Page 104 of Goodbye Girl

“I couldn’t tell you.”

“Was anyone else part of the conversation?”

“Yeah.”

“Who?”

“I don’t remember.”

Jack was jotting down the number of “I don’t remember” answers. The prosecutor continued.

“Do you recall how the issue of piracy came up?”

He sighed, as if he were looking back on the good ol’ days. “Like I said, we were on a boat in the Caribbean. Naturally, somebody started talking about the new Johnny Depp movie.”

“Do you recall which one?”

“I don’t know.Pirates of the Caribbeannumber thirty-two, or whatever it was.”

The same juror smiled. Paxton was connecting, which made it all the more imperative that Jack break that connection on cross.

“That movie is not about music piracy, is it?”

“No. But I mention the movie because that’s when one of the guys who worked on the boat pointed to a place along the shore. He told us they actually used to hang pirates there. In real life.”

“In real life. You mean not in the movie.”

“Right. In real life. Well, in the movie, too. Hanging pirates was the opening scene in the very firstPirates of the Caribbeanmovie.Curse of the Black Pearl, I think it was. Captain Jack sails past a string of hanging corpses. ‘Pirates, Be Ye Warned,’ the sign says.”

“Let’s focus on real life. Was this someone on the crew who made this remark?”

“Yeah. He worked on the boat.”

“Did he say anything more about these hangings of pirates in real life?”

“Yeah. He pointed to another spot in the harbor. He said—”

“Objection,” said Shaky’s lawyer. “Hearsay.”

Owens had the right response. “Judge, we’re not offering this testimony to prove that pirates were actually hanged in this particular spot. It’s only offered to show that these statements were made and, true or not, the defendants heard them.”

“Overruled,” said the judge.

Owens refocused. “Please continue, Mr. Paxton.”

“The guy pointed to the harbor. There’s hundreds of boats there these days. But there’s been pilings and piers there for hundreds of years. According to him, after these pirates were hanged, they chained the bodies to the pilings so sailors coming into the harbor could see them. It was supposed to scare them.”

The prosecutor glanced toward the table for the defense. “Did either Mr. Nichols or Ms. Nichols say anything in response?”

“Imani did.”

“What did she say?”

Jack wished he had a basis to object, but an out-of-court statement by a defendant was admissible against her.

“She said, ‘We should try that with music pirates.’”

“Did Mr. Nichols have any response?”