Frank De Felitta - Audrey Rose

Brice Mack turned back to the witness, wearing the smile of a victor. “Once again, Dr. Perez, are you familiar with a case involving a patient named Ivy Templeton, who received treatment from Dr. Vassar during the period commencing December 12, 1966, and extending through September 23, 1967?”

“Yes.”

Brice Mack next addressed the bench. “Your Honor, in view of Dr. Perez’s answer I ask your indulgence to have him step down from the stand. I’d like to put another witness on the stand out of order so as to lay a foundation for the introduction into evidence of the three documents I’ve just mentioned to you.”

“Proceed,” Judge Langley said.

Dr. Perez resumed his seat in the witness row while Frank Tallman, custodian of records for the Mutual Insurance Company of Manhattan, was called to the stand and sworn in.

During the transaction, Brice Mack glanced briefly at the Templetons and was not surprised to see them both slumped deeply in their seats, wearing expressions of shock, fear, and self-recrimination.

In total command of himself and greatly relishing the moment, the defense attorney quickly ascertained from the custodian of records his name, function, and the nature and contents of the record room over which he held custodianship. Brice Mack then asked him to identify the file which he had been subpoenaed to produce in court. Taking a folder from his briefcase, Tallman described it as a file concerning the claim of Mr. and Mrs. Templeton for reimbursement of medical expenses incurred by their daughter during the period of December 12, 1966, and September 23, 1967.

Selecting the three documents he had previously referred to from the file, Brice Mack offered them into evidence as Defense Exhibits One, Two, and Three, captioned “Templeton” and as identified by the witness.

Whereupon Scott Velie rose and, putting a good face on a bad situation, not only agreed to their admission, but insisted, “Your Honor, I think the entire file ought to go into the evidence.” And further to demonstrate his utter lack of concern over their introduction into evidence, he even declined the right and privilege to examine the exhibits.

It was all over and done with in less than five minutes, at which point Frank Tallman returned the witness chair to Dr. Perez.

Brice Mack’s smile went out to him like a soft embrace.

“Dr. Perez, will you tell the court something about the reputation Dr. Vassar enjoyed as a psychiatrist?”

“Certainly. She was an acknowledged leader in her field, being that of child psychiatry. She was in great demand as a lecturer, and she published frequently. Her papers are considered definitive by most psychiatrists even today. She was a brilliant woman.”

“Thank you. Now, you said you worked in close association with Dr. Vassar until the time of her death?”

“Yes.”

“And that you were privy to all her cases?”

“Yes.”

“Dr. Perez, the subpoena served upon you required that you produce a file of Dr. Vassar’s concerning her patient, Ivy Templeton. Have you produced those records?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have them with you?”

“Yes.”

“May I see them?”

With a nod, the witness unzipped his briefcase and removed the file folder that was immediately recognizable to Bill and Janice.

Accepting the folder, Brice Mack held it up to the witness.

“I show you a file folder, dated December 12, 1966, to September 23, 1967, and bearing the caption Templeton. Can you identify it?”

“Yes. It is the file containing the records of the examination and interviews and conclusions concerning a patient named Ivy Templeton, who, at two and a half years of age, came under the psychiatric care of Dr. Vassar during the period of those dates.”

Turning to the bench, Mack said, “Your Honor, I offer this entire file into evidence as Defense Exhibit Number Four and ask that its entire contents be read into the record.”

Velie stood. “Your Honor, defendant’s attorney hasn’t even shown me the common courtesy to permit me to examine this file before showing it to the witness. I ask that before the file is accepted into evidence, I be allowed to examine it.”

“Granted.” Judge Langley rose. “Court will take a thirty-minute recess.”

“What do you think?” Bill asked.

Velie’s hand lifted tenuously to ward off distraction as he continued flipping through the pages, dwelling at great length on the final entry, which referred to Jungian archetypes as a possible explanation for the nightmares. At last Velie shut the small book with a thump and sighed deeply.

“Well, I haven’t found any material I think I can exclude on the basis of hearsay.” He looked at Bill starkly. “It certainly opens a door for them.”

“They didn’t have this file yesterday,” Bill said hotly.

Noting Bill’s hunched-over, hangdog expression, the district attorney smiled and said equably, “He’s opened a door, Bill, but let’s not commit suicide till we find out what he thinks there is on the other side of it.”

When court reconvened at ten forty, Brice Mack quickly renewed his motion to introduce the file into evidence. No objection was made by the district attorney, and the court ordered it marked as Defense Exhibit Four. At that point Brice Mack again asked the court’s permission to read the entire file into the record.

Scott Velie came to his feet, pouting. “Your Honor, it’s a voluminous file. The jury will have the opportunity to take the file into the jury room for assistance in its deliberations if it so chooses, and we strongly feel that it would be an unnecessary abuse of the court’s time to permit the reading of the entire file into the evidence.”

“Your Honor,” Mack sighed with a maddening indolence—“I do ask the court’s indulgence to read the entire file into the evidence, for I believe that it will assist the jury in intelligently evaluating the testimony that will be forthcoming in the trial if they have heard its contents.”

Judge Langley, who seemed more than interested in hearing the entire contents of the file himself, quickly decided in favor of the defense.

The balance of the morning was spent in reading its contents into the record. Brice Mack identified each page of the notebook by page count and slowly enunciated each entry, struggling over the pronunciation of the more complex psychiatric terms and often being forced to spell a word into the record.

When the reading came to an end, a hushed expectancy hovered over the courtroom while Judge Langley considered his next move, which, although it was twenty minutes shy of twelve o’clock, was to declare the noon break.

Janice skipped lunch at Pinetta’s on the pretext of some fictional errands. There was nothing ambiguous in the looks Bill had been sending her throughout the morning session, and her innate sense of danger ahead had sent up enough warning signals to convince her that his company was to be avoided at all costs. With a couple of martinis inside him, the short fuse on a temper that was boiling murderously close to the surface was sure to erupt, especially if she was there to ignite it.

Getting a call through to Ivy at Mount Carmel was an equally urgent reason for missing lunch. She had planned to call that morning; but Bill had routed her out of the apartment too early, and the courtroom pressures of the morning session had also prevented her from doing so.

Having lost three of her dimes, Janice trudged up and down icy streets in a biting wind, seeking a telephone booth with a working phone, and finally found one in the warm and aromatic precincts of an Optimo cigar store.

The woman who answered her call was a secular teacher named Miss Halderman, or Alderman, an assistant art teacher who supervised the lower grades. Her sprightly voice informed Janice that the girls had just finished lunch and were happily engaged in preparing Sylvester for the crowning and melting ceremonies that were due to commence at four fifteen sharp. Yes, Ivy was fine; in fact, Miss Alderman could spot her through the office window—at least, the lovely blond hair seemed to be Ivy’s—in the midst of a group of girls who were helping Mr. Calitri, the school custodian, pile the boxes. Did Janice want her to go fetch Ivy?