Dad takes hold of my right wrist and squeezes. “He will. You just keep coming to court. We’ll see how much damage a couple of old men can do.”

The glint in his eye almost makes me believe, but then I remember how the jury looked when Major Powers spit on his chest. Before I can speak again, he turns to the deputy and says, “Let’s go, Jimmy. Back to the trenches.”

“Stay right on my ass, Doc. Whole courthouse is full of freaks today.”

“I’m with you. Lead on.”

Chapter 41

When court resumes, Shad stuns me by calling Walt Garrity as his next witness. It takes a few seconds for me to realize the brilliance of this move, but I do, just in time to explain it to my mother.

“Shad expects Quentin to call Walt to refute Major Powers’s account of what happened in the ambulance, so he’s doing it himself. This way he can guide the questioning. See? Judge Elder just gave Shad permission to treat Walt as a hostile witness. That means Shad can lead Walt where Shad wants him to go. Plus, Shad can make it painfully clear that Walt’s on Dad’s side. The irony is, Quentin had no intention of calling Walt.”

“But Quentin can cross-examine him, right?”

“Quentin could have cross-examined Major Powers, too.”

Mom closes her eyes and braces herself for whatever is coming.

“Captain Garrity,” Shad begins, “you heard the testimony of Major Powers about what happened in that ambulance on the night of November thirtieth, 1950.”

The weathered old Ranger looks as though he is bursting to tell his version of what happened that night. “I did.”

“And does your recollection of that night differ in any significant way from the account Major Powers related?”

“As to the sequence of events, no. The character of events was a bit different than he portrayed.”

“How so?”

“The major’s story reminded me of our old reports in the Texas Rangers.”

“Back before computers?”

“Back when we rode horses.”

Several spectators laugh, but Walt wasn’t trying to be funny.

“A typical report might read: ‘Pursued robbery suspect south-southeast for three days. Cornered him near Terlingua. Shot suspect next day after altercation with associates. Returned to El Paso.’ It hits the high spots, but it don’t exactly cover the subtleties of the thing.”

“Well, that’s why I’ve called you up here.”

“Is it?” Walt looks skeptical.

“Yes, sir. Please feel free to add anything you believe Major Powers should have included.”

“Well, first off, the major wasn’t in a position to make the same judgments Tom and I were about those men. Powers had no medical training, beyond survival school for pilots. Even if he’d had training, he had limited mobility, and he suffered a concussion when the ambulance went over the cliff.”