The Divine Appointment by Jerome Teel

defiantly. She shifted in her seat, uncrossed her legs, and recrossed them with her knees pointing in the opposite direction from where they had been. “I know he didn’t.”
    She sounded authoritative, as if she knew the truth and no one should question her about it. But Eli wasn’t sure whether she was trying to convince him or herself of Tag’s innocence.
    “How can you be so certain that your husband is innocent?”
    “I know my husband, Mr. Faulkner.” She caught herself. “I’m sorry—Eli,” she corrected. “I know he’s a terrible husband and has been unfaithful to our marriage. But that’s all he’s guilty of.” Anna removed a tissue from her purse and dabbed at the corners of her eyes.
    “Was he with you the night of the murder?” Eli asked. He hoped that a credible alibi existed.
    When Anna hesitated before responding, Eli knew the answer to his question.
    “Would it help if I said that he was?” she pleaded. “It wouldn’t be a complete lie. He was with me part of the night. I was by myself the other part. So no one could say otherwise.”
    “We can’t do that, Anna,” Eli responded delicately. He raised his hands slightly above the top of the desk, palms toward Anna. “We’ll have to prove that Tag is innocent by using some evidence other than your testimony.”
    “I know,” Anna admitted. She looked away from Eli and sighed. “I wouldn’t make a good liar anyway. But I’ll do just about anything to keep my husband out of jail.”
    A simple one-word question rose to his mind. It was a question that lawyers were taught in law school never to ask, and particularly never to ask unless you already knew the answer. But it escaped innocently from Eli’s mouth before he could stop it. “Why?”
    Anna’s head snapped back to where her eyes met Eli’s eyes again. The question caught her off guard. “Why what?”
    “Why do you want your husband back?” Eli gestured with his hands as he talked. “You’ve already told me that he’s an adulterer, and now he’s accused of murder. It may turn out that he is, in fact, guilty of murder.”
    Genuine compassion was growing inside him for this woman he’d only known for a few minutes. He gazed sympathetically at her and softened his tone. “Why do you want him back?” he asked again.
    Anna dabbed at the corners of her eyes again. “Because he’s the father of my unborn child,” she responded through her tears.
    Eli sat silently as Anna released several days of anger, sorrow, hatred, and confusion. The tissue Anna clutched in her hand was insufficient to capture all the tears that now streamed down her face, so Eli handed her a package of tissues he kept in the top drawer of his desk.
    “I’m sorry,” Anna said as she regained her composure.
    “Don’t be. I don’t know how I would act if I were in your place.”
    “I didn’t come here to bore you with our marital problems.” She pressed a fresh tissue underneath her eyes, trying to remove the moisture that welled up. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. “It’s just that we’ve tried for so long to conceive, and I’m not about to let my child grow up without a father.”
    Eli saw the determination on her face and heard it in her tone. His earlier feeling of compassion evolved into admiration. Anna’s fragile appearance was giving way to an inner strength that Eli suspected few people had ever seen. Any apprehension that he may have had about helping Anna and her ingrate of a husband subsided. He would represent Tag Grissom—but not because he thought Tag was innocent. He would do it because of Anna and her unborn child.
    “Anna,” he began, “I’ll represent Tag, but on one condition.”
    “What’s that?”
    “You have to be present at every court hearing, regardless of what it’s for or what it’s about. I want the judge and jury to see you there, but more important, I want you to have full knowledge of everything that Tag has done. He’ll have no way to hide from