(1969) The Seven Minutes

by Irving Wallace

  Mike Barrett and Maggie Russell had the large booth in the rear.

  When they first came in and were being led to their table, Barrett said, ‘You wanted something off the beaten track. I doubt if any of Griffith’s crowd or Yerkes’ gang will see you here.’

  Maggie said, “That wasn’t why I wanted an out-of-the-way place.’ After they had been seated and drinks had been ordered, she explained. ‘I just wanted to be someplace where I could be more alone with you.’

  She was beautiful, and he wanted to touch the lids of those gray-green eyes with his lips, and the red mouth too, and the deep cleft between the breasts, and etcetera.

  ‘I’m glad,’ he said.

  ‘Besides, Uncle Frank knows I’ve been seeing you. After that toad Irwin Blair saw us at La Scala, he must have reported right back to Luther Yerkes, and Yerkes gave the word to Uncle Frank. The next morning, Uncle Frank mentioned it casually. He wondered how we’d first met. Of course I couldn’t tell him what Jerry had tried to do, and how you saved him, and all that. I simply told him Faye Osborn had introduced us at a lecture, which was true. His only worry was that you might be using me. I assured him you weren’t. I said you’d fallen for me because I was so sexy.’ She smiled shyly. ‘I’m only kidding.’

  ‘Well, I’m not,’ said Barrett. ‘I did fall for you. And you are sexy. And you’re also a lot of other attractive things.’

  ‘Mike, I wasn’t begging for that. Although someday I’d like to hear about those other attractive things.’

  Thinking of what lay ahead Monday, he said without conviction, ‘All right. Someday very soon.’

  ‘But back to Frank Griffith, Uncle. Anyway, he went on in a friendly tone and said he never wanted to interfere with my private life, and whatever I did was my business, as long as I was discreet. It was so out of character, and so transparent. I could just see him conferring with Duncan and Yerkes, and the three of them trying to

  decide how this Maggie-Mike thing might best be handled. Should they break it up. And then Underwood computerizing similar pairings in history - like look what happened when the Montagues and the Capulets interfered with Romeo and Juliet, or look at the Cohens and the Kellys - and then a decision. Why not use Maggie by having her use Mike Barrett ? That must have been it, because in the last few days Uncle Frank has asked me several times if I’ve been seeing you, and once he asked what we talked about and how you felt the trial was going. Anyway, Mike, be on your guard. I may be using you -‘

  ‘I want you to use me.’

  ‘ - on behalf of the forces of evil. And they are evil, every one of them, and Uncle Frank most of all, I’m convinced of that now.’ She stopped abruptly. ‘I don’t want to talk about that right away. I want to enjoy the drinks.’

  She took up her Gibson, and he his Scotch, and they toasted each other and they drank.

  During this, the proprietor, a friend of Barrett’s, had decided to have some sport with him by putting a Tom Lehrer record on the player, and one of Lehrer’s songs that came blasting across the din of the room was ‘Smut’:

  I thrill

  To any book like ‘Fanny Hill.’

  And I suppose I always will,

  If it is swill,

  And really fil-thy.

  Who needs a hobby like tennis or philately?

  I’ve got a hobby: reading ‘Lady Chatterley.’

  But now they’re trying to take it all away from us

  Unless we take a stand,

  And hand in hand

  We fight for freedom of the press.

  In other words, Smut!

  Like the adventures of a slut.

  Oh, I’m a market they can’t glut.

  I don’t know what compares with Smut.

  Hip, hip hooray!

  Let’s hear it for the Supreme Court!

  Don’t let them take it away,

  Maggie and Barrett laughed, and they continued to drink.

  That had been more than two hours ago, and now, three drinks later, a salad, a bottle of wine, a serving of beef Stroganoff, a slice of cheesecake later, an intimate autobiography later, they were closer than they had ever been before. They sat side by side in the flickering candlelight, their thighs touching, her hand rubbing his, both of them silent and reflective.

  Suddenly she sighed, released his hand, and moved away from

  him. He looked at her, and she was sitting straight now, and she appeared intent and disturbed.

  ‘Mike, before I become completely sober, there’s something - as I told you on the phone last night, there’s something I want to discuss with you.’

