wasn’t much more expensive than a one-way fare, so he booked himself a return ticket too.
She knows that she, at least, is coming home on the evening flight. She’s assured Hanna of that. She’ll be home late that night to take the twins off her hands.
Patrick had argued with her about whether she should go at all. He’d been quite insistent – even adamant – that she not go. There was nothing she could do to help; she should stay home and take care of the twins. It wasn’t like the inquest, where appearances mattered. They were going to go to the Sheriff’s Office, as requested, and whatever was going to happen would take place outside of the public eye. There was no need for her to be there, he’d assured her.
But she’d stood her ground. What he didn’t seem to understand was that she wanted to be there. She wanted to hear for herself what the attorney had to say.
Most of all, she wanted to be there when Patrick took the polygraph at the Sheriff’s Office.
She slips out of bed quietly and goes downstairs to put on the coffee.
The time goes by in a blur – she feeds the babies, dresses them, has toast while Patrick showers, and takes the twins across the street just before they leave. They’re in the car by 6 a.m. for their 8.35 a.m. flight. They don’t speak during the entire long drive to the airport.
Stephanie spends her time leaning against the window, her mind blank. She’d told Hanna that they were going to see the attorney in Denver, and that the police wanted to question her husband. Hanna hadn’t known what to say. She’d just given her a big hug.
The flight lands on time and soon they are in a cab on their way to the attorney’s office. Stephanie stares stoically in front of her. She has no interest in Denver.
The law firm is sleek and modern and hums with a discreet energy. Lange meets them at reception. ‘How was your flight?’ he asks. It’s small talk and none of them are in the mood to engage. ‘Follow me,’ he says and directs them to his office. They were here before, to prepare for the inquest.
Once they’re inside his office, settled in their chairs, he gets right down to business. ‘I’m sorry about this, but I’m not surprised. As I told you after the inquest, after a verdict of undetermined, they have to be seen to be doing something. Questioning you is the next step. They have to do it. And, in Colorado, it’s pretty common to ask a suspect to come in and take a polygraph.’
‘What if I don’t do it?’ Patrick asks.
Stephanie looks at him in dismay.
‘Then they might arrest you,’ the attorney says.
‘I don’t understand any of this,’ Stephanie says. ‘Why do the polygraph if they can’t use it?’
Lange looks at her. ‘Let me explain about polygraphs. The way they work is by measuring various physiological changes – in heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration, breathing and so on – when the examiner asks each question. Based on the results, the examiner may conclude whether the person is lying or not. They are often unreliable. And yes, for that reason, they’re generally not admissible in court.’
‘Then what purpose do they serve?’ Stephanie asks.
The lawyer says carefully, ‘Although they may not be admissible in court, the police think they provide valuable information.’
‘So the police believe them, they just can’t use them in court,’ she says, reading between the lines.
Without answering, he turns to her husband. ‘If you pass, that will probably be the end of it. It usually is. And it would be next to impossible to prove murder at trial.’
Stephanie glances at her husband, who has his attention fixed on the attorney.
The lawyer leans forward at his desk. ‘Let me tell you something else about polygraphs. They are very risky. We never let our clients take a police polygraph without doing one with our own examiner first.’ He lets that sink in, regarding them both with a serious expression. ‘In any event, agreeing to come in and take a police polygraph test amounts to the same thing as giving an interview to the police. You may be manipulated or tricked into giving incriminating information – because although the results of the polygraph aren’t admissible in court, the questions and the answers you give are. Sometimes it’s better not to talk to them at all. It’s an important decision, not to be