‘The murder of Anna Desroches occurred at night, on a driveway that wasn’t that far from the street, on a property that anybody could have access to. It was just a normal driveway in a residential area. Neighbors, passing cars, and pedestrians could have seen a beautiful young girl getting out of a car, and any one of those people could’ve killed her. Not only that, you also heard from the defense about the one lead that the police didn’t even bother to follow up on.’
Noah straightened in his hard wooden chair. Hope filled his chest. Thomas was delivering, and the jury was in the palm of his hand. Noah allowed himself to believe that he might walk away from this nightmare, after days of going back and forth, up and down, witness after witness.
‘In my view, the Commonwealth is the guilty party in this case. They’re guilty of confirmation bias. They got their man at the scene and they stopped looking. Their case is completely circumstantial, riddled with more than enough holes to create reasonable doubt.’ Thomas cleared his throat. ‘So if I may, let me detail the deficiencies in the Commonwealth’s case, starting with the first witness . . .’
Thomas launched into the remainder of his argument, and Noah kept his game face on. Sometimes the jurors would look over at him for a reaction, but he stayed stoic, his thoughts racing. He didn’t know which way the jury would go, but he knew the truth in his heart.
He wasn’t an innocent man.
Chapter Six
Maggie, Before
Maggie got out of her Subaru at the Lenape Nature Preserve, arriving before her best friend, Kathy Gallagher. Every morning, they walked two miles, subject to their kids’ schedules. Kathy had sixteen-year-old twin boys at the local parochial high school, and the Preserve was midway between their houses, a meadow with a path mown around the perimeter. They used the exercise as an excuse to see each other, calling it their Walk & Talk, though it was more accurately a Talk & Talk.
Maggie inhaled deeply, scanning the lovely meadow, empty except for a few runners. The grass was tall and green, and the oak trees at the far side were in full leaf. A bluish-pink painted the sky, lightening where the sun was beginning to rise. Maggie couldn’t wait to tell Kathy that Anna had called. Last night, she’d texted her she had big news, but wanted to tell her in person.
Kathy’s Prius pulled into the parking lot, and Maggie walked over, trying to contain her excitement. Kathy turned off the ignition with a grin that Maggie loved, easy and wide. The two women had been roommates at Penn, and Kathy’s sense of humor had gotten them through the hard times, like their endless papers, final exams, and mutual divorces. Plus Kathy possessed the congenitally upbeat nature of a teacher, though she only substituted lately.
‘Hey honey!’ Kathy got out of the car, hugging Maggie. They were dressed alike in a fleece pullover and pants, except that Maggie’s fleece had cat hair and Kathy’s had dog.
‘Guess what?’ Maggie couldn’t wait. ‘I got a phone call yesterday from Anna and I’m going to meet her on Friday for dinner.’
‘Wait, what?’ Kathy’s rich brown eyes flew open. ‘You mean Anna? Your Anna? Called you?’
‘Yes, can you believe it?’
‘I’m so happy for you! You must be over the moon!’ Kathy gave Maggie another, bigger hug.
‘I am! Come on, I’ll tell you everything!’ Maggie hit the walking trail, Kathy fell into step beside her, and they talked during the first leg of their walk, the west side of the meadow. The chirping of birds filled the air, a lovely natural soundtrack. Maggie finished the story by the time they turned onto the south side, and the sunbeams spread like melting butter across the sky.
‘I’m so happy for you, honey!’ Kathy grinned, pushing her short, dark hair from her eyes. ‘Anna was just a baby the last time I saw her. She was all eyes, that pretty blue!’
‘Right? Hold on. I have some pictures.’ Maggie slid her cell phone from her pocket as they walked along, then scrolled to her photos, and showed Kathy a picture of Anna at six months old, sitting in her lap. Anna’s blue eyes were large and round, and her toothless smile took up her entire face. She had dimples that matched Maggie’s. Maggie was smiling in the picture, too, but she knew it was forced, masking her depression.
