As he spoke again, he paced back and forth in front of the jury box. “That apartment house, ladies and gentlemen, was owned by Spalter Realty. The apartment from which the bullet was fired was vacant, awaiting renovation, as were most of the apartments in that building. The defendant had easy access to the keys. But that’s not all. You’ll hear damning testimony that Kay Spalter …” He stopped and pointed toward a woman seated at the defense table with her profile to the camera. “… that Kay Spalter was not only in that building the morning of the shooting, but was in the very apartment from which the bullet was fired at the exact time Carl Spalter was shot. Furthermore, you’ll hear eyewitness testimony that she entered that empty apartment alone and that she left it alone.”

He paused and shrugged, as if the facts of the case and the conviction those facts demanded were so obvious that there was no more to say. But then he continued. “The charge is attempted murder. But what does that legal term really mean? Consider this. The day before Carl was shot, he was full of life, full of wholesome energy and ambition. The day after he was shot … Well, just look. Take a good look at the man stuck in that wheelchair, propped up and held in place with metal braces and Velcro straps because the muscles that should be doing that job for him are now useless. Look into his eyes. What do you see? A man so battered by the hand of evil that he might be wishing he were dead? A man so devastated by the treachery of a loved one that he might be wishing he’d never been born?”

Again the off-screen voice broke in. “Objection!”

The judge cleared his throat. “Sustained.” His voice was a weary rumble. “Mr. Piskin, you’re over the line.”

“I apologize, Your Honor. I got a little carried away.”

“I suggest you carry yourself back.”

“Yes, Your Honor.” After seeming to gather his thoughts for a moment, he turned to the jury. “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a sad fact that Carl Spalter can no longer move or speak or communicate with us in any way, but the horror in that fixed expression on his face tells me that he’s fully aware of what happened to him, that he knows who did this to him, and that he has no doubt that there is in this world such a thing as Pure Evil. Remember, when you find Kay Spalter guilty of attempted murder, as I know you will, this—what you see here before you—this is the real meaning of that colorless legal phrase ‘attempted murder.’ This man in this wheelchair. This life crushed beyond hope of repair. Happiness extinguished. This is the reality, dreadful beyond words.”

“Objection!” cried the voice.

“Mr. Piskin …” rumbled the judge.

“I’m finished, Your Honor.”