“Uh… yes.”
“Dr. Alderman, I am going to show you Commonwealth Exhibit 48, which has already been introduced into evidence, and ask you, is it a copy of the phone calls you made from your phone on the night in question?”
“It is.” Noah looked down at the log with a sinking heart.
“And this phone record shows that you spoke with 911 dispatch for one minute and ten seconds, isn’t that correct?”
“Yes.”
“The phone record also shows thatone minute afteryou hung up with the 911 dispatcher, you called your lawyer, isn’t that correct?”
“Yes.” Noah had given this testimony on direct, but again, under Thomas’s questioning, it had sounded better, more reasonable.
“Your lawyer was present counsel Thomas Owusu, isn’t that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t it true that the real reason you wanted to get off the phone with 911 was to call your lawyer?”
“No.”
“But you called your lawyer one minute after you hung up with the 911 operator, so you must have been thinking of calling your lawyer while you were talking with the 911 operator, isn’t that correct?”
“No.”
Linda arched her eyebrow again, and Noah realized it was her tell, when she was about to tear into him. “So when you told the 911 dispatcher that you wanted to get off the phone, you had absolutely no idea you were going to call your lawyer next?”
“Yes.” Noah felt confused, and suddenly beaten. Maggie was witnessing this disaster. It would haunt her forever.
“Dr. Alderman, didn’t you lie to the 911 dispatcher so you could get off the phone and talk to your lawyer?”
“No.”
“Didn’t you lie to the 911 dispatcher when you told her you were doing chest compressions?”
“No.”
“But you did lie to her when you told her why you were hanging up, didn’t you?”
“No.”
“But you called your lawyerone minutelater, didn’t you?”
“I was just reacting.”
“Right, like a doctor, as you testified?”
“Yes.”
“A doctor who calls his criminal lawyer?”
“Objection, Your Honor.” Thomas rose. “Is that a snide comment or a question?”
“Your Honor, I’ll withdraw it,” Linda said without pausing. “Dr. Alderman, isn’t it true that you made up that bit about the compressions, lying to the 911 dispatcher, because you knew that the 911 tape would be evidence later?”
“No.” Noah had to help himself. “As you point out, if I were trying to make a fake story, I would’ve acted upset or said ‘oh my God’ and things like that, as you said before. But I didn’t.”
Linda arched an eyebrow again. “Isn’t it also true that if you knew you were going to try to sell this phony-baloney story of the doctor-reacting-as-a-doctor, you wouldn’t exhibit any of those behaviors?”