‘How cute is she?’ Kathy leaned over, without breaking stride.
Maggie eyed the photo, which brought back so many emotions, both good and bad. Kathy had gone to Connecticut to take care of her sick mother during Maggie’s postpartum psychosis, and they had stayed in touch, even if Maggie had soft-pedaled how bad it was getting, not wanting to alarm Kathy when she had so much on her plate already.
Kathy swiped the screen to the next photo of Anna, dressed up in a pink ruched dress with puffy sleeves. ‘And look at this one! She’s beyond!’
Maggie remembered the day, when she’d taken Anna to a friend’s gender-reveal party. All the other moms had been so happy, but she’d felt miserable, then felt guilty for feeling miserable, a double-whammy of self-loathing.
‘And look, when she was really little.’ Kathy swiped to the earlier photo of Anna in a diaper, sleeping in her crib. She had on a yellow onesie that matched her yellow-plaid bumpers. ‘Ah, I remember bumpers. You’re not supposed to use them anymore, did you know that? You’re supposed to let the baby sleep in a box.’ Kathy looked over, then frowned. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Sure, fine –’ Maggie started to say, then stopped herself. ‘Not really. I’ll have to explain to Anna the whole postpartum thing. I don’t know how much she knows, if anything. She said she wants to understand what happened, with me.’
‘Oh, honey. She’ll understand.’ Kathy touched Maggie’s shoulder, with a sympathetic frown. ‘Don’t worry about it. Just be happy about this, it’s great. Show me another picture.’
‘I don’t have any more. Florian said he would give me copies but he never did.’
‘Oh, what a jerk! He’s unforgivable.’ Kathy loved to hate on Florian, and Maggie used to love dishing with her, but she was beyond that now, supposedly.
‘Let’s not start on him.’
‘Why not?’ Kathy shot back. ‘Getting custody of Anna was just about power for him. That’s why he dumped her in boarding school and went flying around the world with his girlfriends. It would be one thing if you had still been sick and he was truly afraid for her welfare, but you had recovered by then. Did Anna tell him that she was going to call you?’
‘Yes. He didn’t think that I would come.’
‘How dare he! Of course you would! You’re her mother, whether he likes it or not.’ Kathy scowled. ‘I wonder what he’s up to these days.’
‘Being rich, I assume. He didn’t work after he sold the app.’ Maggie remembered Florian had been so driven, then he hit the techie’s dream, an IPO jackpot. She’d put him through business school by working in Penn’s registrar’s office, delaying her plans to go to law school. But she had never been more than a means to an end for him, and she was more alone married to him than she had been single, especially after the baby came along.
‘Did he get remarried?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Don’t you stalk him online?’
‘Not anymore.’
‘You’re not the woman I thought you were.’ Kathy smiled. ‘I still stalk Ted. It’s fun. Remember when he broke his ankle skiing? I couldn’t stop laughing. I was delighted.’ Kathy slid the phone from Maggie’s hand. ‘Gimme.’
‘Why?’
‘I’ll get his address, and we’ll make him give you back those pictures.’ Kathy scrolled through Maggie’s phone, logging into the Internet.
‘I’m not going to write him.’
‘If you don’t, I will.’ Kathy typed into the phone.
Maggie looked away, walking along. The sun was peeking over the treeline, bathing everything in amber. Bees, butterflies, and white moths fluttered over the tall grass in the meadow. Birds chirped, and a goldfinch flew by, its wings flapping to reveal a bright yellow body. There was so much life in nature, it surprised her every time. And she was about to reconnect with Anna. Mother and daughter together, the way it was supposed to be.
Kathy gasped. ‘Oh no. Look.’
‘What?’ Maggie turned to see Kathy holding up the phone screen. Online was a news story dated last month, March 8, with the headline:
TECH MOGUL FLORIAN DESROCHES AND FAMILY KILLED IN PLANE CRASH OUTSIDE LYON
Chapter Seven
Noah, After