“Our department is going to thoroughly investigate these allegations and determine whether anything like the witnesses say happened. But my focus, again, is on Officer Bermudez and what happened to her.”

He recognized it and knew it. In others—clients, witnesses, or sometimes adversaries, he had seen or heard it: A gesture, a phrase, or a tone which exposed unintended truth in the beat of a second.

When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy, And the dimpling stream runs laughing by; When the air does laugh with our merry wit, And the green hill laughs with the noise of it.

Salt waters shall be found in the sweet, and all friends shall destroy one another; then shall wit hide itself, and understanding withdraw itself into his secret chamber-

John F. Kennedy responded, as he often did when at his best, skillfully mixing dollops of wit with, self-deprecation, and the principle of not-really-going-near-the-question.

“We set up a little chapel in our civic center. Our mayor officiates, and a member of the Inner Circle is on hand to witness. Sometimes Phil makes an appearance, too.”

“You've got dna evidence, multiple witnesses so it makes sense to file a motion right at the beginning so your investigator can get out there and pound the pavement.”

“There's alibi witnesses other than Charlene, and there's phone records. These are the reasons why the Ohio State Police could not arrest him -- because his alibi was consistent.”

He had talked to hundreds of witnesses. And he knew that if someone felt pressured, they would try too hard, and their imagination would fill what their memory couldn't recover.

Severed and gone, so many years! And art thou still so dear to me, That throbbing heart and burning tears Can witness how I cling to thee?