After Anna Read online

  Copyright © 2018 Smart Blonde, LLC.

  The right of Lisa Scottoline to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

  First published as an Ebook in Great Britain

  by Headline Publishing Group in 2018

  All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library

  Cover photograph © Don Spiro/Getty Images; woman © Catchlight Visual Services/Alamy

  eISBN: 978 1 4722 4310 2

  HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP

  An Hachette UK Company

  Carmelite House

  50 Victoria Embankment

  London EC4Y 0DZ

  www.headline.co.uk

  www.hachette.co.uk

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  About the Author

  Praise

  Also by Lisa Scottoline

  About the Book

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Epigraph

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-one

  Chapter Forty-two

  Chapter Forty-three

  Chapter Forty-four

  Chapter Forty-five

  Chapter Forty-six

  Chapter Forty-seven

  Chapter Forty-eight

  Chapter Forty-nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-one

  Chapter Fifty-two

  Chapter Fifty-three

  Chapter Fifty-four

  Chapter Fifty-five

  Chapter Fifty-six

  Chapter Fifty-seven

  Chapter Fifty-eight

  Chapter Fifty-nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-one

  Chapter Sixty-two

  Chapter Sixty-three

  Chapter Sixty-four

  Chapter Sixty-five

  Chapter Sixty-six

  Chapter Sixty-seven

  Chapter Sixty-eight

  Chapter Sixty-nine

  Chapter Seventy

  Chapter Seventy-one

  Chapter Seventy-two

  Chapter Seventy-three

  Chapter Seventy-four

  Chapter Seventy-five

  Chapter Seventy-six

  Chapter Seventy-seven

  Chapter Seventy-eight

  Chapter Seventy-nine

  Chapter Eighty

  Chapter Eighty-one

  Chapter Eighty-two

  Chapter Eighty-three

  Chapter Eighty-four

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Author Photograph © April Narby

  Lisa Scottoline is the New York Times bestselling author of over twenty novels. There are now more than twenty-five million copies of her books in print, and she is published in over thirty countries. She has been awarded the Edgar Award for crime fiction, and the Cosmopolitan Fun Fearless Female Award. In addition, Lisa writes a weekly column for the Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as a number of non-fiction titles with her daughter, Francesca Serritella. Lisa is a former trial lawyer and lives in Philadelphia with an array of disobedient pets.

  Praise for Lisa Scottoline:

  ‘Lisa Scottoline walks readers into this charged moral dilemma and then takes them on an intense, breathless ride. You won’t be able to put this one down’ Jodi Picoult

  ‘Lisa Scottoline is one of the very best writers at work today . . . This is a story that is heavily muscled, emotional and relevant. They don’t come any better’ Michael Connelly

  ‘Scottoline is always awesome, but her latest book held me spellbound because she has such an eye for describing complicated family relationships’ Janet Evanovich

  ‘Scottoline gets all the details right, and gives all the characters flesh and blood, breath and life. This is a novel that is as full of thrills as it is full of heart’ Kristin Hannah

  ‘Honest and hugely emotional’ James Patterson

  ‘Heart-pounding!’ Lisa Gardner

  ‘Thrilling and infused with love. Brilliant, I couldn’t put it down’ Louise Penny

  ‘Scottoline rocks!’ Nora Roberts

  ‘Scottoline keeps the tension high while portraying a family in turmoil. A heck of a twist ending wraps everything up . . . a satisfying and suspenseful read’ Booklist

  ‘Scottoline is a star’ Time magazine

  By Lisa Scottoline

  Fiction:

  After Anna*

  Exposed*

  One Perfect Lie*

  Damaged*

  Most Wanted *

  Corrupted *

  Every Fifteen Minutes *

  Keep Quiet *

  Don’t Go *

  Betrayed *

  Accused *

  Come Home

  Save Me

  Think Twice

  Look Again

  Lady Killer

  Daddy’s Girl

  Dirty Blonde

  Devil’s Corner

  Killer Smile

  Dead Ringer

  Courting Trouble

  The Vendetta Defense

  Moment of Truth

  Mistaken Identity

  Rough Justice

  Legal Tender

  Running From The Law

  Final Appeal

  Everywhere That Mary Went

  Non-fiction (with Francesca Serritella):

  Meet Me at Emotional Baggage Claim

  Best Friends, Occasional Enemies

  My Nest Isn’t Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space

  Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog

  *Available from Headline

  About the Book

  Everyone deserves a second chance at happiness.

  Dr Noah Alderman, a widower and single father, is finally content after marrying Maggie. And they’re both thrilled when Maggie gets an unexpected chance to be a mother to Anna, the daughter she once thought she’d lost forever.

  But when seventeen-year-old Anna arrives everything changes – and the darkest turn of events will shatter thei
r lives in ways no one could have imagined.

  What if your perfect family becomes your worst nightmare?

