“But Your Honor—”
“I won’t tell you again.”
Pretty sure I was giving her a deadly look. Because she sat, and didn’t say another word. When the DA tried to whisper in her ear, she pushed him away.
The girl from the AG’s office had some sense. I was glad to see that. I turned back to Nova. “You want some more of that water, Nova? Or something to eat? Sometimes people forget to eat when they come to court.”
The wicker basket sat on the bench. I picked it up and showed it to her. “How about a piece of candy? You like peppermint? How about an Atomic Fireball?”
She peered in the basket before she sat back, shaking her head. “No, thank you, ma’am. I’m not supposed to eat candy. I’m the biggest girl in school. At the hospital, that’s why they say I got pregnant at thirteen.”
That made my eyes sting. I looked straight at her.
I said, “I was the biggest girl in school—bigger than most of the boys. So I got my period in fifth grade, before anybody. When that happened, I was scared to death. Afraid I’d start it in themiddle of the school day. I used to lay awake at night, worrying about it.”
Nova lost that guarded expression. “I worry about that, the same thing.”
“That right? I think we’re alike in lots of ways.”
She appeared to be considering it as she took another pull on the water bottle.
I took a peppermint out of the basket. As I unwrapped it, I said, “This is a criminal case, Miss Nova. It’s important to remember that in criminal cases, the prosecution, Mr. Reeves and Ms. Lindquist—they’re trying to put Dr. Gaines in prison. They have accused her of breaking the law. When a person’s liberty, their freedom, is at stake, that’s very, very important. So it’s crucial that every witness tell the truth. The whole truth, while they’re in that chair you’re sitting in right now.”
Nova clutched the water bottle so tightly, I could hear the crackle of plastic. “I swore the oath. I’m trying to do that. Trying my best. To tell the truth.”
“The whole truth,” I said.
She swallowed; I saw the movement in her neck. “The whole truth. Yes, ma’am, Judge Mary.”
“All right, then. You ready?”
She closed her eyes, just for a moment. Opened them and looked up at me.
“Ready,” she said.
“Nova, who was the boy you had sex with that night?”
I could see her starting to seize up again. Reeves looked like he was about to raise another objection. I shut him down with a look.
Nova lowered her eyes. She dabbed her nose with a tissue. She stared up at me with desperation and pain written all over her face.
I could tell she was working up to something. Something painful.
“It wasn’t one boy,” she said. “It was two.”
Lindquist jumped up. “Your Honor!”
I rapped my gavel. “Sit!”
Then I leaned over toward Nova. “Don’t be afraid. Nobody here is going to hurt you. Just tell us what happened. Everything you can remember.”
I could see that she was terrified. She took another drink from her water bottle, then put it down in her lap. “It was two boys. Two white boys. Back in the weeds behind the old gas station. I didn’t know ’em. Either of ’em. But they knew me. Called me by my name.”
Her voice was trembling, but her words were clear.
“They pushed me down and held me, and then they did it, one after the other. When they were finished, they said I should shut up and don’t say anything about it ’cause something might happen to my brothers or sisters, and they knew all of their names, too. They told me they were Klan. That one boy, the big one, show me aKmark on his arm, like he was proud of it. And then they run off.”
I looked down at the prosecution table and just held up my hand. I didn’t want to hear a word from anybody but Nova Jones. Her chin was dipped down to her chest.
