had reached a verdict. We were at the courthouse in ten minutes. Linda Fritz was entering the courtroom when we came in. “Quick verdict,” Zack said. “What do you think?”
Linda smoothed her barrister’s robe. “I think this is always a Xanax moment.”
Television would have us believe that when jurors find a defendant guilty, they don’t look him in the eye. When the judges of the facts in Sean Barton’s case filed into the jury box, each of them stared unsmiling at his face. The foreperson announced the jury’s findings without emotion: Sean Terrence Barton had been found guilty of two counts of first degree murder and one of assault causing bodily harm. After the formalities had been observed, Sean was led away.
Francesca Pope had been at the trial every day, and she was waiting for us outside the courtroom.
“Is it over?” she asked Zack.
“It’s over,” he said. “Nothing to be afraid of now.”
Francesca shifted her backpack. “There’s always something to be afraid of,” she said in her low, thrilling voice. Then she walked away.
Zack came close to me. “How are you doing?”
“I’m okay,” I said.
“So what’s next?” he said.
I glanced at my watch. “The UpSlideDown Halloween party started fifteen minutes ago. Dacia’s juggling. This is her first time working with five balls. Want to see if she can keep them all in the air at once?”
“Sure,” Zack said. “I’m a big fan of anybody who can defy gravity.”
I called Mieka to tell her we were on our way, and she met us at the door. She was dressed as a genie in swirls of bright silk – a festive costume, but her face was sombre. “One of the parents told me the verdict,” she said. I put my arms around my daughter and pulled her close. “May God forgive him,” she said.
The room was packed, but Mieka led us to a spot near the space she’d cleared for Dacia’s act. Then, hand in hand, Zack and I watched a young woman with shining hair keep five sky-blue balls arcing through the air, while all around us children dressed as kangaroos and tigers and princesses stared open-mouthed at the wonder of it all.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to five outstanding women: Dinah Forbes, Bella Pomer, Hildy Wren Bowen, Jan Seibel, and Lara Schmidt. Thanks also to Ted, who, for forty years, has been the man in my life.
GAIL BOWEN
GAIL BOWEN’s first Joanne Kilbourn mystery,
