Just Take My Heart

by Mary Higgins Clark

  Her voice lowered, she sketched Aldrich's growing frustration at these circumstances and his disappointment, which evolved into deep anger, that Natalie was not home much more often with him and his young daughter. With a tone of sympathy, she related that Aldrich's first wife had died when his little girl, Katie, had been only three years old and that he had hoped and expected that Natalie would be a second mother to her. Katie had been seven years old at the time that they married. Emily indicated that she would produce witnesses who had been friends of the couple who would testify to Gregg's repeated statements of anger and frustration that Natalie was consumed by her career, and was not there emotionally for ei?ther one of them.

  She then informed the jury that Natalie and Aldrich had a pre-nuptial agreement which kept their finances generally separate. However, she stated, much of Gregg Aldrich's income was earned as Natalie's agent. When, a year before her death, she had separated from him, she told him that she still cared deeply for him and wanted him to continue as her agent. But as the months went by, and Nata?lie became convinced that because of Aldrich's resentment a total break would be necessary, he faced the loss of the substantial in?come from his most successful client.

  Emily related that the evidence would show that Gregg made re?peated requests to Natalie to reconcile but was rebuffed. She told the jurors that after the separation, Natalie had bought her child?hood home in Closter, New Jersey, a thirty-minute drive from the midtown Manhattan apartment where Gregg continued to reside with his daughter. Emily explained that Natalie was comfortable and happy in her home, which provided close proximity to the New York theatre, but both emotional and physical distance from Gregg. Shortly after this move, and sure of her decision, Natalie filed for di?vorce. Witnesses would testify that Gregg had been devastated, but still not convinced that the marriage was over.

  Emily continued. The evidence would demonstrate that Gregg Aldrich, growing more desperate, began to stalk Natalie. On the Fri?day night prior to the early Monday morning death of Natalie, he attended the final Broadway performance of A Streetcar Named De?sire, sitting in the last row so that she could not see him. He was ob?served by others who would testify that he had appeared stone-faced throughout the performance and had been the only person in the audience not to rise for a standing ovation at the end.

  As the jurors listened intently, their eyes shifting between Emily and the defense table, Emily continued. “Telephone records reveal that on the following morning, Saturday, March 14th, Gregg re?ceived what would be his last phone call from Natalie. According to his own statement to the police after her body was found, Natalie left a message for Gregg that she had gone to her Cape Cod home for the weekend. She told him that she still intended to be present at the scheduled three o'clock transition meeting on Monday in her new agent's Manhattan office.”

  Emily related that Aldrich explained to the police that this meeting had been scheduled so that he and the new agent could review her contracts and pending offers in Natalie's presence. Gregg admit?ted to the police that in the message Natalie told him she needed to be alone, and implored him not to contact her for any reason during the weekend.

  Emily then turned toward Gregg, as if to confront him. “Gregg Aldrich responded to that request,” she said, her voice rising. “Al?though he initially denied that he had any further contact with Nat?alie prior to her death, the police challenged him with the records they quickly obtained. Within a half hour of that phone call, his credit card was used to rent a vehicle, a dark green Toyota sedan, which he kept for two days and drove a total of 680 miles. The rental itself was particularly important because the defendant already owned a car, which remained in the garage of the apartment build?ing where he lived.”

  Turning back toward the jurors, Emily argued that the mileage was extremely significant because the round trip to Natalie's Cape Cod home from Manhattan was five hundred and forty miles. Only after being confronted by the police with the fact that a Cape Cod neighbor, who lived around the corner from Natalie, had seen him driving a dark green Toyota past his home on the Saturday night prior to Natalie's death, did Gregg Aldrich admit that he had been there.

  “And what did he say about why he had gone there? He would have this jury believe,” Emily argued, “that his sole purpose in mak?ing the trip was to see if his estranged wife was with another man that weekend. Aldrich would also have you believe that if he had seen anyone else with her, he would have given up his efforts to rec?oncile and accept the divorce.”

  Emily rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. “Just like that,” she said. "After begging her to come back to him, the same man who was literally stalking her in a rented vehicle that gave him cover, was going to pick up his marbles and go home. But he didn't count on a neighbor seeing him behind the wheel of that rented car.

  “Gregg Aldrich lives very well. There are fine inns on Cape Cod, but he stayed in a cheap motel in Hyannis. He admitted that he drove past Natalie's house twice on Saturday and did not observe any other car or person there. He further admitted that on Sunday he drove by her house three times, the last time at eight o'clock that evening, and that it appeared to him Natalie was alone. He claimed that he drove five hours back to New York and immediately went to bed. He stated that he awoke at seven a.m. on Monday morning, left about seven twenty for a jog in Central Park, jogged or walked for well over two hours, and returned the Toyota to the rental office six blocks from his apartment at ten a.m.”

  Emily's voice grew increasingly sarcastic. “And what did he tell the police about why he rented a car, as opposed to driving his own luxury vehicle? He stated that his own car was past due for servicing and he didn't want to put this much more mileage on it at that time.” She shook her head. “What a pathetic story. I submit to you that Gregg Aldrich rented a vehicle that would not be recognized by Natalie if she had happened to look out her window. He did not want Natalie to know that he was stalking her.”

