Chapter 25 Fourteenth Scene

The short and silent old Judge Green, dressed in black, entered the court solemnly.As soon as the gavel was struck, there was a ceremonial call for silence, and the noisy voices in the courtroom suddenly ebbed, disappearing into the thick curtain behind the long corridor.The fifteenth day of DeWitt's trial for the alleged murder of Charles Wood began in earnest. The auditorium was full.In front of the judge's desk, on both sides of the court stenographer's position, there is a table on each side. On one side sit Attorney Bruno, Inspector Sam, and several assistants from the District Attorney's Office, and on the other side are Lyman, Dewey Te, Brooke, Shelton, and several law firm employees.

In the auditorium behind the railing, there were some familiar faces scattered among the heads of people. Ren was sitting in the corner near the jury seat, and next to him was the dwarf Old Quesy; at the other end was a group of people, including Aham, Jane DeWitt, Rhodes, Impoli, and DeWitt's old butler Jorkens; not far away are Qiao Li Brown in a dazzling black suit and Pluck with a melancholy expression; Collins bit his lip , sitting alone; Longstreet's secretary, Anna Platt; After the opening ceremony was completed, the defense lawyer Lehman, who seemed to be rejuvenated in an instant, stood up in high spirits, walked out from behind the defense stand, looked at the jury happily, grinned at Bruno, and then faced Judge Green and said loudly: "Your Honor , The first witness called by the defense is the defendant John DeWitt, please take the witness stand!"

Bruno stood up halfway from his chair, his eyes wide open; Sam shook his head inexplicably amidst the horrified hum of the courtroom.Bruno always had a confident expression on his face, but now he showed a hint of worry. He leaned over to Sam, covered his mouth with his hand and said in a low voice, "What kind of tricks is this kid Lyman playing? In the murder trial, the accused is going to be a witness." !It's not about taking DeWitt in our hands and killing us..." Sam shrugged and didn't answer. Bruno sat back in the chair and whispered to himself, "Well, something's wrong."

DeWitt took the oath routinely, recited the oath very calmly and rigorously, reported his name and address, then sat on the witness stand, folded his hands, and waited quietly. The entire courtroom immediately fell into a dead silence.DeWitt's frail body, especially his detached demeanor, seemed mysterious and unfathomable, and each of the jurors moved forward and leaned forward. Lyman asked lightly, "Please tell us your age?" "Fifty-one years old." "Profession?" "Securities dealer, I was the senior partner of DeWitt-Lonstra Securities until Lonestra's death."

"Mr. DeWitt, would you please tell the court and the jury what your personal whereabouts and what you did on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 19th, between the time you left the company and the time you went to Weehawken Wharf." DeWitt said in a chatty tone on weekdays, "At 5:30 p.m., I left the branch office in Times Square and took a bus to the Stock Exchange Club on Wall Street in the business district. I went to the gym first and planned to exercise before dinner. , maybe a few laps in the pool. But in the gym, I got cut on my right index finger by an exercise machine - a long, deep gash, and it bled immediately. I was treated by Dr. Morris at the club, who Stop the bleeding first, and sterilize the wound, and Morris will help me bandage, but I don't think it's necessary, but..."

"Please wait a moment, Mr. DeWitt," Lehman interrupted gently, "You said that you don't think the wound needs to be bandaged. The real reason is that you pay attention to your appearance, and..." Bruno stood up and protested that this question was suspected of inducing witnesses. Judge Green ruled that the protest was valid. Lehmann smiled indifferently and changed his words: "Well, you refused to bandage, but there are other reasons?" "Yes, I plan to spend most of the night at the club. Now that Dr. Morris has stopped the bleeding, I don't think there is any need to put on an ugly bandage, so as not to become a target. Everyone should greet me kindly when they meet What's wrong, I don't want to have to answer the same question over and over again all night."

