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Gordon exclaimed, “What is this about? My wife has already testified.”
DuBose said, “Please, Mrs. Hanover, this will not take long.”
Christine slowly stood, glanced at her husband with a sad expression, and then walked down the aisle and stepped into the witness box. She was reminded by the bailiff that she was still under oath.
DuBose approached her, while Jack sat next to Jerome and Pearl, who both looked on curiously.
She said, “Mrs. Hanover, I’ll try to make this as quick as possible, but I can’t promise it will be painless.”
Christine was shooting nervous glances at her husband. “A-all right. But I... I don’t understand.”
“You testified previously that you were with your husband in Washington, DC, the day your parents were murdered, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And that you received word there about their deaths, and that you and your husband arrived home very late that night?”
“That is correct.”
“But that is not correct, is it?”
Christine turned as pale as the jacket she was wearing. “I... I don’t...”
“We spoke with the hotel where your husband was staying in Washington. He checked in alone. We also spoke with people in Congress. You were never seen with him. We have affidavits from three people that we will be entering into evidence that will corroborate this. We have also talked to your maid, who confirmed that you were home that day.”
Christine looked up at her as though she could barely hear a thing DuBose was saying. “W-what? Patsy?”
“Who is as loyal to you as anyone can possibly be. We all just accepted your account that you were with your husband because he was in Washington. But in a capital murder case no assumptions should be made.” She glanced at Battle. “We all should have taken steps to confirm your whereabouts, but we didn’t. Until now.”
Christine simply looked at her blankly, and remained silent.
DuBose continued, “Now, were you at your home in Faulkner’s Woods when you received a phone call from your mother on the afternoon of June fourteenth?”
“My mother?”
“Yes. Was she upset about something? And you walked over to their house, which would only take about five minutes? Did you go out through your rear gate, pass along a path in the woods where no one would see you, then enter their property through your parents’ rear gate?”
“I—”
“Can you tell us what happened when you went inside the house?”
No one in the courtroom was making a sound. Battle was staring open-mouthed at Christine, and he didn’t even object to what amounted to DuBose stating all these questions as facts without being under oath. The jurors were all leaning forward, seemingly not wanting to miss a syllable of what was being said here.
Christine stared out at the gallery of people, who were all looking back at her, wholly dumbstruck.
She found her husband and fixed her gaze on him. She looked like a swimmer who knew she was caught in a riptide and was probably going to drown.
“I... you say I went over there? But I was in—”
“No, you were not in Washington, DC. Did you return from your parents’ house around five o’clock in a blue convertible owned by Walter Gates?”
“W-Walter Gates?” said a trembling Christine.
“Yes. A witness, whom we will call if necessary, said that you were wearing a long coat that you did not have on when you left your home. Did you get the coat from your parents’ house? Was that to cover all the blood?”
“B-blood?” Christine swayed in her seat.
Gordon leapt to his feet. “Stop. Stop this right now. Christine, don’t say another word. My wife wants a lawyer. She is entitled to a lawyer. Right now.”
