"Brixton, Danvy - Dead Hands On The Wheel (Avenger 4203)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brixton Danby)

"You didn't want Landi to drive in the race," he said. "His appearance at the last
moment cost you a fortune, didn't it?"

"Yes," I admitted; then an inspiration came to me, and I added: "But you've got to
prove that Landi didn't drive in that race before you can say I had any hand in killing
him. Because if I killed him in the morning, he couldn't have driven the race in the
afternoon!"

Anger blazed in Sweeney's eyes for a moment, as he glared at me.

"That's all!" he said, and sat down.

The lawyers summed up, and the jury was charged by His Honor, and they filed out to
the jury room, looking very wise and important.


I sat in the prisoners' pen with my lawyer, Joe Larkin, and his two clerks. They cheered
me up all they could, but I suffered the tortures of the damned.

The jury was out for hours--four hours, I learned later. But it seemed like four
hundred before the court officer came and announced that the jury was ready to give its
verdict.

I returned to the courtroom. I stood up and faced the jury. The foreman stood up,
too.

"Have you reached your verdict?" the clerk asked.

"We have," the foreman answered.

"What is your verdict?"

The foreman cleared his throat. "If your honor pleases," he said nervously, "the
jury disagrees and asks to be discharged."

The judge beckoned to Joe Larkin and the D.A., Sweeney. They came up in front of
the bench and conferred with him for several minutes.

Then the judge said: "This jury stands discharged, with the thanks of the court.
The prisoner will be remanded, without bail!"


Joe Larkin came and laid a hand on my shoulder. "That's as good as an acquittal,
Wally!"

But Wilbur Sweeney favored me with a scowl as he passed me. "You were lucky to have
such a jury of fatheads, Nuber! Next time, I'll get a first-degree conviction--and you'll
get the hot seat!"

Joe Larkin said: "The court's paroled you in my custody for a couple of hours, Wally.