Judge & Jury - James Patterson [39]
There was a guard at the desk, checking monitors. Trevor nodded for him to take a break. “I’m okay with Agent Pellisante here. Get some coffee.”
“It’s official business,” I told Trevor. We walked some more, then stopped at the end of the corridor. Cavello’s cell was cordoned off, at the very end of the long wing.
“You’re sure you want to do this?” Ellis looked at me.
Nineteen people had died this afternoon. Seventeen jurors. My jurors. One victim was a kid on his tenth birthday. Some things you just have to do—regardless of the risk or the consequences.
“Official business,” I repeated.
“Yeah,” he said. “You give him some official business for me.”
Cavello’s electronic cell door clicked open.
He was lying on a cot with his knees drawn up and an arm crooked behind his head. His eyes widened when he saw who it was.
“Nicky,” he said, barely hiding that same mocking grin I had seen so often in the courtroom. “Jesus, I just heard. What a mess!” He slowly raised himself up off the cot. “I want to tell you how sorry I . . .”
I slugged him in the face, and he went down.
“Jeez, Nicky.” Cavello grunted, rubbing his jaw. He reached for the metal cot post and pulled himself back up, grinning. “Y’know, I heard of hung juries before, but this one takes on a whole new meaning.”
I hit him again. Harder. Cavello slammed back against the concrete wall. He still stared at me with a sort of laughing arrogance, an animal savagery behind his eyes. “Your fault, Nicky. What’d you expect? I was gonna roll over and die? You knew that. You know me, like nobody else does.” He wiped away a trickle of blood with the back of his hand.
I went over and yanked him off the floor by his collar. He was still wearing the same shirt he had on in the courtroom that day.
“You may think you’ve won, you piece of shit, but I’m gonna dedicate my life to you going down. Nineteen people died. One of them was a ten-year-old kid.”
“There was a kid on that bus?” Cavello said, showing mock surprise. “Jesus, Pellisante, you oughta know better than that.”
I punched him with everything I had. Cavello crashed into the cell wall again. I couldn’t control myself. I’d never hated one person so much.
I heard Trevor Ellis behind me. “Okay, Nick, that’s enough.”
I ignored him. I pulled Cavello up again and threw him to the other side of the cell. He went into a metal sink and fell to the floor. I went and pulled him up again. There was blood all over his shirt. “They were just doing their duty,” I screamed in his face.
“Go on,” Cavello mocked. “Hit me. It doesn’t hurt. But you got it wrong. I told you. No court can hold me. You say I’m going down.” He spat out a glob of blood. “Maybe. But it won’t be from you. You see those cameras up there? They got every second of this. You’re through. I won’t go down. But you will, Nicky Smiles.”
I hit him again, and Cavello spun backward against the concrete wall. Trevor Ellis and a cell-block guard rushed in behind me. One of them pinned my arms while the other got between me and Cavello. He struggled to his feet again. He was wobbly, holding his side.
“Look at you.” Cavello started to laugh. “You think you got me? You’re the one who’s through. You’re the one gonna be seeing that kid every day for the rest of your life. Me, I’ll sleep like a baby tonight.”
Trevor and the guard yanked me out of the cell, but Cavello called after me. His words and laughter echoed down the hall.
“Like a baby, Pellisante. You hear that? First day in a month, I don’t have to worry about a goddamn trial.”
Part Two
RETRIAL
Chapter 46
ELBOWS ON MY DESK, I looked out at the class of twenty-two astonishingly smug and overconfident first-year law students.
“Can anyone tell me why the law permits law enforcement agents to use deceit at the investigative stage, when they’re not even sure of a suspect’s guilt, but strictly forbids them from lying during the testimonial stage, when they’re absolutely sure the suspect is a criminal?”
Five months had passed. I had taken an extended leave from the Bureau, and I’d been