attorney was going.
“Have you been married before?”
Malcolm growled and stuck out his chin almost visibly. “Yes. Twice. It's well known.”
“Is Mrs. Patterson aware of that?”
“Of course.”
“Would you say it's hindered your current marriage in any way?”
“Of course not.”
“Would it have bothered you, had you known that Mrs. Patterson was previously married?”
This time he hesitated. “Probably not. But I would have preferred it if she had been honest with me.”
“Of course.” Tom readily agreed with him. “Mr. Patterson, have you ever had any other children?”
“No. Theodore is…was…my only child.”
“You say…was…you no longer believe him to be alive?” Tom looked surprised, as though that seemed unlikely.
“No… I no longer believe him to be alive. I think Mr. Delauney killed him.” He said it to inflame Tom, but it didn't.
“I understand that. But if he is dead…and all of us here certainly hope that's not the case…but if he is…how would you describe that event in your life?”
“Excuse me… I don't understand.”
Tom Armour moved closer to him and looked him straight in the eye. “If your son is dead, Mr. Patterson, how will you feel? What will it do to your life?” The tone of Tom's voice was relentless.
But without hesitation, Malcolm looked back at Tom and answered, “It will finish me…my life will never be the same again.”
“Mr. Patterson, would you say it would destroy you?”
Malcolm hung his head, and nodded before he looked at Tom again. “Of course… he's my only son…”
Tom nodded sympathetically and then moved in a little closer. “It would destroy you, wouldn't it…then why are you so shocked that Mrs. Patterson was almost destroyed by the death of her previous children? Would you expect that to be any different?”
“No, I…” He looked uncomfortable for a moment and John Taylor tightened his lips, but Marielle was forcing herself not to listen. “I imagine that must have been very difficult.'
“She was twenty-one at the time…and five months pregnant…her little boy dies… her father dies a few months later…her own mother commits suicide six months after that…her husband has turned on her, distraught with his own pain over the child's death. What would you do, Mr. Patterson? How would you feel? How well would you hold up?”
“I…I…” He couldn't answer, and the jury looked interested in what Tom was saying.
“Is Mrs. Patterson in the courtroom today?”
“Yes…of course…”
“Would you point her out to me?”
“Your Honor,” William Palmer got to his feet, ready to object to the question, “is this charade necessary?”
“Be patient, Counsellor. Mr. Armour, proceed, but not too much nonsense please, we have a great deal of testimony to hear, and our friends on the jury don't want to stay at a hotel at the taxpayers' expense forever.” There was a titter of laughter in the courtroom and Tom Armour smiled. Compared to what Marielle had seen of him before, he suddenly looked surprisingly easygoing. But that appearance was deceptive. Inside him was a coil of incredibly well controlled tension.
“Mr. Patterson, will you please point out your wife to us.” Malcolm did so. “She is here today, and yesterday certainly could not have been easy for her, talking about the death of her children, and the kidnapping of your son, or her time in the clinic in Switzerland… or her marriage to Mr. Delauney… But she's here. She looks sane to me and in good control of herself.” Marielle looked calm as she sat beside John Taylor. Malcolm was furious but he was trying hard to conceal it. “Would you agree with me, sir? She looks quite normal to me, and probably to everyone else here. Would you say she's holding up, in spite of everything?”
“I suppose so,” he conceded halfheartedly.
“Would you say her previous problems are a thing of the past?”
“I don't know,” he snapped. “I'm not a doctor.”
“How long have you been married?”
“More than six years.”
“Has she ever been in a hospital, for mental problems, during that time?”
“No, she hasn't.”
“Would you say that she has ever done anything to endanger your child?”
“Yes.” He almost shouted at Tom, and this time the defense attorney looked startled, and he wanted to clear it up quickly now, before he damaged her further. But Malcolm's answer had surprised him.
“What did she do that endangered your child?”
“She consorted with Charles Delauney. She even took him to the park and exposed him to that man! And then he took Teddy!” He was shouting and waving a hand, and Tom was relieved.
“Mrs. Patterson says the meeting was unplanned, that she ran into Mr. Delauney by accident.”
“I don't believe her.”
“Has she ever lied to you before?”
“Yes, about her mental history and her marriage to Delauney.” Tom knew that was a lie but chose not to challenge him at this moment.
“If that's true, Mr. Patterson, has she lied to you at any other time?”
“I don't know.”
“All right, other than that meeting in the park the day before Teddy was kidnapped, has she ever done anything to endanger the child? Taken him somewhere dangerous…left him somewhere unattended…even alone in the bathtub?”
“I don't know.”
“Wouldn't you remember it if she endangered your child?”
“Of course!” Malcolm was slowly burying himself and John Taylor loved it.
“Do you believe your wife was faithful to you, sir?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you ever have reason to suspect her of infidelity?”
“Not really.” He shrugged, almost as though he didn't care.
“You travel a great deal, don't you, sir?”
“I have to. For business.”
“Of course. And what does Mrs. Patterson do when you travel?”
“She stays at home.” He blazed. “With a headache.” A few people in the courtroom laughed, but the jury looked serious. They were trying to follow everything he was saying.
“Does she ever travel with you, Mr. Patterson?”
“Rarely.”
“And why is that? Did you prefer not to have her along?”
“No. She preferred to stay at home with our son.”
“I see.” The bad-mother portrait was slowly crumbling at Tom's hands and in spite of the fact that as an FBI agent he was part of the prosecution, John Taylor was relieved, for her sake. “And you,
