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Q How did your daughter accept the news?

A Amazement. Disbelief. But all in all, she took it pretty well. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more romantic and appealing she found the whole notion. She particularly loved the idea of living on and on and never dying.

Q And what significance did you place in her behaviour in front of the mirror?

A At first, I thought it was simply little girl curiosity, but the nakedness seemed to suggest something more.

Q What was that?

A She was displaying herself, showing her body, it seemed to me, on someone else’s command’.

Q On whose command?

A Audrey Rose’s.

MR VELIE Objection, Your Honour. Move to strike the answer as referring to a mythical person. There has been no evidence that such a person exists.

THE COURT Objection sustained.

Q BY mr mack Did anything else happen that night?

A That night Ivy packed her suitcase and in the morning didn’t realize she had done it. Sometime during the night she arose in her sleep and quietly, neatly packed all her things. It was a clear sign to me of Audrey Rose’s desperate need to get back to the city; however, I didn’t know how she hoped to accomplish it, since Ivy had no money and knew nothing about train travel. Later that day, however, I found a train schedule and a ten-dollar bill in Ivy’s tote bag. Both had been stolen from my purse.

Q Stolen by Ivy?

A Of course not. By Audrey Rose.

MR VELIE Objection on the grounds that there has been no evidence that Audrey Rose is a living person.

THE COURT Sustained.

Q by MR mack Do you know why Audrey Rose was so desperate to get back to the city?

MR VELIE Objection, Your Honour. The question assumes a fact not in evidence; that there is such a person named Audrey Rose.

THE COURT Objection sustained.

Q by MR mack Do you know why your daughter was so desperate to get back to the city?

A To be close to her father.

Q Her father being?

A Mr Hoover.

Q You mean Mr Templeton, don’t you?

A No, I mean Ivy was being driven to reach Mr Hoover.

Q Did anything else happen?

A Yes, she tried to kill Ivy.

Q Who tried to kill her?

A Audrey Rose.

MR VELIE Objection on the same grounds previously stated, Your Honour. There has been no evidence that such a person as Audrey Rose exists.

THE COURT Objection sustained.

Q BY MR MACK When was there an attempt to kill Ivy?

A Yesterday afternoon. All the girls at the school had built this huge snowman and they were having what they call a crowning and melting ceremony. That is, they had built a fire around it and were melting it down, destroying it; it’s a ritual they do every year. And while it was burning, Ivy, Ivy started to walk into the fire. It wasn’t accidental; she did it purposely; Mother Superior told me that. She said that Ivy literally walked and then crawled into the fire, and if it hadn’t been for the custodian, Mr Calitri, who rushed in after her and pulled her out, she would have been killed.

Q You mean, your daughter purposely tried to kill herself?

A Oh, no! It wasn’t Ivy. It was Audrey Rose who tried to kill her. Don’t you see, she was thwarted? Unable to get back to the city, she was seeking to escape this earth life by forcing Ivy to walk into the fire. (Witness overcome by tears.)

MR VELIE Your Honour, I have refrained from objecting to the last two answers given by Mrs Templeton, although I believe there are ample grounds to have her answers stricken from the record as hearsay, because I believed that it would soon become apparent to this court that Mrs Templeton is so distraught, because of the near miss that her daughter had with death yesterday, that she cannot possibly be responsible for the answers that she’s giving and I, again, most urgently, suggest that it would be appropriate to recess this court until such time as the witness has been able to calm and collect herself.

THE COURT Do you feel able to continue, Mrs Templeton?

MRS TEMPLETON Yes, yes. I want to continue. I want to tell it all.

THE COURT There seems no reason, in my opinion, to grant a recess at this time, Mr Velie. Mrs Templeton seems to have recovered sufficiently to continue. However, I will strike the witness’ last two answers from the record and direct the jury to disregard them.

Q BY MR MACK Mrs Templeton, do you believe in reincarnation?

A Yes. I do.

Q Mrs Templeton, do you believe that your daughter, Ivy, is the reincarnation of Mr Hoover’s daughter, Audrey Rose?

A Yes, I do.

Q Mrs Templeton, do you believe that Mr Hoover kidnapped your daughter?

