After Anna(20)

‘I want to testify.’

‘You’ll get killed up there.’ Thomas took another big bite, turning his head again.

‘I’m ready. We went over and over it. I’m good to go.’

‘I prepared you, but you’re not bulletproof. And she can’t wait for me to put you up there. She’ll eat you alive.’ Thomas squirted ketchup on the French fries.

‘But we don’t have anything else.’ Noah finished the first half of his cheesesteak, wolfing it down.

‘They have the burden of proving their case beyond a reasonable doubt, and I hurt their witnesses on cross. That’s the way we’re going to do it.’ Thomas picked up some French fries.

‘But we need witnesses.’

‘No, we don’t, I told you. I’ve won on the burden plenty of times. I always say it, “bank on the burden.” I tell my associates, “bank on the burden.” My secretary even put it in a needlepoint pillow.’ Thomas chewed away. ‘It’s not like on TV, Noah. Most defendants don’t have witnesses unless they’re alibi witnesses. And there are very few character witnesses, which are never effective. Juries discount them. Every time I see them on the witness list, I think, that’s not a witness list, it’s a witless list.’

‘Lawyer humor.’

‘Hey, it’s all I got.’

‘So put me up. We’ve rehearsed it.’

Thomas cringed. ‘We didn’t rehearse. We prepared.’

‘What’s the difference? Rehearsed, prepared? Coached, studied –’

‘Never say coach. I didn’t coach you. I prepared you.’

‘Whatever.’ Noah straightened as much as he could with one hand cuffed to the chair. ‘I’m going to testify on my own behalf. I’m good to go.’

‘We’ve been over this.’

‘But we never resolved it. Now, we have to. I’m going up there. You take me through the direct examination we prepared, then I can deal with Linda on cross.’

Thomas shook his head, exhaling a heavy sigh that expanded his broad chest. ‘What’s your blood type?’

‘B negative. Why?’

‘Write it on your boots. You’re gonna need a transfusion.’ Thomas’s phone pinged with a text alert, and he swiped the screen. ‘Oh, yes! We caught a break. Isn’t this your wife? My paralegal spotted her.’

‘Where?’ Noah leaned over, and Thomas passed the phone across the table. On the screen was a photo of Maggie, sitting in the driver’s seat of her car, her head turned away like she was on the phone.

‘She’s in the garage across the street, right now.’ Thomas shifted forward, urgent. ‘Noah, I should put her on the stand. She’s already on our witness list. She’s already been served with a subpoena. She can’t be forced to testify against you, but she can for you.’

‘No,’ Noah answered, firmly. ‘She wouldn’t be a good witness for us anyway. She hates me now.’

‘I can make her into a good witness for us. I could get her to say that she isn’t totally sure you did it. I could get her to say what a great guy you are, a good husband and father. She thought that once, and I know I could get her to say it. That would be a home run!’

‘You just said they discount character witnesses. She’s my wife.’

‘But she’s also the mother. All the difference in the world. If she said she didn’t think you did it, you could walk out of here a free man. Noah, please!’

‘But Linda would get to cross-examine her, right?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then the answer is no.’ Noah felt his gut clench. ‘You’re worried about how I’m going to handle the cross-examination, how do you think she’s going to handle it? Anna was her daughter, Thomas. She loved her. And she loved me.’ He looked down at the photo of Maggie with a pang. He’d been inside that car so many times. She called it her office on wheels. She kept everything in the side doors, gum, napkins, perfume, and moisturizer. He’d even caught her putting Cetaphil lotion on her legs at a stoplight. They’d laughed and laughed. It hurt to see her, even in the photo. ‘What’s she doing?’

‘Who knows?’ Thomas glanced at the wall clock. ‘Dennis is waiting to hear from me. He can escort her over. We can even send over a deputy if need be.’

Noah looked up, recoiling. ‘You’re out of your mind if you think I’d let you –’

‘Maybe she wants to testify, you never know.’ Thomas threw up his hands in frustration. ‘She’s here, isn’t she?’

‘That’s not why she came.’

Thomas’s phone pinged again, another text coming in, and reflexively, Noah swiped the screen to see it. It was a second photo, taken from a different vantage point. The view was of Maggie’s car through the windshield, and Noah realized what Maggie was doing inside the car. She wasn’t on the phone at all. She was crying. The realization stabbed like a knife. Noah had done this to her. He had ruined her life.

‘Thomas, call your paralegal off. Tell him to stop taking pictures of my wife. She deserves her privacy.’ Noah sent Thomas’s phone skidding back across the table. ‘Put me up. She wants to see me testify. She wants to hear what I’ll say.’