Jake
My parents are sitting right behind me. So are Em, her mom, and Shay. Every time I turn around, they all smile at me reassuringly, but behind the smiles I see the anxiety they’re struggling to hide. Em squeezes my shoulder.
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Rob and Reid Walsh. Rob looks my way and shoots me a victorious smile like he already knows I’m going down. Reid doesn’t make eye contact at all.
The doctors signed me off as I’m almost fully mended. I’m even back on the ice, though not playing hockey yet, as Sarge is paranoid and thinks I’m made of glass. I try not to think about that, though—about hockey or college or anything—because after today it might all be taken away from me.
The judge clears his throat and shuffles his papers.
Mrs. Donovan grimaced when she saw which judge we’d pulled. Judge Penrose is a close friend of Chief Walsh. I’ve been told this isn’t “the best news.” Basically, Mrs. Donovan is trying to warn me that I’m doomed and wants to prepare me for the worst, which will likely be a jail term as they’re pushing for an aggravated assault charge.
Beneath the starched collar of my shirt, I can feel the sweat start to prickle. I tug at my tie, which is trying to strangle me.
“The prosecution would like to call Robert Walsh to the stand.”
I grip hold of the defense table and watch as Rob crosses to the witness box.
He sits down, darting a glance in Em’s direction and giving her a smug smile. Tension ripples like a tidal wave through the courtroom. Even the incessant scratching of Jo Furness’s pen ceases.
Rob puts his hand on the Bible and swears to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I suppress the snort. The guy wouldn’t know truth if it sucker punched him in the face.
Em told me how Rob blackmailed her to break up with me. My first reaction was that I wanted to kill him. But I’m working on my anger issues, particularly where they concern the Walsh brothers. My mom thinks it all boils down to my fourteen-year-old self’s rage at what happened to Em and frustration at not being able to defend her.
Mrs. Donovan stands up and walks toward the witness box. He runs Rob through a series of questions about the lead-up to the fight. Rob answers politely, doing his best to appear like the wounded victim who did nothing to incite violence against him.
“And then he just walked over and punched me in the face.”
“And you had done nothing to provoke the attack?” the lawyer presses.
Rob looks directly at me. “No,” he says. “Nothing. He’s just a total psycho.”
There’s a collective intake of breath. Every eye in the courtroom turns on me. I’m fried beneath the judge’s eagle gaze.
“You neither said nor did anything to cause the accused to lash out and hit you?” the prosecutor asks.
Rob shakes his head vehemently. “No. I was just sitting there, minding my own business. And then he hit my brother, Reid, and knocked him out.”
“Objection!” my lawyer shouts, leaping her feet.
I want to leap to my feet too and yell at Rob for being a perjuring asshole, but Em puts her hand on my shoulder and squeezes, reminding me to stay calm. The judge stares at me over the rim of his glasses. He scribbles something on a piece of paper. I’ve lost. I know it. Everyone believes Rob. I won’t let Em take the stand in my defense because Shay’s mom told me that they’ll bring up what happened to her with my uncle and use it to discredit her as a witness. I’d rather go to jail. My mom has taken my uncle’s suicide note to the cops, and the truth is finally out, which has made a huge difference to Em—I can see it in the new way she holds herself—head high—but I can’t risk undoing the gains by having her credibility questioned in front of the entire town again by an antagonistic lawyer.
This is it, though. Any hope I had of winning this flies out the window. I’m going to have to come to terms with the fact I won’t ever have a career as a professional hockey player, and how will I get a job or finish my degree with a criminal record?
Aware that there’s a commotion going on behind me, I turn to look.
Reid is on his feet. Em is staring at him wide-eyed, mouth open, as are all the people around him.
The judge bangs his gavel down hard. “Order. Order. Please take a seat until you are called to the stand.”
Reid doesn’t sit back down. He glances at Em and then across at his brother. “It didn’t happen like he’s saying.”
“Excuse me?” the judge barks.
Reid’s face reddens. “Um . . .” He looks at the judge, then at Em again. “It didn’t happen like he says it did.” He jerks his head at his brother, Rob.
I lean forward in my seat, hearing Em gasp behind me. The courtroom starts to buzz as if a hornet’s nest has been kicked.
Reid lifts his arm and points at Rob. “He’s lying.”
There’s a mass intake of air. People start to whisper, and the whispers grow quickly deafening. The judge slams his gavel down on the block and roars for silence. The whispers recede.
“Go on, Mr Walsh,” the judge orders Rob.
Reid takes a deep breath. “Jake didn’t threaten to kill him. And he was provoked. The truth is Rob deserved that punch.” He looks at Em, then at the judge. “And I tripped and hit my head on the table. He didn’t lay a finger on me. It was an accident.”
The judge swivels to Rob. “You understand you are under oath, Mr. Walsh? And that the statement you gave to police was also given under oath?”
Rob nods, shooting his brother a death stare that makes him flinch.
“And you understand that by lying under oath you are guilty of perjury, which carries a prison sentence?”
Rob starts to stammer and looks to his lawyer. Reid’s father is conferring in a panic with him.
“We move to dismiss the case!” my lawyer shouts over the noise.
The judge calls for order again, slamming his gavel down repeatedly until a shocked silence falls.
“In the light of this new witness statement,” the judge growls, “I am dismissing this case. If the prosecution wishes to lodge an appeal, I suggest they think twice. I will be asking the district attorney to open up a separate case investigating Mr. Reid for perjury and contempt of court. The witness is to pay all the defendant’s costs.”
And with that, he sweeps from the room.
Rob stays sitting in the witness box like a rabbit in a lab who can see the scientist coming toward him with a gigantic needle. His eyes skitter among us all in terror.
The courtroom is a chaos of noise and movement. I turn around, dazed. Em is already on her feet. She’s grinning at me. I pick her up and lift her over the barrier, ignoring my mom’s pleas for me to watch my back. Em wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me. I kiss her right back, hugging her tight. I was worried that I’d kissed her for the last time, so I make the most of the opportunity.
Over Em’s shoulder, I catch sight of Rob Walsh’s father angrily confronting him and Reid darting for the door. He looks back briefly and catches my eye. I nod at him. He nods back, then disappears.
Em wraps her arms around my neck and I kiss her again. I kiss her so hard that everyone around us cheers, and when Jo Furness sticks a camera in our faces, I don’t even notice.