Bruno stood up to protest again, yelling, yelling, yelling...Green told Bruno to be quiet and instructed Lyman to continue. "Mr. DeWitt, please go on." "Dr. Morris reminded me to be very careful. Using force or accidentally rubbing against it will cause the wound to rupture and bleed again. I had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​swimming. It was very inconvenient to put on my clothes and went to the club with my friend Ahan. In the restaurant, Aham and I had made an appointment to have dinner together. After dinner, we stayed in the club with some of my acquaintances in the business field. They invited me to play bridge, but I had to decline them because of my hand injury. I left the club at 10:10 and took a taxi to the pier terminal at the bottom of Forty-second Street..."

Bruno stood up again, angrily and loudly protested that the testimony was "inappropriate, irrelevant, and unimportant" and demanded that it be expunged from the record. Lyman said: "Your Honor, these testimony of the defendant are very appropriate, very important, and of great importance to the defense's defense that the defendant was not involved in the murder. Please be aware of it, Your Honor." Green called the two people forward, and after a few minutes of discussion, Green decided to dismiss the protest and asked Lehman to continue, but Lehman turned to Bruno and said kindly, "Mr. Bruno, it's your turn to ask."

Bruno hesitated for a while, frowning, and then stood up, and then launched a violent attack on DeWitt. For fifteen minutes, the entire courtroom seemed to be in a storm. Bruno threatened and threatened DeWitt's answer. Like a cat teasing a mouse, trying to implicate DeWitt in the Longstreet murder, Lyman protested repeatedly, unceremoniously, all of which were accepted by Judge Green.Finally, under Green's severe reprimand, Bruno waved his hand and sat down resentfully, with his hands resting on his forehead as if frustrated. DeWitt stepped off the witness stand, paler still, and sat back in his defendant's seat.

"The second witness called by the defense is," Lyman announced loudly, "Franklin Ahan." DeWitt's close friend stood up from the public gallery with a dazed expression on his face, walked down the steps, and entered the witness stand through the entrance.He took the oath, giving his full name, Benjamin Franklin Ahan, and his address in West Cove.Lehman put his hands in his pockets and said easily, "Mr. Ahan, which line do you work in?" "I'm a retired engineer." "Do you know the defendant?" Ahan glanced at DeWitt and said with a smile, "Yes, he has been my neighbor and my best friend for six years."

