Part 46 (2/2)
Roy grinned. ”Next time. I promise.”
”There will not be a next time,” Matt thundered. ”I want the record to reflect that I object to this ... this shenanigan McAfee's dreamed up.”
”Me?” Jordan cried. ”I didn't tell him to play Betty Crocker!”
”Mr. Houlihan, your objection will be so noted, after the court reporter has finished her snack,” the judge said. ”Now, really. This was nothing more than a lovely surprise, I'm sure. You go on and eat, and then we'll resume with your witness.”
”I will not eat that m.u.f.fin,” Matt vowed.
The judge raised her brows. ”Well, Mr. Houlihan, it's a free country.”
Roy waved off thank-yous and exited.
”Your Honor,” Jordan said. ”Approach?”
The attorneys walked toward the bench. ”Yes, Mr. McAfee?” prompted the judge.
”If the county attorney isn't going to eat his, can I have it?”
Judge Justice shook her head. ”I'm afraid that isn't for me to say.”
”I hope you're enjoying this,” Matt snarled to Jordan. ”I hope you can sleep nights, knowing you've turned a rape trial into a farce.” He stalked back to his table and provocatively set his untouched m.u.f.fin on the corner closest to the defense. ”The state calls Addie Peabody,” he said.
For over ten minutes, Addie had not let herself make eye contact with Jack. You can get through this, You can get through this, she told herself. she told herself. Just answer the questions Just answer the questions. ”You're not here today voluntarily, are you, Ms. Peabody?” Houlihan asked.
”No,” she admitted.
”You're still involved in a relations.h.i.+p with Jack St. Bride.”
”Yes.”
”Can you tell us what happened after you found him outside, unconscious?”
Addie twisted her hands in her lap. ”When he came to, I got him up to the bedroom. I cleaned him up with a washcloth, and we both fell asleep.”
”Did you get a good look at his face, Ms. Peabody?”
”Yes. His face had cuts all over it, and his eye was swelling shut.”
”Where was he scratched?”
”Over his eye, on his forehead.”
”Were there any scratches on his cheek?” the prosecutor asked.
”No.”
”How long did you sleep?”
”A couple of hours.”
”What woke you up?”
”I don't know. I think the fact that he wasn't sleeping beside me anymore.”
”What did you do?”
”I went to go look for him ... and heard a noise coming from my daughter's room.”
”Was that unusual?”
Addie took a deep breath. ”Yes,” she said. ”My daughter died seven years ago.”
”Did you go in?”
Addie began to pull at a thread on the hem of her skirt. She thought of how life could happen that way-one slipped st.i.tch, and suddenly the most solid binding could fall apart. ”He was boxing up her things,” she said softly. ”Stripping the bed.”
The county attorney nodded sympathetically. ”Did you argue?”
”Yes, for a few minutes.”
”Did the fight become physical?”
”No.”
”How did it end?”
She'd been sworn in and had known it would come to this moment-the point where her words might as well have been arrows, aimed right at Jack's heart. ”I told him I wanted him to leave.”
”Did he?”
”Yes.”
And if she hadn't forced him out, he wouldn't have been in the woods that night. He wouldn't have been anywhere near Gillian Duncan. It was what she'd wondered a thousand times ... how could the blame have come to rest heavily on Jack, when she herself was so clearly at fault?
”What time was it when Mr. St. Bride left?”
”About nine forty-five.”
”When did you next see the defendant?”
”About one-thirty in the morning,” Addie whispered. ”At the diner.”
”Can you describe his physical appearance?”
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