A No, I do not. I believe he was doing a humanitarian thing and had every right to go to her bedroom that night to help her, to see to her, to take care of her, because I believe that what he says is true. I believe that the only help my child will ever get on this earth will be through Mr Hoover. The only chance she has of living is if this man is released from jail. (Witness overcome by tears.)

MR VELIE I object to the question, Your Honour, as calling for a conclusion of law, and I move that the witness’ answer be stricken in its entirety. It’s for the jury to make that judgement.

THE COURT Sustained. Strike the entire answer of the witness from the record, and the jury is instructed to disregard the witness’ answer. Continue, Mr Mack.

MR MACK Your Honour, I have no further questions.

THE COURT Mr Velie, you may cross-examine.

MR VELIE Your Honour, this woman is in such a highly charged and emotional state, in my opinion, I do not believe that the answers she has given to the questions addressed to her by defence counsel bear any relation to the truth in the matter, and I would feel that any cross-examination I might subject her to at this point would also elicit answers that would be based on her highly distraught condition. Therefore, I will not ask her any questions.

MR MACK Your Honour, I move that all of Mr Velie’s remarks be stricken from the record as being argument and that the jury be instructed to disregard them.

THE COURT Motion sustained. The court reporter will strike the entire last statement by Mr Velie from the record, and the jury is instructed to disregard it. You may call your next witness, Mr Mack.

MR MACK I have no further witnesses at this time, Your Honour.

The defence rests.

THE COURT Are you prepared for rebuttal, Mr Velie?

MR VELIE Your Honour, in the light of Mrs Templeton’s testimony and in the light of the fact that I have determined that I am unable to cross-examine her because of her condition, I do not require additional time to prepare my rebuttal portion of the case. I therefore request a recess until tomorrow morning.

THE COURT Very well. Court will reconvene at nine o’clock in the morning.

(Whereupon the above proceedings were concluded.)

Judge Langley’s hammer shot on the gavel brought down the curtain on the performance. In this heightened moment the audience was held in the grip of a tomblike hush, lightly punctuated by the soft aftersobs of the witness. In the next moment the air was rent by what seemed a thunderous ovation -a dramatic and explosive outburst of surprise, delight, approval, and amusement as spectators scrambled noisily to their feet and reporters launched a wild gallop to the doors.

In the midst of pandemonium, Janice Templeton remained seated in the witness chair, her stricken face lowered into her hands, blotting out the scene, taking deep, even breaths to control the tears and the chill in her bones. She could sense the hot flickerings of a thousand eyes upon her, including Bill’s eyes -oh, God, what hatred must be in them! - yet she felt cleansed, relieved, the anxiety that had been eating, at her these past months suddenly gone.

All at once, she became aware that the courtroom noise had diminished - were they all staring at her in silence? - which caused her to open her eyes and look up. The first face to swim before her blurred vision was Elliot Hoover’s, hovering in the forefront of the clearing courtroom, surrounded by smiles and sparkles of curiosity as far as the eye could see. Flanked by two guards, Hoover had purposely remained behind, waiting for Janice to look up, insisting on his right to thank her, to relay to her his gratitude for all she had said, for all she had risked in his behalf. Her vision clearing somewhat, she saw that tears had formed in his eyes, too, and that he was smiling at her and nodding his head in a gesture that said, ‘I know, I know.’

Janice wanted to look away but dared not shift her gaze to the side of the room where Bill was sitting. It was too soon to confront him; she was too weak to cope with all the problems that awaited her in that quarter.

What finally brought her attention around was the sound of her name, spoken in a low, throbbing voice by Scott Velie.

‘Mrs Templeton,’ he said dully, ‘we’re having a meeting in my office after lunch. Can you be there?’

He looked as he sounded, empty.

‘Can you be there?’ he repeated.

She felt her head nod and saw him turn away and walk briskly to the door. It was at this moment that she worked up the nerve to face

Bill and, when she did, discovered that his seat was empty.

*

Scott Velie, senior deputy district attorney of the City of New York, sat alone in his office.

