Just Take My Heart - Mary Higgins Clark [70]
Rather than having to walk through the cafeteria and encounter Gregg and Katie Aldrich and Alice Mills again, Emily asked a young intern in the office to get her some soup. In her office, with the doer closed, she took comfort in the fact that the readback had been de?livered in a low-key and professional tone by the court reporter.
This had been in marked contrast to Easton's flippant and smirk?ing demeanor when he had testified. Hopefully, any jurors who had been, understandably, disgusted by him would realize that there was a lot of substance to what he had said and a lot of corroboration . . . She touched the wood of her desk.
At ten minutes of two, she stepped back into the elevator to go up to the courtroom. She knew it would not be easy to sit through Gregg Aldrich's tortured testimony. She also reflected that while she had hopefully benefited from the crisp readback of Easton's testimony, so might Aldrich benefit from an equally crisp readback of his testi?mony, which would not reflect the quivering hesitancy that had been in his voice and his demeanor.
With everyone again in place, the readback began promptly at two o'clock. With total focus and intensity, the jurors seemed to ab?sorb every word. Occasionally some of them would look over at Gregg Aldrich, then at Alice Mills, who in the last several days had sat next to Katie, frequently putting her arm around her.
She's letting the jury know that she's changed her mind, Emily recognized. And the jurors have probably seen her these past few days, when they are leaving to go home, standing with Gregg and the Moores out in the hall. I wonder how that's going to affect the jurors who still haven't made up their minds?
We'll probably get a verdict or a hung jury by sometime tomor?row, Emily thought. She knew from past experience that a jury that has already been out for a few days, and has just heard a lengthy readback of the most important witnesses, will usually either reach a verdict or decide that they cannot agree pretty quickly.
The court reporter finished at 4:05. “All right, ladies and gentle?men, we will recess until tomorrow morning at nine o'clock,” Judge Stevens told the jury. As Emily turned to leave, she saw that Alice Mills was staring at her.
She had the distinct feeling that Alice had been studying her for a long time.
As Emily stood there, Natalie's mother reached over the railing and tenderly put her hands on Gregg's shoulders, a gesture that seemed oddly familiar to Emily.
Blinking back the tears that began to sting her eyes, Emily hur?ried from the courtroom, trying to escape the overwhelming and inexplicable nostalgia she suddenly felt when she looked at those three devastated figures, Alice, Gregg, and Katie.
Just Take My Heart
47
What s your best guess?" Gregg Aldrich asked Richard Moore at ten minutes of nine on Friday morning, as they returned to their all-too-familiar places at the defense table.
“Sometime today,” Moore answered.
Cole Moore nodded in agreement.
Promptly at nine o'clock, Judge Stevens took the bench. He called for the jurors to be brought into the box and directed that a roll call be taken. He then ordered the jurors to resume their delib?erations.
As they filed back into the jury room, Gregg commented, “Rich?ard, last night the poll on Mike's Courtside Web site had forty-seven percent of the viewers in my corner. By any chance were you watching it?”
“No, I wasn't, Gregg.”
“I doubt that you'll ever find yourself in my predicament, but if you do, and if Mike covers it on his show, I suggest that you tune in. You'll find out that it's like being two people at once. You're the guy who's being thrown to the lions, yet at the same time you're a specta?tor in the arena who's betting on whether or not the guy in the pit can outrun them. Actually, it's a very interesting place to be.”
I'm not making much sense, Gregg thought.