The Second Trial Read Online Free

and Barbie clothes strewn about her like autumn leaves. Annie explained that Mom had had an accident. She’d been on the escalator in the mall. Someone had bumped into her, or she’d lost her balance, or something. Annie wasn’t sure which, but Mom had tumbled down. She’d broken her wrist and cut her palm on the metal stairs while trying to stop her fall. Some of her hair had gotten caught in the side of the escalator and had been torn from her scalp. But Annie assured them their mom would be okay. She said once Dad had fetched Mom from the hospital he’d come to get them. In the meantime, Annie would take all of them to a Chinese restaurant for supper.
    It was almost bedtime before the doorbell rang. But it wasn’t Dad who came to pick them up, it was Mom. Her arm hung in a sling. Her jacket sleeve only partly covered the plaster cast on her right wrist. She curled her fingers against the thick white gauze taped across her palm. She was wearing a navy silk scarf, her favorite, the one patterned with golden sunflowers, knotted under her chin.
    â€œWhere’s Paul?” Annie asked sharply.
    In a rush of words, Mom explained there had been a last-minute crisis at work and Dad had had to leave the hospital and go directly to the airport. He’d be gone for the next few days.
    â€œWhat kind of a crisis could be that important?” Annie challenged. “Why can’t he take care of you? Who’s going to take care of you?”
    Catherine had cut off Annie’s questions and told her not to worry. She said she’d be home from work for a while anyway, because she couldn’t type, so she’d get Danny to school herself. She had hustled the kids into the car and told them their dad was sorry he’d missed saying good-bye, but he’d be sure to bring them each something nice when he got home in a couple of days.
    â€œDanny, help your sister into her car seat,” she said. “And then buckle yourself in.” Catherine started the one-handed drive home.
    â€œMom, what about your seatbelt?” he had asked.
    â€œI’ll be fine.”
    And now Danny knew she hadn’t been fine at all.
    â€œDr. Hamilton, what can you tell us about a bully’s ability to change his behavior – to get off that escalator?”
    The psychiatrist stroked his chin. “Well, generally, once a bully, always a bully, because he lacks the desire to change. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. If he’s done it before, he’ll do it again.”
    â€œDoctor, given this pattern, what do you predict about Mr. McMillan’s behavior?”
    The psychiatrist ticked off his conclusions on his fingers. “Mr. McMillan has an established pattern of violence. The violence always occurs, shall we say, behind closed doors, in an intimate relationship, and out of sight in the family home, where it’s likely to be repeated. He’s an upscale domestic abuser, a bully. He was, is, and likely will continue to be an abuser. He is a dangerous man. When someone acts violently, that event establishes the minimum violence he is capable of. He will most certainly re-offend with increasing violence. There is no limit.”
    â€œSo, this is a high-risk relationship?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAnd what category are we in?”
    The psychiatrist looked at the prisoner. “We’re in the category of homicide prevention.”

Chapter 4
    Monday
    The defense lawyer rose to cross-examine the psychiatrist. “Dr. Hamilton, isn’t it true that Mr. McMillan apologized to his wife?”
    â€œYes. In fact, he has quite often shown remorse.”
    Danny nodded to himself. His dad had been sorry, he’d seen it himself. Mom wore that sunflower scarf for a few days, but a few weeks later, before Dad got home, she’d had her shoulder-length hair cut short. She combed it over the bald spot. Even though Danny now knew his father had been in