Page 86 of The Accomplice
‘I understand, the question is how far to the left ?’
‘Again, I don’t know exactly. Not far.’
‘Does this help ? Say you’re outside your building right now. Use a reference point in the courtroom to show us where the light is located. It’s not where I’m standing. Would it be all the way to the back of the courtroom ?’
Gazing out across the room, she said, ‘No, not that far. Maybe halfway ?’
I turned, walked as slowly as I could damn well get away with. Letting the sound of my feet hitting the floor echo around the room as I made my way past the defense table, past the first row of the gallery, second row, third, fourth, fifth, slowing even further as I reached the tenth row, about halfway.
I turned back to Mrs. Broder, said, in a low voice, ‘About here ?’
Mrs. Broder cocked an ear in my direction, said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t hear you.’
This time I shouted.
‘Sorry, I’m so far away. Is this the rough distance between your apartment and the streetlight ?’
She nodded.
I started walking back. Slowly. Letting the jury take in the distance. Making it feel further away than it really was. I stopped at the defense table.
‘I estimate that’s around forty-five feet ?’
‘I think so. Yeah.’
‘And your apartment, as we’ve already established, is sixty feet away ?’
She nodded.
‘I need you to state an answer for the record, Mrs. Broder.’
‘Yes,’ she said, curtly.
‘The streetlight you were so keen to tell us about is over a hundred feet away ?’
Leaning forward, she opened her mouth. Shut it again, quick. Took a moment then said, ‘I … well, maybe so. But I could still see them.’
‘When Mr. White asked you earlier you said the couple walked past the house slowly, then came back and that time they stood there, watching the place for five, maybe ten minutes. It sounded like you weren’t sure how long they were standing there, is that fair to say ?’
‘No, I saw them. And they stood there for a while.’
‘Awhile,’ I repeated. ‘Mrs. Broder …’
I paused. Counted to ten in my head.
Taking the time to give it the full second.One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand …
Mrs. Broder waited patiently, wondering what I was going to hit her with next.
‘I just paused there for ten seconds. Felt like a long time, didn’t it ?’
‘I … well, not really.’
‘It felt like a lot longer than ten seconds.’
Silence. Especially expectant, anxious silence can make a second feel like a minute. Time is subjective.
‘Maybe. It felt awkward.’
