Read Online Kiss Mommy Goodbye by Joy Fielding - Free Book Online Page B

offer her a Kleenex. I saw it in his hand, and then suddenly she slapped his hand quite loudly, knocking the Kleenex out of his hand, and pushing his armagainst one of the other guests who spilled her drink—I believe it was Mrs. Harrison—down her dress. Donna got very belligerent. She raised her voice and kept it raised until they left. Every time anyone started to have any kind of a conversation, she interrupted, giving them her opinion, which always seemed to be the opposite of what everyone else was thinking. She insulted several of the guests and used obscene language on several occasions. And she was merciless with regard to Victor. Every time he opened his mouth, she made some sarcastic reply. She kept putting him down, outlining all she felt was wrong with him. Mimicking him. It was very embarrassing. Finally, Victor indicated it was time they left and she made another disparaging comment about her master’s voice, or some such remark, and then they left. I must admit we all breathed a large sigh of relief.”
    Ed Gerber took a long, smug pause. “Mr. Vogel, to your knowledge, could this sudden shift of behavior have been due to Mrs. Cressy’s consumption of alcohol that night?”
    Danny Vogel looked delighted he had been asked that question. He confided the answer as a schoolboy might, having been allowed to release a secret too long contained. “No,” he almost squealed. “Like I said, she just stood off to one side, directly across from the bar, and nursed that one drink I had originally brought her. She didn’t move. I never saw her get another.”
    “You said earlier,” Ed Gerber continued most carefully, “that Victor Cressy was a man who rarely confided his problems to other people.”
    “That’s correct,” the witness agreed.
    “Now tell me, but be careful, I don’t want you to tell me anything that was actually said because that would behearsay,” Ed Gerber said with a sly smile to Mr. Stamler, “but without going into any actual conversations, did Victor Cressy ever confide in you that he was worried about his wife’s behavior?”
    “Yes, he did. On numerous occasions.”
    “Did he ever express concern for his children?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “What kind of father was Victor Cressy?” Ed Gerber asked. Once again, Donna noted the tense. Had Victor suddenly passed away as well?
    “From all I could see, he was a wonderful father. He was very concerned about his children, right from the time he first learned Donna was pregnant. He read all the books, went to prenatal classes with his wife—both times—and knew all the breathing exercises. He stayed with Donna all through her labor, and with Adam I think it was close to twenty-four hours—”
    Twenty-six hours, you clown, Donna’s eyes screamed. And it was me who was in labor, not the jerk doing all the breathing. I was the one in pain.
    How lucky you are to have such a considerate husband, the nurses had told her. Especially after Sharon’s birth, that one nurse who had beamed so glowingly at Victor. Bitch, Donna had wanted to shout, ask him about the way she was conceived!
    “He was very insistent that Donna eat all the right foods. He was thrilled when she decided to nurse both children. He felt that was healthier. He was very proud of his children. He’d bring them to the office occasionally. You could just see how crazy he was about them.”
    “And did you ever observe Donna with her children?”
    Danny Vogel shook his head. “No.” Somehow he made it sound like a condemnation.
    Donna’s lawyer was quick to take the offensive when it was his turn to cross-examine.
    “Mr. Vogel,” he began, his voice clipping off his words as a typewriter dispenses letters, sharply, crisply, with determined speed, “are you by any chance a trained psychologist?”
    Danny Vogel smiled and shook his head. “No, sir.”
    “Have you had any extra training in any of the behavioral sciences?”
    “No, sir.”
    “A psychology major at the