Christine looked down and took a moment to gather herself. I couldn’t imagine that she was acting right now. Her integrity had been one of the reasons I fell in love with her, in that previous lifetime of ours.

“Just after I became pregnant, I was kidnapped and held hostage for ten months,” she said, looking up again. “The people who kidnapped me were out to hurt Alex. When that terrible time was all over, I found it impossible to return to a normal life with him. I wanted to, but I just couldn’t.”

“And just for the record, by Alex you mean Mr. Cross?”

Not Agent or Doctor Cross, but Mister Cross. Any little dig the lawyer could get in.

Even Christine winced, but then she said, “That’s right.”

“Thank you, Christine. Now, I want to go back just a little bit. Your son was born in Jamaica, while you were being held hostage. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Was he born in a hospital in Jamaica, or under any medical supervision?”

“No. It was in a small shack in the woods, the jungle. They brought a midwife of some kind, but she didn’t speak English, at least not to me, and there was no prenatal care at all. I was extremely thankful that Alex Junior was born healthy, and stayed that way. Essentially, we lived in a prison cell for those months.”

Ms. Billingsley got up, crossed the room, and handed Christine a tissue. “Ms. Johnson, was this abduction the first time that your involvement with Mr. Cross brought violence into your life?”

“Objection!” Ben was on his feet right away.

“I’ll rephrase, Your Honor.” Billingsley turned her solicitous smile back to Christine. “Were there any other violent incidents, prior to or after your son’s birth, related to Mr. Cross’s line of work that directly affected you?”

“There were several,” Christine said without hesitation.

“The first time was just after we met. My husband at the time was shot and killed by someone Alex was looking for in another terrible homicide case. And then later, after our son was born, and when he was living in Washington with his father, I know that at least once Alex Junior was taken out of the house in the middle of the night, for safety’s sake. Actually, all of the Cross children were taken out of the house. A serial killer was coming after Alex.”

Billingsley stood at the petitioner’s table, waiting. Finally, she pulled a stack of photographs from a manila folder.

“Your Honor, I would like to submit these as evidence. They clearly show Mister Cross’s home on the night of one such emergency evacuation. You will see my client’s son here being carried out by a non-family member in the midst of the confusion that was apparently taking place.”