  For Francesca, with love

  Acknowledgments

  Here’s where I get to say thank you, but because this book has a twist or two, I’ll thank people here without explaining what they did to inform this novel. I owe them a huge debt of thanks, and all mistakes herein are my own.

  Thank you to Steve Gordon, Patti Emmons, Dr Lisa Goldstein, Matt Smyth of Land Rover Jaguar Main Line, educator Kathleen Buckley, and at my alma mater, Lower Merion High School, thanks to Doug Young, Anna O’Hora, and the great gang in administration. Thank you so much for all of your help to Jessica Kitson, Esq., and my brilliant goddaughter Jessica Limbacher, Esq., of Volunteer Lawyers for Justice. And thanks to my dear friend, legal genius Nicholas Casenta, Esq., Chief Deputy District Attorney of the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.

  Thank you to my goddess editor, Jennifer Enderlin, who is also the Senior Vice President and Publisher of St Martin’s Press, yet she still finds the time to improve every one of my manuscripts. And big love and thanks to everyone at St Martin’s Press and Macmillan, starting with the terrific John Sargent and Sally Richardson, plus Jeff Dodes, Lisa Senz, Brian Heller, Jeff Capshew, Lisa Senz, Brant Janeway, Erica Martirano, Tom Thompson, John Karle, Jordan Hanley, John Edwards, Jeanette Zwart, Anne-Marie Tallberg, Kerry Nordling, Elizabeth Wildman, Talia Sherer, Kim Ludlum, Rachel Diebel, and all the wonderful sales reps. Big thanks to Michael Storrings, for outstanding cover design. Also hugs and kisses to Mary Beth Roche, Laura Wilson, Samantha Edelson, and the great people in audiobooks. I love and appreciate all of you!

  Thanks and love to my terrific agent, Robert Gottlieb of Trident Media Group, for his dedication and enormous expertise, and thanks to Nicole Robson and Trident’s digital media team.

  Many thanks and much love to the amazing Laura Leonard. She’s invaluable in every way, every day. Thanks, too, to Nan Daley for all of her research assistance to this novel, and thanks to George Davidson and Katie Rinda for doing everything else, so that I can be free to write.

  Finally, thank you to my amazing daughter (and even coauthor), Francesca, for all of her support, laughter, and love.

  Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.

  – Benjamin Franklin

  You can’t believe people when they look you in the eyes.

  You gotta look behind them.

  See what they’re standing in front of.

  What they’re hiding.

  – Sam Shepard, Curse of the Starving Class

  Chapter One

  Noah, After

  TRIAL, DAY 10

  Dr Noah Alderman watched the jurors as they filed into the courtroom with their verdict, which would either set him free or convict him of first-degree murder. None of them met his eye, which was a bad sign.

  Noah masked his emotions. It almost didn’t matter what the jury did to him. He’d already lost everything he loved. His wife, Maggie, and son, Caleb. His partnership in a thriving medical practice. His house. His contented life as a suburban dad, running errands on Saturday mornings with Caleb. They’d make the rounds to the box stores and garden center for whatever Maggie needed. Potting soil, deer repellent, mulch. Noah never bought enough mulch and always had to go back. He actually missed mulch.

  The jurors seated themselves while the foreman handed the verdict slip to the courtroom deputy. Noah would finally know his fate, one way or the other. It had been hanging over his head every minute of the trial and the almost seven months prior, in jail at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility. He’d done what the inmates called ‘smooth time,’ becoming a jailhouse doc, examining swollen gums, arthritic wrists, and stubborn MRSA infections. He’d kept his head down and hidden his emotions. Pretty soon he was hiding them from himself, like now.

  Judge Gardner accepted the verdict slip, causing a rustling in a gallery packed with spectators and reporters since the horrific crime and its unlikely defendant had drawn media attention. Judge Gardner put on his glasses and read the verdict slip silently. His lined face betrayed no reaction.

  Noah felt his lawyer, Thomas Owusu, shifting next to him. Thomas had put on a solid defense and been a friend as well as a lawyer. But Noah’s best friend was his wife, Maggie. Or at least, she had been. Before.

  Noah turned around to see if she’d come to hear the verdict. The spectators reacted instantly, recoiling. They hated him. He knew why.

  He scanned the pews, looking for Maggie. He didn’t see her, so he turned back. He didn’t blame her for not coming, of course. He wished he could tell her that he was sorry, but she wouldn’t believe him. Not anymore.

  ‘Will the defendant please rise?’ Judge Gardner took off his reading glasses and set the verdict slip aside.

  Noah rose, on weak knees. The courtroom fell dead silent. He could almost hear his heart thunder. He was about to know. Guilty or innocent. Prison or freedom. If they convicted him, he could be sentenced to death.

  Noah wished he could run time backwards, undo every decision until this moment. He’d made so many mistakes. His life had exploded like a strip of firecrackers at a barbecue, igniting the patio furniture and spreading to the house until everything was blazing out of control, engulfed in a massive fireball.

