Page 93 of The Perfect Marriage

“Between us, I want to see him reap the consequences of his transgressions. But the transgressions he did commit, not the ones he didn’t. Did he have an affair? Yes. Did he love another woman outside his marriage? Yes. But did he kill that woman? No, no he did not.” Sarah’s voice comes down almost to a whisper. I have seen her do this before, the decrescendo before the climax. Lulling the jury as she wants.

“My client, my husband, had an affair. But loving someone other than your wife does not make someone a murderer. The prosecution,” Sarah points to D.A. Josh Peters, “will paint Adam as a cheater… and as his wife, I know for a fact he is. We won’t even try to refute that point, but there are other facts beyond that. Facts the prosecution will gloss over. Facts the prosecution will try and make you not notice at all.”

Sarah walks down to the end of the jury box and stands before juror number one. She brings her hand up in the air, the back of her fist facing the jury, and begins to raise her fingers one at a time as she recites what she knows to be true.

“One. I know for a fact that Scott, Kelly’s husband, threatened to take her life on the night of her murder.

“Two. I know for a fact that Kelly’s real name was Jenna Way—and Jenna Way… well, Jenna is quite the interesting woman indeed. Jenna was accused of murdering her first husband, Greg Miller, before mysteriously fleeing the state of Wisconsin, and then magically ending up in Virginia with a new name, new hair color, whole new everything.”

The jury begins to murmur. I look over at D.A. Peters. He is rolling his eyes, but his posture is giving way. This is not the stage he wanted set, not for his slam-dunk case.

“Three. I know for a fact there are numerous people who will be presented throughout the case, from Kelly’s—or should I say Jenna’s—past life that had motive to kill her in order to get justice for Greg.

“Four. I know for a fact Kelly was sleeping with at least three different men, all in a very short period of time. How might I know that, you ask? Because the medical examiner found sperm carrying three different DNA profiles inside her vagina.”

Two of the older female jury members lean back with looks of disgust on their face. It pains me to hear Kelly made into such an unlikeable subject. Disloyal, a liar, flighty, violent, a whore, and maybe even a murderer. But I know this has to be done. I know this is what Sarah has to do to make the jury sympathize with me and not the dead woman. A woman I loved.

“And five. I know for a fact Kelly had a stalker by the name of Jesse Hook who frequented her place of work just to get a glimpse of her.”

Sarah brings her hand back down and walks toward me. She gives me a look that I haven’t seen before. A look that says,You owe me for this because you don’t deserve it. She isn’t wrong. To tell the truth, I don’t know why she is helping me. But I do know without her, I might as well walk right to the electric chair.

“The prosecution believes Adam Morgan killed Kelly Summers. And beliefs are just that, beliefs. What we are looking for, what we need in a court of law, are facts. And I have just presented you with five things that I know to be facts, and I will happily add one more. Six. Adam Morgan did not kill Kelly Summers. Thank you.”

61

Sarah Morgan

Iwas just packing to leave and go back to D.C. The trial ended yesterday as jury deliberations began. In cases like this, they can take weeks, especially with the death penalty on the line. I hear frantic pounding on my hotel room door. I open it without even checking the peephole and find Anne standing before me, panting and flushed red. I’m about to ask what she is doing here, why she is in the condition she is in, but she speaks first with sharp abruptness.

“The verdict is in,” she says out of breath.

“What? Already?”

She nods. “That’s not good, right?”

“No, not usually.” I grab my jacket and purse and bolt out the door, blowing past Anne. She follows me all the way down to my car and hops in the passenger seat as soon as I unlock the doors. Anne is back in my good graces. It took me a while to forgive her, for her to earn my trust back. But she did. She’s stuck with me through this whole trial, all the way up until the very end, which seems like it might be today.

“Are you okay?” Anne asks.

I look at her from the corner of my eye. My hands are grasping the steering wheel so tightly, my fingers are white. “I will be.”

“Regardless of how this turns out, you did everything you could.”

“Thank you for saying that, Anne.” I give her a small smile. She returns it and nods.

I don’t get ten feet into the courthouse before I run right into D.A. Josh Peters. It’s almost as if he was anticipating my arrival.

“You ready for this?” he asks. I can tell by his demeanor that he’s not all that confident. I’m scared shitless. A quick deliberation can go either way in this case. I merely nod at him and head toward the courtroom. I pass Bob and we exchange sympathetic glances. He knows as well as I do what this could mean.

I walk to the front of the courtroom and take a seat. Matthew is already waiting in the first row behind my chair and he gently squeezes my shoulders when I sit down. He leans forward and whispers into my ear, “It’ll all be okay. No matter what happens.” I look back at Matthew, but my eyes meet Eleanor’s. She’s sitting right behind him. We haven’t spoken since the night I blocked her phone number, but we have been seeing each other in this courtroom. She never misses a trial day, and she’s always looking proudly at Adam as if she were attending his little league games. Eleanor gives me a brief glance and then refocuses her attention on the door her son will soon walk out of.

Adam is escorted into the courtroom and seated next to me. His expression is bleak. I know he wants me to tell him everything is going to be okay, but I can’t. I don’t know that everything is going to be okay. But I also won’t try and scare him unnecessarily. I simply rest my hand on his for a moment, offering the last little bit of comfort I’ll ever offer him, regardless of how this turns out.

Judge Dionne takes his seat. The jury enters the courtroom.

“Will the jury foreperson please stand? Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict?” the judge asks.

The foreperson stands and says, “Yes, Your Honor.”

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