Little Deaths(86)

“Could you hear what they were saying?”

“No. Not then. They were coming toward me. Under the streetlight. I could not hear what they were saying, but I heard her heels.”

Her eyes went to Ruth.

“She always wore heels.”

Scott was on his feet. “Objection!”

The judge was shaking his head before Scott had even spoken.

“Sustained. The jury will ignore Mrs. Gobek’s last remark. Mrs. Gobek, please confine your answers to what happened on that particular night.”

She flushed. Bowed her head.

“Yes sir.”

Looked up at Hirsch.

“I heard her heels that night. And I could hear voices.”

“So you heard the voices of two people. Did they come into view? Did you see them?”

She nodded vigorously. “Oh yes. I saw them on the other side of the street. Under the streetlight. Very clear.”

“Can you describe what you saw?”

“A woman. She was wearing trousers. Her hair was very bright under the streetlamp. And she was carrying the children.”

“Both of them?”

Mrs. Gobek looked over at Ruth. At her slight frame.

“She was carrying the little girl who was . . . perhaps the child was asleep. And pulling the little boy by the hand. The man was walking ahead of her.”

Pete thought again of the newspaper reports he’d read. The accounts he’d written himself. All of these details had been reported in the press.

Hirsch faced the jury.

“On the night of July thirteenth, you saw a woman walking down the street with a man and two children? Is that what you’re saying, Mrs. Gobek?”

“Yes. Yes, it is what I am saying. It is what I saw.”

“What did they do then?”

“She stopped and she . . .” She brought her arms up, cradling air. “She moved the child on her shoulder. As though the little girl was heavy. She let go of the little boy and he ran ahead to the man. Then the man came back and took the child from the woman. He walked to a car that was parked the wrong way on the street. He opened the back door of the car and he threw the child into the backseat.

“She ran over and she said, ‘Don’t do that to her.’ And he looked at her and said, ‘Now you’re sorry?’ And he said something else I could not hear. And she said, ‘Don’t say that. Don’t say that.’ Like that. Twice, like that.”

Ruth’s face was frozen. Her eyes wide, desperate. Pete glanced over at Frank Malone, who sat hunched over, staring down at his hands.

“The little boy got into the backseat of the car. I tried to close the window and it squeaked and she said something to the man. They both looked up so I moved behind the drape. I heard the engine start and when I looked out again, I saw the car turn around and drive away.”

“Mrs. Gobek, I want you to think very carefully before you answer my next question.”

He paused and the whole courtroom waited. The silence was absolute.

Hirsch said, “I’m sure you don’t need me to explain that the balance of this entire proceeding may depend on your answer.”

Pete realized he was holding his breath.

“Can you recognize either of the people you saw that night—either the man or the woman—in this court?”

This time there was no pause, no tense silence. She was nodding before Hirsch had even finished the question.

“It was that lady there. Her. Her,” and the plump white hand rose from its grip on the handle of her bag. She pointed at Ruth.

Ruth’s response was a howl.

“You liar! You liar! You swore to tell the truth! You don’t know what the truth is!”

Her face was flushed and furious. She half-stood, Scott holding her arm, pulling her back into her seat.

A murmur rose around the courtroom and the judge banged his gavel two, three times. Gradually the room fell quiet and Hirsch asked again, “Was it Mrs. Malone that you saw that night?”

“Yes. Absolutely it was.”

Ruth was out of her seat again, shrieking. “It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me!”

This time Pete could hear the terror beneath her anger, rising above Scott’s shushing and the swelling wave of voices, and even above the judge’s gavel as he called for order.

“I’ve never met this woman! I don’t know her! She doesn’t know me. She doesn’t know me!”

Eventually Scott forced Ruth to sit back down and the judge made himself heard.

“One more outburst like that, Mrs. Malone, and I’ll have you removed from the courtroom. Counselor, control your client.”

Scott turned to her, put his arm around her. Pete saw shock in his face.

Hirsch smiled at the judge and said, “Just a few more questions, Your Honor.”

He waited another moment, facing Ruth as though studying her. The members of the jury followed his gaze.

There was a bright spot of color on each cheek. Hirsch wanted the jury to see her anger, Pete realized. He wanted them to be able to imagine her raging and out of control.

“Mrs. Gobek, the events you’ve described took place on the night of July thirteenth, nineteen sixty-five, is that correct?”

She nodded, puzzled, and then remembered and leaned toward the stenographer again.