Read Antonelli - 03 - The Judgment for Free Online Page A

thought he was telling me in that torrent of unintelligible speech.
    “I found a place on the other side of the cell, as far away as I could get from the stench that emanated from that shit-splattered toilet. The windows high above were black with the night and the dim gray yellow illumination from the single electric bulb lent a spectral quality to things that even in the clear light of day would have been troubling enough. How was it possible that human beings could of their own volition have been reduced to this? How was it possible that the only thing we could think to do about it was to take them, throw them in jail for a few days or a few weeks, and then put them back out on the street to do the same thing all over again? That old man I had left lying on the bench somewhere in the darkness would spend the rest of his life either drunk or locked up and no one seemed to think a thing about it. That was the first time that I began to think that the law itself could be the worst crime of all.
    “I became aware that I was being watched. A few feet away from me, sitting straight with his back against the cement wall and his hands extended to his knees, a gaunt figure was staring at me. As soon as he saw me look, he came over and without a word sat down next to me the same way he had been sitting before.
    ” ‘Thank you for coming, Mr. Steelhammer,’ he said, his eyes focused straight ahead.
    “Ignoring him, I started to move away. ‘We have an appointment, Mr. Steelhammer,’ he said, turning his head toward me.
    ‘I’ve been waiting for you since yesterday when my wife called you.’
    “I shook my head to let him know he was making a mistake.
    ” ‘You’re my lawyer,’ he insisted. ‘The trial starts tomorrow.’
    ” ‘I’m not Mr. Steelhammer. I’m not your lawyer.’
    ” ‘Just a minute,’ he said, quite serious. ‘I’ll ask my wife.’ Squinting his eyes, he started moving his lips, noiselessly, like someone forming the words they are reading from a book held right in front of them. His lips stopped moving, and his eyes opened wide.
    ‘Yes, now I understand.’ His gaze raced from one side to the other.
    Then he leaned over and whispered, ‘She told me that you didn’t want to use your real name in here. What shall I call you?’
    ” ‘You just talked to your wife?’ I asked. ‘Where is she?’
    ” ‘In Rome. She’s a nun,’ he replied. ‘She’s the Pope’s daughter,’ he added, eager to share this proof of his own importance.
    “Madness has a logic of its own, and there was nothing to be gained by insisting on the rules of reason that every normal person follows without a conscious thought.
    ” ‘I’m not your lawyer. I was sent here to make sure you were all right. Mr. Steelhammer will come tomorrow, or perhaps the day after. In the meantime,’ I cautioned him as if it were a matter of the gravest importance, ‘you are not to talk to anyone about this.’ He followed every word with obedient eyes. ‘Silence is the key,’ I insisted.
    ” ‘Silence is the key,’ he repeated, nodding to himself. Without another word, he went back to his place on the bench, stretched his hands out to his knees, and, perfectly content, started once again the endless wait for someone who would never come.
    “If I slept at all that night, it was only for a few minutes at a time. Chased by nightmares, men cried out like children, lonely and afraid, or woke up with a start, screaming obscenities or throwing wild punches at anyone they thought had disturbed their rest.
    “I stayed in that holding tank—that dungeon—all weekend long, living a slow-motion death. They never moved me to a cell of my own; they never let me shower or change my clothes. Monday morning they let me go, but not until nine o’clock when, as the jailer reminded me when he gave me back my briefcase, I had only thirty minutes to get to court.
    ” ‘Why wasn’t I let out two hours ago? That’s the normal time, isn’t