“Helen’s down there,” Marcy assured her, and spotting Henry coming through security, she added, “You go ahead to the café, I’ll join you in a minute.”

As Henry reached her he gave her an encouraging hug and held her by the shoulders as he searched her eyes with his. “Have you told anyone yet?” he asked.

“There hasn’t been an opportunity, but Andee’s just there, seeing that woman off . . .”

“And here’s Helen,” he added, spotting the lawyer on her way toward them.

After greeting Henry, Helen turned to Marcy. “Archie’s very keen that I give you this before we go into court.”

As Marcy took the letter her insides swirled into a chaos of nerves and concern, and a wrenching disappointment in herself for not having enough mettle to follow her conscience. She almost didn’t want to read the letter, but how could she not?

By the time she’d finished Andee had returned to the group, and Henry was taking out a handkerchief for Marcy to dry her eyes.

“Is everything all right?” Andee asked apprehensively.

“A letter from Archie,” Helen explained.

Marcy passed it to Andee and as Andee read it she explained what it said to Henry. “He thinks I shouldn’t address the jury,” she told him. “He says he understands how hard it’ll be for me, so, to use his words, he wants to cut me loose from feeling that I have to do any more.”

Henry searched her eyes carefully, apparently sensing what was going through her mind.

“It sounds as though he’s giving up,” she murmured, and knowing she couldn’t allow that to happen, that she’d forever feel ashamed of her cowardice if she didn’t speak up for him, she added, “I think we’ll forget about everything we discussed last night.”

Henry’s expression showed his understanding, although he still looked worried.

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him, telling herself she would. “If you could go and explain things to Claudia and Jasmine, being careful of what you say in front of Maria, I’ll have a quick chat with Andee and Helen before we go in.”

THE MORNING WAS taken up with character witnesses for Archie—an old sports teacher who described his young student’s gift with a football, and how sorry he was that Archie hadn’t attended school regularly. An ex-headmaster who spoke stiffly, although positively, about Archie’s willingness to learn and ability to stay out of trouble while in school in spite of the company he kept. Then came the owner of a car-repair shop who Archie had occasionally worked for and who’d have been happy to take him on as an apprentice if Archie had wanted it. It was generally known by all three men that Archie’s home life was chaotic, possibly even abusive, but none could claim that they’d stepped in to help in any way.