His eyes scanned the sombre shelves of lawbooks rising to the ceiling on each wall, found its darkly stained, lemon-oiled atmosphere and soft resonances conducive to thought, restful to spirit. It was his think tank, hall of memories, and phone booth, all rolled in one. It fitted his moods and temperaments like an old leather glove, calming him during troubled times, energizing him when weariness threatened to clog his brain, and gently stroking him when the depressions struck.

Why had his instinct failed him this time?

Normally, he would have sensed that Mrs Templeton was on the edge. He had seen the signs in her darting looks, her too-quick smile, in the hundred little mannerisms she employed to camouflage her fears and guilts. All the signposts had been up. She had all but screamed to him that she was ready to crack. Why had he failed to see it?

Velie knew that his instinct, that rare and delicate instrument, had gone wrong. At age sixty-three, after years of service, it had failed him.

In thirty-two years he had seen the full pageant of human misery walk through his door - all ages, sexes, colours, shapes, sizes, and with every kink in the book: junkies, pushers, prosties, pimps, thieves, kooks, killers, you name it. He had felt sorry for many of them, especially the ones stamped for misery at birth, the professional losers, who, even in this great land of opportunity, never seemed to find their way. He knew about these people. They formed the backdrop of his own youth and still lurked in the corners of his memory. Sometimes, standing across his desk, he’d recognize his own face in the hopeless, fear-ravaged visage of a young felon and wonder how he’d managed to escape a similar fate. Sometimes he’d see himself so clearly he’d allow himself to be plea-bargained by some green-bebind-the-ears-attorney and not feel he had abused his trust.

Then there were the Hoovers - the ivory-white Hoovers flushed with all the benefits of a doting society, the people of intelligence and position who slid through life plucking up the breaks as they dropped in their laps - who had nothing better to do with their lives than indulge their fantasies with harebrained schemes and crackpot notions and then feel they had the legal right to inflict their sick delusions on decent, law-abiding people. Janice Templeton’s testimony was proof of Hoover’s contaminating influence on the helpless, the good people. She wanted so desperately for her child to be spared the pain and suffering of mental illness she was willing to buy any crackpot theory. She had accepted Hoover’s reincarnation claims as a terminal patient accepts a phony cancer cure - out of desperation. Hoover not only had buffaloed her, but had surely destroyed a good marriage.

Velie could see that it was all over between the Templetons from the way they sat and looked away from each other during their meeting. They were like strangers. Worse, like enemies. She couldn’t face him, and he couldn’t bear to look at her. From her cool, bland expression, she seemed to be in another world - on an astral plane of her own. The only time she reacted was when Velie made his suggestion. Her face became like chalk. The husband, on the other hand, seemed to grow a couple of feet. He really sparked to the notion. Especially when he saw his wife’s reaction, when he saw the colour drain from her face and her expression turn lunatic. It was his wife’s stunned reaction that made him rise to Velie’s bait; not because he thought that much of it, but to punish his wife. Velie had never seen such venom in a smile of pleasure. Yes, Hoover did a great job on those two. Brought out their finest instincts.

When Velie sprang his gimmick on them, he never expected either of them to agree to it. He hardly expected himself to agree to it. It was pure hokum, the kind of horseshit Mack would fling and totally alien to his own nature. Yet this was the kind of arena he was in, the kind of game they were playing, and if they start throwing horseshit at you, you throw horseshit back. Sometimes it was the only way to deal with the Brice Macks - the horseshit throwers. Well, he knew his way around this sort of arena, too. He knew enough about horseshit to be able to throw it back at the best of them.

Scott Velie rose and walked to the window. The late-afternoon sky was blue for a change. Maybe the weather would hold out through the weekend. He had promised Ted and Virginia that he’d spend the weekend with them at their lodge in Pennsylvania and was looking forward to it. It would be good seeing them again, spending a few days with old friends. Since Harriet died, that’s all he had now, all he could depend on - the kindness of old friends.

When he saw the slim figure of Janice Temple ton descending the courthouse steps six stories below, Scott Velie knew why he had come to the window. He was curious to know if they would leave the building together. Seeing her now descending the steps alone and walking to the hack stand, the prosecutor began to wonder if perhaps he hadn’t been as much to blame for their breakup as Hoover.