distance, over the wall, into the thick of Eddie's trees. But Harry's system
failed at last. He ended up too close to Eddie Marcus's house, and the sound of
his chain saw penetrated behind Eddie's sealed windows.
Grabbing the old Smith & Wesson
carbine from above his mantel, Eddie plunged out into the fog. At his trial he
protested that he had only meant to frighten the culprit. He called out a
warning to the invisible tree thief to stand where he was or be shot, heard what
he thought was a slight movement going off to his left, aimed the gun to his
right, and pulled the trigger. Harry died immediately.
The case aroused a lot of mixed feelings
in the state, and received a lot of publicity nationwide. The two trial lawyers
were brilliant, and old foes. The judge was famous for his wit. The jury was
composed of diehard Connecticut Yankees who refused to go south for the winter.
And the public benches were packed with people to whom this case meant much,
people who remained in Connecticut all year round, and suffered the cold dumbly,
and didn't quite understand all the reasons why the government was so
adamantly against wood burning, and now felt an unaccustomed stirring of old,
buried emotions.
'I'm going to Hartford to sit in on the
Marcus trial,' Dr Christian announced to his family after dinner one evening at
the end of February.
James nodded, understanding at once. 'Oh,
half your luck! It will be fascinating.'
'Joshua, it's too cold and too far from
home!' cried Mama, who never liked to see him leave 1047 Oak Street, Holloman,
while winter stalked outside; the memory of Joe's fate terrified her.
'Nonsense!' said Dr Christian,
uncomfortably aware of the reasons for Mama's distress, but knowing that he was
going to Hartford no matter what. 'I must go, Mama. It's cold, yes, but we've
already had one massive thaw, and all the signs say this is going to be a short
winter for once. So I doubt I'm going to run into a blizzard.'
'Hartford is always at least ten degrees
colder than Holloman,' she said stubbornly.
He sighed. 'I must go, Mama!Feelings are running very high, therehasn't been a situation in a
long time so likely to air buried resentments about our current anguishes. A
murder trial is highly charged to begin with, and this one in particular is
connected to all the emotions right at the roots of millennial
neurosis.'
'I'd like to come with you,' said James
wistfully.
'Why don't you?'
'Not at this time of year. One is all the
clinic can spare, and we've had a vacation more recently than you, Josh. No, you
go, and tell us all about it when you come back.'
'Are you going to try to talk to Marcus?'
asked Andrew.
'I sure am! If they'll let me, and he's
willing. He probably will be, because I imagine he's
clutching at every straw that comes his way right now.'
'Oh!' said Miriam. 'You think he'll be
convicted.'
'Well, he has to be. It's really a
question of what kind of sentence, isn't it? A matter of degree.'
'Do you think he meant to kill, Josh?'
she asked.
'Until and if I see him, I'd rather not
hazard a guess. I know everyone thinks he did, since he assumed it was the other
guy he was pointing the gun at. That's the trouble with loudmouths. But when the
chips are down — I don't know. I'm not at all sure a man of Marcus's type would
intend to kill unless he was physically surrounded by plenty of moral support in
the shape of his fellow vigilantes. When he went out into that fog to see who
was cutting down his trees, he was very angry, yes, but he was also very alone,
and fog is the kind of substance that damps emotion right down very quickly. I
don't know, Mirry.'
Mary heaved a huge sigh and looked
grumpy. 'Then if you won't take James, I had better come with you,' she said
ungraciously.
Dr Christian shook his head emphatically.
'No. I'm going on my own.'
She subsided, looking even more grumpy;
and it never occurred to any member of her family
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