Даниэла Стил - Neighbors

—

Meredith hired a famous acting coach to work with her for three months before she had to be in L.A. to start shooting. She wanted to fine-tune her skills again, and try out some nuances for her interpretation of the part. In the end, she and the director were in such harmony about how they viewed it that Meredith felt she had delivered one of the best performances of her career. She finished her role in three weeks, and she had three days of shooting with Julia. It was a thrill for her to watch Julia grow and progress, as she sat on the sidelines on the set. It was one of the most fulfilling films Meredith had ever worked on and she was proud of the performance she’d given.

In July, she and Charles went to Europe for three weeks, after she finished, and after that, they visited his daughter, Pattie, and her family in Texas. They were nice people. And they visited his son, Jeff, in Germany when they were in Europe.

They spent as much time as they could in the Napa Valley in August. They had a lovely summer.

—

Andrew’s trial was set for September, eleven months after his first arrest. They had combined the two cases, and he had hired a hotshot lawyer to defend him. He was known for his ability to create doubt in the jurors’ minds.

Andrew had been deemed competent to stand trial, and Tyla was dreading it. It was going to be a circus, and they all knew that Andrew was going to lie through his teeth.

Jury selection was scheduled to start right after Labor Day. The district attorney was still offering Andrew a deal if he pled guilty to a lesser charge. They were offering him two years in prison, but he would lose his medical license forever, and he wasn’t willing to do that. His license was on hold for now, but he hadn’t lost it yet, and wouldn’t until he was convicted. He had been arrogant in all his court appearances. But if he went to trial, and was found guilty by the jury, he could get up to eight years in prison, if they ran all the charges consecutively. It was a tremendous risk for him, and Charles was surprised that his attorney would allow him to take the chance. He wasn’t an appealing defendant. Beating his wife almost to death and terrorizing his children were not acts that would win the sympathy of a jury.

Tyla had met with the assistant district attorney assigned to the case many times in August. She was their star witness, and she’d have to hold up on the stand. She had lost ten pounds from worrying about it over the summer. Meredith was going to attend the trial with her. Peter, Arthur, and Ava had promised to be there to support her too.

Tyla was barely sleeping at night. Andrew’s lawyer had finally gotten him released on bail in June. He had put up the deed of their house against five hundred thousand dollars’ bail. Since he had paid for the house, the mortgage was in his name, and Tyla hadn’t filed for divorce yet, so he could do that. She was going to file the divorce after the trial. Her lawyer had said she would get a better deal if he was convicted, so she had waited. And in the meantime, the court order was still in effect giving her monthly spousal support and child support from Andrew’s considerable savings, although his legal fees were eating a massive hole in what he had.

His medical license had been suspended, so he didn’t have anything to do, and couldn’t see patients. Since his release from jail, he had been granted four visits with his children, with court supervision, but they had refused to go, and had begged their mother not to send them, so they hadn’t gone. By the end of August, he hadn’t seen his children in ten months and blamed it on Tyla.

Meredith and Charles were having breakfast with Tyla in the kitchen, two days before jury selection was to begin. Will and Daphne had started school the day before. Tyla was deathly pale as she sipped her coffee and read the paper, when Tyla’s cell phone rang, and she saw that it was Angela Luna, the assistant DA. Tyla looked pained as she answered. The upcoming trial had been devouring her life for months. All she wanted now was for it to be over.

The assistant DA asked Tyla if she could see her.

“Now? We’re just having breakfast.”

“I’m already in an Uber, five blocks from where you’re living.” Tyla didn’t particularly like her, and the assistant DA was furious at the deal the DA had offered Andrew, with only two years in prison, but he wanted to get rid of the case. She wanted to try him, see him convicted, and send him away for twenty years. She was a bulldog, but her heart was in the right place.

Tyla told Meredith and Charles that she was on her way.

“Do you want us to leave?” Meredith asked her immediately, and Tyla shook her head.

“There’s nothing you don’t know about the case.” The doorbell rang as she said it. Charles went to answer it, and brought Angela into the kitchen. He offered her a cup of coffee and she declined. She looked serious and sat down across from Tyla for what she had to say.

“It’s over, Mrs. Johnson. I wanted to come to tell you in person.” Tyla was staring at her as though she’d seen a ghost.

“What do you mean ‘over’? Did they dismiss it? Or did he take the deal?”

“Neither one,” the assistant DA said solemnly. “The deal is off the table, as of two hours ago. Apparently Dr. Johnson has been seeing a woman since June, when he got out of jail. She’s a schoolteacher at a Marin County school. He’s been staying with her. Two weeks ago she asked him to move out, because he’d been threatening her and drinking to excess. He gave her a black eye last Monday. He put the threats in writing by email and text, and spray-painted the word ‘whore’ on the side of her house. He thought she was cheating on him. He broke into her home last night, and beat her unconscious. She was taken to Marin General Hospital. He was gone when a neighbor went to check on her and found her. They just picked him up. His prints are everywhere. She died two hours ago. He confessed. Because of the threats he made, it’s first-degree murder, which could get him twenty-five years in a maximum security prison. The DA just offered him twelve years, ten for the murder of the schoolteacher, and two for your case, and the loss of his medical license. He’ll never practice medicine again. He took the deal. It doesn’t give you justice to the full extent of the law, but he can’t hurt you again, he’ll be in prison for the next twelve years and you don’t need to go through a trial.” Tyla looked shocked when she finished. She seemed dazed. Meredith and Charles were too stunned to speak.

“He killed her? What am I going to tell my children about their father?”

“It could have been you, Mrs. Johnson. What he did last night is a terrible thing, but he could have come here and killed you, or killed you last October. He belongs behind bars. He’s in custody now. He’ll be going to prison in a few days.”

Meredith came to sit next to Tyla and put an arm around her shoulders. She looked as though she didn’t understand. Andrew had killed a woman. Maybe he really was insane. She had no idea how to explain it to the children, but they were afraid of him too. And thank God he hadn’t killed them.

The assistant DA stood up, and Tyla thanked her. She said she would be in touch about any further details. But her case had been resolved by his pleading guilty to both cases, and the assistant DA was satisfied with the twelve-year sentence, and hoped Tyla was too. It wasn’t long enough but it avoided the agony of the trial. She still had to divorce him. Her lawyer had advised her to go after the remains of his savings and the house, and he believed she’d get it, which would give her financial security for herself, Daphne, and Will.

There was silence in the kitchen after Angela left, as the three of them looked at one another. Meredith was remembering when he had gotten her by the throat and banged her head against the wall, and the condition Tyla had been in when he’d almost killed her. She felt sorry for the schoolteacher in Marin, but she was grateful that her friend had been spared.