After Anna(40)

‘Of course I need an Allen wrench. My days of Allen wrenches will never end.’

‘How’s the bed?’

‘Great.’

‘Does Anna like it?’

‘Loves it.’ Noah found the Allen wrench and stood up, eyeing the fancy copper tray. ‘Look at you. The hostess with the mostest.’

‘I know, right?’

Noah glanced over his shoulder, then lowered his voice. ‘Anna is telling Caleb that she’s buying a Range Rover. Are you just going to let her go buy a car? Doesn’t she have to ask our permission?’

‘I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it.’ Maggie liked to be more spontaneous than Noah, who did everything step-by-step. Their difference in temperaments was by now a well-established fact, in the way of marriages. He was The Scientist, and she was The Italian, though she suspected that sometimes it sold her short.

‘Don’t we have to figure that out? She’s under our roof, so she has to follow our rules, doesn’t she?’

Maggie smiled. ‘It’s not like we have any rules about cars.’

‘We don’t let Caleb buy anything he wants with his money.’

‘He has $37.’

‘That’s not the point. It’s the principle. Can she just buy a car without our permission, even if she has the means? We’re a family. We should function like one.’

‘Can’t we talk about this later?’ Maggie glanced upstairs.

‘She shouldn’t get a Range Rover. I think there are used cars that are a better value, and even if she has the money, it might make sense to finance a car. The rates are low now, and it will teach her how to pay a monthly bill.’

‘We’ll see.’ Maggie reached for the tray, but Noah stopped her.

‘One more thing. Did she have a boyfriend at school?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘She must have dated, some.’

‘No, she didn’t.’ Maggie didn’t understand why he was asking. ‘It’s a girls’ school, remember? It’s not like she had a lot of opportunities.’

‘You sure? Because it seems like she would have boyfriends. She’s pretty.’

‘I know, but she didn’t date. I even talked to her therapist about it. She barely had any friends except the one. Jamie.’ Maggie leaned closer, not to be overheard. ‘I don’t think she’s had sex yet.’

Noah’s lips parted in surprise. ‘You think she’s a virgin?’

‘Shhh.’ Maggie glanced at the staircase. ‘Don’t make a big thing of it.’

‘I didn’t.’

‘Yes, you did. You looked surprised.’

‘I am, but I’m not making a big thing of it.’

‘Lower your voice, okay? And please don’t say anything to her.’

‘Of course I wouldn’t.’ Noah rolled his eyes, looking like Caleb. ‘But I don’t think she’s a virgin.’

‘Why not?’

‘I just don’t,’ Noah shot back, then seemed to catch himself.

‘What makes you say that? Do you know something I don’t?’

‘No, not at all.’

‘She’s only seventeen years old, Noah.’

‘Honey, lots of girls have sex before they’re seventeen these days. This is the age of selfies and duck lips.’

‘How do you know?’

‘I just do.’ Noah looked away again, and Maggie sensed the conversation was making him uncomfortable, which was odd. He didn’t shy away from sex talk, and if anything, he was more sexual than she was. Or maybe less tired. Or maybe a man.

‘What’s up with you?’

‘Nothing.’ Noah put the Allen wrench on the snack tray. ‘I’ll take this for you.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Not a problem.’ Noah left the kitchen with the tray, and Maggie followed, wondering why he was acting so strangely.





Chapter Twenty-five


Noah, After

TRIAL, DAY 5

Linda strode back to counsel table, picked up an exhibit, then returned to the stand, holding it close to her chest. Thomas had warned him that her holding-the-exhibit trick was intended to make him nervous, but it didn’t work because he was already nervous. He tried to see Maggie in the back of the gallery but he couldn’t. She had to be hiding from him. He didn’t blame her.

‘Dr Alderman, isn’t it true that you told the 911 dispatcher that you didn’t want to stay on the phone because you had to administer chest compressions?’

‘Yes.’

‘But isn’t it true that after you hung up with the dispatcher, you called your lawyer?’

Noah blinked. ‘Yes.’

‘So you were able to make another phone call and continue compressions, even though you told the 911 dispatcher that you could not?’

‘Uh . . . yes.’

‘Dr Alderman, I am going to show you Commonwealth Exhibit 48, which has already been introduced into evidence, and ask you, is it a copy of the phone calls you made from your phone on the night in question?’

‘It is.’ Noah looked down at the log with a sinking heart.

‘And this phone record shows that you spoke with 911 dispatch for one minute and ten seconds, isn’t that correct?’