Judge & Jury by James Patterson, Andrew Gross Page B

bad, Nicky— about your friends! But whoever killed those scum, I would kiss them on the lips.”
    “Get him out of here,” Judge Seiderman called out from the bench, trying to regain control. “Mr. Cavello, you have lost your privilege to sit in on this trial. You are in contempt. You are barred from this courtroom. Jurors, you will go back into the jury room immediately. Bailiff!”
    Pandemonium continued in the courtroom. The jurors looked shell-shocked. Members of the press were already running out of the gallery to call their newspapers.
    “Take me out of here! Bar me!” Cavello twisted his face toward the judge. “I don’t want to be here any fuckin’ longer!” His voice bellowed throughout the courtroom. “Your court is a joke!”
    Blood trickled from Cavello’s mouth. His formerly neatly groomed hair was tousled and wild. The guards lifted him up and tried to drag him through the side door. They had gotten one leg through when he wildly jerked around, and I saw something I could hardly believe.
    The bastard was smiling.

Chapter 39
    THE JURORS WERE STILL buzzing about what had happened. Shocked. Blown away. The court officials had rushed them all into the jury room. No one could recall ever seeing anything like Cavello’s blowup in the courtroom.
    “The asshole just made it easy for us.” Hector shook his head. Everyone seemed to agree.
    Maybe it just got to him, Andie thought. His case was shot to hell. He cracked.
    The jury was going to be leaving the courthouse earlier than planned, and Andie hoped Jarrod was already here waiting for her and his special birthday celebration. They were quickly herded into the elevator to go downstairs, where the blue bus would be waiting.
    As the elevator hit the lobby, Andie tried to regroup. Jarrod was here! In his Stephon Marbury number 3. Rita was waiting with him in the lobby. As soon as Jarrod saw his mother, he ran up and jumped into her arms.
    “Happy birthday, honey!” It was wonderful just to see his happy face and give him a big birthday hug and kiss. Cavello, what had happened in there, didn’t matter anymore.
    “What’s going on, Mom?”
    Andie squeezed him double-tight. “Don’t worry about it, sweetie.”
    The bus was waiting right there on the street. Andie and Jarrod climbed on first and made their way into one of the rear seats. Hector and Rosella, who sometimes spoke to each other in Spanish, sat in front of them. O’Flynn squeezed into the row behind them with a rolled-up Sports Illustrated in his fist.
    “So tell me about school,” Andie said.
    “Nah.” He grinned broadly. “It’s my birthday, Mom. No school today, okay?”
    “Yeah, okay.”
    They wanted to get them away from the courthouse as quickly as possible, and that was all right with her. A marshal jumped on, counted heads, winking because there was one more than usual. He slapped the side of the bus, sending it on its way with an “Okay!” The driver started the engine.
    Andie looked back at the courthouse. Standing outside the side entrance was the FBI guy, Pellisante. He had set up the whole thing when she came to him with the idea for Jarrod’s birthday party.
    Thank you. Andie waved at him through the glass. An appreciative, one-finger wave.
    He waved back.
    Two police cars led the way as the bus pulled out from the curb onto Worth Street. It was a twenty-five-minute trip through the Holland Tunnel back to the motel. A few of the jurors looked around at Andie, wondering when they could break the surprise and sing “Happy Birthday” for this nice-looking boy.
    “Hey, Jarrod.” O’Flynn leaned over, staring at his Stephon Marbury jersey. “You like the Knicks?”
    “I like ’em. I like Halo more.”
    “ Halo? ” It was a popular battle video game. Pretty violent and graphic. O’Flynn grinned at Andie. “Your mom lets you play Halo, huh?”
    “His mom does no such thing,” Andie said. “His aunt, though, that’s another story, for another time.”
    A few