Read Online Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Mary Higgins Clark
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criminal psychologist, said force-fully. "Why would he take a chance that somebody else might hap-pen to come in after he left and get help for her? Aldrich or whoever shot her thought she was finished."
That was exactly what Michael had been thinking. Why didn't I say it first? he asked himself. Was it because I don't want to offer Gregg even the slightest support? Am I that sure he's guilty? Instead of agreeing with Brett Long, he said: "Emily Wallace has the gift of making every juror feel as though she's in an intimate conversation with him or her. We all know how effective that is."
At the end of the second week of the trial, viewers were invited to register their opinions of Gregg's guilt or innocence on the Courtside Web site. The number of hits was overwhelming and seventy-five percent of them voted for a guilty verdict. When a panelist on the show congratulated him on the response, Michael remembered Katie's bitter comment that he would probably get a bonus for his coverage of the trial.
As each day seemed to tighten the web around Gregg, Michael felt a deepening sense of having abandoned his friend and even helping to sway public opinion against him. How about the jurors? he asked himself. Members of the jury were supposed to avoid news coverage of the trial. Michael wondered how many of them watched his show every night and if they would be influenced by the polls.
Was Gregg watching Courtside after he got back to his apartment? Somehow Michael was sure that he was. And he also wondered if by any wild chance Gregg was having the same reaction he was to Emily Wallace--that in an unsettling way, there was something about her that reminded him of Natalie.
16
Zach knew he had made a mistake. He should never have been sitting on Emily's porch watching television when she got home that night. Immediately, a worried look had come into her eyes, and she'd been very cool when she thanked him for taking care of Bess.
He knew that the only reason she hadn't changed their arrangement yet was because of her trial, but he was certain that very soon she would find some excuse to get rid of him. Even worse, would she run some kind of check on him? She was a prosecutor after all. She must not get suspicious.
Zachary Lanning had been the name he'd picked for his new identity in the months that he planned his revenge on Charlotte, her mother, and her kids. He tried never to think about his other names, even though sometimes they bubbled to the surface in his sleep.
In Des Moines he'd been Charley Muir, and in that life he had been an electrician and volunteer fireman. Charlotte was his third wife, but he didn't tell her that. He used his savings to buy her a house. Charley and Charlotte, it sounded so warm and cozy. Then in two years, she kicked him out. Her mother moved in with her and the kids. She camped in my house, he thought, even though when I lived there, she never even came to visit. Charlotte sued him for divorce and the judge awarded her the house and alimony because she claimed she had given up her good job to stay home and cook meals for him. Charlotte was a liar. She had hated that job.
Then he found out that she was dating one of the other guys in the firehouse, Rick Morgan. He overheard Rick tell someone that Charlotte had split because she was afraid of him, that he was creepy . . .
It had been a treat watching Emily Wallace spend her whole summer pulling a case together to convict a guy for killing his wife. And she's going to do it, too, Zach thought, that's how smart she is. But she's not smart enough to know I killed five people at once!
He took pride in the fact that Emily's name and face were all over the media --it was almost as though they were complimenting him, too.
No one is closer to her than I am, he thought. I check her e-mails. I go through her desk. I touch her clothes. I read the letters her husband wrote to her from Iraq. I know Emily better than she knows herself.
For now he had to do
That was exactly what Michael had been thinking. Why didn't I say it first? he asked himself. Was it because I don't want to offer Gregg even the slightest support? Am I that sure he's guilty? Instead of agreeing with Brett Long, he said: "Emily Wallace has the gift of making every juror feel as though she's in an intimate conversation with him or her. We all know how effective that is."
At the end of the second week of the trial, viewers were invited to register their opinions of Gregg's guilt or innocence on the Courtside Web site. The number of hits was overwhelming and seventy-five percent of them voted for a guilty verdict. When a panelist on the show congratulated him on the response, Michael remembered Katie's bitter comment that he would probably get a bonus for his coverage of the trial.
As each day seemed to tighten the web around Gregg, Michael felt a deepening sense of having abandoned his friend and even helping to sway public opinion against him. How about the jurors? he asked himself. Members of the jury were supposed to avoid news coverage of the trial. Michael wondered how many of them watched his show every night and if they would be influenced by the polls.
Was Gregg watching Courtside after he got back to his apartment? Somehow Michael was sure that he was. And he also wondered if by any wild chance Gregg was having the same reaction he was to Emily Wallace--that in an unsettling way, there was something about her that reminded him of Natalie.
16
Zach knew he had made a mistake. He should never have been sitting on Emily's porch watching television when she got home that night. Immediately, a worried look had come into her eyes, and she'd been very cool when she thanked him for taking care of Bess.
He knew that the only reason she hadn't changed their arrangement yet was because of her trial, but he was certain that very soon she would find some excuse to get rid of him. Even worse, would she run some kind of check on him? She was a prosecutor after all. She must not get suspicious.
Zachary Lanning had been the name he'd picked for his new identity in the months that he planned his revenge on Charlotte, her mother, and her kids. He tried never to think about his other names, even though sometimes they bubbled to the surface in his sleep.
In Des Moines he'd been Charley Muir, and in that life he had been an electrician and volunteer fireman. Charlotte was his third wife, but he didn't tell her that. He used his savings to buy her a house. Charley and Charlotte, it sounded so warm and cozy. Then in two years, she kicked him out. Her mother moved in with her and the kids. She camped in my house, he thought, even though when I lived there, she never even came to visit. Charlotte sued him for divorce and the judge awarded her the house and alimony because she claimed she had given up her good job to stay home and cook meals for him. Charlotte was a liar. She had hated that job.
Then he found out that she was dating one of the other guys in the firehouse, Rick Morgan. He overheard Rick tell someone that Charlotte had split because she was afraid of him, that he was creepy . . .
It had been a treat watching Emily Wallace spend her whole summer pulling a case together to convict a guy for killing his wife. And she's going to do it, too, Zach thought, that's how smart she is. But she's not smart enough to know I killed five people at once!
He took pride in the fact that Emily's name and face were all over the media --it was almost as though they were complimenting him, too.
No one is closer to her than I am, he thought. I check her e-mails. I go through her desk. I touch her clothes. I read the letters her husband wrote to her from Iraq. I know Emily better than she knows herself.
For now he had to do
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