  ‘You have the floor.’

  ‘Earlier, I spoke of the forces of evil, and I said my uncle was the most evil one of all. He is. He’s a monster. Whatever residue of goodwill I may have had for him has evaporated completely by now. You have no idea of the conflict going on in that house.’

  ‘Over Jerry?’

  “That’s right. Over Jerry. Over Jerry’s testifying as a witness on Monday.’

  ‘Is the boy still resisting it?’

  ‘More than ever. And Uncle Frank is more adamant than ever that Jerry must stand up there in court and condemn Jadway’s book for what it did to him. Uncle Frank continues to shout that he’s thinking only of his son and his son’s future. Like hell he is. He’s thinking only of himself and what people will say about him. If he thought of Jerry the least bit, he wouldn’t, give a damn about public opinion, He wouldn’t let his son undergo that ordeal. He’s had Yerkes in to wheedle and soft-soap Jerry. He’s had Elmo Duncan in to reassure Jerry and demonstrate how easy, it’s going to be. And yesterday - it was terrible - there was a terrible scene between Uncle Frank and Aunt Ethel. It was one of the rare occasions when I ever heard her speak her mind. Jerry’s her son, too, she said, she’d borne him, raised him, and she had every right to speak. And she wasn’t going to sit there and see her husband and the rest of those men bully her son into doing what was against his nature. She felt the decision should be left to Jerry himself. Weil, Uncle Frank just about blew his top. He said Jerry had better start doing plenty of things that were against his nature, if screwing - his word - girls against their will was part of his true nature. And furthermore, he shouted, she’d had no part in raising Jerry, because she was too damn preoccupied with herself and her illness, and that was a large part of what was wrong with the boy, and she had no equal claim on him, because she’d been too self-centered and permissive and had let him go his way, and now it was time somebody stepped in and started thinking for the boy and brought him back into line. I thought Aunt Ethel would pass out right in her wheelchair, and when she got a fit of choking,! stepped in and rescued her. She’sstill confined to bed. Dreadful, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes, it is.’

  ‘Life is a not too atypical upper-class American home. Nor am I entirely blameless. The last time I saw you, I said I was going to try to prevent this by intervening with Uncle Frank or Dr Trimble, the analyst. I had the courage to speak only to Dr Trimble. I told him exactly what Jerry had been telling me every day. That if he was

  forced to testify in public, he would commit suicide - if not before, then after appearing on the stand. I pleaded with Dr Trimble to take it up with Uncle Frank. But Dr Trimble said no, there was no necessity to bother Frank Griffith with that. He said that Jerry, like most youngsters, had more resilience than people imagined, and that Jerry would endure and survive the questioning in court very well. In fact, Dr Trimble thought it might even be a healthy experience for him - sort of a public expiation and cleansing. As for suicide, no, that was just so much talk. Most people who talk suicide don’t try it, and Jerry was just using it as a threat to have his way and punish those around him. I was furious. I wanted to take that dumbhead of a doctor and shake him and tell him what Jerry had not told him, or admitted to anyone but me - that Jerry had tried to kill himself a few days ago - that he meant it and would do it again, and next time he would succeed. But I couldn’t -I just
couldn’t give our secret away and betray Jerry. After that, I knew it was useless to speak to Uncle Frank. Except for his recent clumsy cozying around me to find out what I know about you, he doesn’t know I exist. I have no more meaning to him or identity or influence than a piece of statuary. So the only person I could think of speaking to about this, the only person that I knew would understand, was you, Mike. You do believe me, Mike, when I say Jerry will kill himself? After all, you know he did try it once.’

  She waited, watching him, and his gaze met hers evenly. He said, ‘Not once, Maggie. He’s tried it twice.’

  Her eyes widened, and a hand went to her mouth. She murmured something that he could not hear. Then she lowered her hand from her mouth and said, ‘How do you know?’

  ‘The District Attorney’s Office and the defense are both in the business of knowing, of continually trying to find out everything there is to know. My partner retained a private detective agency -we don’t have the resources of the police department, which are at Duncan’s command, so we have to resort to private investigators. They traced Jerry’s absence from school, his movements during that time, and so forth. And they learned he had tried to kill himself months ago - long before he’d read the book - and that you’d taken him up to San Francisco right afterward to see an analyst.’

