Hearing the alarm in her grandmother’s voice, Sydney, still seated in the grass, began to cry. Hannah looked helplessly from her daughter to her granddaughter. ‘It’s all right baby,’ she crooned, although the panic in her voice betrayed her. Sydney started to wail.
Lisa stared at the police officers contemptuously. ‘You’re making a mistake,’ she said. ‘And you’re scaring my daughter.’
‘Can’t be helped,’ said Hammond. ‘I have to explain your rights. You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one . . .’
‘This is ridiculous. You are making a big mistake. My daughter is a brilliant student. Lisa,’ Adam barked, ‘don’t say a word. I’m going to call a lawyer.’
Detective Hammond looked at Adam with a gaze that was almost sympathetic. Then he shook his head, and followed behind the patrolman who had cuffed Lisa’s narrow wrists and was leading her off the deck and down to the waiting squad car in the driveway.
FOUR
Adam made one call after another until they were able to reach Marjorie Fox, a top-flight defense attorney from a big Nashville firm. Ms Fox told them to meet her at the courthouse. In a daze, as if she were moving through a bad dream, Hannah called Rayanne to ask for help.
Rayanne immediately agreed to come over and watch Sydney while they went downtown. Hannah and Adam sat numbly in court while Lisa and Marjorie stood before the judge. An indifferent clerk read out the charges of larceny and first-degree murder. Hannah gasped but Marjorie frowned at her, and indicated that she should keep silent. When asked, Lisa proclaimed herself ‘not guilty.’ The district attorney asked that bail be denied but the judge agreed with Marjorie that Lisa be granted bail. Bail was set and Marjorie advised them of a bail bondsman to contact. Feeling stunned, and cornered by circumstance, Adam and Hannah agreed to put up their house for collateral. Then they returned home.
Sydney was fed and in her pajamas. Hannah scooped up her granddaughter and sat shaking, leeching warmth from the toddler on her lap. Rayanne wanted to know everything but Hannah shook her head. ‘Ray, I can’t, right now,’ she said. ‘I just can’t.’
Rayanne nodded. ‘I understand,’ she said. She quietly let herself out, leaving them, in a delayed state of shock, to wait for their daughter’s return. Hannah felt as if the world had suddenly spun off its axis. She thought that for as long as she lived, she would never be able to forget the sight of Lisa — her brilliant, determined daughter — being led away in handcuffs by the police. She had another indelible image in her mind of a defiant Lisa, standing in the dock wearing the skirt and sweater her mother had brought to the courthouse for her.
The phone rang and Adam went to answer it. Then he came back into the kitchen. ‘That was Marjorie Fox. The bail has been paid and they are heading home.’
‘Adam, I just . . . I don’t believe this is happening,’ said Hannah.
‘Me neither,’ he said. ‘Hey, little one, isn’t it past your bedtime?’
‘I wanna see Mommy,’ said Sydney.
Hannah shook her head in a warning. ‘She’ll be here soon,’ she reassured the child.
Adam sighed and nodded, realizing that they had to allow Sydney to stay up long enough to see her mother. After all, she too had watched Lisa being removed in handcuffs. She needed to see her mother walk back in the door. He grabbed the remote and put a cartoon network on the television and beckoned for Hannah to follow him. Reluctantly, Hannah slid her granddaughter off her lap, and propped her up among the pillows on the sofa. Then she went and joined her husband in the kitchen.
‘Did Marjorie say anything else?’ Hannah whispered.
Adam’s face was drawn. ‘Just that she’s bringing her home.’
‘I don’t understand any of this. It makes no sense.’
‘Well, apparently she did cash his paycheck, Hannah.’
Hannah sighed. ‘I know. But why? There must be some explanation . . .’
‘And, apparently, they have evidence that the explosion was not an accident, according to Ms Fox.’
‘It doesn’t matter. You know Lisa isn’t capable of doing this.’
‘I know that. But the police don’t. They just know that she was there right before it happened. And that she cashed his check.’
‘Adam, I don’t believe my ears. You make it sound as if you believe this might have happened the way they said.’
‘I don’t,’ he said stubbornly, ‘but you know what Lisa is like. Sometimes she doesn’t think before she acts . . .’
Of course Hannah knew what he meant. Lisa had always been moody, and volatile and a magnet for mischief. But she was also a hard worker who had distinguished herself with her grades and her honors. She shook her head in disbelief. ‘You mean, like, borrowing a kid’s bike, or somebody’s earrings, and forgetting to return them? Or skipping school? Those are normal things. Kid things . . .’
‘Having a baby, and not even telling us who the father is.’
‘Having a baby is not a crime, Adam,’ Hannah reminded him coldly.
‘I sometimes think we made excuses for her,’ he insisted.
Hannah felt her knees wobble. ‘What are you talking about? She was an extraordinary child. No one knows that better than you. She was always the youngest in her class. And the smartest. And, let’s face it — nobody ever likes the smartest kid in the class. I think she felt left out so much of the time.’
‘Even extraordinary children have to play by the rules,’ he said.
‘We taught her that,’ Hannah cried. ‘You know we did. Just because she was . . . a little bit unusual, you can’t possibly think she could have . . .’
‘I don’t think that,’ he protested. ‘I don’t.’
‘I would hope not,’ said Hannah.
‘I’m just so . . .
