Nothing but the Truth Read Online Free PDF Page B

with Mrs. Beaumont?”
     
     
    Frannie shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t say so. But really I have no idea how he felt. We didn’t talk about them.”
     
     
    “But he did tell you he was having difficulties?”
     
     
    “I would say so.”
     
     
    Scott Randall turned over a few pages on his yellow legal pad. He looked at the jury, then back to the witness. “Mrs. Hardy, do you find Mr. Beaumont attractive?”
     
     
    Her lips went tight. “I have never thought about it.”
     
     
    Scott conveyed his disbelief clearly to the jury. “Never thought about it? You obviously had a relationship with him, a close relationship, isn’t that true? And you didn’t notice if he was attractive or not?”
     
     
    “I may have noticed, but I didn’t think about it. We were friends, that’s all.”
     
     
    “And yet he chose you, and you alone, to confide in about his marital problems.”
     
     
    “I don’t know that. He might have confided in other people. I don’t know if it was only me.”
     
     
    “Were you two having an affair, Mrs. Hardy? Is that it?”
     
     
    Frannie Hardy was biting down hard on her lower lip. She clipped out the words. “I’ve already told you, we were friends.”
     
     
    Scott Randall remained matter-of-fact. “That’s right— that’s what you told me. But friends have affairs all the time. Did his wife find out about you, was that it? Was she going to make problems for the two of you?”
     
     
    “I’m not going to dignify that with an answer.”
     
     
    “Well, you’d better dignify something with an answer, and pretty soon. You’re digging yourself into quite a hole here, don’t you realize that?”
     
     
    Frannie was shaking her head back and forth wearily. How had it all come to this so quickly? She closed her eyes and forced her voice to remain calm, rational. “Look, Mr. Randall, what do you want me to say? I’m late picking up my children, that’s what I’m thinking about. I’m not having any affair with Ron Beaumont, and never did. I never met his wife. I don’t think Ron’s problems with his relationship led to his wife’s death.”
     
     
    “Let us decide that, Mrs. Hardy. You’ve admitted that the problems existed. Just tell us what they were.”
     
     
    Frannie didn’t know it, but Scott Randall and the grand jury had already heard Ron Beaumont say that Bree and he were getting along fine, there were no problems between them. Scott thought it might be a good time to mention this to Frannie. She sat still, her face a blank now.
     
     
    “Mrs. Hardy?”
     
     
    “I promised him it would remain between us. I wouldn’t tell anybody. I gave him my word.”
     
     
    Scott sensed an opening. “Mrs. Hardy, let’s be realistic. No one believes that promises are that sacred anymore. This could be a crucial element in a murder investigation. Are you sure you haven’t mentioned what Mr. Beaumont told you to your husband or one of your girlfriends?”
     
     
    She was staring at him, trying to keep her anger in check. More tears threatened. A drop escaped from her right eye. “I promised,” she repeated. “I gave my word.”
     
     
    Scott looked back out to the jurors. He took a beat and sighed. “All right, Mrs. Hardy,” he said, “you don’t leave me any choice.”
     
     
    By four-thirty, Superior Court Judge Marian Braun had already had a long day on the bench presiding over an unusually depressing murder trial. Members of a Gypsy clan had convinced several wealthy old people that they were their friends. They had persuaded them to sign over their assets, and then poisoned them with “magic salt”—digitalis. The magic salt was a big yuk—the defendants had giggled as they sprinkled it on. Marian Braun was used to bad people committing heinous crimes, but this one got under her skin.
     
     
    Today had been particularly dispiriting because a dozen or more very tough-looking relatives of the defendants had put on a show of force by