Page 45 of After Anna

Where’s the sheets?

There, in the back. Anna had skipped ahead of him, her ponytail swinging. Noah had thought it was cute and carefree until he’d realized, later, that nothing Anna did was carefree. On the contrary, everything she did was calculated to produce an effect. She may have been seventeen, but she was the most manipulative woman he had ever met.

Noah, here they are, and they even have a sample, so you can feel the thread count.

Which ones do you want? Your call.

I want whatever feels the softest.This feels soft. Anna had fingered the material of the first sample, her lips curving into an oddly suggestive smile.Don’t you want to feel it, Noah? Don’t you want to see how soft it really is?

What?Noah didn’t know if he heard her correctly, though her facial expression had turned suddenly seductive, her blue eyes glittering.

Noah, don’t you want to see if I’m as soft as you think?

Noah still didn’t think he’d heard her correctly, but Caleb came running up rattling boxes of Sugar Babies, and Anna’s features had rearranged themselves back into a sweet, innocent mask.

Noah felt his gut clench at the memory, another red flag that he’d ignored. In retrospect, he’d gotten a glimpse of who Anna really was then, manipulating them all. The craziest thing was that hehadbeen wondering how soft she really was. Not consciously, but in the primal part of his brain where he wasn’t a suburban husband and father, but a man. There had been something about the way her jacket kept opening and closing over her dress, teasing glimpses of her cleavage. The pinkish skin of her breasts swelled over the top, and she was so young, and it was Saturday night. He’d been looking for sheets, but what he really wanted was sex.

Noah should’ve known to watch himself, after that. But he hadn’t, and that was the reason he was on trial for murder today, with Linda approaching the stand wearing the smirk she had on after Noah’s testimony about the text.

“Dr. Alderman, what time did you leave the gym, do you know?”

“At about 8:15.”

“You didn’t go straight home after you left the gym, did you?”

“No, I did not.”

“What did you do?”

“I went to the car to get my wallet and phone, then to the grocery store to pick up some prepared food for dinner.”

“By the way, whoever sent this text did not steal your wallet, isn’t that correct?”

“Yes.”

Linda signaled her paralegal, who recalled a grocery store receipt to the projector screen. “Dr. Alderman, I’m showing you Commonwealth Exhibit 45, which has been previously admitted. You see that receipt, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“The receipt shows that you left the store at 9:03P.M., does it not?”

“Yes.”

“Dr. Alderman, you then drove directly home, did you not?”

“Yes.”

“Dr. Alderman, how long did it take you to drive home?”

“About twenty minutes. I pulled into my driveway at 9:30 behind Anna’s car.”

“You weren’t surprised to see Anna’s car in your driveway, were you?”

“Yes, I was.”

“Why were you surprised if you had sent a text asking her to meet you at your house?”

“I didn’t send the text.”