Just Take My Heart - Mary Higgins Clark [73]
The judge banged the gavel. “Mrs. Mills, I fully understand how sad and upset you are, and I am very sorry for you. But I must insist that you remain quiet as the jurors leave the courtroom.”
Clearly shaken by what they had witnessed, the jurors departed.
There was one more motion left to make. Emily stood up. “Your Honor, Mr. Aldrich has been convicted of three offenses, burglary, possession of a firearm, and murder. He is now facing life in prison and he state submits that he is a serious risk of flight. He certainly has the financial means to flee. The state moves to revoke his bail.”
Richard Moore, his own complexion gray, responded. Knowing that his argument would be futile, he pleaded that Gregg Aldrich be allowed to go home until sentencing so that he could put his affairs in order and make arrangements for his motherless child.
“I must agree with the prosecutor that there is considerable risk of flight,” Judge Stevens said. “Mr. Aldrich had to know that this verdict was possible and he should have made any necessary arrangements before today. The sentence will be imposed on December fifth at nine a.m. Bail is revoked. Mr. Aldrich will be taken into cus?tody.”
His face deadly pale, Gregg Aldrich quietly obeyed the officer's instructions to place his hands behind his back. He did not change his expression as the handcuffs were placed around his wrists and snapped shut.
As he was led from the courtroom into the holding cell, the two impressions that were burned into his mind were the intensely troubled face of Emily Wallace, and the openly satisfied smile of Prose?cutor Ted Wesley.
Just Take My Heart
48
Emily did not join the victory celebration Friday night at Solari’s. Pleading exhaustion, she told Ted Wesley that before he left for Washington, she wanted to take him and Nancy out to dinner Though her fatigue was certainly real, she could not bear the thought of celebrating a verdict that had devastated not only Gregg Aldrich, but also his young daughter and Natalie's mother.
“You know that this is a travesty and in your heart you're ashamed to be part of it.” The agonized accusation Alice Mills had screamed court repeated itself over and over in Emily's mind. Her sympathy Alice was mixed with anger. I've given seven months of my life to this case, she thought as she left the courthouse. Mercifully, all of the media had left and no one approached her on her way to the car.
I wanted justice for an extraordinarily gifted human being who gave so much pleasure to so many people and who walked into her own home and was shot by an intruder, she thought.
“I know in my heart. ...”
What does Alice Mills know about my heart? For that matter, what do I know about my heart? It isn't even my own. My own heart was put in a dish on a surgical table, then discarded.
The tears she had fought since Alice Mills's attack began to fall as she got into her car. She remembered what one of the reporters had said during the media barrage after the verdict. “You're going to be famous, Emily. Everybody is going to write about you. I didn't know until this morning that you'd had a heart transplant. A couple of people were talking about it. And another thing. I didn't know that your husband died in Iraq. I'm really sorry.”
All of this is going to be splattered all over the media, Emily thought. Oh, God, I wouldn't even care that much about the heart transplant stuff, but I'd give anything to be going home to Mark right now. I could handle anything if he was with me . . .
When she arrived home and opened the front door, the frenzied barking she could hear from the back porch was a welcome greeting that instantly lifted her spirits. As she hurried to Bess, she thought with gratitude of the unconditional love that her little dog always gave to her.
Just Take My Heart
49
On Friday evening, nine hours after the verdict had been delivered, Courtside went on the air. Michael Gordon began with the dramatic clips of the guilty