False Witness by Dexter Dias Page B

past is a river—” He broke off and looked at the witness. She was gazing at the ceiling, her eyes quite pale. He continued,
     “A river of many streams… do you recognize that?”
    She said nothing. Her mouth was open, and I could see that half her teeth were rotten little stubs. But still she said nothing.
    Manly put down the paper and addressed me. “I really think that is as far as we can go.”
    I was about to agree with the judge when the girl began to speak, and her voice was different, somehow older.
    “When I met Molly we went to the woods,” she said. The strip lighting played on her horizontal face. “I says to Moll, we’re
     sure to get caught. I’d never done it… not like that before.”
    I didn’t know whether to get to my feet. Emma decided the issue by holding me down firmly by the wrist.
    “It’s so cold,” said the girl, reaching for the shawl that was no longer there. She wrapped her frail arms desperately around
     her chest. “The grass was so wet. There was twigs and acorns. On the ground, like. But Molly says, I will if you will.” She
     looked at the judge and her eyes bulged with fear. “It was
her
idea. I swears it. She told me to do it.”
    I could contain myself no longer. “She told you to do what?” Emma still held my sleeve so my shoulders sloped ludicrously.
    “She told me to take—”
    “Yes?”
    “To take off our—well, you knows.”
    I thought I did, and at that moment I imagined that I could actually feel the strange texture of muslin. “Was it just the
     two of you?” I asked.
    “At first it was.”
    “And then?”
    “Then there was more.”
    And now I knew I must press on. “Who else was there?”
    “Jesus, Tom,” called up Emma.
    The girl looked at the public gallery.
    “Who?” I asked.
    “I’m a good girl. I never meant no harm to no one.” She wiped her nose violently. “They said they’d pay us if we did it.”
    “Who else was there?” I asked.
    “When I met Molly, we went to the woods and—”
    “Who else?”
    “They didn’t give us no money. They’s just took Molly.”
    The strip light above her flickered and one bulb fizzled out.
    I said, “We must know—who else was there?” I blinked hard and wondered whether what I saw was a trick of the light.
    The noise the girl made started as a word and ended in the type of howl you hear when you want to wake up but cannot. “No…
     No-ooh,” she screamed again and again.
    There was now blood seeping from one of her nostrils.
    “
Lies
,” shouted Kingsley from the bowels of the court. “Lies, it’s all lies.”
    The girl was convulsing and that momentarily checked the sound. As Jenny Stone approached her, she lashed out again and again
     as though a bird of prey were swooping from the ceiling and tearing at her face.
    “No, Molly,” screamed the girl. “Don’t do it to me, Moll.”
    The lights were flickering more violently now.
    “Please, Molly. Leave me alone.” She tried to shield her face and then she imagined she was attacked from another direction.
    The faltering light in court was in perfect contrast to the steady darkness that emanated from the wretched girl.

C HAPTER F OURTEEN
    M ANLY SUMMONED US ALL TO HIS ROOM . I T WAS now approaching the end of the afternoon. When we finally settled down, there was an awkward silence. Emma sat next to me,
     Justine was behind Davenport, and the judge rocked back and forth in his red leather chair.
    “What news of the girl, Mr. Davenport?” he asked, rummaging around in his desk, trying not to seem overly concerned.
    The shorthand writer began to type away.
    Davenport replied, “It’s too early to say, Judge. The bleeding has stopped. The prognosis is good.”
    I gazed at the well-worn carpet which was deep scarlet and only reminded me of one thing. I waited to be blamed.
    “Please feel free to smoke, gentlemen,” said Manly. “That includes you, Miss Wright,” he said to Justine.
    Davenport vainly searched for a packet in