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WITNESS FOR THE DEFENCE

show his frustration. But there was nothing more he could do.

As soon as Manuelo gave in, I felt a wave of anger surge over me. I was ready to yell out, ‘But he’s the brother-in-law!’ I didn’t care if there was a law preventing it. I wouldn’t have cared if I got in trouble; once everyone knew that Colonel Lanza was a relative of the Velascos, they would know the truth. But Manuelo sensed what I was about to do and grabbed my knee.

‘No! Thomas, don’t do it!’ he hissed. ‘There’s no point.’

I calmed myself down. He was probably right. Although they had different surnames, the judges must have known the colonel was related to the Velascos. Why else would he have wanted to avoid answering the question? I decided not to make things worse for myself, as I had in my first case. The judge at my first trial had never returned my Queen of England ring.

I later looked up the statute. It was a law designed to protect the identity of family members of witnesses who testified in drug cases. Whoever drafted it hadn’t considered that the family members might be the ones on trial.