4

“Would you state your full name and spell the last, please?” the clerk asked.

“Esther Pegalosi. P-e-g-a-l-o-s-i.”

“Thank you. Would you take the stand?”

Esther stepped up into the witness box. She was wearing a new gray knit outfit that Roy had purchased for her. Roy had also sent her to the beauty parlor and her hair felt clean and looked just right. She straightened her skirt when she sat down and absent-mindedly touched the armature of the glasses that Roy had made her wear. She focused her attention on Mr. Heider, as she had been told. She would not have had the courage to look at Bobby anyway.

Her hands began to shake and she grabbed her left hand with her right to stop them. There were so many people in the courtroom. She had been very frightened when Roy and the other policemen led her down the corridor to the courtroom. There had been so many people squeezing around her, pushing and shoving. The reporters all talked at once and she couldn’t make out any of their questions. An old woman had tried to touch her. The noise in the corridor sounded like the rumbling of a train approaching in a darkened tunnel.

But her fear in the corridor had been nothing to the fear she felt when the courtroom door closed behind her and she had to walk alone down the row of seats through the bar of the court and to the witness stand. She had fastened her eyes on the judge. He seemed very stern and aloof. She could feel his presence above her and to the right, hovering like God, watching her for lies he would punish with terrible swiftness.

“Mrs. Pegalosi, do you reside in Portsmouth?” Philip Heider asked.

“Yes.”

“How long have you lived in Portsmouth?”

“All my life.”

“I’m sorry, Your Honor,” a voice from in front and to her left said, “but I can’t hear the witness.”

“Yes, Mrs. Pegalosi,” the judge’s voice boomed from above, “you are going to have to speak up so that Mr. Shaeffer and the jurors can hear you.”

Esther felt ashamed, as if she had done something wrong. She wanted to speak up, but her throat was so dry. Involuntarily, she ran her tongue across her lips.

“Perhaps we could have a glass of water for Mrs. Pegalosi,” Mr. Heider said.

The clerk filled a clear glass with water from the judge’s pitcher and handed it to her. She was grateful for the excuse to put off talking.

“Were you attending high school in 1960 and 1961?” Heider asked when she was ready.

“Yes.”

“Did you hang around with a gang called the Cobras?”

“Objection, Your Honor, to the characterization as a gang,” Shaeffer said.

“Oh, Your Honor,…” Heider began.

“We’ve been through this before, Mr. Heider,” Judge Samuels said.

“Very well. Did you associate with a group known as the Cobras?”

“Yes.”

“Was the defendant a member of this group?” Heider asked, putting emphasis on the last word.

“Yes.”

“And his brother, Billy Coolidge?”

“Yes.”

“And Roger Hessey?”

Esther nodded.

“Now I am going to call your attention to the evening of the twenty-fifth day of November, 1960, and I ask you whether or not at this time you have an independent recollection of what you did that evening.”

Esther could hear a hum in the courtroom. She moved her head, because her neck was beginning to ache from tension and she saw Bobby. He was sitting up in his chair and he was looking right at her. She averted her eyes.

“Mrs. Pegalosi,” Heider repeated.

“Yes.”

“You do have an independent memory?”

“Yes.”

“Will you please relate to this Court and this jury what you did that evening.”

“I left my house around six-thirty and went to Bob’s, because…”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but what is Bob’s?”

“It’s for hamburgers, shakes. A restaurant.”

“And did members of the Cobras hang out there?”

“Yes.”

“Go on.”

“Roger was there and Billy and Bobby.”

“That is Roger Hessey and the Coolidge brothers?”

“Yes. Anyway, we sat around and then Billy or Bobby said we should crash a party. Roger didn’t want to go, but he finally did.”

“Whose party was this?”

“Alice Fay.”

“When you say ‘crash,’ what do you mean?”

“Well, we weren’t invited, you know, because those kids didn’t like us that much. But Billy said let’s go anyway.”

“What kind of ‘kids’ were Alice Fay and her friends?”

“They were rich…richer than us. They didn’t like the Cobras.”

“Did Billy and Bobby like rich kids?”

“Billy said…”

“Objection. Billy Coolidge is not on trial here.”

“Sustained,” Judge Samuels said.

“Just confine yourself to the defendant,” Heider said.

“No. Bobby didn’t like them. He thought they got everything so easy and didn’t deserve it.”

“What happened at the party?”

“We got there and right off Billy wanted to mess around. Roger got nervous, then he left and we had a fight. When I came back in, Billy went over to the table where they had a punch bowl and some food and there was a fight.”

“Who fought?”

“Bobby and Billy fought with Tommy Cooper, Alice’s boyfriend, and some of his friends.”

“What did the Coolidge brothers fight with?”

“Bobby was just punching, you know, with his hands. But Billy had a knife.”

“What kind of knife?”

“A switchblade knife.”

“Had you seen that knife before?”

“Sure. We all had. Billy was always bragging with it how…”

“Objection. Hearsay,” Mark Shaeffer said.

“Your Honor, we are not introducing these statements to prove the truth of the contents. We are trying to show that the defendant’s brother used this knife on occasion.”

“That’s not admissible, Your Honor. Other incidents may have occurred. We are talking about one alleged incident.”

“Yes, Mr. Heider. Let’s keep this to the events of that evening,” the judge ruled.

“Very well. When he was fighting with the knife, did Billy say anything?”

“He…he said he would cut one of the boys.”

“How did the fight end?”

“Some boys had Bobby down and Billy was waving the knife and Billy said to let Bobby up and we would go and they did.”

“When they left the party, how did Bobby and Billy act?”

“Bobby was pretty calm. He acted like he was just glad to get out. But Billy was furious. He was yelling about rich kids and such and when I said he had started it, he stopped the car and said how he would hit me and how the rich kids were worthless. I don’t know the exact words.”

“He was angry?”

“Very angry.”

“Where did you go from there?”

“We drove around and then Billy went into an all-night grocery and stole some wine. Then we went near a school and drank it and I got pretty drunk.”

“How much did you have to drink?”

“I don’t know. But it was a lot. I was sick when I came home.”

“What did you do after you drank the wine?”

Esther hesitated.

“Mrs. Pegalosi, did you hear the question?” the judge asked.

“We drove downtown.”

“Did you drive on Monroe Boulevard?”

“Objection, Your Honor. Counsel is leading the witness.”

“Yes, Mr. Heider, I will sustain Mr. Shaeffer’s objection.”

“Tell the jury what happened downtown.”

“We drove around downtown for a while. All the movies were letting out and there were crowds on the sidewalks and plenty of cars in the street just showing off or driving around.

“Then I said I wasn’t feeling well ’cause of the wine and Bobby said they should take me home. We drove up Monroe Boulevard. We came to a light and there was a car there with a boy and a girl in it and Billy said he knew the girl. He pulled alongside and raced his engine and the light changed and we started racing.”

“Did you see who was in the car you were racing?”

“No. Not then.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, Bobby had got in the back with me and he was, uh, he tried to, uh, you know, make out, and I was making out too, even though I wasn’t feeling so well. Then when the race started, it was real quick and I got scared and wouldn’t look.”