2 Brooklyn James Read Free Page B

respond. Not even a physical gesture.
    Brianna points to the first picture in succession. “How about this man? Look familiar, Mr. Briggs?”
    He refuses to make eye contact with the picture, fully aware of his presence in the montage.
    She gathers the pictures, showing them to the jury. “As you can see, this is Mr. Briggs holding open a car door for one Vincent Gambini,” she directs, displaying the first picture. Thumbing through to the next, she holds it up. “From the local casino, owned by the Gambinis. You’ll notice, the man to the right of Vincent Gambini,” she points him out, his arms crossed one over the other, much the same as he is posturing in the witness chair. “Manuel Briggs.” She holds up the last picture. “And again, seen here making a delivery to the Gambini residence.” The image displaying an exchange between Manny Briggs and Vinny Gambini. Brianna circles to the judge’s bench, submitting the Polaroids as evidence before returning to her post in front of the witness chair. “For a man who says he does not work for Vincent Gambini, you spend an awful lot of time with him, Mr. Briggs.”
    “So, anyone you spend time with, you work for?” he asks sarcastically.
    “You’re a family friend?” she fires back.
    He grins. “An acquaintance. I don’t consider an acquaintance a friend.”
    “Apparently you don’t consider holding a woman down against her will and forcing yourself upon her rape, either,” Brianna barks, tiring of his antics.
    “Objection,” the defense calls. “Counsel’s interrogating the witness.”
    “Sustained,” the judge confirms.
    “You deny any affiliation with the Gambinis, even though there are pictures placing you in their company. You, and your partner,” she flings her arm in his direction sitting beside counsel at the defense table, “deny raping three women who have positively identified both of you as their assailants.” She pauses, eyeballing the spider web tattoo on his neck. “That fine piece of artwork you have displayed on your neck…keenly identified by all three women you are accused of raping…do you also deny its presence?”
    “I’m not the only guy in New Orleans with a spider web tattoo on his neck,” he dismisses.
    “Why a spider web?” she asks, receiving a befuddled glance from the judge, who lets the question slide.
    “You prefer a sweet little kitty cat?” Manny responds acrimoniously.
    “‘Sweet little kitty cat,’” she chuckles cheekily. “No, I was hoping for a more profound explanation: you feel trapped, consider yourself sly as a spider, or maybe every ring in the web signifies the number of years you have been incarcerated.”
    “Tattoos have come a long way. They’re not just for gang members or prisoners anymore.” He grins smugly. “You have any tats, lawyer lady?”
    “Mr. Briggs,” the judge begins.
    Brianna holds a conciliatory hand up to the judge, who gives her a nod, refraining from reprimanding the witness. “What’s that saying?” she taps her chin. “‘Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when…’” She paces in a circle in front of Manny as if deep in thought.
    “‘When first we practice to deceive,’” he finishes her quote in his most mundane tone.
    “Ah, yes…‘when first we practice to deceive.’ You wouldn’t practice to deceive would you, Mr. Briggs? A smart man like you. Surely you know the truth always comes to the surface.”
    “I got nothing to be deceptive about. It’s their word against ours.” His permanent smirk resurfacing. “You got nothing on me.”
    She nods her head firmly one time, her eyebrow arched, lips pressed tightly together in preparation to put this case to bed. “What if it wasn’t simply your word against theirs? We’ve heard testimony of the three women you and your partner raped, separately, on three different occasions. We’ve heard your partner’s testimony. Now, we’re hearing yours. Seems to me we’re missing one.”
    He looks at