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were screams of distress? Couldn’t they have been the sounds of,
    say, passionate lovemaking?”
    Jane wanted to laugh at the question, but didn’t. “That was not what we heard.”
    “And you know that for a fact? You can tell the difference?”
    “A woman with a bloody lip is pretty good evidence.”
    “The point is, you didn’t know it at the time. You didn’t give my client a chance to answer the
    door. You made a rush to judgment and just broke in.”
    “We stopped a beating.”
    “You’re aware that the so-called victim has refused to press charges against Mr. Rollo? That
    they are still together as a loving couple?”
    Jane’s jaw squared. “That’s her decision.” Dumb though it is. “What I saw that day, in
    apartment two-E, was clearly abuse. There was blood.”
    “Like my blood doesn’t count?” said Rollo. “You pushed me down the stairs, lady! I still got
    the scar here, on my chin!”
    “Silence, Mr. Rollo,” the judge ordered.
    “Look! See where I hit the bottom step? I needed stitches!”
    “Mr. Rollo!”
    “ Did you push my client down the stairs, Detective?” asked Quinlan.
    “Objection,” said Spurlock.
    “No, I did not,” said Jane. “He was plenty drunk enough to fall down the stairs all by himself.”
    “She’s lying!” said the defendant.
    The gavel banged down. “Quiet, Mr. Rollo!”
    But Billy Wayne Rollo was just building up a head of outraged steam. “She and her partner,
    they dragged me into the stairwell so no one would see what they were doing. You think she
    could arrest me all by herself? That little pregnant girl ? What a crock of shit she’s telling you!”
    “Sergeant Givens, remove the defendant.”
    “It’s a case of police brutality!” Rollo yelled as the bailiff hauled him to his feet. “Hey, you
    people in the jury, are you stupid? Can’t you see this is all made-up shit? These two cops
    kicked me down the fucking stairwell!”
    The gavel slammed down. “Let’s take a recess. Please escort the jurors out.”
    “Oh yeah! Let’s take a recess !” Rollo laughed and shoved away the bailiff. “Just when they’re
    finally hearing the truth!”
    “Get him out of here, Sergeant Givens.”
    Givens grabbed Rollo’s arm. Enraged, Rollo twisted around and charged, his head thudding
    into the bailiff’s belly. They both slammed to the floor and began to grapple. Victoria Quinlan
    stared, openmouthed, as her client and the bailiff flopped around just inches from her highheeled Manolo Blahniks.
    Ah, Jesus. Someone’s gotta take control of this mess.
    Jane heaved herself out of the chair. Shoving aside the stunned Quinlan, Jane snatched up the
    bailiff’s handcuffs, which he’d dropped on the floor in the confusion.
    “Assistance!” yelled the judge, banging on his gavel. “We need another bailiff in here!”
    Sergeant Givens was lying on his back now, pinned beneath Rollo, who was just raising his
    right fist to deliver a blow. Jane grabbed Rollo’s raised wrist and snapped on one of the cuffs.
    “What the fuck?” Rollo said.
    Jane rammed her foot into his back, twisted his arm behind him, and shoved him down against
    the bailiff. Another click, and the second cuff closed around Rollo’s left wrist.
    “Get off me, you fucking cow!” Rollo screamed. “You’re breaking my back!”
    Sergeant Givens, trapped at the bottom of the pileup, looked like he was about to suffocate
    beneath the weight.
    Jane took her foot off Rollo’s back. Suddenly a gush of hot liquid flooded from between her
    legs, splashing down onto Rollo, onto Givens. She stumbled backward and looked down in
    shock at her soaked maternity dress. At the fluid dripping from her thighs onto the courtroom
    floor.
    Rollo twisted onto his side and stared up at her. Suddenly he laughed. He couldn’t stop
    laughing as he rolled onto his back. “Hey,” he said. “Look at that! The bitch just peed in her
    dress!”

    FOUR
    Maura was stopped at a traffic light in Brookline