The judge raised his eyes to the defense table. “Does the defense care to cross-examine the witness?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
The defense attorney rose again, with even more effort. Maybe he really was tired or sick, Raymond thought. But it felt like an act to Raymond, and made him feel resentful. Like the defense attorney was putting on a show of how much trouble this all was to him.
Sorry if Luis’s violent death is too much of an imposition for you, Raymond thought as the man ambled over to the witness stand.
“So. Mr. Adler.” He paused, as if for effect. Too long, by Raymond’s internal clock. “You said several times that Ms. Hatfield told everyone Mr. Velez had tried to steal her purse. Meaning not the purse on her shoulder, but the wallet and change purse combination he had in his hand.”
“Yes, sir. That’s correct.”
“And I’m afraid the jury may have inferred that you felt she was lying.”
“I did feel she was lying.”
This time Adler’s words came out definite and strong. He did not glance at the judge. He did not hedge or apologize.
Raymond looked at the back of the defendant’s head, but of course it told him nothing.
“That’s a strong statement, Mr. Adler. My client is fighting for her freedom here, and I’d like you to think about the prejudice in that statement and reconsider.”
“There’s no prejudice. I know what I saw.”
“But why do you not consider the idea that maybe she really thought that was true? She didn’t know she had dropped the wallet. She looks down at Mr. Velez, and she sees her wallet in his hand. How is she to think it got there? And by the way, are you sure he literally had it in his hand? I should think he would have dropped it after being shot six times.”
“No, sir. He didn’t drop it. You would think so, yeah. But it was kind of the opposite. Like I guess it just caused him to grip on even tighter. But it was in his hand even after he was down on the street.”
“Okay, fine. Whatever. But back to my original question. Did you not even consider the idea that Ms. Hatfield thought what she was saying was true?”
“No, sir.”
“You didn’t even consider it.”
“No, sir.”
“Will you please tell the court what made you so sure?”
“Because there was no time. He was just reaching out for her shoulder when she spun on him. And she had her darn purse clenched under her arm. She stuck it under there real tight after she got the gun out of it. Or anyway, what I found out later was a gun. There was no way he could have gotten into that purse before she shot him dead.”
This is going badly for the defense, Raymond thought, typing wildly. Making dozens of typographical mistakes he had no time to correct. Good.
“With all due respect, Mr. Adler, the question was not whether Mr. Velez had time to take the wallet out of Ms. Hatfield’s purse. My question was why you’re so sure she was telling a premeditated lie. That’s quite an accusation to level against my client, to suggest she knowingly lied. You said yourself that you were in shock. Shock creates confusion. It warps a person’s sense of time. It all happened very fast. Ms. Hatfield looked down, and there was her wallet in the hands of a man she thought was trying to steal it. Doesn’t it make sense that she thought he had?”
“Maybe if she hadn’t been so damn sure he was about to steal from her, we wouldn’t all of us be in this mess!”
Raymond heard an audible pull of breath. A hushed gasp. Both from Mrs. G and one woman juror.
“Your Honor,” the defense attorney said.
“I’m warning you again, Mr. Adler,” the judge said. “Tread lightly.”
Mr. Adler did not apologize. He only sat in silence.
“So I’ll ask you again, Mr. Adler,” the attorney said. “How can you look me in the eye and claim to know for a fact that the defendant didn’t think, in the heat of the moment, that her version of events was the truth?”
The witness continued to sit in silence. Long enough that a couple members of the jury began to shift uneasily in their seats.
“Well . . . ,” Adler said at last, “。 . . I guess I can’t know what was going on inside her head.”
“My point exactly. No further questions, Your Honor.”
They sat on the subway car together, Raymond feeling the familiar rocking of the car’s movement along the tracks.
When he glanced over at Mrs. G, she seemed to be slumping over on her seat, as if passing out and falling. He reached over and grabbed her around her shoulders and brought her upright again, and she roused herself suddenly.