The Divine Appointment (35 page)

Anna met him at the front door. He was barely inside the door before she announced, “I have some exciting news!”

Eli and Anna moved through the entrance hall toward the den. He carried a briefcase containing the topics he planned to discuss with Anna and Tag. Anna beamed from ear to ear, but Tag was nowhere to be seen.

Eli studied Anna. She looked different from the last time he’d seen her. She seemed happy. Joyful. He had never seen that trait in her.

And he noticed something else. Anna actually looked pregnant. Her stomach was pudgy, and she wore a red maternity blouse over khaki slacks.

She really is pregnant. At last I know the truth
, Eli thought.

They emerged from the hallway into the den and stood near the back of the sofa.

“What’s your news?” Eli asked.

Anna smiled even broader. “I became a Christian last night.”

Eli rejoiced inwardly. Those were beautiful words! He and Sara had prayed incessantly for the souls of Tag and Anna Grissom, and God had been faithful to his Word. He couldn’t wait to tell Sara. “That
is
good news! Tell me all about it.”

Eli and Anna sat on the leather sofa, and Anna gave him a verbatim account of the visit from Dr. Graham Frazier. Eli couldn’t help but smile as he listened to Anna share her conversion experience. The Holy Spirit had indeed moved in Anna’s life. One more lost soul had been rescued.

“That’s an incredible story, Anna! Dr. Frazier is right. Jesus Christ will alter your life. What did Tag say about it?”

Her face fell. “We haven’t talked about it much. He knows, and I can tell that he doesn’t like it. He’s been pouting more than usual.” She shrugged.

“Perhaps he sees something in you that he doesn’t have.”

“I doubt that’s the case. He wasn’t crazy about going to church last Sunday, and he claims he’s not going back.”

“Maybe he’ll change his mind. I’ll keep praying for him. And now that you’re a Christian, you can pray, too.”

“Believe it or not, I’ve already started.”

“That’s great,” Eli said. “Where is Tag anyway?”

“He’s in our bedroom. I’ll get him.”

Anna left the room and Eli opened his briefcase. It was time to discuss with Tag and Anna the reason for his trip. He removed the photographs—both the original showing Anna’s Infiniti SUV and the second of her driving—and the lab report on the DNA testing of Jessica Caldwell’s fetus. He placed the photographs and the lab report facedown on the top of his briefcase.

Soon Anna returned to the den with Tag in tow. Tag’s hair was messy, and there were baggy circles under his eyes. He wore a white undershirt, blue jeans, and socks—no shoes—and looked as if he’d hardly slept the previous night. He certainly hadn’t shaved.

Eli had never seen Tag in such disarray. The contrast between Tag’s disheveled appearance and Anna’s radiant one was evident to Eli. He and Tag shook hands, and Eli moved to a nearby chair. Tag and Anna perched on the sofa.

Eli jumped into the conversation with both feet. “Tag, I’m sure you recall when we first met that I told you I needed to know everything about this case, good or bad. Do you remember me saying that?”

“I remember,” Tag responded.

“The trial is three weeks away, and I think it’s time both of you came clean with me.” Eli set his jaw so they knew he meant business. He turned his head back and forth to study each of them.

Both appeared alarmed by his directness.

“We have told you everything,” Tag said.

“No, you haven’t. You didn’t tell me the truth about your relationship with Jessica Caldwell, and neither of you was honest with me about where you were the night she died.”

Anna covered her mouth and her eyes opened wide.

Tag looked at her, then back at Eli. He ran a hand through his unkempt dark hair. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Eli removed the photograph of Anna’s Infiniti SUV from the top of his briefcase and displayed it to Tag and Anna. “Do you remember that you gave me this photograph, Tag?”

Tag nodded, and Anna focused her vision on the photo.

“And you told me that you had received a ticket from the police department for running a red light the night Jessica Caldwell was murdered.”

“I never knew anything about this photo,” Anna said. Her voice was nervous and sullen.

“I know,” Tag replied. “I never showed it to you.”

