PRESENT TENSE
Chapter Twenty-Five
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Cal’s trial began on June 18, 2003 in San
Diego. Rose and Jack were both present. After conferring with Sun Titan
Industries’ lawyers, they learned that Cal had entered not guilty pleas to both
the charges of embezzlement and attempted murder, even though a guilty plea
could have given him less time in prison. Cal, however, was still sure that his
lawyer, Spicer Lovejoy, could get him out of trouble, and refused to do
anything that might jeopardize his chances of getting away with what he had
done.
Rose feared that Cal would, indeed, get away
with his attempt to kill them. She had met Mr. Lovejoy a couple of times and
didn’t particularly like him. Still, she had to admit that he was one of the
best lawyers around, and if anyone could get Cal out of trouble, it was him.
The trial began promptly at 9:30. The jury
members sat in their box at the side of the courtroom, several of them looking
like they wanted to be someplace else. The judge was at the front of the room,
with the bailiff and the court recorder nearby. The defendant and the lawyers
were seated at a table facing the judge, and the witnesses and observers sat in
chairs behind them, waiting.
Jack was the first one called to the stand.
He limped up to it—the cast had been taken off his leg the previous day, but he
was still having some difficulty walking—and sat down. After he took the oath
to tell the truth, the lawyers began questioning him.
Jack told them what had happened, beginning with
Cal’s confronting Rose in the restaurant about her being with Jack, and
continuing on through their fight and his arrest. When asked if the arrest had
been a mistake, he agreed that it had been, although not for the same reasons
as Cal had given; Jack felt that it had been a mistake to frame him in the
first place. However, he kept quiet about being framed, since Cal had dropped
the charges. When asked how he had gotten out of jail, he told them he had
escaped through a broken portion of the wall, and that the flames had been
close to destroying the building when he escaped. Ordinarily, he would have
been in more trouble for leaving the jail, but under the circumstances, it was
thought that he had a good reason for leaving and no charges were pressed.
Jack continued to answer questions, telling
how he and Rose had met up with Cal, and about the subsequent argument between
Cal and Rose. He concluded by telling about how he had been shot in the back as
he ran away from Cal, pushing Rose in front of him to shield her from the
bullets.
After he told his story, the lawyers
cross-examined him, with their questions occasionally being objected to by the
judge when they moved into irrelevant or inappropriate territory—such as
questions about his relationship with Rose, his own criminal history, and his
work for Sunpeak. The judge also objected to Jack’s response once, when he
called Cal a son of a bitch.
Finally, they let him leave the stand. Two
more witnesses were called up, both managers for Sun Titan Industries, and then
the lunch break was called.
Rose and Jack walked a couple of blocks to a
local Carl’s, Jr. restaurant. They settled down at a table near the back of the
restaurant and Rose brought their food over. She ate hungrily, but Jack hardly
touched his food. He hadn’t ordered much either, just a small order of fries
and a Sprite. Rose frowned, concerned.
Jack noticed her look. "What’s
wrong?" he asked.
"You’re not eating."
"I’m eating." He nibbled at a French
fry, as if to prove his point.
Rose still frowned at him. Jack, like many
young men, still had a penchant for eating everything in sight—or at least he
had before he was injured. Rose had noticed, though, since she had moved into the
house three days earlier, that he didn’t eat much these days, and was losing
weight. People eventually outgrew the adolescent urge to eat a lot, of course,
but not usually to the extent that someone who was already thin would lose
weight. He just didn’t seem to have much of an appetite, and that, along with
his continuing apathy, gave Rose cause for concern. It just didn’t seem normal.
In addition, he would sometimes sit holding his head as if he was in pain, and
then disappear into the bathroom for a while, coming out pale and
shaky-looking. Rose was sure that she had heard him getting sick on one
occasion, but she asked him if he was all right, he waved off her concern,
telling her that he was fine.
Since Jack was obviously not going to talk
about whatever was bothering him, Rose changed the subject. "How do you
like being a witness?"
He shrugged. "It’s almost as bad as
being a defendant."
"How so?" Rose was going to be
called up to testify as well, and she didn’t quite understand, having never
been in court before, except for when she had been called for jury duty two
weeks earlier.