  Emily took a deep breath. “But he did know her habits. Natalie hated to drive in traffic. She didn't mind driving late at night or very early in the morning. I submit to you that Gregg Aldrich knew Nata?lie would be back home in Closter sometime early- to mid-morning Monday, and he went there to confront her. He arrived before her. You will hear from a neighbor's housekeeper, Suzie Walsh, that she saw Natalie getting out of her car in her garage at a few minutes be?fore eight. She will tell you that five hours later, at one o'clock, when she drove past Natalie's home, she saw that the car door was still open, and sensed something was wrong. You will hear that she de?cided to enter the home and found Natalie dying on the kitchen floor. You will hear from the detectives that there was no sign of forced entry, but Natalie's mother will tell you that Natalie had kept a key to the back door, which had a separate lock, in an imitation rock in the backyard. That key was missing. And very significantly, Gregg Aldrich knew where to look for that key since he had bought that imitation rock for Natalie.”

  Emily continued, “The state acknowledges to you that no evi?dence physically connecting Gregg Aldrich to the murder scene was recovered. Hence, in the first two years of this investigation, though substantial circumstantial evidence existed regarding Gregg Aldrich, the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office recognized that even great suspicion is not enough. Gregg Aldrich was not arrested until six months ago. He was arrested after the break that was needed oc?curred. That break came in the person of Jimmy Easton.”

  This is the toughest part, Emily thought, as she took a sip of water. “I will begin my reference to Mr. Easton by telling you immediately that he is a career criminal. He has numerous felony convictions over a twenty-year span and he has served several terms in prison. Six months ago he did again what he has done most of his adult life—he committed another crime. He broke into a home in Old Tappan, but was caught running from it with money and jewelry. The police were alerted to this burglary by a silent alarm that had been tripped. When he was being processed at the local police de?partment, no doubt he knew
he was facing a long prison term. He told the police that he had important information regarding the murder of Natalie Raines. Detectives from the prosecutor's office immediately responded and spoke to him.”

  The jurors were all listening intently. She sensed their negative reaction when she detailed Easton's prior record of burglary, theft, forgery, and sale of illegal drugs. Before going into all of what Easton had told the detectives, she prefaced it by saying that she would never expect a jury to believe him unless there was substantial corroboration to what he was saying. She stated that there was.

  Emily bluntly told the jury that, as they might expect, Mr. Easton a not cooperating simply out of the goodness of his heart. In ex?change for his testimony, the prosecutor's office had agreed to limit his prison term on his plea to burglary to four years in prison, which six years less than the ten-year term he could have received as a habitual offender. She told them that sometimes plea agreements like this were necessary to obtain information in a more serious case. She emphasized that Easton would still receive a prison term, but also would benefit from his cooperation.

  Emily drew in a deep breath. She was well aware that the jurors mere totally engaged and listening to every word. She told them that in had informed the detectives that he had had a chance meet?ing in a bar in Manhattan with Gregg Aldrich two weeks before Natalie Raines was murdered. Easton said that Aldrich was drinking heavily and appeared very depressed. He stated that Aldrich started talking to him as they sat at the bar and indicated that he wanted to set rid of his wife. Easton explained to the police that he had recently been paroled and could not get a job because of his criminal record. He was living in a rented room in Greenwich Village and kicking up odd jobs.

  Ladies and gentlemen of this jury, Jimmy Easton told Aldrich about his criminal record and he further told him that he would be happy, for the right price, to take care of his problem. Aldrich offered him five thousand dollars up front and twenty thousand dollars after the crime was committed. You will hear Mr. Easton testify that the agreement was made and that Aldrich gave Easton many details about Natalie's schedule and where she lived. You will also hear, ladies and gentlemen, that telephone records indicate a call was placed from Aldrich's cell phone to Easton's cell phone. You will learn that Jimmy Easton went to Gregg Aldrich's apartment, the interior of which he will describe in detail, and accepted the five thousand dollar down payment. Mr. Easton will tell you, however, that he thereafter became very afraid of getting caught and spending the rest of his life in prison. He will also tell you that he then wrote a letter to Mr. Aldrich informing him that he couldn't go through with it. Ladies and Gentlemen, I submit to you that, tragically for Natalie Raines, it was at that point that Gregg Aldrich decided to kill her himself."

  Emily concluded by thanking the jurors for their attention. As the judge was telling them that Mr. Moore would now speak, she walked slowly back to her chair. She nodded almost imperceptibly to Ted Wesley, who was seated in the front row. I'm glad that's over, she thought. I think it went pretty well. Now let's hear what Moore has to say about our star witness.

  Moore stood up, theatrically shaking his head as if to clear away the nonsense he had just been forced to endure. He thanked the judge, walked toward the jury box with measured steps, and leaned slightly on the rail.

  Good neighbors chatting over the fence, Emily thought sarcasti?cally. He does this all the time. He wants to be their new best friend.

