“Another thing the major left out . . . them two boys held hands while we done it. Held hands and prayed till they fell unconscious. Not one day of my life has passed that I don’t see those boys in my mind. But I’ll tell you this: Even if the Lord sends me to everlasting perdition for what I done that night, I know I did right by ’em. Tom, too. I know that in my heart. Their own mamas wouldn’t have done no different.”

Shad looks astounded by this assertion. “Do you really believe that, Captain Garrity?”

“Son, if I didn’t believe it, I’d have shot myself in the head thirty years ago.”

Shad appears to have no idea how to respond to this. “Permission to approach the witness, Your Honor?”

Judge Elder nods.

Shad walks away from the podium and circles slowly toward Walt. “You said ‘we’ during that description. But did you inject either soldier with a lethal morphine dose?”

“I offered to, but my dominant hand was numb from the broken shoulder. Tom volunteered to do it, to make it easier on the boys. And on me, too, probably.”

“I see. And the unconscious man?”

“Like the major said, Tom didn’t want to inject him. But one conscious boy knew that fella and said the boy wouldn’t want to wake up alone with a North Korean’s bayonet in his gizzard, if by some miracle he did wake up. I agreed with them, and Tom finally went on and did it.”

“I see. So . . . you don’t believe that Tom Cage committed murder on that night?”

“No, sir. I mean, yes—that’s right. It wasn’t murder. It was like putting down a horse with a broken leg. Three horses. They were hopeless cases.”

“Yet Major Powers survived that night.”

“Yeah,” Walt says with what sounds like resentment. “That’s another thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Another thing the major left out.”

Shad looks wary now. “I think we’ve heard enough to clarify what happened in the ambulance.”

“Well, I think you’re missing a key detail, Mr. Johnson.”

I remember Quentin’s insistence that the jury hates to be denied any part of a story. Shad knows trouble is coming, but he also senses that he shouldn’t resist. Now that the door is open, Quentin can easily bring out whatever Walt wants to say during cross. Better to bring it out himself and try to steer the questioning. “Please enlighten us, Captain.”

Walt gives a tight smile. “Major Powers wasn’t like the other wounded in that ambulance.”

“How do you mean? He had the lightest wounds?”

“No. He did have the lightest wounds, but since he couldn’t walk, that wouldn’t have mattered. Except for another fact.”

“What’s that?”