realizes with a sickening feeling.
What’s going to happen now?
As if in answer to her question, the judge bangs his gavel and says, ‘I’m calling a short recess. We’ll resume in twenty minutes.’
Stephanie and Patrick hurriedly retreat to a private room, ushered away by Lange, who closes the door behind them. His face is flushed. Stephanie is trying to make sense of what this might mean.
‘Sit down,’ he directs them.
They both promptly sit. He remains standing, looking down at Patrick, his expression severe. ‘Why didn’t you tell me about this before?’
‘I don’t like your tone,’ Patrick says, looking like he’s spoiling for a fight.
‘You have a lot more to worry about right now than my tone,’ the attorney replies sharply.
Stephanie watches her husband swallow; her chest is so tight it’s almost unbearable. But they don’t notice the distress she’s in; she’s become so good at hiding it.
‘It slipped my mind,’ Patrick says sullenly.
‘You expect me to believe that?’ the attorney says angrily.
Patrick remains stonily silent, refusing to look at his attorney.
‘Tell us what happened.’
‘She fell down the flight of stairs from the kitchen to the back door. She was tired and missed the top step when she was taking out the garbage.’
Stephanie puts a hand to her mouth, feels the bile rising in her throat. He’s never told any of them about this before. Why was Lindsey taking out the garbage? Why didn’t he take the garbage out for her? She was six and a half months pregnant. Patrick always takes the garbage out for her. Did he simply forget that she had fallen down the stairs and been to the hospital a few weeks before she died? Did he not see how damning that might look? She wonders if he’s lying.
‘Where were you?’
‘I was in the kitchen.’
‘Were you arguing?’ Lange asks.
Patrick looks up at his lawyer coldly. ‘No. I wasn’t anywhere near her. She fell on her own.’
Stephanie looks at Patrick’s attorney. He looks grim, and her heart sinks further. She knows, now, that they’re in trouble. She feels as if she’s floating up, out of her body. She knows tiredness can wreak havoc with her perceptions, and it’s almost a relief, to feel as if she’s floating away, away from what’s going on here in this claustrophobic room in the courthouse. She wonders in a strange, detached way if they argued, if they fought, despite her husband’s denials, and whether he pushed his wife down the stairs. She knows his lawyer is wondering the same thing. Patrick has never been violent with her. Was he violent with his first wife? Is it possible? The moment of silence seems to go on for ever, as if they are all poised on the brink of disaster, and no one wants to move forward.
But finally the attorney glances at his watch and says, ‘You’re going to have to explain.’
Patrick nods.
‘And you’re going to have to be convincing.’
When Patrick is recalled to the stand, he rises and walks the short distance across the courtroom floor. He feels as if all his senses are heightened. He reminds himself not to look angry. He must not show how angry he is to be here, defending himself against these accusations, no matter how justified that anger is. It should never have come to this. It’s all because of Erica. How dare she lie about the blackmail? But he must not think about Erica, because she makes him angriest of all. He won’t look at her when he reaches the stand, turns around, and sits facing the people in the crowded courtroom. He will look only at counsel asking him questions. He will keep his voice mild and even, and explain what happened. They will believe him. They must. They believed him before – he could feel it. He could sense in the courtroom, just a short while ago, that the jury was on his side, not Erica’s. But this bit about the bruises has pushed them away from him, he knows it. He knows how it looks. His lawyer is worried, and his wife – he can sense that she has begun to doubt him, and it has unmoored him. This has upset her. He no longer knows what she believes.
He remembers that night. He’d seen Lindsey fall down the stairs, saw the whole thing happen as if in slow motion. He’d been afraid that someone might dig up that hospital visit and try to make something out of it. But he didn’t think they would.
The