Trial and Terror Read Online Free PDF Page A

Leave him where he is.” He turned to Cruz. “I must emphasize you are under oath. Continue, Sidney.”
    Raines stared Cruz down. “Do you remember the attorney assigned to you three days ago?”
    Cruz grinned. “She’s a babe, Sid.”
    “Could you identify her?”
    “Sure. Blonde, blue-eyed—Hey, Summer, is that blouse teal or aqua?”
    Summer tried not to smile.
    Levi said, “We’ll stipulate Ms. Neuwirth was Mr. Cruz’s attorney.”
    “Thanks,” Cruz said. “Nice tie, dude. Jerry lives.” He clanked a shackled arm in the air.
    Raines broke in. “When you and I met at police headquarters, what did you tell me with regards to your attorney’s conduct?”
    “She talked about the weather. I said Haze County is hot this time of year. It is. Dries out my skin. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find moisturizer when you’re homeless?”
    “What else did Ms. Neuwirth say?”
    “She said I deserved a vacation.”
    “Did you tell her you had two strikes?”
    Cruz eyed his chains and mumbled a stream of curses.
    Raines took it in stride. “What did you say, Mr. Cruz?”
    Cruz looked up, aiming hate at Raines, then looked beyond to Summer, his eyes brushing hers. She could tell Cruz was struggling with himself. But, with a sigh, he fell in line. “Yeah, I told her.”
    Summer’s stomach twisted in on itself. This was bad.
    “What did she say to you?” Raines asked.
    “If I didn’t want to spend twenty-five years in jail, I should get my sorry white ass out of state.”
    “I assume she didn’t use the term ‘sorry white ass.’ ” It pained Raines, a religious man, to say “ass.”
    “You assume right, old man.”
    “So the facts, as you remember them, are that you informed Ms. Neuwirth that you had two strikes, and she advised you to flee.”
    “If you say so.”
    “Do you say so?”
    Cruz chewed imaginary cud. “Sure.”
    Raines turned to the judge. “I’m done with this witness, Your Honor.”
    Hightower nodded at Levi. “Your witness, Jon.”
    Levi approached, his hands jammed in his pockets. His jacket was crinkly and one of his socks was inside out. But what he lacked in sartorial sense, he made up for with legal presence. For the first time, Summer noticed that Levi’s bald spot resembled a halo.
    He sized up Cruz for a moment, and then plunged in. “If Ms. Neuwirth, as you allege, told you to leave the state, why did you stay?”
    “I didn’t have any money. Thought I’d unload some Mexican tar and hit the road.”
    “Were you under the influence of drugs at the time you first met Ms. Neuwirth?”
    “Yup, but I’d come down by then.”
    “You were in jail for thirty-six hours prior to meeting Ms. Neuwirth. Is this correct?”
    “Sounds about right.”
    “When do you usually begin to suffer the effects of withdrawal?”
    “Put it this way,” Cruz said, “I was seriously needing a fix when I faced that porky judge.”
    “Angiers,” Levi clarified. “When you crave a fix, how is your memory?”
    “I forget the question.”
    “That bad, huh?”
    “When I need a fix I can barely remember to piss.”
    “Would you say it would be difficult to trust your memory?”
    Cruz mimicked a British accent. “Damned foolhardy, if you ask me.”
    “Are you suffering withdrawal now, Mr. Cruz?”
    “Nah,” he said. “They put me on methadone, so I’m, like, with the program now.”
    Raines called out. “I object, Your Honor. Whether the witness is receiving treatment or not is irrelevant. Ms. Neuwirth’s actions are at the crux of the matter.”
    “I am merely attempting to ascertain the reliability of the witness’s memory,” Levi said.
    “That has no—”
    “Hold on, Sidney.” The judge held up his hand while scrolling Cruz’s testimony on his computer monitor. He pursed his lips. “Sustained.”
    Levi’s jaw plunged. “Your Honor?”
    “I said sustained , Mr. Levi. If I follow the logic of your questioning, what you are implying is that Mr. Cruz’s memory is