Lehman said directly: "Please just answer my question...Okay, Mr. Ahan, tell us, did you meet the defendant at the Securities Exchange Club on Tuesday night, September 19?" "Yes, what Mr. DeWitt just said is true." Lyman reminded him again: "Please only answer questions." Bruno gripped the arm of the chair, pursed his lips, regained his composure, and stared at Ahan's face as if he had never seen this person before. "Yes, I met Mr. DeWitt at the Stock Exchange Club that night." "When you met that night, what time? Where was it?" "We met in the lounge of the restaurant at a little before 7 and had dinner together immediately." "Were you with the accused until 10:10?" "yes." "Did the defendant leave the club at 10:10, as he claimed?" "yes." "Mr. Aham, since you are Mr. DeWitt's best friend, do you think he is a person who pays attention to his appearance?" "I think -- I'm pretty sure -- he's very conscious of his appearance." "Then do you think that his refusal to bandage his fingers is in line with his usual personality style?" Aham replied without hesitation, "Exactly!" Bruno protested the question and answer, Green accepted, and both were expunged from the record. "Did you notice Mr. DeWitt hurt his hand at dinner that night?" "Yes, and I found out before we even entered the restaurant. I asked him what was going on, and Mr. DeWitt told me about the incident at the gym and showed me the broken finger." "You noticed the injured finger and looked at the wound carefully. Please describe the condition of the wound." "The flesh and skin of the wound was completely opened up. It was very scary. It was an inch long from the front, and half an inch was split to the back of the finger. The bleeding had stopped at that time, and the dried blood had clotted on the wound." "Mr. Aham, what happened to these wounds during or after your meal?" Ahan calmed down and thought, touched his chin, and looked up at the ceiling again: "What I saw was that Mr. DeWitt was careful not to use his right hand all night, and he only used his left hand when eating. His meat is the restaurant The waiter cut it for him." "Mr. Bruno, the witness is handed over to you." Bruno strode back and forth in front of the witness stand while Aham waited quietly. With hostility in his eyes, Bruno asked Ahan straight to the point: "Mr. Ahan, just now you claimed to be the defendant's best friend. As his best friend, you wouldn't give false testimony for your good friend, would you, Mr. Ahan? " Lyman smiled and stood up to protest, and some members of the jury burst out laughing, and Judge Green accepted the protest. Bruno glanced at the jury, saying: "Okay, you all know the relationship between these two people." Then he turned to Ahan decisively, "Did you know that after the defendant broke up with you at 10:10 that night, Where did you go?" "do not know." "Why didn't you leave with the defendant?" "Mr. DeWitt says he has another appointment." "With whom?" "He didn't say, of course, I didn't ask." "What did you do after the defendant left the club?" Lehman stood up and protested again with a smile. Judge Green once again ruled that the protest was valid. Bruno ended the questioning angrily and asked the witness to leave. Layman stepped forward confidently: "The next witness to be summoned is," Layman looked at the prosecutors and deliberately elongated his voice, "Inspector Sam!" Sam froze on the spot like a kid who was caught stealing an apple and did something wrong. He glanced at Bruno, who just shook his head speechlessly.Sam stood up hesitantly, kept his eyes on Lyman, and finally took the oath, sat down on the chair on the witness stand with a bang, and waited provocatively for the defense lawyer to speak. Lyman, on the other hand, looked smug. He looked at the jury in a friendly manner, as if to say, "Look! I even dared to call the great Inspector Sam as a witness." Then he shook his hand half-jokingly at Sam. Finger, which means to be calm and calm. "Inspector Sam, were you on board the Mohawk when Charles Wood was found murdered?" "I'm there!" "Where were you when the body was picked up from the river?" "On the top passenger deck, on the north side of the ship, near the railing." "are you alone?" "No!" Sam denied loudly, then shut his mouth tightly. "Who else is around?" "The defendant and a Mr. Jerry Lane, and some of my men were also on deck, but the only ones leaning against the rail with me were DeWitt and Lane." "At the time, did you notice that Mr. DeWitt hurt his finger?" "That's right!" "How did you notice it?" "He was leaning forward against the railing, his right hand was raised unnaturally high, and his elbow was against the railing. I asked him what was going on, and he told me he accidentally injured it at the club that night." "Have you seen the wound up close?" "I don't understand what you mean—close range? What's close range? I see—that's all I can tell you." "Okay, inspector, you