Just Take My Heart - Mary Higgins Clark [65]
Judge Stevens then addressed juror number one, a heavyset, bald?ing man in his early forties. “Mr. Harvey, our rules of court provide that juror number one serves as the foreperson of the jury. You will be responsible for overseeing the deliberations and for delivering the verdict when the jury has reached its decision. When the jury has reached its verdict, you will send me a note by handing it to the sher?iff's officer who will be stationed just outside the jury deliberation room. Do not indicate in this note what the verdict is, but only that you have reached a verdict. The verdict will be announced by you in open court.”
The judge glanced at his watch. “It is now eleven fifteen. Lunch will be delivered to you around twelve thirty. Today you may delib?erate until four thirty. If you have not reached a verdict by that time, and I stress that you should take all the time that you reasonably need to be fair to both sides, I will release you overnight and you will resume your deliberations at nine o'clock tomorrow morning.”
He turned to Emily. “Ms. Wallace, is all of the evidence ready to go into the jury room?”
“Yes, Your Honor, it's all here.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, you may now go into the jury room. The officer will immediately bring the evidence in to you. As soon as he leaves the room, you may begin your deliberations.”
Almost in unison, the jurors stood up and slowly filed into the immediate adjacent jury room. Emily watched intently to see if there were backward glances, either sympathetic or hostile, directed at Gregg Aldrich by any of them. But they all looked straight ahead and gave no clues at that moment as to how they might be thinking.
Judge Stevens then quickly reminded the attorneys and Gregg Aldrich that they must all be on a ten-minute call for any jury request, or for a verdict. “Court is adjourned,” he concluded, lightly, tapping his gavel on the bench.
The remaining spectators began to file out. Emily waited until the Moores, Gregg Aldrich, and Katie had left the courtroom. Then she got up to go. Outside in the corridor, she felt a tug on her sleeve and turned. It was Natalie's mother, Alice Mills. She was alone.
“Ms. Wallace, may I speak to you?”
“Of course.” Compassion filled Emily as she looked at the red-rimmed eyes of the older woman. She's been doing a lot of crying she thought. It's got to have been agony for her to sit here day after day and listen to all of this. “Why don't we go down to my office and have a cup of tea?” she suggested.
The elevator was crowded. Emily caught the interested looks of the other people in it as they recognized Natalie's mother.
As they walked into her office, Emily said, “Mrs. Mills, I know this has been torture for you. I'm so glad that we're near the end.”
“Ms. Wallace . . . ,” Alice Mills began.
“Please call me Emily, Mrs. Mills,” Emily smiled. “I thought we had agreed on that.”
“All right,” Alice Mills replied. “It's Emily. And remember I had asked you to call me Alice.” Alice's lips were quivering.
“Why don't I get us that tea?” Emily asked. “How do you take it?”
When she returned a couple of minutes later, Alice Mills seemed composed. With a murmured thank-you, she accepted the cup and took a sip.
Emily waited. Obviously Natalie's mother was nervous about whatever she was going to say.
“Emily, I don't know quite how to put this. And I know you've worked so hard and I know you want justice for Natalie. Heaven knows, so do I. But yesterday when you were questioning Gregg, I know that to a lot of people he came off terribly. But I was seeing something different.”
Emily could feel her throat closing. She had thought Alice Mills was coming to tell her how much she had appreciated Emily's efforts to convict Gregg. That obviously wasn't going to happen.
“I was remembering all the times