"They want to probe into every aspect of
your life, even if it has nothing to do with what happened."
"Like when Mr. Lovejoy kept trying to
question you about our relationship."
He nodded. "Some of that was relevant,
because it said something about Cal’s motives, but a lot of it—I think he must
get off on asking stupid questions about other people’s relationships."
Rose giggled at his comment. "Uh…yeah.
Probably."
"I actually sympathize with Cal...a
little."
Rose stared at him disbelievingly.
"Why?"
"Because he has to sit up there,
listening to everyone talk about him, hoping that his lawyer can get him out of
trouble, while he is being judged by a jury of people who probably don’t want
to be there."
"I think he deserves exactly what he’s
getting."
"I do, too, but I know what it’s like to
be the defendant. Of course, Cal has one of the best lawyers around, at least
according to you, while I had a public defender who hadn’t done many cases yet.
But still, it can be kind of scary, sitting there and knowing that other people
are deciding your fate, and that they have every right to do so. Even when you
know that you deserve exactly what you’re going to get, it’s still kind of
frightening. Some people act like they don’t care, or like it’s a status symbol—especially
if they wind up serving time—but I don’t know. Some people show a lot of
bravado they don’t really have. I was afraid of where I was going to end up,
and after eight months in juvenile hall, I’d learned my lesson. No more
stealing, and no more being in a gang. I don’t want anymore trouble."
"I wonder if Cal knew about your past,
if that was why he thought he could get away with framing you."
He shrugged. "It wouldn’t surprise
me."
Rose looked over at his half-eaten lunch.
"Eat."
"I am," he told her tersely.
Rose sighed, giving him an irritated look.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, while Rose finished her lunch and Jack
continued picking at his bag of fries.
Rose glanced at her watch. "We need to
be getting back..." She trailed off as Jack shoved the rest of his food
away and got to his feet. "Are you okay?" He looked sick.
"I’m fine," he told her, turning
away. "Excuse me a moment." He hurried away.
Rose tossed the remains of their lunches into
the trash and slipped outside to wait for Jack.
He joined her a few minutes later, wearing
the now-familiar pale and shaky look. Rose looked at him with concern.
"Are you sure you’re okay?"
"Yes, I’m fine. Quit asking."
"I’m concerned about you—"
"Well, you don’t need to be. There’s
nothing wrong with me. Quit acting like there is." He stalked off ahead of
her.
"Excuse me for living," Rose
muttered, stomping after him.
They walked back to the courthouse and took
their seats in silence. Finally, just before the trial was about to begin
again, Jack sighed and whispered to Rose.
"Sorry I yelled at you."
Rose glanced at him. "All right. I’ll
try not to be such a nag."
They sat back as the proceedings began again,
each having accepted the other’s apology. But Rose paid less attention to what
was going on than she had before, her mind filled with worry. Something was
wrong, and she knew it, but every time she tried to talk to Jack, he pushed her
away. She didn’t know what to do, and she could only hope that whatever the
problem was, it would resolve itself before long.
Several other witnesses, both for and against
Cal, were called to the stand that afternoon. They included the police officer
who had arrested him and had taken the gun away from him, three more managers
from Sun Titan Industries, two of whom spoke in Cal’s favor, and one who didn’t,
Officer Ross, who had spoken to Rose, Dr. Rodriguez, and later Jack, and Dr.
Rodriguez, who had been the one to take care of Jack the most when he was in
the hospital.
The proceedings went on until 4:30, when the
judge released everyone for the day, telling them to return tomorrow. The trial
was expected to go on for about a week and a half, which was short by Superior
Court standards, but Cal’s lawyer was determined to make it an expedient trial.
The witnesses who had already testified were not required to return, and the
jury wasn’t sorry that the trial would be short.
Rose still thought that Cal was making a
mistake in pushing for such a swift trial, but she thought that he probably
wanted to spend as little time in jail as possible—he had already been there
for six weeks—and that he assumed that he would win. Still, there were so many
witnesses against him that Rose wondered if Cal might be a little
overconfident. He might well end up serving some time in prison, and, if he
did, she wouldn’t be at all sorry.