  "Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Richard Moore. My son Cole Moore and I represent Gregg Aldrich. We want to start off by saying thank you for the several weeks that you have taken from your personal lives to serve on this panel. It is most appreciated by both of us. It is also most important. You literally have the life and future of Gregg in your hands. We spent a long time picking this jury, and when I said that the jury was 'satisfactory,' I was saying that Gregg and I knew that the peo?ple seated here were going to be fair. And that's all we ask of you.

  "The prosecutor just spent nearly an hour going through what she represents as the evidence in the case. You heard it the same way I did. There was no arrest in this case for nearly two years. Up until that time, all the police knew was that Gregg and Natalie, like so many other couples, were in the midst of a divorce. Like so many other people involved in a divorce, Gregg was heartbroken. I promise you that he will testify in this case. He will tell you, as he told the police long before he was arrested, that he went to Cape Cod because he wanted to know if she was involved with anyone else. He did that because he wanted to see if there was any point in continu?ing to seek reconciliation.

  "You will hear that he saw that she was alone, then left Cape Cod and returned to New York. He never even spoke to her.

  “Assistant Prosecutor Wallace told you with emphasis about the two hours that Gregg Aldrich was out of his apartment the morning that Natalie was killed. You will hear, however, that his morning jog was a matter of longtime daily routine. The prosecutor's office would have you believe that on that morning, he managed to drive in rush hour traffic to New Jersey, kill Natalie, and then return in rush hour traffic to New York all within these two hours. They would have you believe that he murdered the woman whom he knew was not in?volved with anyone else, and with whom he still desperately wanted to reconcile. That was pretty much the totality of the evidence until Jimmy Easton came along. This model citizen, this savior of their case—a man who has spent half of his adult life in prison and much of the rest of it on parole.”

  Moore shook his head and continued, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Jimmy Easton was arrested yet again while fleeing from the burglary of a house in this county. Once again he had invaded the sanctity of a family's home and ransacked it. Fortunately the si?lent alarm alerted the police and he was captured. But all was not lost for Jimmy Easton. His ticket out of a lengthy habitual-offender prison term was Gregg Aldrich. You will hear how this pathological liar, this sociopath, transformed a casual chance encounter in a bar with Gregg Aldrich, where the brief conversation was about base?ball, into a sinister plot to murder the woman Gregg loved. You will hear how Gregg supposedly offered this total stranger twenty-five thousand dollars to commit this crime. You will hear how Easton ac?cepted this proposal, then you will hear how Easton was shortly thereafter stricken with a guilty conscience, apparently for the first time in his useless life, and then backed out of the deal.

  “This is the garbage the state is asking you to swallow. This is the evidence on which they ask you to destroy Gregg Aldrich's life. Ladies and gentlemen, I represent to you that Gregg Aldrich will testify and he will explain to you, and to your satisfaction, how Easton could describe his living room and why there was a phone call to him.”

  Turning and pointing his finger at Emily, Moore thundered, “For the first time in over twenty encounters with the criminal justice system, Easton is testifying for the state instead of being prosecuted by them.”

  As Moore strode back to his chair, the judge addressed Emily. “Prosecutor, call your first witness.”

  Just Take My Heart

  14

  From the moment she found Natalie, Suzie Walsh had been a celebrity among her friends. She had told and retold the story of how she'd been sure something was wrong when she had seen both Natalie's car door and garage door still open after she left work, ex?actly as they had been five hours earlier.

  “Something made me investigate, even though I was worried that I could be arrested for trespassing,” she would relate breathlessly, “and then when I went in and saw that beautiful woman, crumpled on the floor, blood all over her white sweater, and moaning, I tell you, I almost died myself. My fingers were trembling so much that when I dialed 911, I didn't think the call would go through. And then . . .”

  Knowing that the police called Natalie's husband, Gregg Aldrich, a “person of interest” in the homicide and that someday he might be indicted, Suzie had gone a half dozen times to the Bergen County Courthouse when a criminal trial was in session, just t
o familiarize herself with what it would be like if she was ever called as a witness. She found the proceedings exciting and took note of the fact that some witnesses talked too much and were directed by the judge to answer the questions without giving their opinions. Suzie knew that would be hard for her to do.

  When after two years, Gregg Aldrich was formally accused of Natalie's murder and Suzie knew she would definitely be a witness at the trial, she and her friends had a long discussion about what she should wear to court. “You may be on the front page of the newspa?pers,” one of them cautioned. “If I were you I'd get a nice, new black or brown pants suit. I know you love red, but red seems too cheerful for someone describing what you saw that day.”

  Suzie had found exactly what she was looking for on sale in her favorite outlet. It was a brown tweed pants suit with a thread of dark red running through it. Red was not only her favorite color but it al?ways brought her luck. Just having a little of it in the pattern, and the fact that the lines of the suit also made her size fourteen body look slimmer, gave her confidence.

  Even so, and even though she'd had her hair colored and blown dry the day before, Suzie felt a flutter in her stomach when she was summoned to the witness stand. She placed her hand on the Bible, swore to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and sat down in the witness chair.

  The prosecutor, Emily Wallace, is really attractive, Suzie thought, and she looked so young to be trying an important case like this. She had a nice way about her, too, and after the first few questions, Suzie began to relax. She had talked about what happened so much to her friends that it was easy to answer everything without hesitation.