‘Love the table.’ Anna ran a fingertip along the surface.
‘Now for the kitchen.’ Maggie led them to the kitchen, ringed by white windowed cabinets and white-granite countertops. The back wall had a sunny southern exposure. ‘We added the windows over the sink so I can see the garden.’
Noah interjected, ‘It took forever.’
‘Only five months.’ Maggie patted the kitchen island, where they ate most of their meals. It had only three stools, so she made a mental note to get another one. ‘And we added the island, which has bookshelves for cookbooks. How cool is that?’
‘Very cool.’ Anna peeked at the cookbooks. ‘Lidia Bastianich. My Housemaster watches her TV show.’
Caleb shifted his feet. ‘Can we show the surprise now?’
Maggie and Noah started to answer, but Anna stepped forward with a grin.
‘Caleb, I want to see my surprise! Lead the way!’ Anna held out her hand, and Caleb tugged her out of the kitchen toward the staircase.
‘Right behind you.’ Maggie looked over at Noah, who put an arm around her.
‘We’re off to a good start,’ he whispered in her ear.
‘I know,’ Maggie whispered back, and they headed toward the stairs after Anna and Caleb. Maggie and Noah reached the second floor to find Anna and Caleb in the hallway and went to them, looking inside the room. It used to be Noah’s home office, but it was completely empty, and on the wall was a poster handmade by Caleb with crayoned letters that read: ANNA’S ROOM!
Maggie felt so touched. ‘Honey, when did you do all this?’
Noah shrugged with a smile. ‘Last night. Caleb and I did it together.’
‘Where’s all the furniture?’
‘In the basement. It made sense to give her my office since it has a bathroom and the train room doesn’t.’
Caleb ran to his poster. ‘Look, Anna!’
Anna burst into delighted laughter. ‘This is so sweet! I love my poster and room. This is twice the size of my old room at school!’
‘And look!’ Caleb pointed at the border of the poster, where he had drawn small beds, chairs, lamps, and Wreck-It Ralph. ‘This is our cat. He sleeps on my bed. That’s how he is.’
‘Thank you.’ Anna grinned. ‘I didn’t know you had a cat. I love cats!’
‘Look. Your bathroom.’ Caleb ran to the bathroom to turn on the light switch. ‘I have a bathroom. We both have bathrooms.’
‘I have my own bathroom?’ Anna caught Maggie’s eye with a surprised smile. ‘At school, I shared with three other girls.’
‘Eeew!’ Caleb screwed up his nose, and looking on, Maggie couldn’t remember the last time she had been this happy, feeling everything come together. She owed a big hug to Noah, who had put Caleb and Anna first, which was so like him.
Anna frowned slightly. ‘Noah, I hope I didn’t cause too much trouble.’
Noah waved her off. ‘Not at all. We had a good time, and the basement is finished.’
Maggie interjected, ‘This is only one of the reasons why my husband is the greatest guy in the world.’
Anna’s forehead eased. ‘Well, thank you. I really appreciate it.’
Maggie asked, ‘Do you want to paint the walls? The white is boring, don’t you think?’
‘I’d love to! What color?’
‘Whatever you want! We’ll get the bedspread and see what you think. It’s your room, so it’s your decision. I can stop by the paint store and get some samples.’
Caleb grabbed Anna’s hand, beaming up at her. ‘Come see my train room!’
‘Did you say training room?’ Anna looked down at him with a puzzled smile.
‘No! Come and see!’ Caleb tugged Anna out of the room and down the hall.
‘I’m glad you’re happy, babe.’ Noah smiled down at her, moving a curl from her eye. ‘I love you.’
‘I love you too,’ Maggie said, meaning it more than ever.
‘You got what you wanted, huh?’
‘I fished my wish!’ Maggie said, borrowing a line of Caleb’s.
Laughter came from down the hall, and Maggie and Noah walked to the train room, where Noah and Caleb had built a setup for model trains, with a town surrounded by fake trees and a lake that Ralph used as a water dish.
