Read Online Rape by Joyce Carol Oates - Free Book Online Page A

reciting the facts of his involvement at the crime scene when he was interrupted by Schpiro’s dry voice: “Officer. Excuse me.”
    Dromoor must have stared blankly at the judge, there was a titter in the courtroom.
    â€œ ‘My partner and I ,’ Officer. Not ‘My partner and me .’ ”
    Dromoor knew that he was expected to reply. He was expected to say something conciliatory that would include the words Your Honor . But he did not.
    Schpiro said, with an air of leaden patience, “Officer, continue. ‘My partner and I .’ ”
    So Dromoor knew from the start it would go badly for the prosecution.
    In her flat earnest nasal voice Diebenkorn presented the state’s case in outline. It soon developed that she had a verbal tic of saying “Your Honor” to which Schpiro politely responded, “I am here” or “Yes. I am listening.” The judge’s air of scarcely concealed impatience made the female prosecutor ever more nervous. She paused to sort through files, documents. She conferred with her colleagues. There was a good deal of testimony regarding DNA and forensic evidence, for while there was such evidence linking several ofthe defendants to the rape, evidence was not yet available or missing in other instances; where there was eyewitness testimony, there was not invariably forensic evidence. The case would be partially circumstantial. Each of the defendants presented an individual problem. Only one of the arrested men had confessed, and he had confessed only to assault, not aggravated assault and not rape. He had named others in the rape but had spared himself. Lawyers for the defendants were challenging his testimony, claiming that he lied in exchange for lesser charges; he had a prison record, and would make a poor prosecutorial witness. And there was the matter of other individuals involved in the rape/assault who had not yet been named and apprehended. Dryly Schpiro said, “In the event of a trial, the state will present its case more thoroughly, I assume?”
    Chastened, Diebenkorn murmured, “Yes, Your Honor.”
    Ordinarily by this time Dromoor would have slipped from the courtroom. His partner Zwaaf had departed. But something held Dromoor there, a morbid curiosity and dread as of one about to witness a train derailment.
    â€œMrs. Maguire. It is not bright sunshine here, you might remove your dark glasses.”
    Schpiro spoke politely yet with an air of impatience. He was a judge keenly alert to frivolity in his courtroom. The dark glasses with their pathos of glamour, the floral print scarf tied about the woman’s head to disguise her sparse tufted hair, annoyed him.
    Teena Maguire fumbled to remove the glasses, and dropped them. Diebenkorn, breathing through her mouth,stooped to retrieve them as they clattered to the floor. She explained to Schpiro that since her injuries, Mrs. Maguire’s eyes were unusually sensitive to light. Schpiro expressed some measured sympathy, saying that Mrs. Maguire might partially close her eyes. Teena spoke slowly and haltingly and not very coherently as Diebenkorn led her through an abbreviated testimony. It was clear that Teena had suffered neurological damage; often she paused for several seconds to search for the correct word. She had recovered only partial memory of the rape/assault. She had been able to positively identify only three of the rapists. When Diebenkorn asked if these individuals were present in the courtroom, Teena could not at first reply. She hid her face in her hands. She wiped at her eyes. Almost inaudibly she murmured yes. But asked to point them out, she hesitated for a long moment before concurring with the request.
    With a shaking hand Teena pointed out Marvin Pick, Lloyd Pick, and Jimmy DeLucca, who were sitting immobile at the defense table staring frozen-faced at her. At the precinct, she had picked out Haaber instead of DeLucca. Partly the confusion had to do with