Chapter 66
CHAPTER
Your Honor! May we approach?”
Reeves and Lindquist were both on their feet. I waved them over to the side of the bench. Then I looked toward the defense table. “Care to join, Mr. Meyers?” He jumped up and hustled over, too.
I told the clerk to take Nova into my chambers.
Judges learn to be human polygraph machines, so we can weigh the testimony and credibility of witnesses. I have pretty good radar for telling the difference between the truth and a lie. A judge who can’t spot a liar should be in a different line of work.
I knew that what Nova had just said was explosive. I also knew it was the truth. I could feel it in my bones.
It took me about five minutes to hear all the objections and arguments about her testimony, from both sides. I listened hard to all three lawyers. I really did. Then I said three words.
“Noted. Step back.”
I turned to the bailiff. “Retrieve Miss Jones, and call the jury back in.”
When everybody was back in place, I looked down at Lindquist. “Your witness.”
I watched her walk up to the witness stand, holding her legal pad in a death grip as she looked directly at Nova. I already knew where her questions would start.
“Nova. On March 23, at midnight, where did you go?”
“I went to the clinic. To Dr. Bria’s office.”
“Dr. Gaines’s office in Union Springs? In Bullock County, Alabama?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
They’d established venue with that question and answer. Nova was still speaking in hushed tones, but she’d regained her composure.
“How did you arrive at Dr. Gaines’s office?”
“Nurse Bass drove me in her car. I was waiting by the side of the building, our apartment building. In the shadow, so no one could see.”
“Why did you wait in the shadow?”
“My mama didn’t know about it. I sneaked out the window. Real quiet, so my sisters wouldn’t wake up.”
“When you arrived at Dr. Gaines’s office, what happened?”
“We went in the back door. I put on a blue nightgown thing.” She paused for a moment, then added, “Dr. Bria was nice to me. She said she was gonna help me.”
Lindquist’s voice turned hard. “Help you with what, Nova?”
“I was pregnant. Scared. I didn’t want to have a baby. I was so scared.”
That lawyer’s face was like stone, no mercy. “What happened next?”
“I laid down on a table in her office, the one with a paper cover. Put my feet up.” Nova’s voice broke then, but she recovered. “Doctor said it wouldn’t take long.”
“And then what happened?”
“I shut my eyes. I tried to think about something nice. Make pictures up in my head. Flowers. But it hurt, like cramping.”
“Did you tell her to stop?”
Sounding defeated, Nova said, “I didn’t tell her that. Didn’t want her to stop what she was doing. Because I couldn’t be pregnant. I couldn’t have a baby. I got all I can handle, taking care of the kids at home.”
A Black woman on the jury, about my age, shook her head with sorrow. Wiped her eyes. If I could’ve gotten away with it, I’d have joined her. Wished we could hang on to each other and cry it out.
“What else happened that night?”
“I stayed a while after she was done. She told me some things to do, said I’d need to come back and see her. I didn’t pay much attention. I couldn’t go back, not without Mama knowing. So I just went home. Crawled back through the window.”
“Did you get sick after that, Nova?”
I saw her steal a look at the defense table before she answered. “I kept on bleeding. And then I started feeling bad. But I didn’t tell nobody.”
“Why?”
“I was afraid people would find out what I done. All in the world I wanted was for nobody to know. So I just kept on going, like usual. Till that day I got sick. And they took me to the hospital.”
Eleanor Lindquist stepped back, away from the witness stand. “Nova, the person who aborted your baby at her clinic in Union Springs last March, is she in this courtroom today?”
Nova hung her head and whispered, “Yes, ma’am.”
“Point her out for the jury.”
Nova did as she was told, but her hand shook when she pointed the finger at the defense table. “That’s Dr. Bria. Right there.”
Lindquist projected a note of triumph as she said, “Your Honor, may the record reflect that the witness has identified the defendant.”
“It shall,” I said.
Nova turned to face me. Looking up at the bench with a plea in her eyes, she said, “Judge Mary, Dr. Bria was good to me. It’s not her fault I got sick. She helped me. She and Nurse Bass both.”
The DA was on his feet, shouting over the girl. “The witness is volunteering information outside of direct examination. I demand that the court instruct the jury to disregard.”
“Sit down,” I told him. When he remained on his feet, I said, “This is your co-counsel’s witness. She’s conducting direct examination. You stay in your chair.”
I turned to Lindquist, who was staring daggers at Nova Jones. “Ms. Lindquist, you may continue.”
“No further questions.”
I nodded at the defense table. “Mr. Meyers, you may inquire.”