‘Anna, look!’ Caleb twisted the dial on the transformer, switching the model locomotive to new track.
‘Amazing!’ Anna glanced back at Maggie with a grin.
‘Isn’t it great?’ Maggie appreciated that Anna was being so nice about Caleb’s trains. Noah had started Caleb on them to build his self-esteem, because it was a nonverbal activity.
Caleb tugged Anna’s jacket. ‘Want to try? I can show you how. It’s easy.’
‘Thanks.’ Anna accepted the box, and Maggie edged back, taking Noah with her into the hallway.
‘I think he likes her, don’t you?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘Isn’t she pretty?’ Maggie smiled.
‘She’s beautiful.’ Noah touched Maggie’s cheek. ‘Like her mom.’
Maggie nodded happily. ‘She has my dimples, did you see?’
‘I sure did,’ Noah said with a smile.
Chapter Nineteen
Noah, After
TRIAL, DAY 5
‘I didn’t send Anna that text,’ Noah repeated, firmly.
Linda motioned to the screen, which read,
Anna, will you meet me at my house @915 tonight? I’m sorry and I want to work this out. Please don’t tell your mother.
‘Dr Alderman, is it seriously your testimony that you didn’t send this text to Anna?’
‘Yes.’
‘Oh, are you merely being precise again? Did you write the text but not send it?’
‘No. I neither wrote nor sent the text.’
Thomas jumped to his feet. ‘Your Honor, objection as to authenticity and hearsay. This is the problem that Koch was intended to prevent. Dr Alderman is testifying that he is not the author of the text.’
Linda faced Judge Gardner again. ‘Your Honor, these are two separate issues. It’s clear under Koch and the rules of evidence that the text is authentic and it is therefore admissible. Dr Alderman is free to claim, as he just has, that he is not its author. That does not go to its admissibility, but rather to its weight.’
Judge Gardner nodded. ‘The objection is overruled.’
Thomas sat down, and Linda turned to Noah, her eyes flashing darkly. ‘Dr Alderman. I remind you that you are under oath, and ask you again, did you or did you not send this text?’
‘I did not.’
Linda stepped back. ‘If you didn’t send the text, who did?’
‘I don’t know,’ Noah answered, but that was a lie. But he was trying not to get into that, per Thomas’s instructions.
‘Are you really trying to convince this jury that you did not send a text that clearly came from your own phone?’
Thomas rose. ‘Your Honor, objection, asked and answered. The prosecutor is badgering the witness.’
Linda whirled around to face Judge Gardner, whose lined forehead had buckled with confusion. ‘Your Honor, cross-examination is a time-honored engine of truth –’
‘The objection is overruled. Please proceed, Ms Swain-Pettit.’
‘Thank you, Your Honor.’ Linda turned on Noah. ‘Dr Alderman, are you trying to suggest that someone else sent this text from your phone?’
‘I believe that’s what happened.’
‘But didn’t you just tell Judge Gardner that no one else uses your phone?’
‘I told him that no one else routinely uses my phone.’
Linda’s eyes narrowed. ‘Was your phone out of your possession at the time this text was sent?’
‘Yes.’
‘Where was your phone at the time this text was sent?’
‘In my car, parked at the gym.’
‘Is it your testimony that you left your phone in the car while you went to the gym?’
‘Yes.’
Linda signaled to her paralegal. ‘Allow me to show you Commonwealth Exhibit 47, which has been previously admitted. Please take a moment to examine it.’
Noah eyed the screen, which changed to an entry log at the gym, with his name next to the time he swiped in. ‘I’ve examined it.’
‘Dr Alderman, this document shows that you swiped in at 7:10 P.M. on the night Anna was murdered, does it not?’
‘Yes.’
‘You testified that the text was sent at 6:55 P.M., the night Anna was murdered, did you not?’
‘Yes.’
‘Yet your testimony is that you did not send the text, though you had time to do so before you swiped in to the gym?’