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“You’re conscientious,” he said. “This is why you take it all to heart. The cases. The deaths. The lack of control even though you’re following orders.”
I nodded my agreement and added that my blood pressure was up and I was having trouble sleeping. That I had a medical condition, aplastic anemia, that would take me down if this level of stress continued. I added, “And now, there’s more at stake than ever before.”
“Julie.”
I nodded. “She’s getting a half a mother on a good day. If it weren’t for Joe and our nanny, I couldn’t work.”
“Are you ready to quit your job, Lindsay?”
“How do I know if I’m going through a bad patch or hitting the wall?”
He didn’t answer, just kept up steady eye contact with me from his seat eight feet away.
Finally, he said, “Think about both sides of that question. Let’s talk again next week.”
“Dr. Greene. This was supposed to be our last session.”
“In my opinion, there’s more for us to do,” he said. “You can stop, of course, but I think we should keep going for a while longer.”
I scoffed, flipped my hands, looked at the clock on the wall, and then at the good doctor’s face. I cast my eyes to the paintings between us and said, “If I figure out the art, will that mean that I’m done?”
“We can talk about that once you’ve done it,” he said.
“Another month,” I said.
“Good,” he said. We shook hands and we both smiled.
Then, I left Dr. Greene’s office and drove to the Hall of Justice hoping for a boring day.
CHAPTER 12
YUKI SAT BEHIND the prosecution table and watched Sergeant Philip Birney swear to tell the whole truth so help him, God. An experienced sergeant with fifteen spotless years on the job, he was the first officer at the crime scene and now he was Yuki’s star witness.
But this morning, Birney looked anxious. Stage fright happened, but, please God, not today, not Birney. Yuki had to win this case for the victim and for the People of San Francisco. The public was counting on her and she wouldn’t let them down.
Judge Karen Froman asked Yuki if she was ready. Was she? Nick Gaines, her second chair, said under his breath, “Batter up.” Sergeant Birney was in uniform. Otherwise, he appeared to be an unremarkable forty-year-old man of average height and weight, brown hair and brown eyes—that were gazing at nothing.
Yuki got to her feet, straightened her suit jacket as she crossed the well of the small unadorned courtroom and stopped just short of the witness stand.
Yuki greeted Birney sharply and got his attention.
“Sergeant Birney. What brought you to Alamo Square on the day in question?”
Birney sighed, and after a long moment, began.
“A 911 caller, Ms. Carol Linnert. She lives next door to the house owned by Lewis and Barbara Sullivan. Ms. Linnert tells the operator that she heard screaming. She’s hard of hearing, couldn’t be sure but she thinks it’s Barbara Sullivan.
Yuki said, “And what happened after you and your partner arrived at the Sullivan house?”
Birney coughed into his fist, cleared his throat, and said, “Okay. First thing I notice is there’s no car in the driveway. The front yard is clipped and the actual house is painted and well-kept. Martin Brodsky, he’s my partner. He and I go to the front door and knock. No answer. No sounds. I tell him to cover the back of the house.”
Birney took another long pause, looked down at his hands.
“Sergeant Birney?”
Birney said, “Sorry. So, I’m alone at the front door. Seems no one is at home. Then I hear a sound. Like an animal, in pain. I try the door and it’s unlocked, so I go in. I announce again. ‘SFPD. Is anyone here?’ Still, no answer. So, I call my partner on the two-way and ask him to find Ms. Linnert while I check out the rest of the house. I see a man’s coat hanging from a hook in the foyer. Kids’ toys are in the living room. Ahhh, catcher’s mitt. A video game still running on the player. The place looks recently vacated and I feel that the homeowners are coming back soon. I hear the sound again. So, I run down to the basement.”
Birney seemed wracked by the memory. His face hadtightened and he seemed lost. Yuki had an impulse to walk to the stand and grab Birney by the shoulders. Shake him alert. The audience shifted in their seats. Whispers echoed. A ringing phone played a tune.
