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“If you get bored,” I whispered, “go fake another heart attack.”
The first subject once we were in chambers actually wasn’t Pat Palmer. It was the sudden absence of my sister, Brigid. But as soon as I explained where she was, and why she was there, and that I honestly couldn’t tell a cancer patient not to try to get better, Brigid quickly became a sidebar.
At which point Pat Palmer, and what he’s told Kevin Ahearn, and the NDA with Rob Jacobson that he signed, became the main event.
“Here’s the deal, Kevin,” I tell Ahearn. “You know and I know and people in outer space know that you are going to have to wait to call this guy as a rebuttal witness, because we all know that’s the law. And you have to know that when you do call him, he can’t violate the sanctity of a nondisclosure agreement.”
Judge Prentice is nodding in agreement. Today he likes me. It probably won’t last. But in the moment, I want to give him a big kiss.
“Mr. Palmer has had a change of heart about the NDA,” Kevin Ahearn says.
Now I can’t contain myself. And wearein chambers. No need to keep my voice down.
So I’m shouting, just like that.
“It doesn’t work that way and you know it!”I take a great big deep breath. “You don’t get to keep the moneyandtell your story in open court. Unless we’re talking about anon-nondisclosure agreement.”
Ahearn isn’t going down without a fight, I have to give him that.
“The NDA shouldn’t apply here,” he says stubbornly.
Ahearn turns away from me now and toward the judge.
“Your Honor, I understand how unusual these circumstances are, and how unusual my request is,” Ahearn says. “But not only does the jury have the right to hear what Mr. Palmer has to say, theyneedto hear. The way they need to know that Ms. Smith’s client tried to buy the young man’s silence.”
I try to remain calm this time. Ladylike, almost.
“Whether we like the circumstances, or motivation, or not, my clientdidbuy Mr. Palmer’s silence.”
“Except that Mr. Palmer is prepared to say that your client raped the teenage victim in this case,” Ahearn says. “Theunderageteenage victim. And he deserves to be heard on this in open court.”
“Come on, Kevin,” I say, purposely using his first name, like I want us to be buddies. “Even you know that the laws of this state aren’t a buffet table where you can pick and choose the ones you want to enforce. You can’t break the law trying to uphold it.”
Ahearn ignores me again, goes back to working the judge.
“Your Honor, whether Ms. Smith will acknowledge it or not, everyone still in this room knows that it would go against the public interest, in an almost profound way, for Mr. Palmer not to get to tell his story, whether he signed that piece of paper or not.”
“In your opinion,” I say calmly.
“If you had any decency, especially as a woman, it would be your opinion, too!”
“Enough,”Judge Prentice says.“From both of you.”
If we were in his courtroom, he would have gaveled us into silence. Instead he places his hands on the desk in front of him, as if trying to calm himself now.
“Here is my determination,” the judge says, “one that might not satisfy either one of you but is the only practical and fair solution. When the time comes, Mr. Palmer will be compelled to testify, even if he’s had a change of heart. And he will say on the witness stand what he has already said to Mr. Ahearn, and his nondisclosure agreement be damned.”
I open my mouth, but know enough to close it, telling myself I’ll deal with Palmer when the time comes.
“Mr. Ahearn,” Judge Prentice says, “you can go down the hall and inform Mr. Palmer that I’m sorry he wasted a trip here today, but we’ll see him soon.”
I’m sitting with Rob Jacobson ten minutes later when there’s a knock on the door, and Kevin Ahearn comes walking in.
“No need to worry about what Pat Palmer does or doesn’t have to say,” Ahearn says. “He’s gone.”
Seventy-Two
I SEE THAT KEVIN AHEARNis red-faced and breathing hard. And is quickly standing near Rob Jacobson’s chair, looking down at him.
