Tuohey for reassignment. That will be the order of the court.'

'Your Honor,' says Hobie, in final desperation, 'please, don't be like this.'

I don't bother with a response. Molto looks dazed. As I stand, he finally wakes and comes to the podium to make a motion. 'People move to forfeit bond.'

Sallow little man, always lit by the eternal candle of one unending hatred or another. He is asking for Loyell Eddgar's house.

*

I retreat to chambers. For an hour the phone rings constantly, distracting me from the silence of my two court officers, who both clearly believe I lost my temper or my mind. Marietta handles each of the calls the same way. 'Judge don't give interviews.' She bangs the phone down. Any moment now Brendan Tuohey will be on the line. But as I busy myself I am jubilant. Free! Not of responsibility, but what greater gratitude can there be than to have been accidentally saved from our errors?

Near 4:00, I decide to call it a day. In the spirit of the season, the court deputies have hung a wreath over each of the metal detectors. As I am passing on the outer side, I catch sight of the haggard figure of Tommy Molto, also heading out. We arrive at the single exit at virtually the same moment.

He apologizes for the bond motion. I did not even rule, only glowered before stalking off the bench.

‘I didn't mean to put you on the spot,' he says.

'We were all in quite a state.'

'So what do you figure, Judge? Think Turtle sent him to the woods so he'd have a reason not to put him on? That's one of the guesses downstairs.'

Proprieties, judiciousness survive the case. I reply with an inscrutable fanning of my fingers, as if such a thought had never crossed my mind.

'Rudy thinks he did himself.'

'Really?' This alarms me. 'Any reason?'

'He's a screwy kid. Hell, "kid," ' Tommy snorts. 'Past thirty. He'll turn up. That's my bet.'

'We'll see, Tommy. It's a strange development.'

'I'll say.'

'You did a good job with what you had.' I tell him his direct of Eddgar was classic. With the compliment, he lights up like a little boy. Poor Molto. So seldom praised. 'The case was well tried on both sides. I'd tell Hobie that, too, but I don't expect he'll ever speak to me again.'

Tommy looks off, rather than show much.

'He got under my skin,' he says and shakes his tight, tired face about. When he looks back, he's gripped by a different thought. 'Why'd you do it, Judge?'

'The mistrial? It was the right thing,' I say. 'Given all the circumstances.'

'Sort of made my day.' He laughs at his willingness to settle for a tie. ‘I thought I was going to win this case when we started.' 'Maybe next time.'

He laughs at that thought, too, the same self-deprecating little huffing sound.

'It won't be me. They can play monkey in the middle with somebody else,' he says and again considers the distance. After a second, he says, 'Probably not anybody. Can't put Hardcore on again. Or the father. Not that I believe all of Turtle's stuff. I don't. I think the kid is wrong, Judge.'

'You didn't prove it, Tommy.' We've arrived at the moment of candor we both wanted. He hitches a shoulder.

‘I got out with my boots on. I appreciate that.'

I've been so focused on my own fortunes, I haven't considered anybody else's. They're all winners: the PA's Office, even Nile, who apparently will not be retried. Maybe Hobie, too. A fear strikes me: Brendan Tuohey may like this, may compliment my diplomatic style. Then, of course, there's Eddgar. He's still as ruined as he was at the start of the day.

'I'm glad for your sake, Tommy. It's nice somebody's a hero.'

Tommy in an ironical, reflective mood just shakes his head. It's a bitter thing for him, I guess, this system. I understand. Practicing, I had days when it did not seem there were rules at all, just random results and rationales composed after the fact.

'Hero,' he says. 'You know what I am? I'm the chump. I'm the poor so-and-so who just does his job, who goes down to the factory every day and busts his butt and then comes home and gets sassed by the kids and nagged by the wife. I'm just doing my job. That's all I've ever done. "Try this case, Tommy." Okay, I'll try it. I read the reports, I talk to the witnesses. I come up to court. What they're doing or thinking downstairs, I don't begin to fathom. I never was a politician. That's my problem. I don't think their way. These guys have got wheels inside of wheels. You know, they're sitting in the back room with the PA, having skull sessions, drinking single-malt Scotch after hours and getting excited trying to figure what everybody else is really up to, and how much of what people say they ought to believe. I don't know. I don't know about that stuff. I'm just up there trying the case. They think I don't know I'm the burnt offering. They sent me up there to lose that case. I know that. I've known it all along. But I was up there anyway. Trying to win.' He gives me one further penetrating look – someone who knows he'll never be rescued from himself – and moves ahead of me, into the air growing brittle with the touch of winter.

Then I go on with my life. I bring Nikki home. Near 6:00, the phone rings. Seth. He sounds as if he's in an airport or a train station. There is clatter thrown down from some huge space, drowning his voice.

‘I'm not going to make it.'

'Oh?' Don't think it, I tell myself. I want to reach inside my chest and grab my heart.

'I'm at the hospital.' He takes a breath. Nile? That's my next thought. 'My father had a stroke,' he says.

'Oh God.'

'Sarah was with him. They'd finished their stuff. She went to make him some soup for lunch and when she came in, he was on the floor. He was actually grey when we got him here.'

'How is he?'

'Not good. He's not quite dead. The word I keep hearing is "linger." '

'Seth, I'm sorry.'

Nikki, at the mention of his name, runs in from the den. ‘I want to talk.' I spend a second shushing her, but Seth tells me to put her on and a minute passes with them gabbing about the teeth he sent her.

'The trial's over,' I say, when she hands back the phone. 'I saw it on a TV in the ER.'

The prerecorded, robotic voice of commerce interrupts, demanding more change. A coin rings through. Afterwards, there is no more about the trial from either of us. I realize there never will be. There's only one real question.

'Are we okay?' he asks.

'I think so.'

'Cause, look, I'm a straight guy. It's a pretty short list, you know, what I can say for myself. But that's on there.'

'I'm sorry, Seth. You caught me by surprise, but I know you didn't deserve that.'

'I want you to trust me.'

'I'm going to try, Seth.'

'All right. Well. I have to get back to Sarah.'

We both wait, trying to figure out if there is any more to say. But there isn't, not right now. We have time.