Just Take My Heart - Mary Higgins Clark [40]
Moore asked about the calls from Gregg's cell phone to Natalie and then to Easton the night they were in the bar. “I called Natalie to say hello. She was resting in her dressing room. She had a head?ache and was very tired. She was annoyed at the interruption and did raise her voice, as Mr. Easton testified. But as I said, she had mixed emotions. The day before she had stayed on the phone for twenty minutes while she told me how tough the separation was for her.”
Moore then asked about the call to Easton's phone.
Emily's stomach tightened because she didn't know how Aldrich would try to explain it away. His lawyer had supplied one alternate theory during cross-examination, but Gregg had given no further statements after Easton had come forward. She knew that this piece of testimony could make or break the case.
“A little while after he asked about Natalie, Easton said he was going to the men's room. I certainly didn't care what he did, particu?larly after he asked about Natalie. At that point, I felt hungry and decided to order a hamburger and eat right at the bar. About five minutes later, Easton came back and told me that he couldn't find his cell phone and thought he might have left it somewhere in the bar. He asked me to dial his number so that the phone would ring and hopefully he would find it.”
Gregg paused and looked toward the jury. “He gave me his num?ber and I dialed it. I could hear it ring on my phone but there was no ringing sound in the bar area. I let it ring about fifteen times so that he could walk around and see if he could locate it. I remember that no voice mail message came on, it just kept ringing. About thirty seconds later, as it was still ringing, he answered it and thanked me. He said he had found it in the men's room. That was the last I saw or heard of him until he got arrested for the house burglary and then gave the police that ridiculous story.”
“As far as you know, did anyone else hear him ask you to dial the phone?”
“I really don't think so. The bar was very noisy. I didn't know any?body else who was there. Easton came up with this outrageous lie two years later. I wouldn't even know who to call to ask if they re?membered anything.”
“By the way, did Mr. Easton ever tell you that he was a career-criminal and that he was having a hard time finding a job?”
“Absolutely not!” Gregg replied.
“On Friday, March 13th, two and a half years ago,” Moore con?tinued, “you went to see Natalie in her final performance of A Street?car Named Desire. Witnesses have stated that you sat in the last row, stone faced, and did not join in the standing ovation. How do you explain that?”
“I had not intended to see the play, but I heard so much about her performance that I could not resist going there. I deliberately bought a ticket in the last row. I didn't want Natalie to see me be?cause I was afraid it would upset her. I didn't jump up to applaud because I was emotionally spent. I think at that moment I realized once again what a magnificent actress she was.”
“Did you receive a phone call from her the next morning?”
“I received a message from her on my cell phone, saying she had gone up to Cape Cod, that she would be at our scheduled meeting on Monday, and asking me not to call her over the weekend.”
“How did you react to that call?”
“I certainly admit that I was upset. Natalie had previously hinted to me that she had met someone else. It was very important to me to know if that was true. So, I made the decision to drive to Cape Cod. I made up my mind that if I saw her with someone else, I would have to accept that our marriage was over.”
Ask him why he didn't hire a private investigator to check this out, Emily wrote on her pad.
“Why did you rent a car, a green Toyota, to drive to the Cape when your own vehicle, a Mercedes-Benz, was in the garage of your apartment building?”
“Well, of course, Natalie would recognize my car. The license plates on it had