The 6th Target - James Patterson [66]
“We’ll see. I don’t know yet if we need to put you on the stand.”
Mickey’s assistant passed him a note saying that his witnesses were all accounted for. Then the bailiff called out, “All rise,” and the judge entered the courtroom through the door behind the bench. The jurors filed in and were seated.
It was day four of Alfred Brinkley’s trial, and court was in session.
“Mr. Sherman,” Judge Moore said, “are you ready with your first witness?”
“The defense calls Mr. Isaac Quintana.”
Quintana was wearing several layers of odd clothing, but his eyes were clear, and he smiled as he took the stand.
“Mr. Quintana,” Sherman began.
“Call me Ike,” the witness said. “Everyone does.”
“I’ll call you Ike, then,” Mickey said good-naturedly. “How do you know Mr. Brinkley?”
“We were at Napa State together.”
“That’s not a college, is it?” Sherman said, smiling at his witness, jingling the coins in his pocket.
“Naw, it’s a nuthouse,” Ike said, grinning.
“It’s a state mental institution, isn’t that right?”
“Sure.”
“Do you know why Fred was at Napa State?”
“Sure. He was depressed. Wouldn’t eat. Wouldn’t get out of bed. Had very bad dreams. His sister had died, you know, and when he checked into Napa, it was because he didn’t want to live.”
“Ike, how did you know that Fred was depressed and suicidal?”
“He told me. And I knew he was on antidepressants.”
“And how long did you know Fred?”
“For about two years.”
“Did you get along with him pretty well?”
“Oh, sure. He was a very sweet guy. That’s why I know he didn’t mean to kill those people on the ferry —”
“Objection! Your Honor, unresponsive,” Yuki barked. “I move that the witness’s last statement be stricken from the record.”
“Sustained. So ordered.”
“Ike,” Sherman asked reassuringly, “was Fred Brinkley ever violent when you knew him?”
“Gosh, no. Who told you that? He was very laid-back. Drugs’ll do that to a person. Take a pill and you’re not really crazy anymore.”
Chapter 92
YUKI STOOD UP FROM THE PROSECUTION TABLE and smoothed out the creases in her pin-striped skirt, thinking that Quintana was like a Muppet, with his wacky smile and outfit that made him appear to be wearing an entire tag sale.
It all seemed to work for him. The jurors were smiling, loving him, loving Brinkley by association.
She said, “Mr. Quintana, why were you at Napa State?”
“I have OCD. It’s not dangerous or anything. It just takes up all my time, ’cause I’m always collecting things and checking all the time —”
“Thank you, Mr. Quintana. And are you also a psychiatrist?”
“No. But I know a few, that’s for sure.”
Yuki smiled as the jury tittered. It would be tricky to dismantle Quintana’s testimony without turning the jury against her.
“What kind of work do you do, Mr. Quintana?”
“I’m a dishwasher at the Jade Café on Bryant. If you want clean, you can’t do better than having someone with OCD doing the dishes.”
“I see your point,” Yuki said as laughter rolled up from the gallery. “Do you have any medical training?”
“No.”
“And apart from today, when did you last see Mr. Brinkley?”
“About fifteen years ago. He was checked out of Napa, like, in 1988 or so.”
“You’ve had no contact with him between now and then?”
“No.”
“So you wouldn’t know if he’s had two lobotomies and a heart transplant since you saw him last?”
“Ha-ha, that’s funny. Um, is that true?”
“My point, Mr. Quintana, is that the sixteen-year-old you called ‘a very sweet guy’ may have changed. Are you the same person you were fifteen years ago?”
“Well, I have a lot more stuff.”
Guffaws sprang up from the gallery; even the jurors were chortling. Yuki smiled to show she didn’t, God forbid, lack a sense of humor.
When quiet resumed, she said, “Ike, when you said that Mr. Brinkley was crazy, that was your opinion as a friend, wasn’t it? You weren’t trying to say that he met the legal definition of insanity? That he didn’t know right from wrong?”
“No. I don’t know anything about that.”
“Thank you, Mr. Quintana. I have no further questions.”
Chapter 93
SHERMAN’S NEXT WITNESS, Dr. Sandy Friedman, walked up