Chapter 65
CHAPTER
Mary Stone
BULLOCK COUNTY COURTHOUSE UNION SPRINGS, ALABAMA
Sometimes a witness will fall apart on the stand. Nova Jones was teetering on the brink. I could see it coming, like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
The lawyer said, “Let’s start with the party, Nova.”
“I didn’t go to no party!”
Ms. Lindquist said, “These were your words, Nova. The sneaking out, the party, the boy. And it was dark, and you didn’t remember? Your. Words.”
“Not my words! Someone told me to tell the story that way. And I went along, because everyone wanted me to. I didn’t want no trouble.”
Lindquist’s eyes had narrowed to slits. “You told the sheriff you went to a party and had sex—didn’t you?”
Robert Reeves stood, waving his arm like a kid in school. “State requests a recess!”
Benjamin Meyers was also on his feet, shouting over the other lawyers. “Objection, Your Honor—she’s badgering her own witness!”
Nova had started weeping. That hard kind of crying, when a person tries to hold it in, and it makes the body convulse.
The spectators’ gallery buzzed with noise, people weighing in on Nova’s breakdown. More than one person had the gall to pull out a phone and aim it at the witness stand.
The courtroom was veering out of control—again. I slammed the gavel—just once, mind. Rose from my seat and pointed at the courtroom door, straight ahead of me.
I uttered one word. “Out!”
The noise settled down some. Except for the witness stand. The poor child still sobbed like her heart was broken.
But the spectators hadn’t followed orders. I needed to provide specificity.
“I am clearing this courtroom.”
When I spoke, it came straight from the diaphragm. My voice can be a powerful instrument, and I’m grateful for that, at times. This was one of those occasions.
“By order of this court, all spectators will leave immediately. That includes everyone seated in the gallery. Get. Out.”
A white man stood up. “Your Honor, I’m with the local NBC affiliate—”
Sweet Jesus, I recognized him: the entitled little jerk who’d crashed Saturday breakfast at my farm last spring. “Get out of my courtroom unless you want to see a contempt citation. I’m not playing.”
That convinced them all, I guess. Folks figured that if I was crazy enough to threaten a TV journalist, I’d certainly rain down fury on a curiosity seeker. The courtroom emptied out, and Ross Carr shut the door behind the last visitor.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you’re excused. I’m sending you off for a break. Ross and Luna will escort you to the jury room.”
They didn’t dawdle. After the jurors departed, a handful of us remained in court.
I stayed at the bench. Bria Gaines and the attorneys for both sides sat at their respective tables.
The court reporter tapped her foot on the floor, wearing an uncertain look, like she didn’t know if she should stay or go.
And Nova Jones. Huddled in that witness chair, hunched over with shame and defeat, shoulders shaking.
The door to chambers was directly behind my chair. I rose, stepped out of court. In a matter of seconds, I was back at the bench with a cold bottle of water in my hands. A big one, sixteen ounces.
“Nova, honey. Look what I found.”
I peeled the plastic off the top, cracked it open. Sometimes those lids are tricky. “You look thirsty, Nova. I got you a drink of water. You see?”
She lifted her head, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. When she peeked at me, I reached out and handed her the water bottle. She took it.
“I’ve a box of tissues, right here.” I pushed the box closer to her. When she pulled a tissue out, I said, “Take the box.”
She did. Blew her nose, wiped her face. Unscrewed the lid and took a long drink of water. The room was hushed, waiting.
I had to hold myself together, too. It was personal for me. And painful, though I was determined to hide that, to project a calm demeanor.
Nova tipped the bottle back a second time. Drank deep, like people do when they’ve been working in the sun all day.
When she stopped to take a breath, I said, “Courtroom can be a scary place, can’t it?”
Nova’s eyes turned to me and she nodded, one time.
I kept my voice soft. “That testifying, it’s so hard. Especially when everybody starts talking at once. The lawyers and the judge and sometimes the people sitting out there watching. It can be hard to know what to do.”
Lindquist was on her feet again. “Judge, the DA and I have had a moment to consult, and we both think it would be appropriate to have some time to talk with our witness. Privately.”
I was in no mood. “Sit down, Ms. Lindquist.”
“But Your Honor—”
“I won’t tell you again.”
Pretty sure I was giving her a deadly look. Because she sat, and didn’t say another word. When the DA tried to whisper in her ear, she pushed him away.
The girl from the AG’s office had some sense. I was glad to see that. I turned back to Nova. “You want some more of that water, Nova? Or something to eat? Sometimes people forget to eat when they come to court.”
The wicker basket sat on the bench. I picked it up and showed it to her. “How about a piece of candy? You like peppermint? How about an Atomic Fireball?”
She peered in the basket before she sat back, shaking her head. “No, thank you, ma’am. I’m not supposed to eat candy. I’m the biggest girl in school. At the hospital, that’s why they say I got pregnant at thirteen.”
That made my eyes sting. I looked straight at her.
I said, “I was the biggest girl in school—bigger than most of the boys. So I got my period in fifth grade, before anybody. When that happened, I was scared to death. Afraid I’d start it in the middle of the school day. I used to lay awake at night, worrying about it.”
Nova lost that guarded expression. “I worry about that, the same thing.”
“That right? I think we’re alike in lots of ways.”
She appeared to be considering it as she took another pull on the water bottle.
I took a peppermint out of the basket. As I unwrapped it, I said, “This is a criminal case, Miss Nova. It’s important to remember that in criminal cases, the prosecution, Mr. Reeves and Ms. Lindquist—they’re trying to put Dr. Gaines in prison.
They have accused her of breaking the law.
When a person’s liberty, their freedom, is at stake, that’s very, very important.
So it’s crucial that every witness tell the truth.
The whole truth, while they’re in that chair you’re sitting in right now. ”
Nova clutched the water bottle so tightly, I could hear the crackle of plastic. “I swore the oath. I’m trying to do that. Trying my best. To tell the truth.”
“The whole truth,” I said.
She swallowed; I saw the movement in her neck. “The whole truth. Yes, ma’am, Judge Mary.”
“All right, then. You ready?”
She closed her eyes, just for a moment. Opened them and looked up at me.
“Ready,” she said.
“Nova, who was the boy you had sex with that night?”
I could see her starting to seize up again. Reeves looked like he was about to raise another objection. I shut him down with a look.
Nova lowered her eyes. She dabbed her nose with a tissue. She stared up at me with desperation and pain written all over her face.
I could tell she was working up to something. Something painful.
“It wasn’t one boy,” she said. “It was two.”
Lindquist jumped up. “Your Honor!”
I rapped my gavel. “Sit!”
Then I leaned over toward Nova. “Don’t be afraid. Nobody here is going to hurt you. Just tell us what happened. Everything you can remember.”
I could see that she was terrified. She took another drink from her water bottle, then put it down in her lap. “It was two boys. Two white boys. Back in the weeds behind the old gas station. I didn’t know ’em. Either of ’em. But they knew me. Called me by my name.”
Her voice was trembling, but her words were clear.
“They pushed me down and held me, and then they did it, one after the other. When they were finished, they said I should shut up and don’t say anything about it ’cause something might happen to my brothers or sisters, and they knew all of their names, too.
They told me they were Klan. That one boy, the big one, show me a K mark on his arm, like he was proud of it. And then they run off.”
I looked down at the prosecution table and just held up my hand. I didn’t want to hear a word from anybody but Nova Jones. Her chin was dipped down to her chest.
“Nova, did they say anything else to you?”
She was sniffling, starting to sob. “Yeah. One of them said I had pretty eyes.”