While George went to the bathroom, Holly made a performance of leafing through her court papers, but every now and then she glanced across at the two lawyers to try to work out what they were saying. She had often picked up compliments before, and sometimes she had picked up crude remarks about her figure, and once she had lip-read an assistant district attorney calling her "a goddamned nit-picking nuisance with an ego as big as her tits," but what did these two mean when they talked about "a challenge"? And what were "the old man's parties"?
The cookie-nibbling lawyer said emphatically, "I can ask. If not, -- will know who she is." He was swallowing at the time, and Holly couldn't quite catch the name.
"Yeah, you're right," agreed the other one. "He works with Children's Welfare, doesn't he?"
The cookie-nibbler nodded a few times and then started talking about his new Cadillac Escalade.
George came back, smelling of industrial soap. "Are you all right?" he asked her.
"Why? Why shouldn't I be?"
"You look like your cat just died."
"Do I? I don't have a cat." She tidied up her papers. Then she said, "If I said 'the old man's parties,' would that mean anything to you?"
George looked blank. "'The old man's parties'? Is this a riddle?"
"I don't know. I don't know what it means. I get the feeling that it's something unpleasant, that's all."
Doug came down at 10:25 to tell them that the Joseph application was on. They followed him out of the coffee shop, and as they left, the two lawyers swiveled around in their chairs to watch her. She turned and one of them winked at her, while the other one said, "Classy ass, too, I'm telling you."
The Curse of Raven
The hearing took less than four minutes. Silver-haired and sharply pointed of nose, Judge Imogene Yelland immediately granted the application for Daniel Joseph to be made a ward of the court pending the prosecution of Elliot Joseph for child abuse and a full welfare report and psychiatric report on Mary Joseph.
Mary Joseph's attorney rose to protest that nobody had yet been convicted for beating up on Daniel, and that there was no proof that Mary Joseph was a neglectful mother. "Accidents do happen in the home, and there are plenty of recorded instances in which parents have been erroneously blamed for childhood injuries."
Judge Yelland stared at him as if he had exposed himself. "I hope you're not trying to suggest that Daniel Joseph's injuries were in any respectselfinflicted,Mr. Leiderman?"
"I, ah-"
"Mr. Leiderman, if you are capable of pulling your pants down around your ankles and jumping on your own pelvis seven times, it would be most educational to see you do it."
Nobody laughed. Mary Joseph's attorney reddened and sat down.
"Next application," said the clerk. George turned to Holly and blew out his cheeks in relief. Judge Yelland had made no comments about the failure of the National Indian Child Welfare Association or the Portland Children's Welfare Department to foresee what had happened. All the same, that could well come later, when Elliot Joseph came up for trial.
"I'll catch you in a minute," Holly mouthed, and patted George's shoulder. She left the juvenile division and walked across the echoing marble floor to the main court buildings. She found Detective Farrant outside Court Number 3, reading the sports pages and chewing gum with his mouth wide open.
"Mickey around?" she asked him.
He jerked his head toward the huge maplewood doors. "He just went in for the Joseph indictment. By the way, what did youdoto him last night?"
"Me? Why?"
"The guy was like walking on air this morning. He actually bought me a doughnut."
"He came around to my place for dinner, that's all. Maybe I reminded him what it's like to be a normal human being."
"Mickey? I doubt it."
An usher opened the door of Court Number 3 for her, and she slipped into one of the seats at the back. Mickey was sitting behind the assistant district attorney and doodling on his notepad while Elliot Joseph's court-appointed lawyer made a windy application for bail.
"This man has been the victim since childhood of relentless discrimination and pernicious ethnic prejudice that would have broken anybody's spirit. Day after day, week after week, year after year, he was treated as a misfit and an outcast in the land which once used to belong to his natural ancestors. Is it any surprise that he was brought to the point of madness-a point where he lashed out blindly at what he had understandably grown to believe was an evil spirit that had made his entire life purposeless and utterly miserable, and now seemed to be threatening to do the same to his only son?"
As Holly made her way to the front of the court, Elliot Joseph turned his head around to see who it was. He was wearing bright orange prison coveralls. His greasy gray hair was sticking up wildly, both of his eyes looked like split-open eggplants, and his mouth was puffed up. All the same, he managed a grotesque grin and stared at her all the way to her seat.
"How's it going?" Mickey mouthed as she sat down beside him.
"Fine. Judge Yelland made the welfare order."
"Any news about the kid?"
"Critical but reasonably stable. They're worried about his left eye, though. Detached retina."
"I should have hit that bastard harder."
Holly glanced across at Mickey's notepad. He had sketched a mountain with thunderclouds around it, and dozens of pine trees with little stick people running around them.
"What's that?"
He flipped the notepad face down, as if he were embarrassed by it. "Nothing. Just dreaming of a little R & R."
"I'll catch up with you tomorrow afternoon," she said. "What time do you want me down at the Compass?"
"Make it three-thirty if you can. I'll meet you outside, in my car."
Elliot Joseph's lawyer finished making his application for bail and sat down. The presiding judge, Walter Boynton, was a mild, sniffy man with huge ears and white hair. He reminded her of Ray Walston, the TV actor who used to star inMy Favorite Martian. He blew his nose with a large white handkerchief and made a long job of wiping it from side to side. Then he said, "Bail denied. The defendant will be kept in custody in the North County Correctional Facility until such time as a trial date can be arranged."
Holly looked over at Elliot Joseph. He was saying something, but because his lips were so swollen, it was very difficult for her to tell what it was. But there was no doubt that he was saying it toher. He was staring directly at her and he was rhythmically jerking his head in her direction to emphasize what he was saying.
"-make sure it comes after you-however fast you run, you deaf bitch, wherever you hide-it's going to come after you-and it's going to tear you into pieces, I swear it on my boy's life-"
Holly raised her hand against her face so that she couldn't see him. "Something wrong?" said Mickey.
"No . I think this whole Daniel Joseph case hasupset me, that's all."
He took hold of her hand and gave it a consoling squeeze. "Don't you worry. You thinkIwas hard on that scumbag? You wait till he gets into jail. The cons have a special welcome for guys who beat up on little kids. A live-rat enema. Ahungrylive-rat enema."
"Mickey-"