  She looked tortured, and he wanted to take her in his arms and soothe her pain and promise her that none of this would be made public. But he could not do it, for it would be a lie. So now this was in the open, and it was there between them.

  She was speaking. ‘What else do they know?’ she asked.

  ‘Just that.’

  ‘And you’re going to bring it up in court ?’

  T have to.’

  ‘Mike, don’t, please don’t.’

  ‘Maggie, I have no choice. But I do want to know one thing. I understand Jerry’s condition, that he’s on the borderline of becoming psychotic. Still, why is he so scared about appearing as a witness? I realize it is a horrible thing for him to undergo, but everyone is already familiar with his crime and sickness, so why is his appearance in court a matter of life or death to him? To me that’s the issue.’

  She knitted her brow and was silent for many seconds, as if trying to decide what to answer. At last she met Barrett’s eyes. ‘Maybe it all has to do with why I felt that I had to see you tonight, Mike. Because I know you have humanity, an understanding of others, and you have a deep sense of decency. I will tell you this. Jerry isn’t really afraid of going to court and sitting in the witness box in public and being questioned by Elmo Duncan. He knows that he is Duncan’s witness and Duncan will be gentle with him and won’t do him any deliberate harm. It is you he’s afraid of, Mike. It is the crossexamination that he’s in deathly fear of. He senses you must discredit, even destroy him, if you are to have a chance to win your case. That’s the whole truth. He’s afraid of what the defense will do to him.’

  ‘You still haven’t told me why. Except for making him admit to that first suicide attempt, what other information can I get out of him that isn’t already known by everybody? As for making him admit the first suicide attempt, what is so ghastly about that after everything else - after the rape and its consequences - has been brought out ? It may even gain him sympathy. Exactly why this wild fear of being in court, and of the crossexamination ?’

  She was hesitant. ‘I can’t explain, Mike. It’s part of his whole neurotic illness. When you’ve been overwhelmed, put down, your whole life by a dominating parent, you’re not sure any more of what you are, what your value is, if you’re a whole person even. You’ve always been made to feel inadequate. You arrive at a breaking point. Then to be stripped and lashed further and in public by a crossexaminer, to have your worst weaknesses made naked, to be humiliated further, I guess that’s too much. That can break you.’ She paused. ‘Your questions - they would humiliate him, wouldn’t they?’

  ‘Maggie, a crossexamination is never easy for any witness to handle. Despite that, most people, no matter how frail, manage to weather it and survive intact. For someone like Jerry, I can’t say. I can only say this - knowing him, through you -I won’t be vicious or cruel, not the Grand Inquisitor, not Torquemada. But I will question him, and he will have to answer, since he will be under oath.’

  She was silent again, and something was forming behind her eyes. ‘Mike, must you question him? Must you cross-examine him?’

  ‘If Duncan didn’t bring him into court, I wouldn’t have to. But Duncan is bringing him into court. Duncan is going to examine him. So there Jerry is, and I must cross-examine him.’

  ‘But you don’t have to do it, do you? Legally, you can waive the crossexamination, can’t you?’

  ‘Certainly, counsel can always pass, waive the crossexamination, but -‘

  She grasped Barrett’s arm with both hands. ‘Then do that, Mike. That’s what I wanted to - to ask of you tonight. Not to cross-examine Jerry. I couldn’t keep him from being forced into court. But he can still be saved, if your side doesn’t go after him. I won’t say do it for me, Mike. I have no right to ask that. But for the boy’s sake, thinking of him, please waive your crossexamination.’

  She took her hands from his arm and clenched them tightly, waiting.

