‘Yes.’
Linda pursed her lips. ‘Why did you leave your phone in your car while you were at the gym?’
‘There’s never any free lockers at that hour, and there’s no reason to risk it being stolen in the gym.’
Linda’s eyes narrowed. ‘Are you about to tell us that you didn’t lock your car that night?’
‘No, I locked my car.’ Noah didn’t need to look at the jury to know that they were turning to each other in confusion, because the gallery was doing the same thing. No one in the courtroom had heard this yet because none of the previous witnesses had heard Noah’s story. Thomas hadn’t asked him about it on direct because he thought it was ridiculous. Maggie wasn’t in the courtroom, for which he was grateful.
‘Dr Alderman, was your phone stolen from your car that night?’
‘No. It was still in the console when I got back to the car. I pulled it out after I left the gym.’
‘Did you check to see if you had received any calls or texts?’
‘There was no banner, so I assumed I hadn’t.’
‘Did you check to see if your phone had sent any texts?’
‘No.’
Linda threw up her arms. ‘How did someone send a text from your phone at the time it was locked in your car?’
Thomas rose again. ‘Objection, Your Honor. The prosecutor is badgering the witness. Dr Alderman has been completely forthright –’
Linda faced the judge. ‘Forthright? Your Honor, the witness’s testimony is nonsensical, at best. I’m merely trying to understand it. I’m entitled to press him to explain. Did the text write and send itself?’
‘Ms Swain-Pettit, please.’ Judge Gardner looked down at Noah, leaning forward. ‘Dr Alderman, do you know how the text got on your phone?’
‘No, I do not,’ Noah answered the judge. He realized that the final time he’d hear directly from Judge Gardner was when he was sentenced to life or death, if he was convicted.
Linda cleared her throat. ‘Your Honor, may I proceed? I’m not sure how you ruled on the objection.’
‘Overruled.’
‘Thank you, Your Honor.’ Linda turned to Noah, squaring her shoulders. ‘Dr Alderman, do you have any notion at all how this text got on your phone?’
‘I can speculate, but I don’t know for a fact.’
‘Objection!’ Thomas shot to his feet. ‘Your Honor! What’s the point of having the witness speculate? This is improper!’
Linda turned to Judge Gardner. ‘Your Honor, this text is a critical piece of Commonwealth evidence. The jury has a right to know how he believes the text got onto his phone from inside a locked car.’
‘Counsel, I’ll allow it.’ Judge Gardner leaned back in his chair. ‘Dr Alderman, you may answer.’
Noah didn’t hesitate. ‘I believe that Anna wrote the text and sent it to herself.’
‘What?’ Linda’s eyes rounded like marbles, and Noah heard the jurors shifting in their seats and the spectators murmuring.
‘Order, order!’ Judge Gardner called out, reaching for the gavel.
Linda took a deep breath. ‘Dr Alderman, did you just say –’
Judge Gardner interrupted, ‘Counsel, we heard. Ask your next question.’
‘Dr Alderman, how in the world did Anna get inside your car to send herself the text?’
‘I have a second set of car keys that I keep at home, in the basket in the family room.’ Noah could hear the jury shifting, but kept going. ‘She could have found out I went to the gym. She could have seen my passcode. I keep it on a pad. The text was sent after I left the car but before I got into the gym, where I swipe in. I believe she took the second set of car keys, unlocked the car, and sent the text to herself from my phone.’
‘If this insane story is true, why did you not see Anna do any of this?’
Noah swallowed hard. Thomas had begged him not to tell the story. ‘When I got out of the car that night, there was a young woman walking across the lot from the grocery store in the same strip mall. She dropped her bag of groceries in the parking lot, and I stopped to help her pick them up, bending over. The lemons rolled everywhere. I was facing away from my car. I couldn’t see what was going on behind me. I believe that’s when Anna unlocked the car, sent the text from my phone, and left undetected.’
Linda shook her head, incredulous. ‘Why in the world would Anna send that text to herself from your phone?’
‘Uh, well, I don’t know why for sure. I only know that she did. I believe that she did, maybe to make me look bad or frame me.’
Linda’s eyes flared, her disbelief theatrical. ‘So is it your testimony that Anna knew she was about to be murdered and did nothing about it except to frame you for it?’
‘Yes, well, I don’t know about all of that, but I think she sent it to make me look bad.’ Noah was getting into the weeds.
‘Did she also murder herself and frame you for it?’
‘No.’ Noah heard rustling from the gallery.
‘But what would be the point of her framing you for her own murder?’
‘I don’t know.’ Noah blinked, fumbling.
‘Dr Alderman, which is more likely, that Anna sent the text framing you for her own murder, or that you sent her the text and are lying about it through your teeth?’
‘Objection, argumentative!’ Thomas jumped up again.
‘I withdraw it, Your Honor,’ Linda sniffed, having accomplished her purpose.
Chapter Twenty
Maggie, Before
They pulled up in front of the furniture store, and Maggie reflected that they were like any other family of four, filling up the car. She’d made spaghetti for dinner, and mealtime had been easy and fun, with Caleb talking more than usual. He’d spent the meal telling Anna about his train trestle, a conversation full of old target words he could pronounce with ease. Maggie and Noah had let him have the spotlight, since it didn’t happen often.
Noah looped an arm around Maggie’s shoulder as they strolled to the store entrance behind Caleb and Anna. Night had fallen, and the air felt cool and crisp. The strip mall was closing up, and only a handful of cars were left in this end of the lot. The bright lights of the furniture store spilled onto the asphalt like glowing parallelograms.
Maggie smiled as she watched Caleb and Anna hustling ahead, their silhouettes backlit. ‘Look at them. My mother would have said, “Mutt and Jeff.” ’
Noah chuckled. ‘Everybody’s mother would have said “Mutt and Jeff.” ’
Maggie felt another burst of happiness. ‘Is this really happening? Are those our two kids, ignoring us like a real family?’
‘And is she a good sport or what?’ Noah smiled. ‘I’ve never seen him yap like that. No more Coke at dinner.’
‘I’m going to show Anna!’ Caleb shouted, hustling toward the store entrance.
‘Wait up!’ Anna hurried after him. ‘I want a bed with a canopy!’
‘Great idea!’ Maggie called after Anna, thinking of the Congreve Inn. It was hard to believe that was only last night, but she sensed that Top Gun was forgotten.
‘A canopy bed?’ Noah moaned, under his breath. ‘I don’t have to build it, do I?’
‘No. Those days are over.’
‘Promise me. No more Allen wrenches.’ Noah held open the door for Maggie, and they entered the store, which was empty. ‘Meanwhile, this is our new life. In a furniture store on a Saturday night.’
‘I didn’t want to let it go until tomorrow.’ Maggie watched Caleb lead Anna from family room to family room within the vast space, trying out sofas. A sign hanging from the ceiling above read, NOW DELIVERING SEVEN DAYS A WEEK!
‘I agree, but we haven’t had a minute alone.’
‘I know, and there’s so much I have to tell you.’
Noah shot her a sly look. ‘That’s not what I was thinking, but okay. It’s Saturday night, if you get my drift.’
‘Ha!’ Maggie laughed, her eye on the kids.
‘I’m getting a rain check, aren’t I?’
‘You got that right. Gimme a year. She’ll be in college then.’
Noah smiled. ‘How are we gonna do this, with two kids in the house?’