“That’s your car, isn’t it, Anna?”

Anna nodded.

Eli retrieved the second photograph—the one depicting the driver of the Infiniti SUV—and displayed it to Anna and Tag. “And you were driving it, weren’t you?” he asked Anna.

“Don’t answer that,” Tag directed. He turned a stern face to Eli. “I was driving.”

“I had it enlarged. It clearly shows Anna driving. You want to tell me what really went on that night?”

Tag stood up from the sofa and plodded nervously around the den.

Anna sat in stunned silence.

Tag spoke with his back to Eli. “But she didn’t have anything to do with it. I was the one who was there.”

Tag’s words didn’t convince Eli. He couldn’t see Tag’s face but studied Anna’s. It was downcast, and her eyes were teary. She appeared miserable.

Tag seemed to be hiding something. And then it struck Eli.

“I don’t believe you, Tag,” Eli said firmly.

“I’m telling you the truth,” Tag fired back.

Anna’s head rose. “No, it’s not the truth, Tag.” Her eyes met Eli’s. “We haven’t told you everything.”

“Don’t, Anna,” Tag pleaded. He looked at Eli and Anna over his right shoulder. “Not now.”

“I have to, Tag. I can’t continue living with this lie.” She focused on Eli. “I went to Jessica Caldwell’s town house the night she was murdered. I suspected Tag was having an affair and followed him. Tag’s car was parked in front of her town house when I got there, but I couldn’t get anyone to come to the door. I rang the doorbell and banged on the front door for a while before I left. I was really mad. I drove around for a while, then drove back to her town house. Tag’s car was gone. When I got home, Tag was already here.”

“But you didn’t kill her,” Eli said. It was more of a statement than a question.

“I never even saw her that night.”

Eli shifted his vision to Tag’s back. “But you were telling me the truth when you said you didn’t father Jessica’s child, weren’t you, Tag?”

Tag abruptly twisted. His lips were pursed in astonishment.

Anna also appeared puzzled.

But everything was becoming clear to Eli. He handed Anna the DNA report. He saw Tag’s eyes straining to look at the document.

“What’s this?” Anna asked.

“It’s the lab report on Jessica Caldwell’s fetus.”

“I don’t understand.”

“At first I thought you killed her,” Tag said, finally breaking his silence. He returned to the sofa, beside Anna. “I was inside her town house with her when you were banging on the front door calling my name. So I knew you had found her place. And then I got the photograph of your car in the mail. It was time stamped well after I left Jessica’s town house.” His voice trailed off and became a whisper. “I thought you had gone back there again that night…and killed her. All because I was messing around with another woman, and you’d caught me.”

“You thought
I
killed her?” Anna stared incredulously at Tag.

He straightened his back and cocked his head toward Anna. “Don’t look at me like that. You think
I
did it, don’t you?” He looked toward Eli, and his tone turned pleading. “I didn’t kill her, Eli. I swear to God I didn’t and couldn’t kill her. But Anna is pregnant. I couldn’t let her go to jail for something she did just because she was mad at me. And because I’d fooled around, it was only right that I should be tried in her place.”

Anna gasped. “I don’t believe this. You thought I killed her and wanted to protect me? You’ve never acted like you cared that much for me before.”

“I loved my mother,” Tag said, “but she was taken from me. I didn’t want that to happen to you…or the baby. It wouldn’t be right. So I decided I had to protect you.”

But Eli wasn’t buying it. “That was your plan initially, right, Tag?” Eli asked. “You were afraid Anna had murdered Jessica Caldwell, so you were willing to face a jury in her place. It sounds very admirable.”

“But I didn’t do anything,” Anna protested. “There was no need to protect me.”

Uncomfortable silence ensued as Tag and Anna stared at each other. They searched each other’s face for answers, but neither held the complete truth. Only Eli had made all the connections. He spoke with authority to Tag.

