Page 85 of After Anna

“They might not. The school keeps the privacy settings high. Anna’s therapist said they discourage social media.”

“What’s the name of the poetry magazine?” Kathy scrolled through her phone to Facebook.

“The Zephyr.”

“The Zephyr?Gimme a break. Do these people lack a shit detector?” Kathy typed in the search function, and no organization appeared, only a list of people with their profile pictures. “There’s no page forThe Zephyrat Congreve, so you were right.Meanwhile, people are actually named Zephyr? Who names their kid Zephyr?”

“Gwyneth Paltrow?”

Kathy looked up. “Hater.”

“Maybe there are other notes?” Maggie reached for another textbook.

Chapter Thirty-nine

Noah, After

TRIAL, DAY 5

“That was a mess-up,” Noah said, when Thomas entered the attorney’s conference room.

“Which mess-up are you talking about? There were so many.” Thomas sat down. His skin looked shiny in the fluorescent lights overhead.

“I’m trying.”

“I know but she’s scoring off you.” Thomas sighed heavily. “I stalled to slow her down, break her rhythm. It’s like basketball. She had a hot hand.”

“I had no idea.” Noah would never get over the gamesmanship in a courtroom. “What should I do while you guys are talking with the judge?”

“Just sit there being quiet. It’s when you talk you get in trouble.”

“Ha.” Noah forced a smile, knowing Thomas was trying to cheer him up.

“Just keep on keepin’ on.”

“It’s because Maggie—” Noah started to say, then stopped himself. Thomas wouldn’t know that Maggie had been in the courtroom.

“What about Maggie?”

“I haven’t seen her yet. Have you?”

“No, but Tim is keeping an eye out. She’s not there.”

“Oh.” Noah assumed that Maggie’s disguise was working, to a total stranger. “What bothers me is that they’re getting such a wrong picture of Anna, like she was perfect and wonderful. She was anything but.”

“Noah, we’ve discussed this—”

“But she was hardly sweet and innocent.” Noah shook his head, disgusted. “That testimony about the night I lost my temper? I get why you objected, but I could’ve explained that. That was the day my patient died. It was awful.”

“Were you negligent?”

“Of course not.” Noah recoiled.

“What difference would that have made, that your patient died?”

“I was upset that day, I wasn’t myself. Don’t you think that if they knew that shouting was atypical for me, that would make them question that I’m a control freak, intent on controlling Anna?”

“You want to prove that you only yelled this one time and that Anna is manipulative?”