The Amber Room Read Free

that a hunter might give when his shot missed the mark.
    “What of my motion for mistrial?” Nettles asked.
    “Denied. Move on. Continue with your summation.”
     
    Rachel watched the jury foreman as he stood and pronounced a guilty verdict. Deliberations had taken only twenty minutes.
    “Your Honor,” Nettles said, coming to his feet. “I move for a presentence investigation prior to sentencing.”
    “Denied.”
    “I move that sentencing be delayed.”
    “Denied.”
    Nettles seemed to sense the mistake he’d made earlier. “I move for the court to recuse itself.”
    “On what grounds?”
    “Bias.”
    “To whom or what?”
    “To myself and my client.”
    “Explain.”
    “The court has shown prejudice.”
    “How?”
    “With that display this morning about my inadvertent use ofsir .”
    “As I recall, counselor, I admitted it was a trivial matter.”
    “Yes, you did. But our conversation occurred with the jury present, and the damage was done.”
    “I don’t recall an objection or a motion for mistrial concerning the conversation.”
    Nettles said nothing. She looked over at the assistant DA. “What’s the State’s position?”
    “The State opposes the motion. The court has been fair.”
    She almost smiled. At least the young lawyer knew the right answer.
    “Motion to recuse denied.” She stared at the defendant, a young white male with scraggly hair and a pockmarked face. “The defendant shall rise.” He did. “Barry King, you’ve been found guilty of the crime of aggravated assault. This court hereby remands you to the Department of Corrections for a period of twenty years. The bailiff will take the defendant into custody.”
    She rose and stepped toward an oak-paneled door that led to her chambers. “Mr. Nettles, could I see you a moment?” The assistant DA headed toward her, too. “Alone.”
    Nettles left his client, who was being cuffed, and followed her into the office.
    “Close the door, please.” She unzipped her robe but did not remove it. She stepped behind her desk. “Nice try, counselor.”
    “Which one?”
    “Earlier, when you thought that jab aboutsir andma’am would set me off. You were getting your butt chapped with that half-cocked defense, so you thought me losing my temper would get you a mistrial.”
    He shrugged. “You gotta do what you gotta do.”
    “What you have to do is show respect for the court and not call a female judgesir . Yet you kept on. Deliberately.”
    “You just sentenced my guy to twenty years without the benefit of a presentence hearing. If that isn’t prejudice, what is?”
    She sat down and did not offer the lawyer a seat. “I didn’t need a hearing. I sentenced King to aggravated battery two years ago. Six months in, six months’ probation. I remember. This time he took a baseball bat and fractured a man’s skull. He’s used up what little patience I have.”
    “You should have recused yourself. All that information clouded your judgment.”
    “Really? That presentence investigation you’re screaming for would have revealed all that, anyway. I simply saved you the trouble of waiting for the inevitable.”
    “You’re a fucking bitch.”
    “That’s going to cost you a hundred dollars. Payable now. Along with another hundred for the stunt in the courtroom.”
    “I’m entitled to a hearing before you find me in contempt.”
    “True. But you don’t want that. It’ll do nothing for that chauvinistic image you go out of your way to portray.”
    He said nothing, and she could feel the fire building. Nettles was a heavyset, jowled man with a reputation for tenacity, surely unaccustomed to taking orders from a woman.
    “And every time you show off that big ass of yours in my court, it’s going to cost you a hundred dollars.”
    He stepped toward the desk and withdrew a wad of money, peeling off two one-hundred-dollar bills, crisp new ones with the swollen Ben Franklin. He slapped both on the desk, then unfolded three more.
    “Fuck