I felt more comfortable during the prosecution’s summary, simply because it put me on the silent defensive. Jack Rand, the principal of Peck, had cooperated with the prosecution. Although he described me as a “competent” teacher, he maintained I was “erratic” outside the classroom and stated outright that I had a contempt for authority. On the other hand, Mrs. Lorimer, our old baby-sitter, worked grudgingly with the prosecution once she found she was in over her head. They extracted from her an account of my terrible temper and my eagerness to return to work while Regina was still sick. They referred to this testimony as often as possible, and I would catch Mrs. Lorimer giving me long, apologetic stares. But of course the prosecution depended most heavily upon Miss McPhee.

“You have heard from Mr. Rand how on numerous occasions Mrs. Mattison had defied him and sought subtle ways for revenge. You have heard from Mrs. Lorimer how the defendant’s temper on one occasion made a dramatic snap when a minor situation slipped out of her control. And most importantly, Miss McPhee has testified how the defendant discouraged the counselor-­student relationship with her daughter.” He paused and stepped backward to the corner of the jury box and pointed at me. “What you see before you is a woman who will do anything to control those around her. When she feels that control threatened, she becomes vindictive. We cannot say for sure what went on in the Mattison household, but it was something that drove Regina Mattison first to Miss McPhee and then to her father’s family. There was something in that household that made Irene Mattison almost a recluse. She has had a strangely limited life. Acquaintances, but no close friends except for Mrs. Malone, who lives two thousand miles away. I submit that the defendant chose this excessive solitude to keep her own violent proclivities in check. She saw Miss McPhee as an intruder and encouraged her daughter to stay away from her. Vivian Snell was the second intruder, and an undeniable danger because she was a concerned relative and knew her brother only too well. That is why the defendant took a gun with her the night of the murder. Her rational abilities were very much intact. She knew that only violence could rid her of this opponent. She knew she was likely to come out the loser if there was a legal battle over her daughter. The murder of Vivian Snell was calculated. And now the defendant is calculating your sympathy. She is standing on the name of mother­hood. But I ask you, where is her daughter?”