As Time Goes By Read Online Free PDF Page A

even though he is costing me eight hundred dollars an hour and the clock is ticking as we discuss the weather.
    She turned in her chair as the door of the conference room opened and Robert Maynard, accompanied by his other shadow, Singh Patel, walked in.
    As usual Maynard was impeccably dressed, this time in a gray suit with a faint pinstripe. His white shirt, cuff-linked sleeves and subtle tie, a blend of deep blue shades, gave off the appearance of well-groomed success. His rimless glasses enhanced chilly gray eyes. His expression was usually dour, as though someone had asked him to carry an impossibly heavy load on his back.
    â€œBetsy,” he began, “I’m so sorry to keep you waiting but I am afraid I have to ask you to make an important decision.”
    What decision? Betsy asked herself frantically. Her lips could not form the words to ask that question.
    Maynard did not help her. “You have met Singh Patel?” he asked.
    Betsy nodded.
    Maynard sat down. Patel laid the file he had been carrying on the table in front of him, then took his own seat. Maynard looked at Betsy.
    His voice was now measured, as though to let every word sink in. “Betsy, I know we have discussed this many times, but now that we are on the eve of trial we must address this one final time. You have always insisted on going to trial, but I ask you to listen to what I am going to say. The evidence against you is very strong. There is no doubt that the jury is going to sympathize with all that you endured, including that your husband cursed you and assaulted you at the dinner table the night before he died. But we can’t escape the fact that the six people who were there heard you scream and sob that you ‘can’t take it anymore,’ you ‘can’t take it anymore.’ These people are going to testify for the prosecutor.”
    â€œHe hit me because of the Alzheimer’s,” Betsy protested. “That didn’t happen too often. It had just been a very bad day.”
    â€œBut you did say, ‘I can’t take it anymore’?” Maynard persisted.
    â€œI was so upset. Ted had been doing comparatively well. That’s why I thought he would enjoy seeing some of his friends from the office. But it only enraged him.”
    â€œBe that as it may, Betsy, after the guests left you were alone in the house with him. You claim you may have forgotten to turn on the alarm system, which could be construed as a way for you to suggest that an intruder might have entered the house, but the caregiver is going to testify that the alarm was on the following morning. The caregiver suddenly became ill and had to go home. In the morning she was fine. What caused her too convenient illness? Financially, you stood to greatly benefit by your husband’s death. You were also seeing another man while your husband was still alive.”
    Maynard adjusted his glasses. “Betsy, I have to tell you that the prosecutor called me this morning and offered you a very generous plea agreement which I strongly advise you to accept.”
    Betsy felt her mouth go dry. Her body stiffened. “You strongly advise me to accept?” Her voice was a hoarse whisper.
    â€œYes,” Maynard answered firmly. “I have managed to persuade the prosecutor to allow you to plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter with fifteen years in prison. You would have to serve about twelve years before parole. I know how difficult that would be. But if you are convicted of murder, your minimum sentence is thirty years without parole. And the judge could give you up to life in prison.”
    Betsy stood up. “Twelve years in prison for something I didn’t do? I am not guilty of my husband’s murder. I would have taken care of him until he died a natural death.”
    â€œBetsy, if you are truly innocent, then of course you must go to trial,” Maynard said. “We will present the best possible defense that we