Fleet folded his arms. 'I invoke the Fifth Amendment.'
Terri tilted her head in a pose of curiosity. 'Have you ever forced a minor child to take your penis in her mouth?'
At the end of the table, Larry Pell shifted in his chair, fully appreciating, Terri felt sure, the nature of her trap for Eddie Fleet, and for him. Fleet's lip, curling to expose his upper teeth, lent a feral aspect to his eyes.
'I invoke the Fifth Amendment,' he repeated.
'Have you ever put your penis in the mouth of a minor Asian female?'
Fleet's voice rose. 'I invoke the Fifth Amendment.'
Eyes still fixed on Fleet, Terri drew a photograph from the manila folder between them. Calmly, she slid it down the table to the court reporter. 'I ask that this photograph be marked as Fleet exhibit number one.'
Pale, the reporter gazed down at the exhibit, then made a notation in its margin.
He slid it back to Terri. Silent, she handed the photograph to Carlo. Turning to Janice Terrell, he placed it in her hands, eyes locking hers until she looked down at what he had given her. 'Thank you,' Carlo said politely. 'Please pass it on.'
Pell took the exhibit from Terrell's hands. After a perfunctory glance, he passed it back to Carlo.
Carlo placed it in front of Fleet. 'This is for you, I think.'
Expression frozen, Fleet studied the autopsy photo of Thuy Sen. With clinical detachment, Terri inquired, 'Did you ever force this minor Asian female to put your penis in her mouth?'
Holding up his hand, Hall leaned awkwardly between Terri and the witness. 'For the record,' he interjected, 'Mr. Fleet will invoke the Fifth Amendment in response to any further questions.' Gathering himself up, he mustered a show of indignation. 'Your strategy's transparent—to present Mr. Fleet as the guilty party and to expose him to charges of perjury. No matter how irrelevant to the matter at hand—'
'The matter at hand,' Terri interrupted, 'is the murder of this child. That was the subject of Mr. Fleet's trial testimony fifteen years ago, on which basis my client stands to die.
'So let's be clear, counselor. We're going to be here for however long it takes for me to read aloud every answer he gave, to every question Lou Mauriani asked him about the murder of Thuy Sen, and then to ask him if the answer's true. By my count, that's roughly sixty-seven chances to invoke the Fifth Amendment. Is that what Mr. Fleet intends to do?'
Hall folded his arms. 'On my advice, yes.'
Terri turned to Pell. 'Any suggestions, Mr. Pell?'
'No.'
'Then I've got one: grant Mr. Fleet immunity from prosecution—for both perjury and the murder of Thuy Sen— based on any answer he gives in this proceeding.' Terri allowed disdain to seep into her voice. 'That would satisfy all of our needs—Mr. Fleet's continuing need to escape prosecution for the murder of Thuy Sen, Rennell Price's need not to be executed for Mr. Fleet's crime, and your need to learn the truth. Which is the reason, I recall, you gave me for informing Mr. Fleet of Payton Price's confession.'
With apparent effort, Pell remained inscrutable, marshaling the careful phrasing which, Terri knew, he had composed to evade entrapment. 'Whether to grant immunity,' he said in his most professional manner, 'is a question of policy, based on a number of very complicated factors, to be decided at the highest levels of the Attorney General's Office. It's not within my authority to immunize Mr. Fleet in the middle of his deposition.'
'Too bad,' Terri answered. 'I guess we're in for a long day. But please get back to me before the next time we see Judge Bond.'
Across the table, Eddie Fleet watched her, malevolence filling his eyes.
'Why don't you take a break?' she said to him. 'Your 'oral presentation' has just begun.'
* * *
'Pell's expression was a study,' Carlo told his father that evening. 'But Fleet's made me afraid for Terri. He hates her as much as she hates him.'
With an expression of worry, Chris sat back, the State's response to Rennell's postponed clemency petition spread across his desk. 'She got what she wanted,' he answered at length. 'Maybe the A.G. will grant immunity —'
'Don't count on it.' Terri stood in the doorway, causing Carlo to wonder how much she had heard. 'It's a matter of 'policy,' ' she continued. 'If they start immunizing snitches to help petitioners on habeas corpus, just think how long these cases might go on. There'd be no end to them.' Turning to Chris, she asked, 'So, do I put Rennell on?'
Chris rubbed the back of his head. 'Depends on what Pell does about Fleet, I think. Or Bond—'
The telephone rang. Picking it up, Chris listened for a moment, then pushed the speaker button. Tammy Mattox's smoke and whiskey drawl filled the office. 'When you gonna see Rennell?' she asked without preface.
'Tomorrow,' Terri answered. 'Why?'
'Grandma's dead. After all this time, I think Payton dying was all she could take.' Tammy's voice softened. 'Rennell's got no family now but crazy Mama. Know you got a full plate, Terri, but someone needs to tell him.'
SEVEN
RENNELL'S EXPRESSION BARELY CHANGED. FROM THE DISTANCE in his eyes, Terri sensed him retreating within himself, perhaps from yet more pain and loss. She tried to guess at his emotions—or even whether, after Payton, he had much emotion left.
'She always stay in her room,' he mumbled. 'That where she die?'
