Just Take My Heart - Mary Higgins Clark [76]
But then, frowning, he hesitated. “No, I'm sorry. You know what, she'd kill me if I gave it away.”
Just Take My Heart
51
Emily watched Courtside in her nightshirt, propped up in bed. As she listened to the comments of everyone, her emotions ranged between concern and dismay—concern that there was this much doubt about the verdict, and dismay that she found herself wishing that Dorothy Winters had been in the jury room.
If she had been, I'd be preparing this case for trial all over again. Is that what I really wanted to happen? she asked herself.
She turned off the light as soon as the show ended, but sleep was a long time coming. A heavy feeling of deep sadness had settled like a blanket upon her. She thought about the dozens of psychiatric reports she had read as a prosecutor, in which a doctor would write about a defendant's depression. Many of the symptoms that they dis?cussed were the ones she had been feeling today. Weariness, tears, and pervasive sadness.
And resentment, she added. I've tried so hard to be sensitive to what Natalie's mother had been going through. How could she have turned on me like that today?
At midnight, she opened the drawer of the night table and reached for the mild sedative that she occasionally took when sleep eluded her. Within twenty minutes she had drifted off, but not before she envisioned Gregg Aldrich in a tiny cell, probably shared with another inmate who had also been convicted of a serious crime.
At seven a.m. she woke long enough to let Bess out for a few minutes, then brought her back upstairs and fell asleep again. The ring?ing of the phone at ten a.m. woke her. It was Investigator Jake Rosen.
“Emily, we missed you last night, but I can sure understand how you just wanted to get home. I was sorry the victim's mother lam?basted you the way she did. Don't let it get you down. You did a great job.”
“Thanks, Jake. How was it last night?”
“In a way you were better off not being there. I know that Billy isn't your favorite person.”
Now fully awake, Emily interrupted, “That's putting it mildly.”
Jake chuckled. “I know. Anyhow, he was at his loudmouth best last night, and finally Ted Wesley told him to quit drinking and shut up.”
Instantly reacting, Emily asked, “What was Billy talking about?”
“He was bragging at what a great coaching job he did with Jimmy Easton. He said that he basically handed the case to you on a silver platter. Emily, I wouldn't normally talk like this but that guy's ego is really out of control.”
Emily sat up and slid her feet over the side of the bed. “He was talking the same way at his birthday dinner the other night. Jake, did you ever hear him feed Easton any information, or do you know if he did?”
“When Easton was arrested, I got to the police station just a cou?ple of minutes after Billy,” Jake replied. “Billy was talking to the local police and as far as I know he hadn't seen Easton yet. I was with him when he spoke to him a little while later. I didn't see him do any?thing wrong. As far as I know, I've been there whenever Billy has spoken to Easton since then.”
“Jake, we both know that over the years Billy has been accused of putting words into other people's mouths when it helped his case. Are you positive that he's never been alone with Easton?”
“I think so. And Emily, don't forget, Billy is a blowhard and a bragger, but he also has been investigating homicides for a long time. He's got great instincts and he knows where to look.”
“All right, Jake, let's leave it at that. Maybe I'm getting paranoid. Or maybe I've been watching too much Courtside.”
Jake laughed. “Right. Switch to Fugitive Hunt. It's on tonight. It -pretty good. They should call it Wacko Hunt. I can't believe all the creeps that are on the loose. Good talking to you, Em.”
“You, too, Jake.”
After she hung up, Emily went straight into the shower. As she dried her hair, she planned out her day. I'll see if I can get an ap?pointment for a trim and a manicure, she thought. I've been so busy that my hair is practically