Someone Else's Husband(64)

“Considering only the severity of the charges and the potential flight risk—not this recanted confession and whatever else has been a part of this circus so far—the court has no choice but to remand the defendant pending trial,” the judge said finally, before turning to the prosecution. “But you had better clean up your act, counselors, or you’re going to run into serious problems well before trial. The kind of trouble that no gaggle of hungry reporters will dig you out of. Bailiff, call the next case. Let’s get this afternoon moving along.”

“Wait, that’s it?” Elizabeth hissed at Scotty. “He’s staying in jail?”

“Not here,” Scotty cautioned. “Let’s talk in private.”

Already the guards were coming to get Richard. He turned back as he shuffled toward the door, found Gretchen’s eyes, and mouthed, I love you. Maybe. Gretchen wasn’t sure. She couldn’t see anything clearly anymore.



* * *



—

They gathered in one of the small private meeting rooms lining the hallway outside the arraignment courtroom.

“You said he’d be coming home,” Cassandra barked at Scotty before the door even closed.

“I know. I’m sorry,” Scotty said. “I’m as shocked as you.”

Mikey held up an index finger. “For the record, I am not shocked. If you recall, I did say that bail would ultimately be at the judge’s discretion, and this judge does not like wealthy defendants.” His voice was very firm, but calm. “It’s not really any more complicated than that. We will appeal, of course. With another judge we might do better. We might not.”

Elizabeth crossed her arms petulantly. “Well, that’s super reassuring.”

“I’m simply trying to be honest and realistic. The denial of bail is a setback.” Mikey’s voice had softened. “There’s no arguing otherwise. And I’m sorry if you feel you weren’t properly prepared for the possibility. I had certainly hoped for a different outcome. But this has no bearing whatsoever on the possibility of us ultimately getting the charges dismissed before trial or, worst-case scenario, us proceeding to trial and your father being acquitted.”

The certainty of his tone steadied them all. Just a setback. That was a very different way of looking at this. Gretchen squared her shoulders. It was going to be okay. It was going to be fine.

“Mikey is right,” Gretchen said to her children, almost cheerfully, which she knew was too much but she was incapable of effectively moderating her tone. “We just need to take this one step at a time.”

“You got pom-poms in your purse, too, Mom?” Elizabeth asked, but she sounded more sad than anything. “Pull ’em out and we can each take a turn.”

“Don’t be an asshole, El,” Cassandra muttered, a hand to the back of her neck. “She’s just trying to—”

“Pretend this isn’t happening? Yeah, I think we all know the drill. Pretty sure it’s not going to work this time.”

“Hold on, hold on.” Scotty raised his palms. “Maybe everyone should just take a beat.”

They were all quiet for a moment. But it was still tense.

“What confession are they talking about?” Becks asked finally.

“Your dad doesn’t remember exactly what he said,” Scotty explained.

“He doesn’t remember confessing?” Elizabeth asked.

“A confession isn’t always a confession. His statements were misconstrued. It happens all the time to people being questioned,” Scotty offered. “They’re under a lot of stress, exhausted, not thinking clearly.”

“To be absolutely clear, we haven’t seen the transcript yet, so we don’t know exactly what he said—that’s the bottom line,” Mikey Pearce added. “He remembers making several different statements, and that’s not great. Seems likely they’ve latched on to something passive-aggressive like, ‘Fine, I did it,’ said in a moment of frustration. And as I said in court, the good news is that he recanted immediately, and they have no signed waiver. That’s helpful, but most important, according to Richard, he didn’t really confess.”

“You saw how the prosecution dropped it almost immediately,” Scotty said. “They know it’s bullshit.”

“Dropped it for now.” Mikey gave Scotty a pointed look. “At the moment, we can’t say for sure what evidence the prosecution will use. It will become clear over time, though, and we will respond as necessary.”

“What about the bloody clothes in our apartment?” Elizabeth asked. “What the hell was that about?”

“Let’s see what they come back with when they’re sharing actual evidence,” Mikey said. “You can hear some alarming things at an arraignment that magically vanish once more lab work comes in and it doesn’t go the way the prosecution was hoping. They don’t have a DNA match on that blood, or the body yet. Apparently, there are some issues slowing down a visual ID.”

“They found her body?” Cassandra asked.

“Yes, in the Hudson, near Battery Park, two days ago,” Scotty said. “As you can imagine, they’re not being very forthcoming with details, except that the condition of the body is making a visual ID difficult. Facial injuries. Also, her mother has competency issues, so I don’t think she could travel here or do a visual ID, even if one were possible.”