The Pardon

“Order,” said the judge with the bang of her gavel.

Jack couldn’t fight the impulse any longer. He looked over his shoulder at Cindy. Their eyes met for just a split second-long enough for him to see something he’d never seen before. It wasn’t anger or embarrassment or heartbreak or disbelief. It was all of those things.

“All right, miss,” McCue said to his witness. He took a deep breath. Gina had diverted widely from the script, and at the moment his chief fear was that her admission about having lied was something the defense would seize on in cross-examination. He had to prevent that from happening. If ever there was a time to turn lemons into lemonade, this was it. “That was a very painful admission you just made, and I’m glad you made it. It shows that you’re an honest person-you tell the truth, even when it hurts.”

“Objection,” said Manny.

“Sustained,” the judge said. “Let’s not vouch for our witnesses, Mr. McCue.”

“Sorry, Your Honor. But I’m just trying to elicit a very simple point.” He turned and faced the witness. “Ms. Terisi, when you and I talked in my office and you told me that little falsehood about it being Mr. Swyteck’s idea not to call the police, you were not under oath, were you?”

“No, I wasn’t”

“Today, however, you are under oath. You are aware that you’re under oath?”

“Yes.”

“Very well. So, tell us, Miss Terisi. What about all the other things you’ve testified to today, under oath: Are those true, or are they false?”

“They’re true,” she said resignedly. “All of them are true.”

The prosecutor nodded slowly. “And tell us one more thing, please, if you would: Did Mr. Swyteck voice any objection when you told him that you did not want to call the police?”

“He didn’t fight it,” she said.

“What did he do?”

Gina shrugged. “He left.”

“What time did he leave?”

“I don’t know exactly,” she said shaking her head. “Sometime before three o’clock.”

“Before three,” he repeated, as if to remind the jury that Goss was not murdered until four. The point seemed to register with most of them. “Was he drunk or sober?”

Gina’s mouth was getting dry. She sipped some water, then answered, “He still appeared to be a little drunk.”

“Did he take anything with him?”

“His car keys.”

“Anything else?”

She nodded. “He took the flower with him-the chrysanthemum he found under Cindy’s pillow. The one he said was from Eddy Goss.”

“And did he say anything at all before he left?”

Gina took a deep breath. “Yes, he”-she looked into her lap-“he said, ‘This has got to stop.’ “

McCue turned and faced the jury, looking as if he were about to take a bow. “Thank you, Miss Terisi. I have no further questions.”

McCue buttoned his jacket over his round belly and returned to his chair. The courtroom filled with the quiet rumble of spectators conferring among themselves, each seeming to confirm to the other that the accused was most definitely guilty as charged.

“Order,” said the judge with a bang of her gavel. The courtroom came to a hush. The judge checked the clock on the wall. It was almost five o’clock. “I see no reason to keep the jury any longer today,” she said. “We’ll resume tomorrow morning with defense counsel’s cross-examination of this witness.”

“Your Honor,” Manny politely interrupted. He had to do something to keep the day from ending on this devastating note. “If I might just begin my cross-examination. Perhaps just twenty minutes-”

“The defense will have all the time it needs-tomorrow. This court is in recess,” she announced as she ended the day with another sharp bang of the gavel.

“All rise!” shouted the bailiff, but his instruction was totally unnecessary. Everyone in the courtroom immediately stood and sprung into action. Television reporters rushed to meet five o’clock deadlines. Print journalists ran for the rail, hoping to get an interview with the prosecutor, the defense-or maybe even the government’s star witness.

Jack jumped up, too, immediately looking behind him. He needed to say something to Cindy, but she was already gone. She’d darted from her seat the instant Judge Tate’s gavel had landed on the block.

He stood beside his chair as he scanned the buzzing courtroom. Where is she? He flinched as he felt Manny’s hand on his arm. “You and I have to talk,” his lawyer said.

Jack sighed. He could barely speak. “Cindy and I have to talk,” he said quietly.

Chapter 37

Jack raced home as quickly as he could, weaving in and out of rush-hour traffic. He was relieved to see Cindy’s car in the driveway. She hadn’t left him-at least not yet. He rushed into the house, then froze as he heard the sound of dresser drawers slamming shut in the bedroom.

“What are you doing?” asked Jack as he appeared in the bedroom doorway.

Her half-filled suitcase was lying open across the bed. “What’s it look like I’m doing?” she said as she dumped a drawer of panty hose into her suitcase.

He sighed. “It looks like you’re doing exactly what I would do. Looks like you’re giving me exactly what I deserve. But I’m asking you not to.”

She wouldn’t even look at him. She just kept packing. “Why shouldn’t I leave?”

“Because I’m sorry. You just don’t know how sorry I am. You don’t know how much I love you.”

“Stop it,” she glared. “Just stop it.”

“Cindy,” he pleaded, “it’s not what you think. You’ve got to remember: This all happened right after the Goss trial, when everything was so crazy. I was being stalked by some guy who had tried to run me over and who’d just killed Thursday. I’d just come from Goss’s apartment after stabbing myself in the hand. And then Gina managed to convince me that I was being naive to think you’d ever come back to me. She told me you and Chet were definitely not going to be ‘just friends’ over there.”

“Hold it,” she said, looking at him with utter disbelief. “Are you listening to what you’re saying? Less than twelve hours after I left for Italy, you were in bed with my best friend because you were afraid that you couldn’t trust me. That makes a lot of sense, Jack,” she said with sarcasm, then resumed packing.

“You don’t understand, I was drunk-”

“I don’t care. Have you been drunk for the past two months, too? Is that why you didn’t tell me about it? Or maybe you just thought it was best for me to hear about it for the first time in a crowded courtroom, so I could be humiliated in front of the entire world.”

“I was going to tell you,” he said weakly.

“Oh, were you? Or did you just think you could sweep this problem under the rug, like you do with all the problems between you and your father? Well, that obviously hasn’t worked very well with that relationship, has it? And it won’t work with me anymore, either. What you and Gina did is bad enough. But keeping it from me is unforgivable,” she said, then closed up her suitcase and bolted out the bedroom door.

He stepped out of the way, then followed her down the hall. “Cindy, you can’t leave.”

“Just watch me,” she said as she opened the front door.

“I mean, you can’t leave town. You’re still under the trial subpoena. It’s possible you could be recalled as a witness. And if you don’t appear, you’ll be in contempt of court.”

She shook her head in anger. “Then I’ll just move into a hotel.”