don't need to be angry. Please describe the wound you saw at that time, how did it look?" Sam looked at Bruno with some embarrassment, but Bruno only had a pair of ears on alert, and his face was buried in his palms. Sam shrugged helplessly and said, "The injured finger is a bit swollen, and the wound is the kind of scarred skin. But the dried blood scab covered the entire wound." "Inspector, you mean the whole wound, don't you? The whole wound is congealed, not here and there bleeding out?" A trace of suspicion flitted across Sam's tough face, and at this moment, the hostility in his voice also disappeared: "Yes, and the blood looks hard after congealing." "Inspector, according to your description, it means that the wound is healing well, right?" "yes." "So, what you see isn't a new wound, is it? In other words, the wound you see at the railing isn't just cut, is it?" "I don't understand what you mean by asking that. I'm not a doctor." Lyman pulled up the upper corner of his mouth and smiled: "Very good, inspector, let me ask in another way. Did you see a new wound? A freshly cut wound?" Sam said gruffly, "You're so stupid to ask, how can there be dried blood scabs on the new wound?" Lyman smiled with satisfaction: "That's right, that's right, Inspector... Then, Inspector Sam, please tell the court and the jury what happened after you saw DeWitt's hand injury thing." "At this time the body was salvaged, we rushed down the stairs and went to the lower deck." "And what happened to DeWitt's wound when you went down?" Sam said with a straight face: "The defendant walked in front. When he reached out to grab the doorknob to open the door for me and Mr. Wren, he suddenly cried out. I saw that the wound on his finger was open and bleeding again." Lyman stepped forward, patted Sam's strong knee lightly, and said word by word: "The scar is open, and the wound is bleeding again, is it because the defendant accidentally grabbed the doorknob? " Sam hesitated, and Bruno shook his head in despair, his eyes very sad. Sam reluctantly whispered, "Yes." Lyman quickly interjected: "After the wound started to bleed again, did you take a closer look?" "Yes, DeWitt pressed his injured finger for a while before taking the handkerchief. We saw that his bloody scar was split in several places, and blood seeped from those openings. Then, he used the handkerchief. Wrap up the wound and let's continue down the stairs." "Inspector, will you testify on oath that the bleeding wound you saw by the door is the same wound you saw a little while ago by the railing on the top deck?" Sam agreed without resistance. "Yeah, the same one." And Lehman still asked unrelentingly: "Aren't there any new wounds or even new abrasions?" "No!" "Inspector, I'm all right, Monsieur Bruno, the witness is in your hands." While speaking, he gave the jury a meaningful smile before returning to his seat.Bruno shook his head impatiently, saying it was all right, and Sam got off the witness stand.His expression was extremely complicated - angry, surprised, and also contained some kind of understanding. As Lyman strode forward again to call witnesses, the crowd in the spectators leaned forward nervously, and there was a buzz of whispering.The journalists present were scribbling, the bailiffs were screaming for silence, and Bruno was looking around the courtroom, as if trying to find someone. Lyman, calm and confident, called Dr. Morris to the witness stand.The doctor of the Stock Exchange Club, a middle-aged man with the face of an ascetic monk, took his seat slowly, took the oath, and gave his full name and address, Hof Morris, before he sat down as a witness. on the chair. "Are you a doctor?" "yes." "Where do you work?" "I am a full-time doctor at the Securities Exchange Club, and I also work part-time at Bailiyou Hospital." "Doctor, how long have you been a licensed medical practitioner?" "It has been twenty-one years since I got my medical license in this state." "Do you know the defendant?" "Yes, I've known him for ten years, when he first joined the club as a member." "I believe you have also heard the statements of other witnesses just now, concerning the circumstance that Mr. DeWitt cut his finger in the gymnasium of the Stock Exchange Club on the night of September 11. Based on your position and professional knowledge as the club's doctor, do you Agree, stop here, every detail of these testimony?" "I agree." "After the defendant refused to bandage, why did you remind him to be careful about the wound on his finger?" "Because the wound has just healed, any momentary bending of the index finger will cause the wound to burst, especially the wound runs through the upper two joints of the index finger, and it is not easy to keep still. For example, on Tuesday night, you just need to be normal If you curl up your hands, you may pull the affected part and split the scar that has just formed." "So, based on the doctor's