After Anna(35)

‘Oh, right. I had my phone in my hand and I turned on the flashlight and shined it on her face.’

‘Why didn’t you mention the flashlight just now?’

‘I forgot about it. I said it before, when I testified on direct.’

Linda arched an eyebrow. ‘You mean, you mentioned it when your lawyer took you through your questions, but not now?’

‘Objection.’ Thomas rose, frowning. ‘That comment is testimony, Your Honor.’

‘Sustained.’ Judge Gardner waved Thomas back down. ‘Counsel, please rephrase.’

‘I’ll withdraw the question,’ Linda said, though she had made her point. ‘Dr Alderman, are you saying that you examined her on the porch?’

‘Well, not examined, but I looked at her, and I could see that she had been strangled.’

‘You hadn’t seen the corpse of a person who had been strangled before, had you?’

‘No, I hadn’t. But it was obvious.’ Noah told himself to stop volunteering. He realized he was trying to explain to Maggie, his audience of one. But he was getting himself in deeper and deeper.

‘Isn’t it true that you knew Anna had been strangled because you strangled her?’

‘No.’

‘Then how specifically did you know she had been strangled?’

Noah hesitated. He didn’t want to say it in front of Maggie. ‘I just knew. It was obvious. Her body was still and her eyes were fixed. She was motionless, as in death.’

‘But if you were only going by the stillness, couldn’t she have died of a heart attack or an aneurysm?’

‘No, that wasn’t what it was.’ Noah knew he sounded evasive, because he was being evasive. He had to say something. ‘The vessels were broken in her eyes. The petechiae, the capillaries in the whites of her eyes, had burst.’

‘So now we’re hearing that her capillaries were broken, but you didn’t mention that before, did you?’

‘Uh, no, I guess not.’ Noah couldn’t imagine how Maggie felt right now.

‘Dr Alderman, aren’t you making this up as you go along?’

‘No.’

‘But you didn’t mention it in your direct testimony, did you?’

‘No.’ Thomas hadn’t thought it was necessary. They hadn’t gone into detail about Noah’s actions on the porch. It wouldn’t have helped him.

‘Why didn’t you mention that before?’

‘I . . . must have forgotten.’

‘You’re so forgetful today, aren’t you?’

‘Objection, Your Honor.’ Thomas rose. ‘Is this a question or harassment?’

Linda snorted. ‘It’s cross-examination, Your Honor. It’s within the bounds of permissible.’

Judge Gardner nodded. ‘Overruled.’

‘Dr Alderman, didn’t you observe anything on her neck?’

‘Not at first. I saw her eyes first, but then I turned on the flashlight on my phone and then I saw some pinkish swelling around her neck and that confirmed it was strangulation.’

‘So, you find your beloved stepdaughter strangled on the porch, and what you do is take out your flashlight and visually examine her?’

‘Yes.’ Noah knew it sounded bad. It had sounded better on direct. Thomas had ordered it for him, chronologically. He was getting confused, and Maggie must have been heartbroken, hearing this testimony.

‘But didn’t you cry out in horror?’

‘No.’

‘Didn’t you shout for help?’

‘No, I’m a doctor. I am help.’ Noah felt good saying it, and he saw a flicker of an approving smile from Thomas.

‘Dr Alderman, do you recall what you said to 911 or do I need to replay the 911 tape to refresh your recollection?’

‘No, I . . . recall.’ Noah felt himself falter, though he remembered exactly what he had said. He didn’t want to say it in front of Maggie. He reached for his plastic cup of water. His hand shook, and he knew the jurors noticed.

Linda signaled to her paralegal. ‘I’ll replay the 911 tape and ask you some questions about it.’

‘No . . . I can recall it.’ Noah wanted to spare Maggie. She never listened to 911 tapes when they came on the news. She thought it was sad and invasive. Now this 911 tape was about her daughter’s murder. She would never have heard it before. Noah repeated, ‘I can recall it, you don’t have to –’

Linda waved Noah into silence, as the 911 audiotape began to play.





Chapter Twenty-two


Maggie, Before

It was midnight by the time Maggie closed the kitchen, pressing the dishwasher’s Start button, like the period at the end of a busy day. They had stowed Anna’s towels and toiletries in her room upstairs, and the bedroom furniture was getting delivered tomorrow. They had used the new sheets to make a temporary bed out of the couch in the family room, and she was in there now, watching Saturday Night Live. Noah was upstairs, tucking Caleb in. It was way past his bedtime, but he’d been excited to help with Anna, and neither Maggie nor Noah wanted to discourage him.

Maggie left the kitchen and entered the family room, where Anna was on her laptop, propped up on the couch. ‘How are you doing, honey?’