“You look better without it,” Judy said. “More clean-cut.” Billy put his finger to his lip, and Gary had the fleeting impression that something was wrong. He was about to say something when an officer with a walkie-talkie and an earphone came up, took Billy’s arm and said the sheriff wanted Milligan brought down to the second floor.

“Wait a minute,” Gary said. “The trial’s on this floor.”

“I don’t know what’s going on, sir,” the deputy said, “but the sheriff wants him brought down immediately.”

“Wait here,” Gary told Judy. “I’ll go down with him and see what’s going on.”

He got into the elevator with Billy and the deputy, but when the doors opened at the second floor and he stepped out, Gary saw what it was. A flashbulb went off. It was a photographer and a reporter from the Columbus Dispatch.

“What the hell is this?” Gary shouted. “Do I look dumb to you? I won’t stand for this.”

The reporter explained that they wanted to take some photographs and hoped to get pictures not showing the manacles. The sheriff, he said, had okayed it.

“The hell with that,” Gary snapped. “You have no right to do this to my client. ” He turned Billy around and led him back to the elevator.

The deputy took them up and directed them to the holding room outside the court of common pleas.

Dorothy Turner and Stella Karolin came into the holding room, hugged Billy and calmed him. But when they left to go into the courtroom and Billy was alone with the officer, he began to tremble and gripped the sides of the chair.

“All right, Milligan,” the officer said. “You can go into the courtroom now.”

Gary noticed that when Billy was led in, the sketch artists all stared at him. Then, one by one, they picked up their erasers and started rubbing. He smiled. They were erasing the mustache.

“Your Honor,” said Gary Schweickart as he approached the bench, “both the prosecution and the defense are now agreed that there is no need to call witnesses nor to put Mr Milligan on the stand. The facts of the case will be read into the record as stipulations, agreed upon by both sides.”

Judge Flowers consulted his notes. “You are not contesting the charges nor denying that your client committed the crimes he is charged with, except for the first count of sexual assault. ” “That’s right, Your Honor, but we plead not guilty by reason of insanity.”

“Mr. Yavitch, do you plan to contest the findings of the psychiatrists from Southwest Community Mental Health Center and Harding Hospital?"

Yavitch rose. “No, Your Honor. The prosecution agrees to the evidence presented by Dr. Harding, Dr. Turner, Dr. Karolin and Dr. Wilbur, supporting the defendants mental condition at the time the crimes were committed.”

Judy Stevenson read the defense testimony, taken by deposition, into the court record. As she read to the hushed courtroom, she glanced at Billy from time to time and saw how pale his face was. She hoped the pain of hearing all this wouldn’t make him unfuse.