JAYWALKER: And were they waiting for you downstairs?
JEREMY: Yes.
JAYWALKER: All the time?
JEREMY: A lot of the time.
It was time to move on. Not because Jeremy had folded under Harold Wexler’s questioning-he hadn’t-but because Jaywalker didn’t want to run the risk of over-doing things and desensitizing the jurors to Jeremy’s plight.
JAYWALKER: Where did you used to get your hair cut, Jeremy?
JEREMY: At Frankie’s. At 112th Street, off Third Avenue.
JAYWALKER: Is Frankie the witness who testified yesterday?
JEREMY: Yes.
Jeremy described the barbershop incident as he recalled it. It pretty much dovetailed with Francisco Zapata’s account. But where the group of tormenters had been anonymous to the barber, Jeremy was able to supply names. Sandro had been there, and Victor, as well as Shorty and Diego and three or four others. And the young lady Frankie had mentioned was Victor’s girlfriend, Teresa Morales.
Following the barbershop incident, it had been six full days before Jeremy had dared to venture out of his apartment again. Jaywalker made a point of having Jeremy recite the two dates and calculate the exact number of days between them. Not only did it show just how terrified the boy had been, it meant-if Jeremy was to be believed-that he’d had no opportunity to go out and get hold of a gun.
JAYWALKER: Why was it, Jeremy, that having been afraid to go out for six days, you eventually did go out again?
JEREMY: Well, Miranda called my house to say she’d be going to the Labor Day carnival with her little sister and her cousin. And I thought at the carnival there’d be a whole bunch of people, and I’d be safe. And I was tired of staying upstairs, you know? I wanted to get out. I just thought it would be okay.
And for a while, it had been. Jeremy had met Miranda and the girls right where’d they’d arranged. They’d gone on the Ferris wheel, played games, eaten popcorn and cotton candy. And for a little while the events of the summer had receded and Jeremy had even dared to believe that they might have been nothing but a long bad dream.
Until Victor had appeared.
They’d talked about fighting, Jeremy recalled, about having it out right there. Jeremy had surprised himself by saying he was willing. It had been Victor who’d said no. He’d said Jeremy was lucky that Teresa and Miranda and the little girls were there, that he didn’t want to embarrass him in front of all of them.
JAYWALKER: What happened next?
JEREMY: He sucker punched me.
JAYWALKER: What’s a sucker punch?
JEREMY: It’s when somebody catches you off guard.
JAYWALKER: And does what?
JEREMY: Hits you out of nowhere.
JAYWALKER: Where did Victor hit you?
JEREMY: Alongside my right eye
JAYWALKER: What did he hit you with?
JEREMY: His fist.
JAYWALKER: What happened?
JEREMY: He caught me good. I went down to my knees. I think I stayed down a couple of seconds.
JAYWALKER: What happened next?
JEREMY: I got up and ran after him.
He’d chased Victor and Teresa up Third Avenue. Miranda had sent the girls home and followed Jeremy. At 113th Street, Jeremy had finally caught up with Victor.
JAYWALKER: Were you that fast, or was Victor that slow?
JEREMY: He didn’t run that fast. It seemed like he wanted me to catch up to him.
JAYWALKER: What happened when you did?
JEREMY: He turned and said, “You want some more of that?” And we started fighting, right there.
JAYWALKER: What kind of fight was it?
JEREMY: It was a regular fistfight.
JAYWALKER: Do you remember what you were wearing?
JEREMY: Jeans, a shirt. Sneakers. It was hot.
JAYWALKER: You heard one of the witnesses from last week testify that you were wearing two or three pairs of socks. Was that true?
JEREMY: No. I hardly ever wear socks in the summer. If I’m going to wear them, I’m going to wear one pair.
JAYWALKER: Do you recall if you were wearing socks that day?
JEREMY: I honestly don’t.
JAYWALKER: Did you have a gun in your waistband?
JEREMY: No.
JAYWALKER: In your socks?
JEREMY: No.
JAYWALKER: In an ankle holster?
JEREMY: No.
JAYWALKER: Anywhere?
JEREMY: No, absolutely not.
He had Jeremy describe the fight, how they’d traded punches until Victor had called a time-out to rest and take off his sweatshirt. Jeremy demonstrated pulling something over his own head. He remembered that underneath, Victor still had a long T-shirt on.
JAYWALKER: What did you do while Victor was pulling his sweatshirt up over his head to take it off?
JEREMY: I waited for him.
JAYWALKER: And what did you do after that?
JEREMY: We started fighting again.
Jeremy described how he’d hit Victor a couple of times, hard enough to hurt his own fist. He thought his punches had landed in the area of Victor’s eyes and mouth. Jeremy himself had been hit on his lip and nose.
JAYWALKER: Who won the fight, Jeremy, if you can tell us?
JEREMY: I did.
JAYWALKER: What makes you say that?
JEREMY: He was more bruised up than I was.
JAYWALKER: How did the fight end?
JEREMY: He put his hands up, like this.
And Jeremy raised both his hands to shoulder height, palms facing forward, fingers slightly spread. Victor had
