As Time Goes By Read Online Free PDF

can. But please be aware that you will be gambling with very grave odds.”
    Betsy struggled to keep her voice calm. She and Robert Maynard had been on a first-name basis, but now she did not want that suggestion of warmth to be in what she was about to say. “Mr. Maynard,” she began, “I have no intention of saying that I killed my husband. I loved him dearly. I had eight wonderful years with him before the Alzheimer’s began and there were still many good days in the early years of his illness. As you may know, the younger a person is when it sets in, the more likely he is to die within ten years. Physically as well as mentally, Ted was slipping rapidly. The doctors felt that it was time to put him in a nursing home. I didn’t do that. I kept him home because in his few lucid moments he was so happy to be with me.”
    The words crowded her throat. “I believe I can convince a reasonable jury of that fact. I have already paid you an enormous amount of money to defend me. So do it! And don’t convey to the jury that you believe that they will come in with a guilty verdict.”
    She wanted to slam the door on her way out but did not. Instead she went down in the elevator to the lobby and out to the sidewalk, unaware of the bustling pedestrians going in both directions around her.
    It was one hour later before she realized that her seemingly aimless walking had brought her uptown. She was on Fifth Avenue in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. She hesitated, then went up the steps. A moment later she was kneeling in the last pew in silent prayer. “I’m so frightened. Please help me” were the only words that went through her mind.

9

    J ury selection took five days. Many prospective jurors had been excused because they could not commit to the three to five weeks the trial was expected to take. Others had told the judge that they had already formed opinions about Betsy’s guilt or innocence. Most expressed the view that based upon the extensive media coverage they thought she was guilty. In the end, the final fourteen jurors, seven men and seven women, had all indicated that while they had read about the case, they could start from the beginning without any preconceived beliefs and be fair to both sides. The judge had explained to them during the selection process that fourteen jurors would be selected and at the end of the case, just prior to deliberations, two names would be drawn at random and those jurors would be alternates.
    It was 8:50 A.M. on Tuesday morning and the trial was about to begin. Eighteen months had elapsed since Dr. Edward Grant had died. Delaney sat with other reporters in the front row, which was reserved for the press. The court stenographer was already seated at her station.
    The door opened and the defendant, Betsy Grant, entered the courtroom, her head held high, flanked by her three attorneys. The lead prosecutor, Elliot Holmes, the chief of the trial section and a twenty-year veteran of the office, was already seated at the state’s table.
    Delaney had seen television clips and Internet photos of Betsy Grant, but she was still surprised at how young the forty-three-year-old defendant appeared.
    Betsy was wearing a navy-blue suit with a light blue camisole. Her jewelry consisted of a narrow pearl choker and matching earrings. Delaney had heard through the grapevine that Robert Maynard had advised her to dress conservatively and had specifically warned her not to wear the forty-thousand-dollar solitaire diamond that had been her engagement ring. He had told her that it would be appropriate to wear her wide gold wedding band, telegraphing to the jury that she was loved by her husband and was in deep mourning for him.
    Next Delaney studied Robert Maynard. He carried his seventy-five years well, she thought, with his silver hair and military carriage even while he was seated. His two associates looked to be in their early thirties.
    The visitor