“I guess I just recognized, like, his clothes and, you know, his look.”
“His look?”
“Yeah. Like, his appearance.”
“All you could see was the bottom of Ben’s sneakers.”
“No, I could see more than that. You can just tell, you know?”
“All right, so you find the body and you say ‘Ben, Ben.’ What next?”
“Well, he didn’t answer and he wasn’t moving, so I figured he must be hurt pretty bad, so I kind of went down to him to see if he was okay.”
“Did you call for help?”
“No.”
“Why not? Did you have a cell phone?”
“Yeah.”
“So you find a victim of a bloody murder and you have a phone in your pocket, but it never occurs to you to call nine-one-one?”
Jonathan was careful to ask all his questions in a curious tone, as if he was just trying to figure the whole thing out. It was an interrogation, but not a hostile one. Not obviously hostile.
“Do you know anything about first aid?”
“No, I just figured I should see if he was okay first.”
“Did it occur to you that a crime had occurred?”
“It occurred to me, I guess, but I wasn’t totally sure. It could have been an accident. Like if he just fell or something.”
“Fell on what? Why?”
“Nothing. I’m just saying.”
“So you had no reason to think he just fell?”
“No. You’re twisting things.”
“I’m just trying to understand, Jacob. Why didn’t you call for help? Why didn’t you call your father? He’s a lawyer, he works for the DA-he would have known what to do.”
“It just-I don’t know, I didn’t think of it. It was kind of an emergency. I wasn’t, like, prepared for it. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.”
“Okay, what happened next?”
“I kind of went down the hill and I got down beside him.”
“Got down on your knees, you mean?”
“I guess so.”
“In the wet leaves?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I stayed standing.”
“You stayed standing. So you were looking down over him, right?”
“No. I don’t really remember. When you say it like that, I think maybe I must have been down on a knee.”
“Derek saw you a few minutes later in school and he did not say anything about your pants being wet or muddy.”
“I guess I must have been standing, then.”
“All right, standing. So you’re standing over him, looking down at him. What next?”
“Like I said, I kind of rolled him over to check on him.”
“Did you say anything to him first?”
“I don’t think so.”
“You see a classmate lying facedown, unconscious, and you just flip him over without a word?”
“No, I mean maybe I said something, I’m not completely sure.”
“When you were standing over Ben at the bottom of the slope, did you see any evidence of a crime then?”
“No.”
“There was a long smear of blood going all the way down the hill from Ben’s wounds. You didn’t notice it?”
“No. I mean, I was, like, freaking out, you know?”
“Freaking out how? What does that mean, exactly?”
“I don’t know. Just, like, panicking.”
“Panicking why? You said you didn’t know what happened, you did not think there’d been a crime. You thought it might be an accident.”
“I know, but this kid was just lying there. It was just a freaky situation.”
“When Derek saw you just a few minutes later, you weren’t freaking out.”
“No, I was. I just didn’t show it. I was freaking out on the inside.”
“All right. So you’re standing over the body. Ben is already dead. He’s bled out from three wounds in his chest and there’s a trail of blood leading down the hill to the body, but you didn’t see any blood and you didn’t have any idea what happened. And you’re freaking out but only on the inside. What next?”
“It sounds like you don’t believe me.”
“Jacob, let me tell you something: it doesn’t matter if I believe you. I’m your lawyer, not your mom or dad.”
“Yeah, but still. I don’t really appreciate how you’re making it sound. This is my story, okay? And you’re making it sound like I’m lying.”
Laurie, who had not spoken throughout this entire meeting, said, “Please stop, Jonathan. I’m sorry. Just please stop. You’ve made your point.”
Jonathan was brought up short, chastened. “All right, Jacob, your mother’s right. Maybe we’d better stop right here. I don’t mean to upset you. But I want you to think about something. This whole story of yours might have sounded good when you told it in your head, when you were alone in your room. But things tend to sound different under cross-examination. And I promise you, what we’re doing here is a walk in the park next to what Neal Logiudice will do to you if you take the stand. I’m on your side; Logiudice isn’t. I’m also a nice guy; Logiudice-well, he has a job to do. Now, I think what you’re about to tell me is that, faced with this body lying facedown with blood flooding out of three gaping chest wounds, you somehow managed to stick your arm underneath the body so that you could leave a single thumbprint inside Ben’s sweatshirt-yet when you pulled your arm out again there was not a trace of blood on it, so that when you showed up at school a few minutes later no one thought anything was amiss. Now, if you were a juror, what would you think about that story?”
“But it’s true. Not the details-you messed me up on the details. He wasn’t lying, like, totally facedown, and it wasn’t like blood was gushing all over. It just wasn’t like that. That’s just you, you know, playing games. I’m telling the truth.”
“Jacob, I’m sorry I upset you. But I am not playing games.”
“I swear to God, it’s the truth.”
“Okay. I understand.”
“No. You’re calling me a liar.”
Jonathan did not respond. It is, of course, the last resort of a liar to challenge his inquisitor to call him a liar directly. Worse, there was an edge in Jacob’s voice. It might have been the hint of a threat or it might have been a terrified boy near tears.
I said, “Jake, it’s all right. Jonathan has a job to do.”
“I know, but he doesn’t believe me.”
“It’s okay. He’ll be your lawyer whether he believes you or not. Defense lawyers are like that.” I gave Jacob a wink.
“What about my trial? How am I going to get up there?”
“You’re not,” I said. “You’re not going anywhere near that witness stand. You’re going to sit at the defense table and the only reason you’re going to get up is to go home at night.”
Jonathan slipped in, “I think that’s wise.”
“But how will I tell my story?”