  It was hard, it was painful, this next gesture, but Barrett shook his head slowly. ‘No, Maggie, I can’t do that. I can’t betray the people who have retained me and are depending on me. I can’t betray Jadway or his book and the freedoms I believe in. Darling, listen to me, and be as reasonable as possible. The District Attorney has had it all his way so far. He’s made a powerful case against Jadway and the book. We’ve been thwarted in our every effort to refute or counteract the case against Jadway. Now he’s going to prove the dangerous influence of Jadway’s work by bludgeoning us with Jerry Griffith. This is our first opportunity to stop him. If we don’t defend ourselves here, then we go under, and the censors win control. If Duncan examines Jerry, I absolutely have to cross-examine him. It’s our last, last hope. If things had gone differently before, or were a little different now, I would certainly consider doing what you asked - waive the crossexamination - because then it might be less crucial.’

  She had drawn nearer to him. ‘What - what do you mean, if things had gone differently or were different now? What things?’

  He remember Zelkin’s argument to him last night, and he used it for Maggie now. ‘Well, if we’d had Leroux on our side earlier, and the Vogler woman, even that little, I would certainly consider skipping my crossexamination of Jerry, because, as I say, it would be less important. Or even now, if I had one really star witness who could refute Leroux and build up our case for Jadway and the book I might not have to bother with Jerry. But I don’t have that one witness. I don’t have anyone remotely like that, and so -‘

  ‘Mike.’

  He looked up sharply, because the tone of her voice had been so firm.

  ‘That one witness you need,’ she said. ‘Who could that be -who’d be so important to you ?’

  ‘Who? Well, I’d say there’d only be one left who would mean anything. And she’d mean everything. I’m speaking of Cassie McGraw. Now, if I had her -‘

  ‘You can have her, Mike.’

  It was so sudden that he almost failed to understand it or to react. He stared dumbly at Maggie Russell.

  She was cool and composed, and when she spoke again it was with quiet assurance.

  ‘I’ll make you a fair trade, Mike. You promise not to cross-examine Jerry Griffith, and I promise to get you to Cassie McGraw - to Cassie McGraw herself, in person.’

  Please place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand. You do swear that the testimony you are about to give in the cause now before the court will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?’

  ‘I do.’

  ‘State your name, please.’

  ‘Jerry - Jerome Griffith.’

  ‘Spell the last name, please.’

&
nbsp; ‘Grif - Griffith …uh…G…uh… G-r-i-f-f-i-t-h.’

  ‘Please be seated in the witness box, Mr Griffith.’

  From his corner of the defense table, Mike Barrett watched the slender young man go to the witness box and nervously sit down in the witness chair. His chestnut-brown hair was freshly trimmed, his eyes (a persistent tic in the left one) darted here and there across the courtroom and avoided the silver microphone before him, his face was pale, and his shoulders were hunched - like a frightened tortoise ready to pull its head inside its protective shell. The tip of Jerry’s tongue constantly licked at his dry lips as he waited for his Charon to start him on the journey across his private River Styx.

  Now Barrett’s gaze left the prosecution’s star to take in the overflowing courtroom behind him. He knew that Maggie Russell was present somewhere in that sea of faces, and that her attention was focused not only on Jerry but on Barrett himself. He was conscious also of the presence of Philip Sanford among the spectators directly behind him, and of a grim and determined Abe Zelkin and a worried and anxious Ben Fremont sitting beside him.

  He remembered yesterday, a day not of rest but of unremitting restlessness.

  He had reviewed everything that Maggie had told him. Every detail of it. He had reviewed and weighed it over and over again.

  Incredibly, or perhaps not so incredibly, the legendary Cassie McGraw, mistress of J J Jadway - Cassie McGraw, prototype of the heroine in The Seven Minutes - was alive, very much alive, in the Midwest. She had read of the trial. She had written to Frank Griffith in defense of Jadway. As part-time social secretary, Maggie always saw the family’s mail first, and she had intercepted Cassie McGraw’s communique, had hidden it from Griffith and had kept it hidden for two weeks. Since it was favorable to the defense, Maggie had saved it for its bargaining power. Not to use on Barrett, originally, but on Frank Griffith. Then, fearing that Frank

  Griffith had become too fanatic and obsessed to bargain with - too dogmatic to agree to keep Jerry off the stand in return for the destruction of Cassie’s communique - fearing, also, that Griffith might learn about the missive and wrest it from her, she had decided to offer it to Barrett as a last resort, in a last effort to save Jerry.