After Anna(38)

‘Yes.’

‘And surely you were horrified, were you not?’

‘Yes.’

‘And you must’ve been grief-stricken upon realizing that such a young girl, your own stepdaughter, was dead, were you not?’

‘Yes.’

‘But you expressed none of those emotions in the 911 tape, did you?’

Noah hesitated. ‘No.’

Linda half-smiled. ‘There’s no excited utterance of the type one would expect from a shocked, horrified, and grief-stricken stepfather, is there?’

‘Well, no.’

‘You didn’t say, “oh my God!” or “oh no!”, did you?’

‘No.’

‘You didn’t cry, did you?’

‘No.’

‘You spoke in complete sentences, did you not?’

‘Yes.’

‘You asked coherent questions, did you not?’

‘Yes.’ Noah could hear the jurors shifting behind him. Thomas would have warned him against it, but he had to offer some explanation. ‘I had those emotions but I kept them inside. I’m a professional, a doctor. I think I reacted as a doctor would.’

Linda recoiled. ‘You mean that it didn’t make any difference to you that this patient, this dead body, was your stepdaughter?’

‘No, I mean, uh, that isn’t what I meant. I meant that I went into doctor mode. I felt those things, those emotions, but I went into doctor mode.’

‘Yet for a man in “doctor mode,” you seemed to forget how to perform CPR, didn’t you?’

Noah blinked. ‘Uh, maybe I needed reminding. I knew the procedure had changed. I hadn’t performed CPR in the field. I’m not certified.’

‘It’s interesting, don’t you think, that there is no sound of you grunting or breathing hard, as someone would while they were performing chest compressions to resuscitate the body of his own stepdaughter?’

‘I don’t know why I wasn’t grunting.’ Noah was forgetting to answer only yes or no. It wasn’t so simple.

‘Dr Alderman, didn’t you text your stepdaughter, lure her to your home, and when she spurned your sexual advances yet again, kill her with your bare hands?’

‘No.’

‘Right, I keep forgetting, you found her strangled and you were shocked, horrified, and grief-stricken, correct?’

‘Correct.’

‘Dr Alderman, you testified earlier that after Anna’s Petition for a PFA was filed against you, your wife asked you to leave the house, isn’t that correct?’

‘Yes.’ Noah couldn’t think about Maggie now. He understood that she had been caught in the middle.

‘Isn’t it true that after word got around about Anna’s Petition for a PFA, some of your patients stopped seeing you?’

‘Yes.’ Noah cringed. He had gotten cancellations the next day. Social media had spread the word.

‘So isn’t it true that after Anna’s Petition for a PFA, you lost your wife, your house, and some of your patients?’

‘Yes.’ Noah didn’t want to relive it, or make Maggie relive it, but there it was.

‘Your wife is not testifying on your behalf in this trial, is she?’

‘No.’

‘Nor has she come to court to stand by you, has she?’

‘No, she’s not here.’ Noah didn’t hesitate. Maggie was still in the courtroom.

‘So.’ Linda crossed her arms. ‘Isn’t it true that after Anna filed her Petition for a PFA against you, you were angry at her?’

‘No.’

‘Are you seriously asking this jury to believe that despite the fact that Anna cost you so much, you had no negative feelings toward her?’

‘Yes.’ Noah didn’t know what else to say. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. He couldn’t see Thomas at counsel table. Linda was blocking him again.

Linda bore down, narrowing her eyes. ‘But you said Anna was a liar, correct?’

‘Yes.’

‘Are you saying that you were fine with that?’

Noah could see the gallery looking at each other. Maggie would know he was lying. ‘Well, uh, no, not fine with it.’

‘So you had some negative feelings toward Anna, didn’t you?’

Noah hesitated. ‘Some. Yes.’

‘You were angry at her, weren’t you?’

‘Some.’ Noah knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as Linda’s eyes lit up.

‘You had more than some anger, didn’t you?’

‘No.’

‘Dr Alderman, weren’t you furious with Anna for filing that Petition and lying about you?’

‘No.’

‘And weren’t you furious with Anna for rejecting your sexual advances?’

‘No.’

Linda stepped closer to the stand. ‘Didn’t you lure Anna to your home by text?’

‘No.’

‘Didn’t you make yet another sexual advance on her on the porch of your house?’

‘No.’

‘And when she spurned your advance yet again, didn’t all that anger come to the fore and you strangled her with your bare hands?’