“Good,” Stone said, feeling relieved.
The judge produced a gold pocket watch from a fold of his robe. “We will break for lunch now,” he said. “Court will reconvene in one hour.”
Chapter
53
Stone stood up and waved at Allison. “Want some lunch?” But a police officer was already escorting her from the dock. “Can’t she have lunch with us?” he asked Leslie Hewitt.
“I’m afraid not,” Hewitt replied. “Her bail was automatically revoked when the trial began. Don’t worry, they’ll feed her.”
They walked out of the courthouse, and Hewitt led Stone to a small restaurant across the street. “Everyone from Government House has lunch here,” he said.
Stone took a seat with the barrister at a small table, then remembered that he was still clad in robe and wig. He removed the wig and placed it on the table next to him.
“Put it back on,” Hewitt said. “Bad form to remove it as long as you are robed.”
Stone put the thing back on, and as he did he saw Sir Winston and his assistant at the other end of the narrow room, both still robed and wigged.
“What would you like?” Hewitt asked.
Stone didn’t see a menu. “Whatever you’re having.”
“They make a very nice seafood stew here; it’s the speciality of the house.”
“That will be fine.”
Hewitt ordered for both of them, and the waitress brought them cold bottles of beer.
“Well, we have a decision to make,” Stone said.
“What is that?” Hewitt asked.
“Whether to call Allison to the stand.”
“Of course we must call her,” Hewitt said.
“But why? Sir Winston has no case at all, as far as I can see. We should simply rest our case and move for an acquittal, and I think we’d get it.”
“We shall certainly move for an acquittal, as a matter of form,” Hewitt replied, “but it is unlikely in the extreme that we would get it.”
“Even when the prosecution has offered thin evidence, and that evidence has been refuted in court?”
“I can see where you might not wish to call Allison, coming from the American legal tradition, as you do.”
“She’s not required to testify, is she?”
“Not legally, no; she has a right to forgo questioning by invoking her right against self-incrimination. But unlike in America, in St. Marks the jury may consider that an indication of guilt.”
“Oh.”
“What’s more, if we didn’t call Allison, Sir Winston would reopen his case and call her himself, you see.”
“I see.”
“In any case, Allison is her own best witness, don’t you think?”
“Yes, I do think that, but it troubles me that Sir Winston has brought this case with no more evidence than he has.”