Dierdre went back to her seat, taking time to glare at Stone on the way.
“Why is she pissed off at you?” Herbie asked.
“I don’t know, but I think we’re about to find out.”
“If she’s pissed off at you, does that mean more jail time?”
“Herbie, she couldn’t be more pissed off at me now than she was an hour ago, believe me. Listen, this is going to take a while. Our case is pretty far down the docket, and I don’t want to hear any more whining about the men’s room.”
The bailiff looked at his clipboard. “People versus Herbert J. Fisher!” he yelled.
“Oh, shit,” Stone said under his breath.
“What’s the matter? This means we get out of here sooner, doesn’t it?” Herbie asked.
“Herbie, try and get this through your head,” Stone said, dragging Herbie toward the gate in the rail that separated the lawyers from the courtroom. “You’re not getting out of here, except in a police van. Got it?”
The judge watched Stone drag Herbie through the gate, and his gaze could have melted ice. He looked down at his papers. “Mr. Fisher, you’re charged with driving with a suspended license, DUI, and resisting arrest with violence. How do you plead?”
“Well, Your Honor . . .” Herbie began.
Stone leaned toward him. “Say guilty and nothing else.”
“Guilty and nothing else,” Herbie called out to the judge.
Stone winced.
“Mr. Barrington, do you have any objection to sentence being imposed at this time?”
“No, Judge,” Stone replied.
“Ms. Monahan,” the judge said, “do you have a sentence recommendation?”
Dierdre stood up. “Yes, Judge. The people recommend suspension of Mr. Fisher’s driver’s license for five years, twelve months’ imprisonment, and a ten-thousand-dollar fine.”
“WHAT?” Herbie yelled.
“Shut your mouth,” Stone said. Something had gone terribly wrong here.
“That sounds good to me,” the judge said. “Mr. Fisher, you are sentenced to suspension of your driver’s license for five years, a ten-thousand-dollar fine, and twelve months’ imprisonment.”
Herbie began to cry.
The judge looked down at his desk and said, quietly enough so the full courtroom could not hear him, “Imprisonment suspended on condition of good behavior.”
The four policemen sitting behind Dierdre were on their feet, protesting loudly, while Dierdre tried to calm them.
“Pay the clerk,” the judge said, rapping his gavel. “Next case?”
Stone took Herbie’s arm and dragged him out of the well of the courtroom, hoping to get him out before the Monahan brothers regrouped and came after Herbie.
Lance moved out of a row of seats and met them at the rear of the courtroom. “Let’s step outside,” he said, and they went into the hallway.
“You said you’d make it go away!” Herbie wailed.
Stone grabbed him by a lapel and shook him. “It did go away. Didn’t you hear the judge?”
“He said a year!”