Between Black and White (McMurtrie and Drake Legal Thrillers #2)(83)

“I don’t know,” Darla said.

“No further questions, Your Honor,” Rick said.

Given the circumstances, Rick knew it was the best he could do. He turned to his partner for approval, but the Professor was not looking at Rick. Instead, he was focused on the double doors to the courtroom, which had just opened behind the defense table. Rick followed the Professor’s gaze and felt a wave of relief at what he saw.

Ray Ray Pickalew, sporting a charcoal-gray suit, white shirt, and crimson tie, was standing in the opening.



Helen’s cross-examination focused on the things that Darla Ford did not know. Though she was with Andy Walton an hour before he died, she did not witness his murder. She did not see who killed him. At the time she left the Sundowners that night, Larry Tucker had long since gone for the evening.

The last thing she remembered was Andy Walton walking slowly to his pickup truck in the parking lot of the Sundowners Club.

Darla actually teared up during this part of the questioning, clearly upset at the image of Mr. Walton alone in the moments before he was killed.

When Helen finished, Rick said he had no further questions for Ms. Ford.

As she descended the witness chair, Darla gave Rick a quick wink and walked out of the courtroom.

“The defense may call its next witness.”



Tom turned to Ray Ray. “Is your witness out in the lobby?” he asked, his voice a scratchy whisper. Other than nodding when Tom had asked if the witness was at the courthouse and ready to testify, Ray Ray had yet to utter a word. Of course, there was no way they could really talk during Helen’s cross-examination of Ford.

Ray Ray shook his head. “No, Tommy boy.”

“What?” Tom felt his stomach turn. “You said he was here.”

“Mr. McMurtrie,” Judge Connelly said, her voice rising, the annoyance in it clear, “call your next witness. We have a jury waiting.”

“Ray Ray, go get the witness,” Tom said, grabbing him hard by the shoulder. “Rick just set it up with Ford on the stand. If you have someone that puts Tucker and Curtis at that clearing when Roosevelt Haynes was lynched, we need to call him now.”

“He’s here,” Ray Ray said.

“Then go get him, for God’s sake.” Tom’s voice rose well above a whisper. He was breaking one of his long-standing rules for behavior in a courtroom. He was losing his cool.

“I can’t,” Ray Ray said, standing from the table.

Tom also stood, forgetting the pain in his knee and putting both hands on Ray Ray’s arms, shaking his old friend. Had he lost his mind? “What do you mean you can’t? What are you talking about? Why?”

Connelly banged her gavel on the table. “Mr. McMurtrie, what is going on . . . ?” Connelly said more, but Tom didn’t hear it.

“Because I’m the witness,” Ray Ray said. “Me. Raymond . . . James . . . Pickalew.”

Tom staggered back away from him. He tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come.

Connelly banged her gavel again, and then Tom heard his partner speak from just to the side of him.

“Your Honor, the defendant calls Raymond James Pickalew.”



Helen Lewis literally jumped to her feet as she saw Ray Ray swagger toward the witness stand. “Objection, Your Honor. May we approach?”

Her words were barely heard as the courtroom stirred to life.

Connelly banged her gavel and glared at Rick. “I want all counsel in my chambers this instant. You too, Mr. Pickalew.” She turned to the jury. “Members of the jury, we are going to take a fifteen-minute break.”

Connelly strode off the bench toward the door that would take her to her chambers, her black robe flowing behind her.

Tom felt a rough hand on his shoulder and heard a ragged voice. “What’s going on?” Bo asked.

Tom turned to his client, his mind and body still in shock.

“Professor, what’s happening here?” Bo asked again.

“I don’t know,” Tom said, forcing his lips to move. Then his feet. “Come on, let’s go.”

“She only said counsel,” Bo said.

“You should be in on this, Bo,” Tom said, having fully gained his composure. “Whatever this is”—he looked to the witness stand, but Ray Ray was gone, having followed Connelly to her chambers—“you need to hear it.”





70


Once they were all in the judge’s chambers, Helen did not waste any time.

“Your Honor, Raymond Pickalew is of record as counsel for Mr. Haynes. A lawyer cannot testify in a case he is trying.”

Tom cleared his throat, shooting a glance at Ray Ray. The Joker grin covered Ray Ray’s broad face.

“All I did was help pick the jury, Your Honor,” Ray Ray said. “I haven’t examined a single witness, and I haven’t even sat at the table for all of it. Me testifying will be no different to that jury than when Ennis testified, and Ennis has sat at the prosecution table the entire case.”

“Your Honor, Mr. Pickalew was not included on the defendant’s witness list. This is an outrage. An ambush.” Helen’s fists were clinched at her sides. “And it should not be allowed. I move for sanctions against Mr. McMurtrie, Mr. Drake, and Mr. Pickalew for this outrage on our court.”