expertise, you're suggesting that the wound should be bandaged?" "Yes, and that part is easy to come into contact with other objects. Bandaging it up, even if the wound opens again, at least it can prevent bacteria from invading and infecting." "Very good, Dr. Morris," Lehman said quickly, "Now, you have also listened to the testimony of the previous witnesses, describing the condition of the affected area and scars on the railing of the ship. If the situation is like that of Inspector Sam As I said at the time, is it possible that this wound will open again? The time is, we estimated it this way, just fifteen minutes before what Inspector Sam saw, Dr. Morris, your professional opinion is that Impossible?" "You're saying that within fifteen minutes before Inspector Sam saw it, the wound opened again, and within fifteen minutes it was back to what Inspector Sam saw and described? ?” "yes." The doctor said flatly: "It is absolutely impossible." "why?" "Even if it opened again an hour ago, it still can't return to the state described by Inspector Sam—it's criss-crossed, without any gaps, and the whole wound is in one piece, and it's dry and hard. impossible." "That is to say, from the testimony of Inspector Sam just now, your opinion is that from the time you treated the wound at the club to the time when the defendant accidentally scratched the door on the ferry later, the wound was not serious. Could it have been broken?" Bruno protested violently at the moment, and at the same time, Dr. Morris replied without any room for discussion: "Yes." Discussions in the courtroom followed.Lehman looked at the jury with a deep meaning, and found that all the jurors were also eager to whisper to each other, and Lehman smiled very complacently. "Doctor Morris, let me ask you again, is it possible that the condition of the scar that Inspector Sam saw as he leaned over the deck railing, just a few minutes before, the accused had seized and lifted a two-hundred-pound object, and push it over the railing, or even throw it over the railing, and throw it into the river two and a half feet away, without opening the wound? Is it possible?" Bruno jumped up again, out of breath and sweating. He used the limit of his lung capacity to protest, but was dismissed by Judge Green. Green ruled that such a professional opinion was of great importance to the defense of the defendant. Dr. Morris said: "No way, no way he could have done what you said and kept the wound intact." A triumphant smile appeared on Lehman's face, and Lehman said, "Mr. Bruno, it's time for you to conduct cross-examination." The courtroom became commotion again, Bruno bit his lower lip, and looked coldly at the doctor on the witness stand.Then he paced back and forth in front of the witness stand like a caged animal. "Dr. Morris!" Judge Green slammed the gavel to silence the court, and Bruno stopped, and waited until the surroundings were quiet before saying, "Dr. Morris, under oath, you just borrowed your professional Knowledge and experience prove that if the defendant's wounds were as described by a previous witness, it is impossible for the defendant to use his right hand to throw a two-hundred-pound object over the railing without tearing the wound..." Lyman stood up unhurriedly, "Protest, Your Honor, the prosecution's question is different from the witness's affirmative question just now. The defense's question just now is that in addition to the railing, it also includes the railing that extends two and a half feet away from the railing." the top deck of the Mohawk." "Mr. Prosecutor, please correct your question," said Judge Green. Bruno had to follow suit. Dr. Morris replied calmly: "Yes, my answer is 'impossible', and I guarantee it on my reputation." Lyman, who had already sat back in the defense bench, whispered to Brook, "Poor old Bruno, I've never seen him in such a mess. You can imagine what kind of impression he will make on the jury if this continues!" But Bruno didn't get entangled in this quagmire, he changed his words and asked, "Doctor, which hand are you referring to by tearing the wound?" "Of course it's the hand with the broken finger, the right hand." "But if the defendant was doing these things with his left hand, would the wound on his right hand open?" "Of course not. If he didn't use his right hand, he wouldn't be able to tear the wound open." Bruno took a deep look at the jury, as if to say, "That's the end of it, you've all heard it, the chattering in front of me is meaningless at all, don't worry about it, DeWitt can do it with his left hand. These things." Bruno returned to his seat with a rather ambiguous smile.Dr. Morris was also about to step back from the witness stand, but Lyman asked to question the witnesses again, so the doctor sat down again, his eyes flashing with amusement. "Doctor Morris, you just heard that the prosecutor suggested that the defendant used his left hand to dispose