[Barbara Holloway 02] - The Best Defense by Kate Wilhelm

Author:Kate Wilhelm [Wilhelm, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9780312109370
Amazon: 0312109377
Publisher: St Martins Press
Published: 1994-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

Bad timing, Barbara thought, at ten minutes before four when Kay Dodgson was called by the prosecution. She walked briskly to the front of the courtroom and swore to tell the truth, and seated herself. She was dressed in a dusty-rose, raw silk suit with perfectly dyed shoes and hose to match. Her blouse was creamy white. She had a lapel pin with rubies, and earrings with rubies, and rings on several fingers. She was trim, moved like a dancer or an athlete, very attractive, with dark hair skillfully coiffed, skin a touch too swarthy for the delicate colors she wore, but beautifully made up. The jewelry was overkill, the makeup perfect. A very rich-looking lady, Barbara thought.

But it was bad timing. Whatever Kay Dodgson said would go undisputed overnight, leaving a long time for the jurors’ minds to assimilate it, to embed it in concrete.

Gerald Fierst was not exactly deferential to her, but his tone was not what it had been with Emma and Angela, either. He treated this witness with a respect they had not received.

He led her through the background of purchasing the land, building a house, how long they had been there, what she and her husband did, the fact that their son, Craig, lived at home with them.

He led her to the day of the fire and asked her to tell, in her own words, what she had done that morning.

“Like most Saturday mornings,” she said, “Craig was swimming laps, and that morning Rich was mowing the grass when I went out to take my walk.” She filled in the rest briefly.

“Thank you,” he said. “Now, for the record, did you notice what time you left the house, when you met Angela Everts?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I just didn’t notice. It was just so routine.” She looked regretful. Then she brightened and said, “Oh, yes, it had to be after eleven when I got back to the house. Mrs. Melrose had arrived; her car was parked in the driveway.”

Barbara jotted a note and handed it over her shoulder to Frank. What did she do before Dodgson? Actress? Model? Something that gave her a public poise that few people had, something that made her aware of timing, of gestures, that let her control her expression too artfully.

“Mrs. Melrose is your housekeeper?”

“She was. She always arrived punctually at eleven.”

“Very well,” Fierst said. “When you were walking, in which direction were you going when you met Angela Everts?” He finally left the table and crossed to stand in front of the jury box, so that, in facing him, she was also facing them. It was a way of saying, Now we come to the important part.

“Toward the end of the road at the pond. I was almost there.”

“And you went to the end of the road?”

“Oh, yes.”

“What did you do then?”

“As I said, I turned around and went the other way, to the other end where the pavement stops. And then I went back home.

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