“You didn’t know that in the beginning, though, did you? And the SUV is licensed to you, not Anna. You had no way of knowing that another photo existed that depicted the driver of the car. So you gave me the photograph, hoping it would further incriminate you. That way Anna would be off the hook. She could have the baby and go ahead with her life without you.”

Tag broke his gaze from Anna and shifted his head toward Eli. He nodded slowly.

“And the scratch on your face? How did that happen?” Eli asked.

“The night Jessica died we ended our relationship. She got mad and slapped me. She grazed my cheek. She had been acting weird for about a week anyway. Ever since she came back from Washington. After I was arrested, I was glad she’d scratched me. It directed the police toward me and away from Anna.”

The expression on Anna’s face showed she was clearly struggling to take all this news in.

“But then, in the preliminary hearing, you saw the HCG notation on the report,” Eli said. “And you pointed it out to me.”

Tag nodded. “When Jessica told me she was pregnant, I knew I couldn’t be the father.” He dropped his head. “Our relationship had lasted nearly three months, but we weren’t intimate until the last two weeks. I knew that was too soon for her to know she was pregnant from our relationship, so I knew I couldn’t be the father. But I still thought Anna had killed her, and I wanted to protect Anna. So the only thing I could think to do that day in court was to lie to you and say I was sterile.”

“That’s not exactly true either, is it, Tag?” Eli asked.

“What’s not true?” Tag’s tone was defensive.

“You didn’t tell me you were sterile to protect Anna,” Eli said slowly. “There was a different reason, wasn’t there?”

Tag looked uncomfortable.

Eli went on with his deductions. “And later, in the hearing, when the medical examiner said the fetus was twelve weeks old, you could easily have told me that the fetus was too old to have been fathered by you. The fetus was three months old, but your affair with her was much shorter.” He leaned toward Tag. “No, the reason you told me you were sterile was so I would have the body exhumed. You wanted me to find out who fathered her child. Isn’t that right?”

“If you’re not the father,” Anna said in Tag’s direction, “then why would it be important to you to know who was?”

Eli continued staring at Tag but talked to Anna. He watched Tag’s reaction to his words, and his reaction spoke volumes. “Tag realized at the preliminary hearing that you had nothing to do with Jessica Caldwell’s death. He could have ended the entire ordeal right there, but he had some guesses about who the father of her baby might be. The only way to prove it was for the criminal case against him to continue. If the case against Tag had been dismissed, then he wouldn’t get the one thing he so desperately wanted. He
had
to know for certain who had fathered Jessica’s baby. But to do that, the body had to be exhumed, in order for DNA tests to be run on the fetus. So, you see, Anna, Tag’s plans weren’t as much about protecting you…as they were about convicting someone else.”

Eli’s eyes met Tag’s.

“How long have you known?” Tag asked.

“I’ve had the DNA results a few days, but just now began to make it all fit together.”

“Known what?” Anna asked.

“That Tag’s father also had an affair with Jessica Caldwell.”

“Tag’s
father
?” Anna stared at Tag. “I thought you didn’t know your father.”

“He knows,” Eli said. “It’s the same man who fathered Jessica Caldwell’s baby.”

“I’m confused,” Anna admitted.

Eli continued to focus his vision on Tag while he spoke to Anna. “Look at that lab report. It says that Tag and the fetus of Jessica Caldwell were half siblings. Tag and the unborn child of Jessica had the same father.”

As Eli continued to study Tag’s face, things began to fall into place. Tag wasn’t sterile. Eli had confirmed that truth. And that meant Anna hadn’t lied to him the first time he’d met with her in his office. She was, in fact, pregnant—she looked it now—and Tag was the father.

The next piece to the puzzle was that Anna wasn’t involved in Jessica Caldwell’s demise. She was unwittingly complacent in Tag’s claim of being sterile, but that was her only offense. It didn’t matter to Eli why she had remained silent in the face of Tag’s lie. He decided not to even ask her. Perhaps she was scared or hoped the lie would somehow exonerate Tag. She had said earlier she wanted her baby to grow up with a father. Whatever her reasoning had been, it was irrelevant now. That issue was closed.