  His entire world, destroyed.

  It had all started with Anna.

  Chapter Two

  Maggie, Before

  ‘Anna, is it really you?’ Maggie felt like shouting for joy. She couldn’t believe it was really happening. She’d prayed she’d hear from Anna someday. It was her last thought every night, though she kept it to herself, a secret heartache.

  ‘Yes, it’s me. Uh, hi –’

  ‘Oh my God, I’m so happy you called!’ Maggie felt tears spring to her eyes. She grabbed a napkin from the drawer and wiped them, but the floodgates were open. It was a dream come true. She couldn’t wait to tell Noah. He was in the backyard with Caleb, planting rosebushes.

  ‘I hoped you’d be happy I called.’

  ‘Of course, of course I would be! Wow, it’s so great!’ Maggie’s throat thickened, and her nose started to bubble, which she hated. She was Queen of the Snotty Cry, which was even uglier than the Ugly Cry.

  ‘I know it’s kinda random, to call out of the blue.’

  ‘It’s not, it’s wonderful, it’s amazing! You’re my daughter! You can call me anytime!’ Maggie held the napkin to her eyes. She hadn’t seen Anna since she was an infant, only six months old. That was seventeen years ago, the darkest time in Maggie’s life, when she’d entered the hospital. It started coming back to her, a dark counterpoint to her elation.

  I can’t sleep even though I’m exhausted.

  ‘Uh, Mom, I wasn’t even sure what to call you. Is Mom okay?’

  ‘Yes, Mom is okay! Mom is more than okay.’ Maggie wanted to jump up and down, but held it together. She had just been called Mom. She never dreamed she’d hear Anna call her Mom. She’d never been called Mom before, by anyone. Caleb called her Mag.

  ‘Good, great. I hope it’s okay I called on a holiday.’

  ‘It’s fine!’ Maggie dabbed at her nose, trying not to make weird noises into the phone. ‘So, Happy Easter!’

  ‘To you, too.’

  ‘What did you do for the holiday? Are you at your dad’s?’ Maggie kept her tone light, even though she hated her ex, Florian. She knew he was behind Anna’s decision never to see Maggie, estranging mother and daughter permanently.

  ‘No, I’m at school.’

  ‘Oh.’ Maggie felt a pang for her, spending the holiday without family. ‘Did they do anything special?’

  ‘No, mostly everyone’s still away for Spring Break.’

  ‘I see.’ Maggie tried to collect her thoughts, sitting down at the kitchen island. Sunlight glistened on the granite countertop, which was white flecked with black and gray. Caleb’s Easter basket of Cadbury eggs and jellybeans sat next to the Sunday pa
per, and the air still smelled like banana pancakes from breakfast.

  I’m losing weight but I’m not dieting.

  ‘So Anna, tell me, how are you? How have you been? Can we catch up on your whole entire life?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Anna chuckled. ‘If you want to.’

  ‘I do, I’d love to!’ Maggie’s heart lifted. ‘We can try, can’t we?’

  ‘I guess.’

  ‘Of course we can! So tell me how you are!’ Maggie would give anything to reconnect with Anna. Maggie had fought for shared physical custody, but Florian had enrolled Anna in a fancy French boarding school, and the French courts had ruled against Maggie. She’d tried to establish visitation, but then Anna herself had written Maggie, saying she didn’t want to see her. Maggie had honored the request, though it had broken her heart.

  ‘I guess I’m fine. My life is . . . fine.’ Anna giggled.

  ‘Mine, too! What a coincidence!’ Maggie joined her, laughing. ‘How’s the new school?’

  ‘Not as fine. And it’s not new.’

  ‘You started there for high school, right?’ Maggie had gotten a notice from Florian two years ago, which was required by the court, telling her that Anna had come stateside to Congreve, an elite boarding school in Maine. It drove her nuts that Florian had won custody of Anna, only to send her to a school to live. Maggie sensed he didn’t visit Anna much, because what little Maggie could see of Anna’s social media never mentioned Florian, not even on Father’s Day. Maggie always checked Mother’s Day, too, torturing herself.

  ‘Yes, but that was, like, three years ago. I wanted to come to the U.S. for high school.’

  ‘So what’s Congreve like? I saw on the website, it’s so pretty!’

  ‘There’s not much to tell. It’s school.’ Anna fell momentarily silent, and Maggie rushed to keep the conversational ball rolling.

  ‘So you’re only a year from graduation! Tell me, what’s next for you? College?’

  ‘Totally, they’re obsessed here. Congreve is a feeder for the Ivies. My grades are pretty good. I have a 3.7.’

  ‘Wow, I’m so happy for you!’ Maggie felt new tears come to her eyes, a mixture of joy and guilt. Anna deserved the brightest future ever.

  I hear sounds and voices.