After Anna(81)

I know that, she was a mistake, it was after Karen –

Stop using Karen for an excuse! I’m so sick of hearing about your grief! How inconsolable you were! I’m the one who picked up the pieces! And now, when I finally get what I want, my own daughter coming home, this is how you repay me? This is what you do? Attack her in a bathroom?

No, I’m telling you, don’t connect these things –

How can I not, Noah? I thought you never lied to me, but you lied to me tonight. That text is proof!

I did lie to you about that, but I’m not lying about Anna –

Liars lie, Noah, that’s what they do! I don’t know what happened to you. I don’t know if you’re going through a midlife crisis. I don’t know if the fact that I brought Anna home made you crazy, maybe got you thinking about young women again. Maggie’s lips had curled into a sneer of revulsion. Noah, you’re forty-three! A father. A stepfather. It’s disgusting! She’s underage! I should turn you in to the police, do you know that?

Maggie, wait! Noah had said, panicky. He’d taken a step toward her but she’d moved back into the hallway. Maggie, listen, you’re getting this wrong. I’ve never lied to you before –

Before when? Before tonight? Before Jordan? Before Anna?

Honey, you can’t, you have to believe me –

The hell I do! Maggie had pointed a shaking finger at him, crying harder. Get out of this house tonight, Noah! I don’t care where you go! Go see Jordan! Bring her some effing carbohydrates!

Maggie, no, please –

I don’t want you in this house! I need to think and I need to talk to my daughter!

Maggie, please, just let me explain –

There’s nothing more to explain. You don’t have anything more to say, do you? Maggie had put her hands on her hips, her eyes boring into him. She’d been looking at him as if she’d never seen him before.

Maggie, stop, slow down, I’m not what you think –

That’s what I’m worried about. Now get out!

‘I have no further questions, thank you, Ms Evans.’ Linda turned to Judge Gardner, and Thomas rose.

‘Your Honor, I have cross-examination.’

‘Proceed.’ Judge Gardner gestured, and Linda returned to her seat as Thomas came forward.

‘Ms Evans, you testified that you found certain threads of the victim’s on Dr Alderman, and conversely, you found certain threads of Dr Alderman’s on the victim, isn’t that correct?’

‘Yes.’

‘It’s true, isn’t it, that your experience and expertise do not reveal to you how those fibers were exchanged, now do they?’

‘That’s true,’ Evans answered, after a moment.

‘And in your expert opinion, isn’t it possible that those fibers could have been exchanged while Dr Alderman was engaged in efforts to resuscitate Anna?’

‘Yes.’

‘You also testified that you found certain hairs of Anna’s on Dr Alderman, and conversely, Dr Alderman’s hairs were also found on Anna, isn’t that correct?’

‘Yes.’

‘And again, in your expert opinion, isn’t it possible that those hairs could have been exchanged while Dr Alderman was engaged in attempts to resuscitate Anna?’

‘Yes,’ Evans answered after a moment.

‘Your Honor, I have no further questions,’ Thomas said, turning away.

Noah felt like cheering, but he kept it inside. Thomas had scored off an important witness.

But Noah didn’t know if it was enough to save him.





Chapter Fifty-six


Maggie, Before

Maggie sat in the backyard in the dark, having texted Kathy and asked her to call ASAP. She could imagine what Kathy would be doing right now, hurrying the boys to bed, letting the dog out one last time, and twisting the deadbolt on her front door, believing she had locked the danger outside, keeping her family safe. Maggie would’ve been doing the same things, assuming that the bad guys were outside, somewhere else, not under her roof. But she would never think that again.

Maggie eased back on the chaise lounge, clutching her phone. The barbecue smells hung in the air, and the lanterns were still lit, strung from tree to tree along the back fence. The folding chairs and card tables had been put away in the garage, and the cast-iron racks rested atop the grill, since Noah always insisted on cleaning them. It was almost impossible to believe that a man so picky about a barbecue grill could be the same man who would molest his stepdaughter.

Maggie couldn’t believe she was thinking about a divorce, but she was. She loved Noah, or who she thought Noah was, but the foundation of their marriage was shifting beneath her very feet, like a domestic earthquake, the tectonic plates of their very lives, disjointed and broken.

Suddenly her phone rang, and the screen lit up with a picture of Kathy in a tiara, from her last birthday. Maggie picked up. ‘Kath –’

‘OMG, that party was so great! I’m so happy for you!’ Kathy sounded like she expected a gossipy rehash, juicy fun for them both.

‘Thanks, but something’s the matter.’

‘What’s up?’

‘It’s bad. Very bad. Are you somewhere you can talk?’

‘Yes.’ Kathy’s voice darkened. ‘What’s going on?’