Just Take My Heart - Mary Higgins Clark [60]
“Is there any chance he ever committed a burglary there?” Susan asked.
Richard Moore shook his head. “The security's too good. But if Jimmy Easton had ever managed to break in, he certainly would have stolen something, and the theft would have been noticed. Trust me, he wouldn't have left empty-handed.”
“Naturally, everyone at the club is talking about this,” Ellen said. “Richard, you certainly know that I don't talk about anything confi?dential, but sometimes it's helpful to hear how other people are re?acting.”
“How are they reacting?” Richard asked. The expression on his face indicated that he knew what she would say.
“Tara Wolfson and her sister, Abby, were in our golf foursome yesterday. Tara said that the thought of Gregg Aldrich reaching into that drawer and counting out five thousand dollars as a down payment on Natalie's life sickens her. She hopes he gets life.”
“What does Abby think?” Susan asked.
“Abby was just as strongly convinced that Aldrich is innocent. They talked about it so much yesterday they barely focused on the game. But Abby called me a little while ago, just before you got home. After hearing the news reports on what happened in court today, she's changed her mind. Now she thinks he's guilty, too.”
For a moment there was complete silence at the table, then Robin asked, “If Gregg Aldrich is convicted, will the judge let him go home to settle his affairs before he's sentenced?”
“I have no doubt that Judge Stevens will revoke his bail immedi?ately,” Cole replied. “Dad has tried a number of times to make Gregg face that possibility and at least make tentative arrangements for Katie.”
“On that subject, to this day, he always cuts me off,” Richard ex?plained, his tone resigned. “He has his head in the sand, and refuses to face the consequences of being found guilty. If they have a verdict tomorrow—and I don't think it will happen that fast—I don't even know if he's made arrangements to have Katie driven home from the courthouse. Worse than that, I doubt that he's appointed a guardian to take care of that poor kid. Gregg was an only child and so was Ka?tie's mother. And except for a few cousins in California that he al?most never sees, there is no other family.”
“God help that child,” Ellen Moore said sadly. “God help both of them.”
Just Take My Heart
40
After Courtside ended, Michael Gordon walked from Rockefeller Center to Gregg's apartment on Park and Sixty-sixth Street. It was little over a mile but he was a fast walker and now that the rain had ended, it felt good to have the cool, damp air on his face and hair.
That afternoon, as he was leaving the courthouse, Gregg had said. “I'm having dinner with Katie in the apartment tonight, just the two of us. It may be the last time that we can ever do that. But would you mind coming over after your program? I need to talk to you.”
“Sure, Gregg.” It had been on the tip of Mike's tongue to -something reassuring to Gregg, but looking at the drawn, sad face of his friend, he had stopped himself. It would have been insulting Gregg's expression told him that he was painfully aware that he had damaged himself badly in his testimony.
Natalie.
Her face was in Michael's mind as he crossed Park Avenue and started walking north. When she was happy, she was funny and warm and great to be around. But if she was in the dumps because rehearsal was going badly, or if she was fighting with a director on how a role should be interpreted, then she was impossible. Gregg had the patience of a saint with her. He was her confidant and protector.
And wasn't that what he was really trying to convey when he testi?fied about