of the victim's body. Based on your professional opinion, is it possible for the defendant to use only his left hand while his right hand is injured and unable to move freely? Pick up Charles Wood's unconscious two-hundred-pound body, push or throw it over the railing, and let it fall two and a half feet into the river?" "impossible." "why?" "I have known the defendant for many years as a medical practitioner, and I am well aware that he is a right-handed man. Such a man usually has very limited strength in the left hand; Mr. DeWitt is a very small man, weighing only one hundred and fifteen pounds. That's all; physically, he's very weak. From the fact that, my opinion is that a man who weighs a hundred and fifteen pounds uses only one hand, and the less powerful left hand, like It is impossible to dispose of a body weighing two hundred pounds in the way you describe." There was an uproar in the courtroom. Several reporters rushed out of the courtroom even for a moment, and several jurors in the jury kept nodding their heads and exchanging opinions excitedly.Bruno stood on tiptoe, his face turned purple, and shouted with all his might, but no one paid attention to him, and the bailiffs at the scene even shouted for silence.When the chaos finally calmed down, Bruno asked the judge to adjourn the court for two hours in a hoarse voice so that he could check for a more reliable medical opinion. Judge Green put on a serious face: "If there is another noisy scene similar to indiscipline in future trials, I will immediately order the venue to be cleared and the courtroom to be closed. Do you hear me! The prosecution's proposal is approved by this court, and the court will be adjourned immediately until today." Court resumes sharply at two o'clock in the afternoon." When the gavel was knocked, everyone stood up and waited patiently until the old Judge Green's sleeves fluttered out of the door. Then the whole courtroom exploded with a loud bang. Members withdrew.The calm look on DeWitt's face had disappeared at this moment, and he slumped on the chair, his face pale, as if he was suddenly relieved after trekking through thousands of mountains and rivers, while Brook excitedly held Lehman's hands: "Old Buddha Ryder, this is the best defense I've seen in years." It was Bruno and Sam who seemed to be in the eye of the typhoon. They sat blankly on the plaintiff's seat, staring at each other and laughing at each other.Journalists surrounded the dock, and a bailiff struggled to get DeWitt out of the crowd. Sam leaned forward. "Bruno," he muttered sullenly, "well, you stink, old boy, you stink." "We stink, Sam, we are the ones who stink," Bruno said bitterly, "We become a laughing stock, you fifty steps and I fifty steps each half, after all, you are responsible for collecting the evidence, I'm just in charge of the show." .” "Well, I can't deny that," said Sam reluctantly. "Now, the two of us are two of the most wonderful idiots in all of New York," Bruno put the documents into the suitcase, and couldn't help but complain, "For such a long time, with all the facts in front of your eyes, how could you Can't even see such an obvious fact, really!" "Good scolding, I admit it," Sam said in a low voice, "I'm as stupid as my grandma's house, it's absolutely true, but after all," he fainted, "didn't you see the deer with your own eyes that night?" Does Witt have a handkerchief around his fingers, but you don't even ask." Bruno suddenly dropped the suitcase, and a look of sudden realization appeared on his face: "This shameless Lehman is so majestic, damn it, it's really hateful, he has the nerve to brag about it, things are obviously like your ugly It's as if your nose is on your ugly face..." "That's right," Sam also thought, "Of course, that's Rain, that old vulture!" Sam's accusation suddenly softened, "It's really clear that we are playing with us, but seriously , which we suspect he deserves." The two of them just slumped on their chairs, looking around the empty courtroom, and Ryan was gone. "Gone," said Bruno gloomily, "I think he was just sitting there...yes, you're right, we really asked for it, and he warned us from the start, "said Here Bruno was startled suddenly, "But think about it," Bruno complained again, "Later he fully agreed with us to arrest DeWitt, didn't he know the outcome of the trial from beginning to end, I really don't understand why... " "Not only you don't understand, but I also don't understand." "I wonder why he would risk DeWitt's life like that." "It's not that dangerous," said Sam dryly. "This trial is no risk to him at all, and he knows he can get DeWitt out of the way, so let me tell you something." Sam stood up, stretched out a big hand, and shook his body like a big fluffy dog, "Old friend, from now on, poor little Sam will be very good at listening to Grandpa Ryan! Especially when he is involved in the investigation About the mysterious Mr. X."