A Matter of Conviction

“Which of these knives is yours, Danny?”

“I can’t remember. How do you expect me to remember?”

Hank extended one of the knives. “Is it this one?”

“I don’t know.”

“Look at it!”

“I am looking.”

“Is it your knife?”

“I don’t know.”

“Whose knife is it? It has a black handle and a silver stud. Did your knife have a black handle?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Then this isn’t your knife. Is that right?”

“I guess so.”

“If your knife didn’t have a black handle, this can’t be your knife, isn’t that right?”

“I suppose so.”

“Yes or no? Is this your knife, or isn’t it?”

“All right, no. It isn’t.”

Hank sighed. “Thank you. Now what about this other knife — with the mother-of-pearl handle? Is it yours?”

“No.”

“These first two knives are not yours, is that correct?”

“That’s correct.”

“Then this last knife is yours, isn’t that also correct?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Well, look at the knife. Take a long look at it, and then tell me whether it’s the knife you used on July tenth.”

“Objection!”

“Sustained.”

“Just tell me if it’s your knife, Danny.”

“I don’t know.”

“When I came to visit you on Welfare Island, you told me you’d stabbed Morrez four times. Now is—”

“Objection!”

“Sustained.”

“Did you or did you not tell me you had stabbed Morrez four times?”

“I... I don’t remember what I told you. That was a long time ago.”

“Yes or no?”

“I... I... suppose I told you that.”

“That you stabbed Morrez?”

“Objection!”

“Overruled.”

“In self-defense,” Danny said.

“But you stabbed him, did you not?”

“Objection! Your Honor...”

“Overruled.”

“Yes,” Danny said. “In self-defense.”

“With this knife?”

“Objection!”

“Your Honor, I cannot examine this witness properly if my every word is challenged,” Hank said angrily. “I can see no objection to my line of questioning. If counsel for the defense would simply shut up and allow me to—”

“You’re leading the witness,” Randolph shouted.

“Damnit, you allowed him to take the stand, didn’t you?”

“Order! Order!” Samalson said firmly. “I want no such further outbursts! The line of questioning seems acceptable to this court. I must warn defense counsel against harassment of the district attorney. Witness will please answer the last question.”

“What... what was it?” Danny asked. He was beginning to perspire. He wiped sweat from his brow and his upper lip.

“Read back the question, please.”

“‘With this knife?’”

“Well, Danny?”

“What if it is my knife?”

“Answer the question!”

“Yes. Yes, it is.”

“Thank you. Now tell me what happened on the night of July tenth.”

“I already told you.”

“Tell the court.”

“We were out for a walk,” Danny said, almost by rote. “Morrez jumped us. He had a knife in his hand. So we protected ourselves.”

“Whose idea was it to go for a walk?”

“We just got the idea. All of us together.”

“Who was it who first said, ‘Let’s go for a walk’?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Was it you?”

“No.”

“Aposto?”

“No.”

“Then it must have been Reardon.”

“I suppose so. Maybe it was Tower who got the idea to go for a walk.”

“Did he say he wanted to go for a walk?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Or did he say he wanted to go into enemy turf to stir up a little trouble?”

“Objection!”

“It was his idea to go into Spanish Harlem and start a little trouble, wasn’t it?”

“Objection!”

“Your Honor, you just warned...”

“And I must warn you, Mr. Bell, against leading your witness. Objection sustained. Strike both those questions.”

“Did Tower Reardon,” Hank said, “when he first brought up the subject of a walk, suggest that you walk into Spanish Harlem?”

“I don’t remember. I think he just said, ‘Let’s take a walk,’ or something like that.”

“Didn’t he say where?”

“Maybe.”

“Did he say, ‘Let’s walk over to Park Avenue’?”

“Maybe.”

“Did he say, ‘Let’s walk into Spanish Harlem?’”

“Maybe.”

“All right, when you got into Spanish Harlem, what did you do?”

“We started up the street...” Danny turned to Samalson. “Do I have to answer that?”

“The question is acceptable. You will answer it, please.”

“We just walked up the street.”

“Who was the first of you to spot Morrez?”

“I... I don’t know.”

“Tower?”

“Yes, I... I guess so. I don’t know. What difference does it make? We all stabbed him!”

A murmur went up in the courtroom. Hank leaned closer to Danny, and the murmur suddenly died.

“Why did you stab him, Danny?”

“He jumped us. He had a knife.”

“He had a harmonica, Danny!”

“What?”

“Isn’t that true? Didn’t he have a harmonica? It wasn’t a knife at all, was it?”

“I... I don’t know. It looked like a knife.”

“Then you knew it was a harmonica?”

“No, no, I’m just saying it looked like...”

“What did?”

“The harmonica, I told you! You just said it was a harmonica, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but when did you realize it was a harmonica?”

“Just this minute. I didn’t know until you—”

“You knew it was a harmonica when you stabbed him, didn’t you?”

“No. No, I thought it was a knife.”

“Who stabbed him first?”

“T-T-Tower.”

There was not a sound in the courtroom now. For Danny and Hank, the courtroom did not exist. They faced each other with the sweat streaking their faces, each straining forward as if to establish a contact which was somehow denied them.

“And who next?”

“Batman.”

“And then you?”